Building Bridges to an Uncertain Future Lived Now: Lessons from the Use of Participatory Action Research and Theory of Change Towards A Realistic Community-Based Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation System

Building on experience from the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems implemented by WorldFish in the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Philippines, known as the VisMin Hub, we describe the development and evolution of a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system emerging from the facilitated action-reflection cycles of testing and adopting theories of change carried out with community partners through participatory action research (PAR). The former guides our community partners and us, as members of the potentially emergent PAR groups, towards the realization of the community’s vision; the latter facilitates learning to understand what, how and why change is unfolding. Unlike the conventional M&E system where indicators are pre-set at the beginning of program implementation, these processes result in an organically-evolved, communitybased participatory M&E system that is continuously revised according to contexts to guide communities towards realizing their visions. Its ultimate outcome is enhanced people’s capacity to own the product and process, giving rise to an internally-driven change. Towards the end, the paper offers an iterative discussion of learnings from implementing such an approach

Addressing Small Scale Fisheries Management through Participatory Action Research (PAR), an Experience from the Philippines

This case demonstrates the potential of addressing small scale fisheries management through participatory action research (PAR) in one of the CRP 1.3/AAS sites in the Philippines. Following the iterative process of PAR, a series of focus group discussions (FGDs) to reflect on the issues and concerns of small scale fishermen (SSF) in Barangay Binitinan, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, Philippines was carried out from February to May, 2014. This was followed by the conduct of consultative workshop among stakeholders in SSF in June 2014, the main objective of which was to develop a collective action plan for the management of said resource. The FGDs employed facilitated iteration and reflection of issues affecting various groups of small scale fishing community, while the Consultative Workshop among stakeholders used the appreciation-influence-control model of participatory stakeholder engagement (Ratner 2011).Consequently, various stakeholders of small scale fisheries begin to understand, appreciate and take actions together. A feeling of trust and confidence among them begin to develop which enabled them to craft a collective action plan on sustainable management and governance of municipal waters and fisheries resources. Aside from these outcomes, these processes led to the admission of “sahid” (beach seine) operators that they are indeed using illegal gear, that their gear would be replaced by the legal one by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), that the Law Enforcers would implement the Law and the small scale fishermen would abide the rules and would be apprehended by Law Enforcers once they violate the rules and the LGUs asking stakeholders to feedback the amendments necessary to make municipal ordinances well fitted to them. Another major outcome of these processes was the identification of research topics which the stakeholders identified to be necessary so that science-based productivity and governance decisions can be put in place. All of these activities fall within the PAR processes