Teaching Participatory Methods

From 2009 to 2015 Elizabeth and Victoria provided training on participatory tools and techniques to clients such as Architecture sans Frontieres, Engineers without Borders and the Development Planning Unit at University College London. Our workshops covered tools for participatory context assessment, identification and prioritisation of problems and solutions, project planning, monitoring and evaluation. We introduced participants to the basic principles of participation, critically tested a range of commonly used participatory tools from different organisations, and presented case studies on the use of participatory tools in practice from our own experience. The workshop concluded by discussing the similarities and differences between approaches and how tools may be developed and adapted to suit specific requirements and contexts.