Participatory methods for vulnerability assessments: Selected examples Gina Ziervogel Stockholm Environment Institute

Overview Introduction Toolkit Examples Wealth ranking Cognitive mapping Role play

at the start.. What aspects are important Field-based data How to measure

Toolkit Number of tools for vulnerability and adaptation assessments Quantitative vs. qualitative Time available Resources

Wealth ranking Stratifications of groups within a community as understood by community members Categories Money, availability/access to resources, health, labour Poor, average, better-off Represented by colours, symbols, numbers

Wealth ranking process Establish categories Community members place themselves/ key members place households Consultation possible

Cognitive mapping A cognitive model that captures diverse nature of the problem Useful tool when: different stakeholders have different perceptions of the problem the options for addressing a problem are unclear

Cognitive mapping process 1)State the problem 2)Brainstorm assumptions and solutions 3)Group emerging concepts Build up a hierarchy/topology 4)Re-illustrate the concepts so they form a conceptual model 5)Go back to participants 6)Formal cognitive model

Role play To creatively remove people from their usual roles and assumptions by involving them as a group in analytic thinking and assessment

Role play process Open-ended story/ written case description Describe the setting for the action Participants asked to act out potential scenarios Record Tape/video Participant feedback Observer descriptions/notes

Summary A way of going beyond the initial perceptions of both the researcher and the researched Participatory tools need to be moulded to suit the problem