"This volume explores the strengths, weaknesses, and complex nature of participation in diverse settings through a collection of 20 essays that focus on the concept of participation in development and raise questions relating to power, control, empowerment, awareness-raising, and self-reliance. The
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editors assert that participation must be dialogic and transactional, and that development communicators have a role in facilitating the spread of new philosophies, concepts, and models, which facilitate participation at all stages of the development process. This volume is divided into sections on theories, methodologies, 'participatory decision-making and action' and 'participatory message making', and includes case studies." (Communication Initiative website Nov. 2007)
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"This manual has been written for the trained facilitator. It is designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in training of facilitators and trainers in participatory group processes. It is the rare individual who could simply study the manual and apply it. A great deal of practice and exp
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erience is needed before most of us become accomplished facilitators. If you are a trained facilitator and wish to use the methods and techniques outlined herein with a group of like-minded people who wish to experiment, you should have no problem. On the other hand, if you are going to use it with an external group who are not particularly familiar with participatory techniques, a good deal of discussion and planning is required. Above all, it is important for the professional facilitator to deeply understand the objectives of a group event. If you detect that top management has a particular agenda in mind and merely wants to transmit it to employees, or to manipulate their staff to a point of view for some unspoken reason, professional facilitators must explain that their job is not to manipulate, that VIPP methods involve true participation and that ulterior motives will become transparent in the process. It is better not to start a participatory process if those responsible are not prepared to accept a different outcome than they expect." (How to use this manual, page ix)
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"The focus throughout is on "listening" to people, in order to learn from experiences. Oral testimony is considered in terms of oral history and oral artistry. The importance of listening is illustrated by a large number of entertaining case studies, drawn from both developed and developing countrie
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s, from a broad range of disciplines. The methodology is discussed, detailing the way in which development workers should be trained to listen. The four case studies illustrate practical applications where listening to oral testimonies has proved beneficial for project orientation and management." (www.participatorymethods.org)
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"Este libro está escrito en estilo de conversación, con muchas preguntas, con muchas imaginarias intervenciones del lector, donde se ha procurado reflejar los diálogos, las discusiones, que se dan en los talleres de comunicación. Este no es un manual de técnicas. No es que ellas no sean necesar
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ias: para hacer un buen periódico, un buen audiovisual, un buen programa de radio, hay que conocer y dominar las técnicas específicas. Pero con las técnicas no basta. Antes que eso, hay que conocer los principios básicos para una buena comunicación, los cuales se aplican a todos los medios por igual. Es un manual práctico donde se desarrolla nociones teóricas, pero aplicándolas, mostrando cómo se traducen en el quehacer concreto, dando muchosejemplos tomados de la realidad. Está dedicado a quienes hacen o están vinculados, en alguna forma, a la comunicación popular; a esa comunicación liberadora, transformadora, que tiene al pueblo como generador y protagonista. Servirá a los que hacen o proyectan hacer comunicación, a los educadores, a los estudiantes de comunicación social." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"A survey of the various communication strategies through which the Latin American people as a whole can participate in national development and which gives the Latin American perspective toward the problem. It tells the role of international aid agencies, lists and discusses participatory projects
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country by country, and in conclusion assembles a 65-page annotated bibliography of literature on the subject." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 329)
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