This book addresses a key issue in higher learning, university education and scientific research: the widespread difficulty researchers, experts and students from all disciplines face when trying to contribute to change in complex social settings characterized by uncertainty and the unknown. More than ever, researchers need flexible means and grounded theory to combine people-based and evidence-based inquiry into challenging situations that keep evolving and do not lend themselves to straightforward technical explanations and solutions.

Many rural communities in the global South – including some 370 million indigenous peoples – are directly dependent on biodiversity and related traditional knowledge for their livelihoods, food security, healthcare and well-being. But with the loss of biodiversity, valuable resources such as climate-resilient crops, medicinal plants and wild foods are being lost. Cultural diversity is being eroded at an unprecedented rate and with it, ancestral knowledge of how to use and conserve biodiversity.

Muchas comunidades rurales –incluyendo unos 370 millones de indígenas- dependen directamente de la biodiversidad y del conocimiento tradicional relacionado para sus medios de vida, seguridad alimentaria, cuidado de la salud y bienestar. Pero con la pérdida de biodiversidad, están desapareciendo valiosos recursos, como cultivos resistentes al clima, plantas medicinales y alimentos silvestres.

Across Africa, young people are seen as a ‘lost generation’: frustrated, excluded and marginalised from decision-making processes. This special issue of Participatory Learning and Action shows how this is changing. Young people in Africa are challenging the norms and structures that exclude them, engaging with the state and demanding accountability.

All over the world citizens are starting to demand accountability from those in power. We are seeing exciting experiments in participatory governance. But are they working for young people? What spaces are most promising for the participation of children and young people in governance?

Do you work with or in an international or northern office of an international non-governmental organisation (INGO)? Do you facilitate participatory processes at the grassroots? Have you ever wondered how wide an impact the process might have?

This special issue of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) reflects on the journey towards participatory approaches in poverty reduction in China, focusing in particular on the transformations at the interface between the government and rural communities.

Where do you shit? In developing countries, the answer to this question may determine whether you live or die. Around 2.6 billion people defecate in the open.

Where do you shit? In developing countries, the answer may determine whether you live or die. Around 2.6 billion people defecate in the open. The consequences are dire: shit carries disease and is major killer. Recently, a radical new particatory approach called Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) has encouraged millions of people to at, talk about and tackle the problems caused by open defecation.

Numéro 59 : Le Web participatif pour le développement : version cédérom multilingue et multimédia (anglais et français)~~Les articles contenus dans ce numéro s’inspirent des communications et présentations faites lors de la « Conférence Web2ForDev 2007 : le Web participatif au service du développement », qui s’est tenue du 24 au 27 septembre 2007 à Rome, ainsi que des événements qui en ont découlé en 2008.~~Des dizaines d’applications et de services interactifs (souvent appelés Web participatif ou Web 2.0) « fleurissent » aujourd’hui sur Internet.

How can Web 2.0 applications be integrated with participatory development approaches? How can they facilitate and contribute to people’s participation and decision-making? What are the challenges and barriers to people’s participation? How do we address factors such as access, equity, control, and oversight? Can Web 2.0 applications challenge fundamental social inequalities? This special issue aims to publish a collection of articles, which provide working examples from practice.

 This special issue focuses on recent approaches to climate change adaptation which are community-based and participatory. It highlights innovative participatory methods to help communities analyse the causes and effects of climate change, integrate scientific and community knowledge, and plan appropriate adaptation measures. Although CBA is a relatively new field, lessons and challenges are beginning to emerge, including the need to bring together disaster risk reduction, livelihoods, and climate change adaptation work, issues around the type and quality of participation in CBA, and the need for policies and institutions that support it.