Participatory Methods
This presentation is inspired by a facilitated activity designed by the popular literacy group Le Tour de lire, which can be found in the book: "Guide d'animation sur la vie collective : Ce qui se brasse dans le quartier Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Comment ça se passe chez vous?" (Only available in French – the guide is free and can be downloaded here: ) What follows is a general outline of the activity. In this example, the problematic issue proposed for discussion is "poverty." But one can imagine using this approach to address countless problems.
As a group, we construct a problem tree to understand poverty. The dynamics of poverty take the form of a tree
- The trunk is the problem to be solved.
- The causes of poverty are the roots.
- The impacts/consequences of poverty are the branches.
- The solutions to fight poverty are the leaves.
Text by: Sylvain-Aimé Marcotte