On this page, we share a set of publications which gather together tools and instruments which can facilitate participatory processes. Some were exclusively created for participatory evaluations, others were designed for other types of activities (diagnostic, planning, popular education, socio-organisational support, etc.) but can be replicated or adapted for evaluation processes. Here, we also share some studies on using participatory techniques. I.e., how to choose them and how to customise them according to the specific evaluative purpose.
This is a collaborative library under construction. Therefore, if you know of other valuable tools or instruments, we would be grateful if you shared them with our community of practice and learning so they can be made available to others who may need them.
EL ENFOQUE DEL MONITOREO Y LA EVALUACIÓN PARTICIPATIVA (MEP): BATERÍA DE HERRAMIENTAS METODOLÓGICAS
This article (in Spanish) introduces PME as a horizontal approach to evaluation which seeks to integrate the local population into the various phases of development processes. It highlights the main differences it has to more conventional evaluation approaches. It explores some of the most commonly used participatory methodologies in evaluation and provides documents related to PME.
80 HERRAMIENTAS PARA EL DESARROLLO PARTICIPATIVO
This document (in Spanish) provides a set of tools to facilitate participatory processes, presented in a simple format with accessible language, easy to understand. In the style of a toolkit, it provides a wide variety of elements which can be used in group sessions, diagnostics, and participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation.
CAJA DE HERRAMIENTAS (ONG-IDEAS) PARA EL MONITOREO PARTICIPATIVO DE EFECTOS E IMPACTOS
This document is the result of applying the ONG-IDEAs ToolKit to the Latin America context and experiences. It uses concrete examples and concepts to show how the monitoring approach can be applied to strengthen the focus on effects and impacts and the participatory management focus.
MANUAL DE TÉCNICAS PARTICIPATIVAS
This manual (in Spanish) brings together a set of participatory techniques and group activities applied and validated by the technical team and by the intervention communities of Proyecto JALDA (Bolivia). These techniques rely on the active participation of the communities involved. As far as possible, their actions are planned and carried out respecting the comprehensive and sustainable management of natural resources.
TÉCNICAS PARTICIPATIVAS (COMPILACIÓN)
This document (in Spanish) acts as a compendium of group activities which can be used as support material for educational projects. Each activity is summarised in a clear way and explained in simple language.
TÉCNICAS PARTICIPATIVAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN POPULAR TOMO I
This dynamic book (in Spanish) reflects a set of techniques conceived in the Latin American context which can be applied in popular education projects. They promote the idea that participants should own, transform and improve their realities. Thus, it seeks to contribute to finding new alternative educational models to vertical education.
TÉCNICAS PARTICIPATIVAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN POPULAR TOMO II
This is the second volume of the edition (in Spanish). It presents structural, economic, political and ideological analysis techniques in a clear and practical way for sociocultural activity coordinators.
LAS TÉCNICAS PARTICIPATIVAS. HERRAMIENTAS DE EDUCACIÓN POPULAR
This text (in Spanish) presents a series of participatory techniques which are the result of a capacity building process for community facilitators from eight marginal urban communities in El Salvador. The techniques are generally applied to promote group bonding, to reflect on specific themes and to facilitate popular education processes.
This document (in Spanish) is a compilation of group activities, icebreakers and games which can be used when working with any group, whether in a workshop, a meeting or in the community. It sets them out in a practical and concise way.
This book (in Spanish) gathers more than 700 group activities, originating from various sources and authors which can be used when working with children, young people and adults. It covers tools which help attract the attention of participants, improve participation in activities, exercises and learning processes in both formal and informal education.
This inventory (in Spanish) collects participatory methodology outlines reportedly most used in research and outreach work in Colombia by the CIAT, la Corporación PBA, CORPOICA, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, the CIPAV and Pontifical Xavierian University.
This document (in Spanish) sets out participatory methods used in rural innovation in Ecuador, carried out by the National Agricultural Research Institute INIAP and the Randi Randi Group Corporation. It includes methodologies for Participatory Research in agriculture and technology transfer for diagnostic and planning purposes as well as business development for agribusiness.
METODOLOGÍAS PARTICIPATIVAS PARA LA INNOVACIÓN RURAL. INVENTARIO METODOLÓGICO DEL ÁREA ANDINA PERÚ
This document (in Spanish) includes an inventory of methodologies for Participatory Research in agriculture and technology transfer, methodologies for diagnostics and planning and methodologies focused on agribusiness and business development. The work was conducted in Peru by INIA and other research and outreach institutions.
METAPLAN: SESIONES FORMATIVAS Y REUNIONES DE TRABAJO MÁS EFECTIVAS
This brief document (in Spanish) presents the Metaplan as a non-technological working tool applicable for training sessions, workshops and meetings. It develops various social interaction techniques, each of which have their own advantage, and motivates the reader to choose which variant would best suit their style and put it into practice.
INSIGHTS INTO PARTICIPATORY VIDEO. A HANDBOOK FOR THE FIELD
This manual describes the Participatory Video technique developed by Insight (company with headquarters in the UK and France) which focuses on the development of participatory video methodology. This is a powerful R&D (Research and Development) participatory tool implemented as a creative way of influencing decision-makers and politicians.
PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL ASSESSMENT: TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
This document includes a resource pack of information and experiences on methods to support the adoption of participatory approaches in projects and studies supported by the World Bank. The selected materials provide information, practical guidance and examples of different methods and applications of the approach.
PARTICIPATORY METHODS TOOLKIT. A PRACTITIONER’S MANUAL
This publication intends to be a toolkit. The core of the toolkit consists of participatory methods and information sheets applicable to different situations. Other tools include an introductory chapter with a table comparing the methods discussed and a chapter on general tips for using participatory methods.
EL SEGUIMIENTO Y LA EVALUACIÓN POR IMÁGENES. HERRAMIENTAS PARA EL APRENDIZAJE Y EL DESARROLLO RURAL
This document (in Spanish) is based on audiovisual language to provide evidence of changes. It does this mainly from the perspective of the project’s stakeholders, in this case the rural organisations and families. The text addresses the use of images in M&E and presents practical tools and guides for using media in adult education.
USO DE IMÁGENES Y TICs EN SEGUIMIENTO Y EVALUACIÓN HERRAMIENTAS PARA EL APRENDIZAJE SOCIAL
In this text (in Spanish), PREVAL reviews the content of a relevant course which was held in 2009. The course was made up of three modules: Module I: Evaluation, learning and communication. Module II: Use of photography, video and audio. Module III: Use of ICT in Monitoring and Evaluation.
PREPARACIÓN Y EJECUCIÓN DE TALLERES DE CAPACITACIÓN : UNA GUÍA PRÁCTICA
This guide (in Spanish) aims to advance training and capacity building in technical staff of community development organisations and institutions regarding communication and didactics. In this way, it promotes internal educational processes within organisations and their (in)direct beneficiaries.
“TINY TOOLS” MEASURING CHANGE IN COMMUNITIES AND GROUPS
This article gives a general description of some “tiny tools” which can be used in evaluation and explores unplanned or unexpected changes in development interventions. The tools are classified as tools which analyse graphic effects to visualise change.
TOOLKIT ON GENDER SENSITIVE PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION METHODS
This toolkit is based on the experience of using participatory tools in an evaluation context. It focuses on the feminist ethos of listening to women’s voices and analysing the relationships of power within their lives. This set of tools allows us to conduct body mapping and resource mapping.
RECURSOS PARA EVALUAR LAS NECESIDADES DE LA COMUNIDAD
This Rotary International document (in Spanish) presents a set of techniques in a clear and concise manner which gather information from the community and evaluate their needs in accordance with their objective.
TÉCNICAS DE EDUCACIÓN POPULAR (NICARAGUA)
This document (in Spanish) advocates for the recovery of Popular Education founding principles. It is divided into two sections. The first part presents PE from a historic perspective. Then, it presents content and support documents for planning, development and evaluation processes for a workshop (of at least one day) based on methodology which is in accordance with PE.
ESTRATEGIAS DE EDUCACIÓN POPULAR
This material (in Spanish) was validated by educators and popular educators from the Training School for Community Organisation (Venezuela). It gives a general overview of six moments when participatory processes can be developed in popular education.
This manual (in Spanish) contains a variety of activities to stimulate the development of skills related to “being” in the classroom, which deal with the socio affective domain. This is directed at teaching staff who work with students from different productive subsectors, carrying out various types of professional training and capacity building services.
METHODOLOGY FOR PARTICIPATORY ASSESSMENT
This methodology was developed by the Water and Sanitation Programme. It integrates gender and poverty into the participatory methodology in order to monitor key aspects of sustainability. It provides a way for stakeholders (of various levels) to visualise how their actions can contribute to achieving sustainability. It is based on quantitative statistical methods for analysing qualitative data obtained from communities through participatory techniques.
BIODIVERSITY AND CULTURE: EXPLORING COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS, RIGHTS AND CONSENT
This special issue of PLA explores two important participatory tools that indigenous peoples and local communities can use to help defend their customary rights to biocultural heritage: (i) Community protocols – or charters of rules and responsibilities – in which communities set out their customary rights to natural resources and land, as recognised in customary, national and international laws; and (ii) Free, prior informed consent (FPIC) processes, in which communities decide whether or not to allow projects affecting their land or resources to go ahead, and on what terms.
PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION: THEORIES + METHODS FOR REMOTE WORK
This guidebook identifies multiple resources for trends and innovations in participatory evaluation. It is unique in that it offers virtual adaptations of popular approaches to ideation, data collection and analysis, and action-taking for evaluators and human service organizations. This targeted research serves to support Evaluation + Learning Consulting’s upcoming webinar series on participatory evaluation with a special lens on remote adaptations.
TECHNIQUES FOR DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
The democratic school must move towards the involvement of the entire educational community in the development of learning activities and in community life. It is about appealing to active involvement, participation and reflection from an inclusive leadership. Hence, educating critical citizens assumes and legitimises the most universal globalising function of a pedagogical project based on democratic dialogue, egalitarian participation and commitment to social transformation. It offers a series of techniques to be used in different phases: (1) making a first contact and negotiation of the demand, (2) dynamising the diagnosis and shared analysis, (3) action planning, (4) implementation and systematisation of the experience, and (5) evaluation and dissemination of the project.
INTERACTIVE TECHNIQUES FOR QUALITATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH
This book addresses the conditions, processes and expressions that characterise the constitution and deconstitution of subjects in school social spaces. This is approached from the perspective of constructing dynamic processes of social relations and new forms of subjectivity in school spaces in the city. These areas are no strangers to conflict, inequality and social, political, economic and cultural exclusion, and traditional forms of social cohesion are reconfigured in them. The work has four chapters. The first one sets the social, research and disciplinary contexts; the second one develops the conceptual foundations that the working group assumed to develop the research proposal; the third one gathers the methodological perspectives and the fourth one develops the “interactive techniques”.
This book is for all who try to help others learn and change. The ideas, activities and tips are for facilitators, trainers and teachers, and for those who organize and manage workshops, training and courses. 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 institutions 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, helping each other learn; and for those engaged in management training who want to widen their repertoire.