On the 9th of June, Federico Davila, Tom Sloan and Emily Davidson attended a water governance participatory methods training workshop by Dr Nils Ferrand, hosted by Fonds Pacifique. The workshop introduced participants to the CoOPLAaGE suite of integrated participatory tools, methods and protocols. These are designed to foster collaborative and shared planning and implementation of change strategies, and have been applied to a broad range of socio-environmental system across the Pacific, Europe and Africa. The workshop was highly interactive, with participants developing a deep understanding of the methods through practical engagement with several of the participatory tools.
Sustineo is an advocate of participatory methods, and our consultants are expert in the design and application of participatory approaches. We have found that very few other methods can elicit the insights and perspectives from program participants, particularly in cross-cultural assignments. Sustineo has developed a proprietary participatory organisational assessment tool, the Participatory Organisational Capacity Assessment (POCA), which has been successfully employed in Bangladesh, the Pacific, and Indigenous Australia. The POCA was developed on the premise that drivers for change can be assisted by outside intervention but cannot be replaced by them – organisational change must engage all members of an organisation or system. The change program, and capacity assessments must be participatory to be effective.
If you would like to learn more about POCA and Sustineo’s participatory methods, please contact Tom Sloan at thomas.sloan@sustineo.com.au
We would like to thank Fonds Pacifique, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ANU Centre for European Studies, and Dr Nils Ferrand and the researchers from IRSTEA G-Eau and CIRAD in France for the opportunity to participate in this workshop.