Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council

Community participatory tools
1. The Male group and the Female group stay at one place and identify health problems in
the community.
2. The site walk through the town groups visits a health facility (Community Health
Compound - CHC). This is to enable them learn about services provided at the site,
problems facing the site, and if possible interview a client. It provides staff members
with feedback on conditions and cleanliness of the CHPS-zone.
3. The community walk through group expresses their ideas and shares information
in visual way. In other words, they capture what they see on a map and share the
information using the map.
4. After the activity the groups assemble at one place to discuss their findings and list the
problems identified. They decide on which problems to work on first, i.e. they select
the priorities or the most important. Each group prepares an action plan on three of
the problems. These are problems which can be solved immediately by community
members using their own resources.
Box 2.4.10 “Problem Tree” Approaches
The “Problem Tree” and the “But Why” approaches are designed to assist community
members identify a problem, its consequences and its root cause or causes. For instance,
whilst community members may not see stagnant water as an environmental problem, a
simple illustration using the “Problem Tree” can bring this out clearly. In the illustration, “The
Problem” is represented by the trunk of the tree, “The Causes” are represented by the roots,
and “The Effects” or consequences are represented by the branches (Figure 2.4.2.).
Exercise 2.4.7
Objective
1. To demonstrate the
use of the ‘Problem
Tree’ and ‘But
Why’ approach to
diagnose a problem.
Time: 20 minutes
Question
1. How are the tools
used to gather
information?
Instruction to the Facilitator
Materials required
Flip chart and felt pens
1. Let participants come up with 4 health problems in
their communities.
2. Then divide participants into 2 groups
3. Let one groups use the Problem Tree to find the
causes and consequences of one of the identified
problem
4. Let the other group use the “But why” approach to
find out the causes of the other problem identified
5. Let the groups meet at a plenary to discuss their
findings
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