Participatory Workshops - A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas and Activities
Making participation real requires workshops, training and learning that are themselves participatory. This sourcebook presents the results of the author's vast experience in the form of twenty-one sets of ideas, activities and tips, both serious and fun, for topics such as getting started, seating, forming groups, managing large numbers, analysis, feedback, evaluation and ending.
From the Preface: "This is for all who try to help others learn and change... There is something here for participatory teachers and trainers; for organizers, moderators and facilitators who want their conferences and workshops to be interactive; for staff in training institutes who want to enliven their courses; for faculty and teachers in universities, colleges and schools who would like to enable students to do more of their own analysis; and for those engaged in management training who want to widen their repertoire."
This book is a must have for every professional working in the BoP, not just to be read, but to have on hand at any moment.
Making participation real requires workshops, training and learning that are themselves participatory. This sourcebook presents the results of the author's vast experience in the form of twenty-one sets of ideas, activities and tips, both serious and fun, for topics such as getting started, seating, forming groups, managing large numbers, analysis, feedback, evaluation and ending.
From the Preface: "This is for all who try to help others learn and change... There is something here for participatory teachers and trainers; for organizers, moderators and facilitators who want their conferences and workshops to be interactive; for staff in training institutes who want to enliven their courses; for faculty and teachers in universities, colleges and schools who would like to enable students to do more of their own analysis; and for those engaged in management training who want to widen their repertoire."
As participation and workshops are at the heart of many methodologies for the BoP, this book is a must have for every professional working in the BoP, not just to be read, but to have on hand at any moment. In both Kenya and India, Erik Simanis and I drew heavily upon the exercises in Chambers books while designing and facilitating Collective Entrepreneurship Development (CED) workshops. We and our partners found Participatory Workshops so valuable that I am actually on my fourth copy of the book, the first three copies having wandered off in the hands of colleagues eager to use the book.
Questions for discussion
Participatory Workshops is less of a book to be read through and more of a book to be flipped through, many times. As such I suggest skimming through the book so you know what is there, but then its real power comes when you're trying to plan a workshop. Think about your objectives for the workshop and then pull out this book for ideas on how to reach that objective in a participatory way. Although we often ended with very different tools then what exists in the book for our CED workshops, most of what we designed and implemented were based around ideas in this book.
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Robert Chambers$19.95 (Paperback)