全球智库信息集成服务系统

This document is part of the ‘Better Evidence in Action’ toolkit.

Participatory resource mapping enables communities to articulate their knowledge of their surrounding physical environment. Using this method, they can map out in detail the resources they depend on, the qualities they attribute to these resources, who uses them, who depends on them and how they manage them. Communities can use participatory mapping with equal effect in rural and urban environments.

Through participatory resource mapping, external actors — such as government planners, NGO staff or researchers — can facilitate a process where individuals or groups within a community articulate their knowledge, which is often invisible to outsiders. This enables collaborative discussion within and across groups about solutions to problems that are felt locally but often driven externally.