Resources

PADev is an innovative toolbox of tools and methods that have been designed to get a bottom-up assessment of development and change in a particular area over a period of time based on the value systems of the population.  PADev is thus a holistic and participatory approach to development assessment.  It differs from conventional assessment methods which tend to focus on a single agency/project/programme with an expert-driven approach to evaluation.  Instead, PADev assesses a wide range of changes, projects and agencies and may look back over 20-30 years.  As an alternative approach to conventional assessment it enables the construction of a “big picture” of development and change for an area that can be very useful to both development agencies and local communities.  This guidebook has been written specifically for those interested in using the PADev methodology.  It offers an introduction to this style of workshop set-up and the nine participatory PADev exercises that can be run over three days.  However it is not intended to be prescriptive and encourages experimentation and adaptation as circumstances require.

This handbook is aimed at practitioners who seek examples of how the V2R framework can be used in practice, based on examples from Nepal. It offers a step process, workbooks and tools.  It includes guidance on how to include long-term trends in programming with a focus on climate change. 

It is essential that organisations working on poverty reduction take into account the impact of climate change on the communities and sectors where they are working. In so doing, they will be better able to support community members and government officials to adapt to the adverse effects and take advantage of any opportunities presented. This requires a detailed analysis of the impacts of climate change at the local level in order to build adaptive capacity to withstand both sudden shocks and incremental changes in the climate. Participatory tools have been updated for use of uncovering community perceptions of changes, alongside identifying historical climate data.

This resource book is about people’s participation in decision-making and about people’s right to have a ‘voice’, to be heard and to choose their own representatives.  Democracy is an ongoing process and to create more just and equal societies it is essential that democratic “spaces” are made that enable real influence for those living in poverty.  This book is for local level civil society practitioners who want to make their own voice heard, and who want to involve more people in their efforts to make their opinions and ideas heard at the local level, in elected local government and other state bodies, in civil society organisations, and in public spaces and media.

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.

People living in mountain ecosystems in the developing world are particularly vulnerable to climate change as a result of their high dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods, comparatively higher exposure to extreme events, and widespread poverty and marginalisation. However, little is known about the impacts of climate change on these communities, people’s perceptions of change, or their capacity to adapt. In order to identify the key determinants for future adaptation, we need to have a much better understanding of these issues. This publication provides an analytical framework and methodology for assessing environmental and socioeconomic changes affecting the livelihoods of rural, natural resource dependent communities living in mountainous environments. It also gives guidance on how to gain a better understanding of the forces which shape mountain communities’ vulnerabilities, and the capacities inherent to these communities for coping and adapting. The framework is intended primarily for development practitioners and institutions working on climate change vulnerability and adaptation in mountainous environments.