Grid to help observe an environment
It is a simple diagnostic tool that allows learners to pay attention to different parameters when they want to understand an environment and before they start working on setting up a farmers’ collective in that same environment.
Presentation of the tool
To understand the tool, it is important to remember that MPP offers and runs a two-cycle training programme in facilitation for social change.
This training is aimed at farmers with various levels of education, so the intention of MPP is to propose a simple diagnostic tool that quickly allows learners to be attentive to different parameters when they want to understand an environment and before starting to work on setting up a farmers’ group in that same environment.
The MPP has been using this tool since the establishment of its animation training programme in 1973-1976. The idea is not to make the tool more complex, but to maintain it as a tool to help observe an environment that is accessible to all groups of actors.
Pedagogical use
This tool makes it possible to present the different aspects that need to be observed when entering a community, even before forming farmer groups. The aim is to provide a simple tool for gathering initial information to understand the environment in which one wishes to accompany groups of actors.
To fill in this grid, the facilitator must observe the environment, lifestyles and relationships between stakeholders. The message of the MPP is clear : in order to understand a person and to act with him or her, one must understand his or her environment, and in order to understand his or her environment, one must observe at least different dimensions :
How to use it
This tool is used in the training course on animation for social change, in the module on the method of peasant organisation, in the first cycle of animation training. It is important to note that this is a sandwich course, so learners have the opportunity to return to their localities to test their observation tool and share their information during the next training session.
Depending on the audience, this tool can be made more complex by adding sub-questions and/or hypotheses to go even further in the analysis of the environment.
During the training session, the learners carry out the exercise on their own environments in order to try to gain perspective on their environments.
