Extension Tools: Group Meetings

• Extension tools should be approached with an open mind and adapted as necessary

• Tools are "ideas" to develop according to the field reality

• The ideal tool will be participatory

• Extension tools can and should be combined in a variety of different ways

• Extension facilitators should be flexible and rethink/suggest new tools that work better

Group meetings (Tool 1)

• Group meetings are one of the most important tools for community information gathering and communication
• These can include meetings with beneficiaries, the community, or focus groups
• Meetings provide an avenue for communities to:
• Give and receive information
• Discuss key issues and gain consensus
• Identify problems and solutions
• Plan activities and negotiate conflicts
• Validate evaluation results and generate recommendations
• Larger groups of people can be reached in a shorter amount of time
• Community group meetings are the first and most consistent exposure of project staff to the community
• Community cohesion and trust can be encouraged through meetings
• Community meetings with open invitations allow anyone who wishes to participate to do so
• Focus group meetings work well to bring together:
• Those with a shared problem
• Those who form a particular segment of the community
• Those who are peripherally involved

Resources Required for Group Meetings

• Time requirements depend on meeting's purpose and the interest of participants
• Expenses for group meetings are minimal
• Skill and sensitization is needed to facilitate a meeting with two-way communication

Group Meeting Community Engagement

• Community group meetings generally involve many people, but can be participatory,
• Encouraging two-way communication
• Smaller focus group meetings can be even more participatory if information sharing is equitable
• Outputs from focus group meetings can be presented to larger group meetings
• Giving a "voice" to those in the community who cannot speak up in a larger setting

Drawing and Discussion (Tool 2)

• It is a powerful tool that encourages creative participation, the purposes are to:
• Identify an issue or problem
• Gauge community perception of a current situation
• Provide a record for comparison at a later date
• Jointly develop an analysis within a group
• Strengthen the connection between thought and action
• Promote discussion and help refine points of focus
• Provide a visual objective or goal statement
• Useful for those who have class/language barriers or who aren't well-developed speakers
• This can strengthen the connection between thought and action
• Using self-created visuals helps individuals to see and develop an analysis and deepen group identity
• "Outputs" can be used at a later date for comparisons
• It can be used for planning, community problem analysis, to visualize issues, and for comparative analysis

Resources required for drawings

• Training of facilitator is minimal
• Minimal expenses like drawing materials such as:
• A flat surface
• Paper
• Material
• Wood

Drawings - Description

• Drawings are produced jointly by people, and discussions focus on their pictures
• When one drawing is produced by many discussions focus on representing
• When individual drawings are done, can be compared and/or discussed
• Best used for a culture with a strong visual tradition

Murals and Posters (Tool 3)

• Provide a useful way to focus, discuss, analyze and present various visual statements
• Used to develop community extension messages
• Show problems, solutions, activities, and/or objectives
• Useful for present, past, and future images for inspiration
• The community becomes involved as they direct the artist
• Murals and/or posters are constant reminders that inspire
• Can provide ongoing monitoring and evaluation tool if well located
• Having an artist in the village can spur community interest

Resources required for Murals

• Time of artist in village can be 2 to 14 days
• Materials/ cost of the local artist
• A large, flat, protected space
• Training is required

Murals - Description

• Murals and posters are designed by an artist but directed by the community
• Must make sure the community is in alignment with their collective discussion
• Best used for Visual cultures
• To be ensured by local artists
• Religious groups use murals as “inspirational pieces”, murals/posters may be an appropriate tool

Flannel Boards (Tool 4)

• Raises, discusses, and ranks issues according to priorities
• Suggests possible solutions
• Monitors community needs

Flannel Description

• Flannel board are paste-ups arranged per preference
• Paste-ups are illustrations of :
• Problems
• Solutions

Problems - Description

• Often effective for communities with stratified social structures
• Helpful for visual cultures
• Helps monitor needs by identifying issues and ranking

Resources Required

• Time: depends on artistic ability and skill to make paste-ups
• Expenses: the need for a local artist may be necessary
• Training: awareness of two way communication skills is helpful

Open Ended Stories (Tool 5)

• Facilitates discussion within a group
• Identifies problems and solutions

Open Ended Stories - Description

• Is either missing the beginning, middle, or ending of a story
• The tool is to allow the group to discuss parts which were purposely left incomplete
• A complete beginning to a problem, a solution can go in the middle, or end of the outcome

Open ended Story - Benefits

• Effective when community members are illiterate
• Should be combined with a drama or puppets
• Is an engaging dynamic tool

Open ended Resources

• The story will have to be "designed" beforehand
• Depending on the amounts of discussion filling in missing can take 2 hours
• Training on "2-way communication is necessary
• Assist in problem-solving

Unserialized Posters (Tool 6)

• Prompts discussions on problem analysis
• Assist in chronological order on village history

Unserialized Posters - Description

• Is a set of local incidents which has posters that are over a duration of time

Unserialized Posters -Benefits

• The forming of a discussion that sequences
• It can be tried with various communities or groups
• Is more helpful in communities with a oriented culture

Unserialized Posters Resources for Use

• The time to develop posters
• The development can entail cost

Implementation Tool 7 Community Case Studies:

• Benefits include: insight of Knowledge to the local community, assist participation baselines and evaluation events

Community Case Review- Implementation

• A community study, should be done through collective presentation and beneficiary groups
• Attention of gathering analysis
• Special attention to historical economical and ecological studies

Case Studies - Tools for the community Benefits

• Analysis of collective review descriptions
• To forestry and analysis of what can be comfortable to them

Case studies - Benefits of Tool

• Will contribute information in the language it is in to increase the social of inhabitants
• Useful as a book for local education classes etc
• A tool as a portrait

Case Study- Resource Requirements.

• Depends on depth of knowledge or study by a local
• Expenses relies on presentation
• The process and reliable facilitator

History Mapping- Tool8

• Is to stimulate discussions of how a problem arose
• Allows for the community into the root of the problem- is used as insights

Description of tools

• This tool describes documents whether they’re pictures writing or symbols of beneficiary group or the community
• The timetable as can recall should be focused on :subject, natural, community, and management

Benefits

• Can provide the project and the participants
• Can provide benefits to build solutions