• Participatory Methodology

Participatory methodology

When a process leads to positive change, it is desirable to instigate that process elsewhere. This paper proposes that ‘going to scale’ though, is multi-dimensional and complex. It examines the issues through Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS): an innovation in participatory methodology, as well as a unique approach to sanitation. While CLTS has followed both vertical and horizontal trajectories, with quantitative, political, functional and organisational scaling-up, its general movements are best described as ‘spread and adaptation’. The paper describes how CLTS offers important lessons to understand spread which is critical for scaling up in an effective way.

The paper first looks at four participatory approaches which have already been successfully scaled up. These are Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA), Reflect, system of rice intensification and community integrated pest management. From these four case studies, it is clear that each spread in its own way, leading to unique paths of scaling-up.

With regard to CLTS the paper suggests that there seems to be a consensus on the central role of ‘champions’ in facilitating its ‘spread’. Although a strict guiding doctrine is difficult to identify, it is possible to see certain principles emerging out of this notion of champions. In Indonesia and India, for example, CLTS was taken up at the state and district levels, which could then spread the method through their pre-existing and extensive mandates. In such cases, CLTS moves into institutions that could communicate it over large distances, balancing the essential facilitative aspects to CLTS with their inherent authority over large areas of territory.

[adapted from author]

• Full text of document
• Publisher details
• Send to a friend