Using card collection method to ensure participatory decision-making

My colleague in the Knowledge Sharing Team Meena Arivananthan and I recently organized a training session on a knowledge sharing method called “Card Collection”.

The Card Collection method is not new and was first described by Neill McKee, formerly at UNICEF Bangladesh, in 1993. This method is similar to the ToP Workshop Method currently taught to FAO Staff in the Facilitation I: Guide Group Participation Training Course.

The Card Collection Method is a facilitated process that supports groups with strong hierarchies or diverse ideas. I have also used this method in a setting where participants did not know each other. Personally, I find this method extremely useful for the following reasons:

• Allows everyone to share their thoughts, ideas, solutions, suggestions, etc. on a specific topic of common interest
• Due to its participatory nature, the results often have a higher buy-in when compared to decisions that are not participatory.
• Because no idea is discarded, everyone feels at equal level.

To learn more about this method, please visit the CGIAR/FAO Knowledge Sharing Toolkit: http://www.kstoolkit.org/Card+Collection.