Resources

Between 2008 and 2010 the Carnegie UK Trust and the Joseph Rountree Foundation jointly funded a programme of work on power, participation and social change.  Over two years the project worked with 20 different organisations to explore ways in which the analysis of power could support them to achieve the social change they were working towards. The work revealed that a good understanding of power is a missing link between how people envisage the change they want, and how they go about achieving that in practice.  This handbook – which supports the programmes report “Power and Making Change Happen” – is about taking action.  It is a practical guide drawing on the methods and tools used to build the capacity of others and achieve social change.  It is designed for people within organisations, networks or community groups who want to explore power as part of the process of change in their communities.  As such it provides background information on power and facilitation, and looks at how to explore power through workshops, one-to-one mentoring and self reflection.

Participatory processes at the grassroots can have a powerful impact.  But what happens afterwards to the learning and knowledge generated? Are these experiences translated into wider organisational learning, and if so how – or why not? And what impact do they have on decision-making or strategic planning within INGOs?   This special issue of PLA explores how widely the impacts created from participatory processes spread from their original source. Following an initial overview, the 24 articles are divided into four parts: Part 1 looks at participatory communication practice and how the information is generated; Part 2 is about making sense of the dynamics of interpretation and use of participatory outputs; Part 3 is about learning in organisations and Part 4 explores structures, mechanisms and spaces.

NGO-IDEAs is a cooperation of about 40 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from South Asia, East Africa and the Philippines, and 14 German NGOs working in the field of development cooperation.  Together they have been developing tools that are specifically relevant for civil society involved in community development in a wider sense. As a result they have produced the Impact Toolbox which is organised along the lines of the project cycle. 

The examples in this publication tell stories of how NGOs have applied elements of this tool box, with a view to giving people an idea of how the process works in practice.  Hence, rather than presenting the impact of NGO development work, they give a practical description of how the tools have been applied, and the difference they have made. They only report on parts of the practice relevant to this publication and also highlight errors and learnings.