Toolkit+-+what+you+can+do

Previous section: Where are you? Back to Framework & Toolkit home Next section: Iterative design CCSL Framework and Toolkit Exploring methodologies

This section serves as a portal through which you can explore different social learning methodologies. It can help you to determine which methodologies are most appropriate for the context of your / your organization's work, whether you are at the beginning of a project cycle or in the middle of one. toc

**Differentiating Social Learning from other approaches**
A key issue around the difference between social learning and other participatory or network processes is the intention to make changes - not random changes that take place in any learning network or environment - but a facilitated change process that intends to achieve major change beyond the individual to institutions (and possibly networks). To buy into this concept people need to be assured of the potential for big transformational change otherwise social learning will fall into the category of another participatory process. Therefore it is critical that all those engaged in a project are involved in the scoping and design stage, and that the intention to focus on change at scale and the necessity for constant, looped learning are openly declared and discussed.

**Resources**
The process of engaging with Social Learning can learn and build from the rich set of resources on participatory development as well as experience and literature on collective action and learning processes.

**Background and Theory**

 * See Questions from the Social Learning Checklist below
 * The Acoustics of Social Learning - Designing learning processes that contribute to a more sustainable world
 * CCAFS Working paper 43 'Catalysing learning for development and climate change: an exploration of social learning and social differentiation' (September 2013)
 * [|Shadow spaces for social learning: a relational understanding of adaptive capacity to climate change within organisations`] A useful resource i n terms of distinguishing between Participatory Action Research (PAR) and SL, particularly section 2 on Action Research and Action Learning, where the discussion raises questions about "what kind of learning" and "where is the change happening?" The paper raises issue not seen widely in other social learning literature, including
 * Positionality: what is the stake/positioning of the "convener" of the social learning process? what are their interests how are those shaping the process?
 * Risk: Like action research, meaningful social learning activities are disruptive of norms and thus involve a degree of risk. How are we acknowledging and addressing these risks, particularly with regard to the most vulnerable?

**Collective mapping and analysis**

 * Social Network Analysis - "the mapping and measuring of relationships and flows between people, groups, organisations, computers or other information/knowledge processing entities." (Valdis Krebs, 2002). See more at the KS Toolkit
 * Participatory use of geo-spatial information systems and technologies for mapping, collaborative ideation and problem definition -see [|the PPGIS network for a wealth of resources and connections], for example
 * AKT5: Knowledge Based Systems Approach and the Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit, primarily concerned with gathering local ecological knowledge (complex and hard to scale)
 * Codes/Dramas for Farmer Learning, enabling people to communicate to different partners their perceptions of current situations versus desired changes
 * Human Rights Based Approach, "aim at strengthening the capacity of duty bearers and empower the rights holders"
 * Innovation Platforms, an opportunity for individuals and people representing organizations with different backgrounds and interests to come together to diagnose problems, identify opportunities and implement solutions
 * Companion Modelling, a modeling approach in which stakeholders participate fully in the construction of models to improve their relevance and increase their use for the collective assessment of scenarios
 * Participatory Video, in which a group or community creates their own film, bringing people together to explore issues, voice concerns or simply to be creative and tell stories.
 * Photo Safari, "by looking at the context from different perspectives, the design exploration becomes richer in terms of creating new and increasing awareness about certain behavior and provides rich content for dialogue about the context"
 * Wat-A-Game, a useful tool for bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders to play with scenarios
 * See also the Social Learning Resources referenced in this wiki, notably:
 * Co-Creation Methods
 * Traditional forest knowledge is not folklore, but a resource for change

**Process design**

 * Participatory Agricultural Research: Approaches, Design and Evaluation - useful methodologies and examples from a Writeshop
 * [|Participatory Impact Assessment A Design Guide]
 * Design process outputs as boundary objects in agricultural innovation projects: Functions and limitations

2. Case Study Repository
Case studies are a key resource in learning about social learning. They help us to see how different social learning methodologies have evolved organically in some projects and been purposefully designed and tested in others. They also help us to determine which methodologies have produced good results in specific contexts, and which methodologies have been unsuccessful and why.

A repository of case studies has been created on CGSpace. It is available [|here].

The repository contains 150 case studies from the following documents:
 * [|CCAFS Working Paper #43]
 * [|CCAFS Working Paper #38]
 * [|CCAFS Working Paper #37]
 * [|CCAFS Working Paper #22]

The repository is searchable by the following:
 * Title
 * Abstract
 * Citation, date and author
 * Focus region, sub-region and country
 * Keywords for methodology, target audience and area of focus
 * Implementing organization

If you know of other case studies that could be added to the repository please get in touch.

3. Questions from the Social Learning Checklist
These questions/pointers from the Social Learning Checklist can help those already using social learning approaches to assess whether initiatives are addressing social learning as meaningfully and completely as they could/should.

This is about realising whether social learning is intended, recognised, embraced, characterised or not. Q. To what degree is facilitated learning and reflection a central component of your plan? Q. Did it change and become (more) obvious and (if not done before) did you then include this in your conceptual approach over time? Q. How were institutional obstacles to social learning identified and addressed during the design of the initiative to create an enabling environment?
 * Intent**
 * Did you explicitly conceptualise social learning or not?
 * To what degree did it cover the 'thematic' elements below (social differentiation, looped learning, power, monitoring, evaluating, capacity development)?
 * Has it been recognised by other initiative members, partners, beneficiaries?

This is about double and triple loops for learning to reflect on what activities would be more effective and what behaviours need to change - rather than just correcting errors in an existing practice: Q. To what extent is the initiative designed around an exploratory process, reflecting on, learning about and incorporating contextual factors that emerge, rather than goal-driven? Q. What strategies are in place for encouraging iterative, trust-building processes of engagement?
 * Looped Learning**
 * What measures are in place to enable the initiative to flexibly deviate from a given goal if the need is felt by the stakeholder group?
 * Is a process for adaptive action towards a good enough outcome central to the design, rather than bolting on adjustment when a pre-defined solution fails under implementation?

Previous section: Where are you? Back to Framework & Toolkit home Next section: Iterative design