Stakeholder Engagement & Participation in Planning, Needs Assessment, Monitoring & Evaluation Workshop 
with 2.5 day Community Practicum

February 11-16, 2019

held in Tepoztlan, Mexico

www.mosaic-net-intl.ca

 Six-Day Stakeholder Engagement & Participation Workshop That Will Show You How To: 

• MASTER participatory tools in the workplace;
• APPLY participatory approaches to the project cycle;
• DESIGN solutions for your own situation;
• ANALYZE community needs and priorities from the community perspective;
• INTEGRATE participatory methods into project design, monitoring and evaluation
• FACILITATE tools that you can use in the workplace.

Here's what past participants have said about the workshop:

The workshop "was packed with information and experiences and very well thought out. I found it quite easy to learn and internalize new tools".
"The PRA/SARAR workshop achieves its goals by being fully participatory, experiential, highly informative and fun. I will be using the tools in my courses to raise student awareness of community education issues and in my international development work".
"I can now connect the theory with the practice."
"There were many participants from many different organizations and countries, which meant that there were many different perspectives represented. This led to a richness of discussion..."
"The workshop was more than tools. It was an experience!"

Why You Should Attend:
Experience has shown that participation improves the quality, effectiveness and sustainability of our actions (i.e. engagement, organizational change, leadership, building a common vision). By placing people at the center, our actions have a much greater potential to empower and to lead to the ownership of initiatives. Giving the poor, local communities, and local government a central voice in development efforts that affect them is at the heart of participation.

What Results to Expect
The workshop is based on a hands-on approach to participatory development that can be applied in Latin America and the Caribbean, in both urban and rural community settings. You will be introduced to the concepts and tools behind participatory development, also referred to as "Participatory, Learning and Action" (PLA) and "Participatory Rural/Rapid Appraisal" (PRA) and SARAR / PHAST.

Practice assignments in the community will enable you to master and improve the tools and approaches to participation, to help you and/or your organization interact more effectively with groups and/or the community.  You can expect to enhance your awareness, knowledge or skills in any of the following areas:

• Using participation in project design, management, monitoring and evaluation;
• Increasing participation of different interest groups or stakeholders;
• Learning and applying participation tools and community-based research methods such as semi-structured interviewing, community mapping, gender division of labor, institutional mapping, force-field analysis, seasonal calendars, historical timelines, and more;
• Organizational development and capacity-building for your organization;
• Community development methods;
• Experiential methods for facilitating workshops.

Who Will be There?

This workshop is designed for:

• Professionals & managers who work with different stakeholder groups at government, intermediary or community levels;
• NGOs who are interested in learning the latest techniques in participatory development;
• Academics and participatory-action researchers who use and teach qualitative methods;
• Policy, program and project officers who make critical decisions on organizational policy, resource allocations, project design, monitoring and evaluation;
• First Nations facilitators and leaders who work directly with indigenous groups; 
• Community activists who want to learn dynamic community oriented methods and tools.
• Consultants who want to broaden their repertoire of methods & tools.

Workshop Structure

This workshop is an intensive six day workshop set in the community to maximize learning, group interaction and networking. Sessions begin at 9:00 (except for the first day with registration at 8:30 a.m.) in the morning and run all day including some evenings, particularly Monday night. Please note that community work in communities is intensive and requires the full commitment of all workshop participants.  Also please note that the workshop is conducted in Spanish and participants should have a basic understanding of Spanish.

Day 1: Introduction to Stakeholder Participation

• Registration at 8:30 a.m.
• Setting the Context: The Origins of Participatory Methods and Approaches
• Key Concepts Related to Stakeholder Participation
• Attitudes and Behaviors Conducive to Participation
• Transect walk in the community

Day 2: Learning & Practicing the Tools

• Participatory Project Design and Planning
• Undertaking Participatory Evaluations
• Learning PRA/PLA and SARAR tools:  Community Mapping, Semi-Structured Interviewing, Institutional Mapping, Facilitating Groups, Dealing with Saboteurs, Seasonal Calendars, Timelines, Venn Diagrams, Fishes and Boulders, Ranking and Scoring, Open vs Closed Questions, Applying a gender approach to the application of PRA tools, Appreciative Inquiry, and more......
• Field work in the community to practice the tools.

Day 3: Learning the Tools and Preparing for the Community Assignment

• Learning More Tools
• Diagnosing your team strengths
• Preparing your team strategy for the community assignment
• 3:00 p.m.  Departure for the Community Assignment

Days 4 & 5: Fieldwork in the Community

Mosaic and SARAR will organize three-day community assignments based on the needs and priorities of community-based organizations in the Tepoztlán, Mexico area. Small project teams will work together intensively, practicing tools learned in the workshop and adapting them to real life situations. Past participants of workshops have worked on the following topics:

• Survey of community health needs and services
• How to create a sustainable community in Tashirat
• Promoting eco-tourism in Amatlán
• Support to a Child Learning Centre
• Exploring community needs and how to increase volunteerism
• Assessing youth priorities
• Resident needs and concerns for a new recreational facility
• Community input to a Wellness Program
• Community radio

Day 6: Group Reports, Creating Your Action Plan and Evaluation

• Presentation of Team Reports
• Preparing an Action Plan for after the workshop
• Certificates, Evaluation and Wrap-Up for 1:30 pm
• Farewell Lunch

How Will This be Achieved?
This is a practical, iterative and hands-on workshop. The format will vary between small group work, plenary sessions, and practical community assignments to encourage the sharing of knowledge and application of participatory concepts and tools to real life situations. Participants will go out into the community on a daily basis to apply tools and to learn by doing.

The community practice assignments will be in one of various different communities in and around Tepoztlán, Mexico. Teams of participants will carry out simulated participatory development exercises, using the tools learned in the workshop. Where appropriate, links will be made to existing community groups and their issues. Evening meetings and on-going team-building exercises will be part of this process.

Tepoztlán: a town you will want to visit again...

Just 80 km south of Mexico City, Tepoztlán, is a magical town full of mysticism and tradition that, despite its small size, is world famous and a source of pride to its inhabitants.  Our info page provides more details on Tepotz and how to get there.  The workshop is held at La Quinta Tonantzin (http://www.casasdedescanso.mx/t/)

Register Now! 

For more information on Tepoztlan and Mexico City click on link or the tab for Info on Mexico workshop 

Visit us at: www.mosaic-net-intl.ca or www.sarar-t.org