PLA articles; Recruitment drive

Volume 63 of the journal Participatory Learning and Action has come out, and I am author or co-author in three of its articles. Click here, then on "Download PDF (free)" to read it. The volume is titled "How wide are the ripples? From local participation to international organisational learning" and its description is as follows.

Do you work with or in an international or northern office of an international non-governmental organisation (INGO)? Do you facilitate participatory processes at the grassroots? Have you ever wondered how wide an impact the process might have?

When a pebble is thrown in the water it creates ripples. But just as the ripples fade as they lose momentum, the strong local impact of good quality participatory grassroots processes also weakens as it gets further away from the original context. Yet the insight and analysis, evidence and stories generated and documented during participatory processes are just the kinds of information which are needed to inform good development policy and planning.

This issue shares reflections and experiences of bringing grassroots knowledge and information from participatory processes to bear at international level. It examines the possibilities and challenges involved – as well as strategies for strengthening practice. It aims to inspire other empowered activists working with INGOs to be a conscious and active part of change: to bring about more accountable, equitable and participatory development.

The articles I contributed to are as follows:

1. "Bridges to understanding and action: using stories to negotiate meaning across community boundaries" by Cynthia Kurtz and Stephen Shimshock,  page 63
2. "Telling stories: who makes sense of participatory communication?" by Hannah Beardon, Jasber Singh, Rose McCausland, Cynthia Kurtz and Clodagh Miskelly, page 77
3. "Working with your community's stories" by Cynthia Kurtz, page 167

All of the articles in this journal are worth reading. They contain many inspirational stories and ideas for application in participatory work.

Meet me in the room of requirement 

I expect to deliver early copies of the greatly expanded third edition of Working with Stories by the end of this month to an eager army of skimmers/readers for essential feedback, to be incorporated as I finish the formatting. If you want to join the WWS army, send me an email and I will put you on the list to receive the manuscript.