UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Horn, Eileen Renée
Dept./Program:
Natural Resources
Year:
2007
Degree:
MS
Abstract:
Sol Verde Cooperativa is a non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in the Santa Cruz and Nicoya counties of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. This twelve-member cooperative has historically worked to promote solar oven technologies throughout the region, but in response to mounting environmental deterioration and the failure of monocrop agricultural systems, has become interested in promoting ecological agriculture among the women and families of their community. A set of participatory research tools known as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) provided the foundation for both facilitating and documenting this transition. PRA employs group exercises such as focus groups and planning matrices to support information sharing, analysis, and action among stakeholders. It has been well-recognized for its flexible and iterative research design which privileges local knowledge and reverses traditional research power differentials. These participatory tools and supporting qualitative research methods were employed to describe the context of Sol Verde's organizational transition, facilitate a participatory research process, and to plan and evaluate the resultant education for sustainable development program.
Throughout the three month Participatory Rural Appraisal process we employed tools which ranged from project planning matrices to monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The PRA tools were used in a series of meetings with the members of Sol Verde Cooperativa, and led to the creation of an education for sustainable development (ESD) program entitled Huertas Ecoldgicas Familiares (Family Ecological Gardens). This organic homegardening ESD program reached 21 participants and was implemented in two formats, a seven-day program and a one-day workshop. Although the formation of the homegardening educational program was a critical outcome for Sol Verde, the PRA process itself provided an important 'dialogic space' in which cooperative members also considered: the cooperative's educational mission, their current outreach capacity, and the place of this project within the context of their organizational transition and the greater community. This project demonstrates how participatory research methods such as PRA can be used create an ESD program that is both formed and informed by community participation. As PRA emphasizes a participatory democratic process, nonformal and reciprocal learning, and empowerment of participants, it provides an appropriate methodology for designing educational programs that meet the goals of sustainable development. As illustrated by the case of Sol Verde Cooperativa, an organization grappling with their transition from a fully-funded nonprofit to self-sufficient cooperative, PRA tools can also serve the equally valuable function of catalyst in the process of organizational reflection and development.
Throughout the three month Participatory Rural Appraisal process we employed tools which ranged from project planning matrices to monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The PRA tools were used in a series of meetings with the members of Sol Verde Cooperativa, and led to the creation of an education for sustainable development (ESD) program entitled Huertas Ecoldgicas Familiares (Family Ecological Gardens). This organic homegardening ESD program reached 21 participants and was implemented in two formats, a seven-day program and a one-day workshop. Although the formation of the homegardening educational program was a critical outcome for Sol Verde, the PRA process itself provided an important 'dialogic space' in which cooperative members also considered: the cooperative's educational mission, their current outreach capacity, and the place of this project within the context of their organizational transition and the greater community. This project demonstrates how participatory research methods such as PRA can be used create an ESD program that is both formed and informed by community participation. As PRA emphasizes a participatory democratic process, nonformal and reciprocal learning, and empowerment of participants, it provides an appropriate methodology for designing educational programs that meet the goals of sustainable development. As illustrated by the case of Sol Verde Cooperativa, an organization grappling with their transition from a fully-funded nonprofit to self-sufficient cooperative, PRA tools can also serve the equally valuable function of catalyst in the process of organizational reflection and development.