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Course 1: PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH METHODS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS

Purpose: to develop skills in and understanding of participatory research methods and their applications for sustainable agriculture and rural livelihoods.

Focus: agro-ecology and rural livelihoods

Duration: three weeks (negotiable)

Location: an agricultural setting in the United Kingdom or in a country in Africa or Asia (negotiable)

Participants: 12-25 per course. The course will attract men and women of all ages, from a variety of professional backgrounds, in both private and public sector employment, and those engaged in active development work.

Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Be familiar with the origins of and background to participatory research methods and their application in agriculture and rural livelihoods development
• Understand the value of participatory methods in relation to local knowledge, resource users’ experimentation, and farmer participatory research
• Have acquired basic skills in participatory methods through action learning and practice.
Content:
• An introduction to the course and to experiential learning
• Development as process and action learning theory
• The action learning practitioner
• Videos on participatory research methods in North and South countries
• Gender Analysis
• Participatory research exercises and applications, in the classroom and in the field
• Participants’ own experiences, materials, methods
• Participatory research planning and process management.
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 Method: The course will involve mini-lectures, seminars, exercises, and small group work. In the second week, the groups will plan and carry out a field research study using a range of participatory methods, and present the results, the process, and their group experience in the third week.

Assessment: The participants will be assessed in two ways.

(1) They will be asked to read a selection of the course materials and prepare a written discussion of the main themes, in the light of their own experience, for sharing with the class;

(2) on the basis of the small groups’ presentations in the third week. In both cases, the criteria for assessment will developed by the participants and course facilitators though dialogue
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