Participatory tools and techniques
There are lots of participatory tools/techniques available to help guide the process. Three of the most popular approaches (overlapping rather than competing) are:
PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation) developed in Eastern and Southern Africa in the mid-late 1990s and specifically focused on toolkits for programmes to bring about behavioural change in hygiene and sanitation.
SARAR (Self-esteem, Associative strength, Resourcefulness, Action planning, Responsibility) stimulates involvement in community-based activities of all kinds, not only by the more prestigious and articulate participants (such as community leaders or senior staff), but also by the less powerful, including non-literate community members.
PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) a generalized description which covers a wide range of techniques especially aimed at involving communities in decision-making and self-assessment and in the development of stakeholder partnerships.
Other useful tools or activities are:
A focus group discussion
A skilled facilitator assembles representative groups from the community and creates an atmosphere where individuals feel free to express opinions openly on topics such as the environmental problems caused by excreta and how they can be mitigated. The facilitator is armed with key questions, but the conclusions emerge from the groups' open discussions and lead to ideas for action. Focus groups are helpful in the formative research phase, identifying the target practices and key messages for the different groups.
A neighbourhood social map
In open meetings, local women and men have made a social map of their whole settlement (in small communities) or neighbourhood (in large communities). The techniques used depend on the levels of development. People draw in the soil, they fingerpaint or draw on paper, or use cut-and paste techniques. Techniques that require implements such as pens and scissors are less suitable for people without or with low literacy, often the women and the poor. Mapping can be used for many things, from what kind of families have and use what types of latrines, water sources or hygiene related skills to whether women and men from different classes and sections have equal access to education and training.
A transect walk
A local team of women and men systematically walks through a cross-section of their settlement, reviews good and bad situations and notes these in their cross-section diagram.
A household and/or school hygiene self-survey
A survey is planned and implemented by a team of local women and men inhabitants or parents, teachers and students helped by a local health or NGO worker.
Lists and tables (matrices)
Another technique is to list households which for example have and do not have certain improved water supply, sanitation or hygiene facilities. The number of households with and without facilities are then noted in a large table for all these facilities. Numbers may be written as figures, but non-literate or mixed groups usually use markings (e.g. tally marks), matchsticks, beans or pebbles. The table is sometimes adjusted for poverty (see Box). The group analysis the findings ("who are haves and have nots and why?"). They also make plans for improvements. They set priorities, decide on strategies, analyse human and financial recourses, make plans, list activities to implement the plans, identify women and men to carry out these activities, divide tasks, based on skills and workloads, make workplans and start implementation. For all these activities, other participatory tools/techniques are available.
All these approaches are based on a wealth of experiences in working with communities and households. There is a wide range of techniques that ensure involvement of groups who may otherwise be excluded, including, as just a few examples:
PLA Notes, a periodical published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has regular features about tools for PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) in a range of different situations. One issue is devoted to PLA in Community Water Management.
A very interesting specific example of a methodology for increasing awareness of hygiene issues in a participatory way is described in the Case Studies. Zimbabwe's "Health Clubs" give free courses on health and hygiene issues to anyone wishing to attend. They generate commitment and spread awareness of critical risks, resulting in measurable improvements in hygiene behaviours.
The NORWASP project in Ghana uses a "Health and Hygiene Game" to stimulate awareness.
IRC's Technical Paper 29 (Just Stir Gently) includes a table (page 106) giving the pros and cons of different visual tools that can be prepared in advance for facilitating community group discussions.
