934317 Participatory methods in development research and practice

Type
Seminar
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Hauser, Michael
Organisation
Offered in
Sommersemester 2025
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

„Participatory methods in development research and practice“ will provide you with a toolbox to analyse and facilitate change processes in groups and communities. Such change processes towards sustainable management of natural resources are relevant globally. Students of all BOKU studies can integrate participatory tools in their professional portfolio.

There is a constantly growing family of participatory tools to analyse, jointly plan and implement change processes for sustainable development. As much as possible, participatory methods empower local people to use their own resources to deal with challenges and opportunities in their livelihoods.

"Handing over the stick" to local people, accepting that "they can do it" is the main lessons of this course. The course introduces to a range of method families (e.g. PRA and RRA methodology, community forestry, Agroecosystems Analysis (AEA))
The major part of the module will consist of practical trianing in combining different methods and tools in both class room exercises as well as training exercises in the field.

The students are expected to engage actively in an inter-active teaching approach.

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Previous knowledge expected

not required, but an advantage:
169.401 Development Innovation
169.304 Livelihood system dynamics in rural development
169.305 Facilitating change for sustainable development
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Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

List different participatory methods and approaches and how they evolved.
Describe participatory approaches and methods used in developing countries and why they are used .
Identify different epistemologies of different stakeholder groups.
Identify consequences of different approaches of collaborative research and management.
Recognize capabilities of local people to manage resources.Apply participatory methods in a self-reflective mode.
Assess strengths of different participative approaches.
Master methods in different professional roles (notably as researcher, process facilitator).
Integrate participatory methods into research on and management of natural resources.
Design participatory methods and applications based on training examples.
Evaluate different par-ticipatory methods
Evaluate shortcomings of professional practice.
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You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.