Introduction
The aim of this Unit is to increase trainees’ awareness about power and power relations as an important factor for participation. It provides a background and description of power and the uses of power as a negative and positive force. The Unit provides the trainees with arguments upon which to reflect on their own power and how best to facilitate power analysis as a means to create opportunities for empowerment and participation by the different groups that may be engaged in a participatory mapping process.
The Unit also assists communities in “mapping” intra-community power relations, identifying ways of working with or around existing structures and facilitating genuinely participatory and inclusive processes. Trainees will be able to present their role and interest in this process, ensure transparency and trust and facilitate participatory mapping while taking into consideration power and power relations in the community.
In power relations, stakeholder analysis is of particular relevance. In any given community, there are many stakeholders with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, interests and abilities to influence the process and decisions. The nature and level of engagement by these stakeholders in the participatory mapping process will always be determined by how they perceive the process. If they perceive it as threatening their interests (e.g. access or user rights to forest products, water or land), they are likely to oppose or sabotage it and if they see it as serving their interests, they will support it.
Unit objectives / expected outcomes
After the completion of the Unit the trainee will be able to:
- discuss the complexities of power;
- describe expressions of power;
- facilitate empowerment;
- discuss the uses of stakeholder power analysis;
- guide a stakeholder power analysis through a step-wise approach.
Content outline, main topics covered and suggested sequencing
This Unit focuses on the topics listed below:
- Feeling Power and Identifying Its Sources (Exercise No. 1) (90 min)
- Power, Empowerment and Participation (Handout4T No.1 & PPT No. 1) (45 min)
- Stakeholder Power Analysis (Exercise No. 2) (120 min)
- Stakeholder Power Analysis (Handout4T No. 2 & PPT No. 2) (45 min)
Components of the Unit
Exercises
- Exercise No. 1: Feeling Power and Identifying Its Sources; to introduce the concept of power and to encourage people to recognise their own power and potential (1½ hours)
- Exercise No. 2: Stakeholder Power Analysis; to introduce trainees to the stakeholder’s power analysis tool and to use it in identifying and analysing key players in the participatory mapping process (2 hours)
Handouts for Trainee (to be distributed in printed format):
- Power, Empowerment and Participation (Handout4T No.1)
- Stakeholder Power Analysis (Handout4T No. 2)
- Exercises M04U01 No. 1 and 2
- Article: Stakeholder Power Analysis
- Unit Glossary (included in the Module Glossary)
Handouts for Trainee (to be distributed in digital format)
- Action Guide: Power and Empowerment
- Publication: Analysis of Stakeholder Power and Responsibilities in Community Involvement in Forest Management in Eastern and Southern Africa
- Article: Stakeholder Power Analysis Tool
Presentations
- PPT No. 1: Power and Empowerment: The presentation describes the concepts of power and empowerment and discusses the importance of interrogating power relations and how they could affect participation of different groups in the participatory mapping processes. (45 min)
- PPT No. 2: Stakeholder Power Analysis; The presentation introduces the concept and tool of stakeholder power analysis and provides tips on how to do it 45 min)
Duration
5 hours
Additional trainer resources
- VeneKlasen, Lisa with Miller, Valarie, A New Weave of Power: Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation, Practical Action Publishing, 2002, Pages 39–59;
www.justassociates.org/ActionGuide.htm - Mayers, James, Stakeholder Power Analysis
www.policy-powertools.org/Tools/Understanding/docs/stakeholder_power_tool_english.pdf 03/09/2009 - Barrow, Edmund, Jeanette Clarke, Isla Grundy, Kamugisha-Ruhombe Jones and Yemeserach Tessema, Forest and Social Perspectives in Conservation No. 9: Analysis of Stakeholder Power and Responsibilities in Community Involvement in Forest Management in Eastern and Southern Africa, IUCN World Conservation Union East Africa Programme, 2002.
Equipment needed
Metaplan cards, soft boards, pins, felt pens, newsprint, masking tape