Resources

Promoting the welfare of working animals is important not only for the sake of the animals themselves, but for the livelihoods of their owners. Sharing the Load aims to stimulate collective action among animal-owning communities to improve the health and husbandry of their draught and pack animals, by applying the methods of community facilitation and collective action to the pursuit of animal welfare. Since 2005, the Brooke has been pioneering the integration of animal welfare science with best practice from the international development sector to build communities’ responsibility for sustained improvement in the welfare of their working animals. Sharing the Load documents the outcome of four years’ development of this process and includes field-based participatory methods and tools designed specifically for this purpose, using lively illustrations and text boxes in accessible language on the theory of development practice and animal welfare science.

There are vast numbers of Web 2.0 tools, applications, platforms, and services available. Many of them are free or low-cost and easy-to-use. This section provides a series of short introductory guides to a selection of commonly used Web 2.0 tools: blogging; micro-blogging and Twitter; wikis; online social networking; RSS feeds; tagging; social bookmarking; glossary of Web 2.0 terms. Each guide provides a brief description of the tool and how it can be used for development purposes, along with links to further information and where applications can be downloaded online

This is one of two manuals that highlight resource mapping as a tool for community forest management and protected area planning.  This manual draws on the experiences of Cross River State and involves a step by step methodology that ensures community mapping is used in a systematic process that allows local people to develop their Community Based Forest Management Plan. It is written to accompany a training activity so that many of the points and tips are to remind the trained facilitator how to proceed and what to think about at every stage.

This user guide on participatory communication aims to answer the following questions: What do we mean when we say participatory communications?  What are the practical implications of working with participatory communication strategies in development and social change processes? What practical experiences document that participatory communication adds value to a development project of programme?

Many communication practitioners and development workers face obstacles and challenges in their practical work. A participatory communication strategy offers a very specific perspective on how to articulate social processes, decision-making processes and any change process for that matter. Participatory approaches are nothing new.  At a time when institutions, both governmental and nongovernmental, increasingly seek participatory approaches in their development initiative, this guide provides perspective, tools and experiences on how to implement participatory communications strategies.

This book represents a significant international effort to support the creation and mobilization of practical, authentic knowledge for social change. The guiding principle behind SAS² (Social Analysis Systems, www.sas2.net) is that group dialogue and social inquiry are crucial for local and global development. Social issues must be addressed socially and in a multistakeholder mode, not by private interests and experts alone, and the insights that emerge fully integrated into processes of knowledge production, planning, and decision-making.

Part 1 outlines the concepts and skillful means needed to support multistakeholder dialogue. It also provides detailed instructions on how to integrate and ground collaborative inquiry in the projects, plans, evaluations and activities of multiple stakeholders. Part 2 presents a selection of techniques for collaborative inquiry and examples of real-life applications in South Asia and Latin America. The examples focus on a range of issues including land tenure, local economic development, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and organizational development.

This book will be of use to researchers, facilitators and activists working with people to solve problems and support inclusive inquiry and decision-making. It will also be useful to scholars and academics studying and teaching participatory action research in the Social Sciences.