Towards Wellbeing in Forest Communities: A Source Book for Local Government

Tool 4: Pathways

Box 41. Time and materials for pathways

3 hours for the workshop
Flipchart, markers, masking tape.

Team and participants

2 facilitators
1 note taker (can be from the community)
15–25 adult participants.

Once a community has identified the goals that they want to achieve through visioning, they can plan the actions that would help them achieve their goals or, in other words, build a pathway from the present to the future. Developing a pathway gives communities a planning structure to achieve their goals step-by-step. It results in written plans that define specific steps and responsibilities to reach a goal. The plans can be monitored to assess progress towards the shared vision.

Participants first reflect on the present situation and compare it with how they wish it to be in the future. Then they identify the specific steps needed to reach a future goal. Each step details the target date for completion and the person responsible for making it happen.
The method helps communities break larger problems down into smaller steps. This allows communities to identify what actions they can take themselves, and what steps might require assistance from local government. Community leaders are then better able to explain the needs of the community and justify requests for assistance. The method helps local government identify community commitments and make better use of local resources.
Pathways also improves ownership and accountability of community members to a plan. Because specific individuals are identified to be responsible for steps and meet the target dates for completing them, community members have valuable information for monitoring implementation of the plan.

Step 1. Discuss vision and analyse the present

Compare participants’ vision of the ideal future with their current situation to identify what is different between the two.

Ask the participants to decide on three or four goals that they want to achieve, based on their vision. If the vision was long term, such as 20 years, it may be helpful to break the timeframe down into shorter periods, such as every 5 years. This will help establish more realistic goals and make it easier to think about how to achieve them.

Next, for each goal, ask participants to identify what they have to change about the present to achieve their desired goal:

How is the present reality different from the future goal?
What is missing from the present?
What obstacles are keeping them from achieving their goal?
Have the participants analyse the skills, resources or opportunities they already have at their disposal in order to achieve their goal:
Do they have the necessary talents or skills?
Do they have resources or rights that they can leverage?
Are there partnerships with other communities or institutions that can be developed?

Step 2. Develop strategies to reach the goals

For each obstacle, the participants create a strategy to solve the problem and achieve their goal. The strategy consists of deciding ‘how, who and when’ to solve the problem. Be as detailed as possible about dates and responsibilities. If the strategy is specific, it is easier for the community to monitor follow through (see Box 42 for an example).

Have the participants work in breakout groups, with each group assigned to produce one strategy. If this is the first time that the participants have engaged in any type of group planning, they may be surprised to find that they can quickly arrive at concrete solutions and decisions.

Step 3. Discuss the strategies

Bring the breakout groups back together and have each present its strategy. Analyse and discuss together, allowing for adjustments. Suggest steps for monitoring progress on the strategies.

Discussion questions include:

Are these strategies reasonable?
What will be the biggest obstacles to or possible points of failure in the strategies?
How can the strategies be improved?
What outsiders have to be included in this process?
How will you ensure that the people assigned to a task complete it?
When will the progress of these strategies be evaluated? Who will be in charge of organising the evaluation?
Would you be able to do this now without a facilitator?

Step 4. Implement and monitor

Create a basic monitoring plan to ensure that the strategies are implemented. The plan should include specific events for following up on the strategies, such as meetings with participants to gauge progress.

Now, put the strategies into action!

Box 42. Example of pathways to complete community well.

Today	Strategy			Future
What advantages or resources do we have that we can leverage? A partially finished water well Manual labour Skilled craftsmen Wood What are we lacking and what obstacles do we have to overcome in order to reach our goal? A water well that is full of sticks, toads and mud that dries up in the dry season Well lining Platform Well cover Materials: iron bars, bricks, bucket, rope, cement, pulley, sand Transportation for the materials Money: total of about 2500 Bolivianos, which equals a box and a half of Brazil nut harvest per family 1375 Bolivianos for materials 1000 Bolivianos to rent a truck from the city for the materials 100 Bolivianos to rent a truck from a neighbouring community for the sand	What will we do?	Who will do it?	When will it be done?	…Goal accomplished!!
	First, request that the mayor help finish the well	A commission from the community	April	A water well that is finished, clean and always full of water.
	Collect a box and a half of the Brazil nut harvest donated per family	Claudia, the community treasurer	March
	Buy construction materials	The treasurer Claudia, the craftsman Guido and community leaders	The first days of April
	Buy cement	Claudia and Guido	September
	Dig the well deeper, clean it	Guido and community volunteers	September

Box 43. Tips for getting started

Scenario-based planning is participatory and powerful. However, it can be difficult to convince people of the effectiveness of scenario-based planning if they do not try it. So, the best way to share with local government officials and communities what scenario-based planning is and how it can help them is to ‘show by doing’:

Organise a Scenarios workshop with local government officials and community leaders, where they participate in an actual Scenarios exercise. It should be a real planning session, not simply a hypothetical situation. During and after the exercise, discuss how scenarios can be used for participatory planning in the communities. Does the method need to be adapted? Can it be performed in all communities? Who could facilitate?
Facilitate a Scenarios workshop in one community. After the workshop, organise presentations of the results by the participants so that they can share the results with other communities and explain the method.
Plan a local facilitator training session in the Scenarios methods. Invite potential facilitators, such as local government officials, leaders of community organisations, and teachers. This will create a team of Scenarios facilitators who can run the workshops in all of the communities.

For more information on scenario-based planning, see:

Evans, K., Velarde, S.J., Prieto, R.P., Rao, S.N., Sertzen, S., Davila, K., Cronkleton, P. and de Jong, W. 2006 Field guide to the future: Four ways for communities to think ahead. Alternatives to Slash and Burn Consortium, World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya and CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia. (Available at: www.asb.cgiar.org/ma/scenarios)

Nemarundwe, N., de Jong, W. and Cronkleton, P. 2003 Future scenarios as an instrument for forest management. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.

Peterson, G.D., Beard, T.D., Beisner, B.E., Bennett, E.M., Carpenter, S.R., Cumming, G.S., Dent, C.L. and Havlicek, T.D. 2003 Assessing future ecosystem services: a case study of the Northern Highlands Lake District, Wisconsin. Conservation Ecology 7(3): Article 1. (http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol7/iss3/art1/print.pdf)

Wollenberg, E., Edmunds, D. and Buck, L. 2000 Anticipating change: Scenarios as a tool for adaptive forest management: A guide. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.

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