Participatory Learning and Communication Approaches for Managing Pluralism

Abstract

In natural resource management, participatory learning refers to methods for collaborative management among different stakeholders interested in a common resource. Communication activities can be applied to a pluralist context to facilitate the understanding of perceptions on natural resources and their management by different stakeholders. Communication can become a tool to bring different actors to negotiate and seek common interests. Participatory learning and communication methods for managing pluralism, however, cannot be applied in a vacuum.

Pluralism refers to an acknowledgment of the existence of multiple actors with a stake in the management of common property resources. Each stakeholder tends to have a number of specific objectives and perceptions on the resource, and conflict in the management of a resource will emerge when there are competing interests and no apparent shared goals. A systems approach is required to begin understanding the complexity of pluralism as a starting point for bringing actors together for a collaborative action. Besides a multitude of actors, the systems approach addresses other dimensions, including the linkages between actors, the performance of their relationships, and the social, institutional and biophysical boundaries. New relationships are not merely inter-institutional agreements; they constitute a source of innovation and new insight. The interaction among stakeholders often yields new perspective on how to address problems. For this interaction to yield learning opportunities, a sharing of views is required and therefore communication takes on an important facilitative role. The emergence of the knowledge and information systems perspective is clarifying the strategic role which learning and communication can play in pluralism.

There is a growing number of methods for understanding and analyzing components of pluralism. Some examples include joint forest management, stakeholder analysis, and collaborative management of conservation areas. Some innovative approaches are emerging which acknowledge the role of power relations between stakeholders and seek to combine a number of action research tools. Other tools are more project-oriented and provide guidelines on how to identify major stakeholders on the basis of their relationship to a resource. From a participatory learning and communication perspective, it is the former which offer the best conditions, as they address the need for bringing actors together to resolve conflict by seeking platforms for collaboration among them. In this context, the actors need an agenda: participatory learning methods; and a means to share perspectives around that agenda: communication.

A number of cases of past communication efforts are mentioned with attention to the aspects and dimensions of pluralism which they addressed. The trend in communication for development efforts points towards a closer integration of learning methods with communication tools. Attention is given to the different types of participation to clarify the meaning of this over-used term. One approach which is highlighted as a promising opportunity is RAAKS: rapid appraisal of knowledge systems, as it is explicitly designed to improve the social organisation for innovation; in other words, networking among different actors for improved natural resource management.

The paper concludes with a list of issues, which require attention to allow participatory learning and communication to prove their worth in managing pluralism. A hypothetical case is added to provide one example of how participation, learning and communication can be put to work towards improving natural resource management. The idea of weaving together different action research methods is at the heart of this process. The overall process is best embodied in the notion of adaptive management, where many actors agree on collaborative action and on common indicators to track the impact of their work in a complex natural environment.

- from "Pluralism and Sustainable Forestry and Rural Development: Proceedings of an international workshop, Rome, 9-12 December 1997', pps. 117-151, FAO 1999.

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