The Application of Participatory Action Research to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: a reference guide

Abstract

This document originated from a workshop held in May 2008 whose aim was to distill the experiences of seasoned PAR practitioners across the continent into diverse development and national resource management challenges. As most of these experiences dealt with complex socio-ecological systems but without an explicit focus on climate change adaptation, this Reference Guide is intended as a draft, describing the anticipated relevance of PAR to climate change adaptation and presenting a “best bet” approach to the application of PAR in addressing adaptation challenges. As such, further elaboration of this PAR methodology is viewed as a research process in and of itself, with this draft guide being refined through field-based application and learning in the context of the CCAA program. Following a description of the purpose of this guide and the targeted end users, and an introduction to the theory underpinning the application of PAR to climate change adaptation, we present a detailed description of the PAR methodology. Diverse PAR tools and stages in the PAR process are portrayed in detail, including basic tools that are used throughout the PAR process (facilitation, process documentation), preparatory steps in building teams and engaging stakeholders, ways of understanding the problem or opportunity and conceptualizing change, planning, managing of change, and the role of empirical research as inputs to decisionmaking. The guide finishes with a description of common challenges faced in the implementation of PAR and how these can be effectively addressed