Community Works Blog
Visual methods for working with community groups
This article responds to requests we have received for more information on visual methods that enable productive conversations with community groups. These conversations may be around problems they are seeking to tackle, the planning of a project, the airing of views on a particular subject or other situations in which someone is facilitating a session with a group of local people.
Review and reflection instead of evaluation
All development projects and programs need and deserve to be evaluated. A good evaluation measures impact, generates new knowledge on program design and provides insights on how to improve the work. An even better one engages participants and beneficiaries in the...
San Isidro; diversity and organisation
Carolina and Steve were invited to meet with people of San Isidro, a community in the Cauca Valley, Colombia. The purpose was to understand their achievements and priorities. In this way, we would also gain an appreciation of their work with Ecofuturo, who facilitated...
Some reflections on mental health for World Refugee Day
World Refugee Day. My mother was not a refugee, but she wanted to be. My mother was not a refugee, but she wanted to be. Her family applied for protection visas to escape the war unfolding all around them in Europe, but by the time they gained entry to the United...
The complex mosaic of health promotion
World Tobacco Day Tobacco smoking is a major contributor to cancers and respiratory diseases, but also has an impact on cardiovascular health of people worldwide. It is a key risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular...
Why workshops about Development Practice?
Workshop in Cochabamba, Bolivia: “Five Key Questions for Effective Development Practice” Sometimes when designing or implementing development projects I get the feeling of how easy (and dangerous) it is to forget that we are not alone in this. It is easy to forget how...
The art of making toolkits
In the development sector, toolkits refer to a set of information that is brought together with the aim of providing guidelines for best practice or to orient the implementation of a model or service. The art of making toolkits During the past six months I have been...
Community therapy? Parallels and distinctions between counselling and capacity building
“The parallels and distinctions between counselling and capacity building have helped me reflect on how to centre capacity-building processes around the strengths, knowledge, and experience possessed by people creating change in their communities” – Maria Rodrigues...
The problem of changing theories of change
The theory of change method of planning has rapidly grown in significance for organisations working in social and economic development. Wherever I work these days, someone is developing a theory of change and I often get involved in the process. It’s good because the...
The forest and the trees in facilitation
The term facilitation refers to methods and processes that enable people to collaborate on a given subject, especially where there might be complexity, different perspectives on a topic or even disputes and conflict. I was recently invited to prepare a detailed tender...