Quality Circle Presentations 1 official

For a period of four years participatory action research into the community management of rural water supplies took place in 6 countries. This research provided a huge amount of experience and insights. To gather this information has been a challenge. However, it is an even bigger challenge to disseminate the information in such a way that i) it is being used, and ii) it leads to exchanges between professionals and to new insights and knowledge. As part of this dissemination strategy, the research team chose to develop or expand their capacity to train field staff in participatory development and issues related to Community Management of rural water supplies. For the purpose of capacity development the international research team organised a Training of Trainers in March 1999. A manual for this ToT was produced, through which IRC greatly benefited from the work done by FMD Consultants. This manual consists of a theoretical section and a tools section and is a document about learning and development approaches with tools to help people learn about community management, rather than a document that tells you all about community management of rural water supplies. The tools are primarily for use by trainers responsible for helping field staff prepare for their tasks with communities.