Organizing the Stakeholders - Essay Example

Research and baseline gathering This step can be carried out through a survey and direct evaluation. Questionnaires can be devised through the assistance of experts to collect data such as current participatory practices, what practices are effective or not, what is the extent of involvement of the parents, what are the problems encountered with current participatory programs. In other words, a thorough analysis of the weaknesses and strengths (the inner resources of those directly involved), and the opportunities and threats (the uncontrollable external factors) within the society, in general, must be undertaken.

There are systematic means in doing this and a lot of experts can be tapped to do an effective participative SWOT analysis. Designing of parents participatory learning programs: After examining everything under the SWOT analysis an effective program can be designed. The program should focus on participative learning in three aspects: in-school, which covers the theoretical aspect; at home (trial applications); and community (actual applications). To site one particular case where participative learning in the three aspects is applied, let us consider mathematics.

In school, the child is taught how to add, subtract and divide through sticks, blocks, and other instructional aids; at home, the skill can be applied by direct involvement in actual house chores such as counting the plates, spoons, budgeting, and accounting their own daily allowance; in the community, the learning is enhanced by involving the child in shopping and other activities. In all these acts the parents have reinforced the teachings in school. This is just a simple illustration but a lot of similar programs if properly planned and arranged can be developed.

Consultants and project planning tools are available which can help in the process. Manktelow (2003) in the Mind Tools website discussed a lot of these methods. Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation The next steps involved are actually fine-tuning. The programs developed will be tested and evaluated and revised accordingly to suit the standards and needs. In the actual implementation stage, since parents don't have equal educational levels and interests, mentoring is a good idea to aid the learning of those children with parental problems.

In evaluating effectiveness, pre and post-test will be conducted with the children involved in the program. Participation of the parents and other stakeholders will also be evaluated. Of course, it is not expected that 100% of the parents will become totally engrossed with the program, but 80% participation is not so ambitious a target. What is needed to achieve the set objectives are determination and hard work.