A Short Guide to

Participatory Systematization

Prepared for Universitas Forum

Mapping community knowledge of water sources in Sri Lanka

Photo: Andrei Rami Rodan
 A Short Guide to Participatory Systematization

Summarized and translated from:

Selección de Lecturas sobre metodología de la Educación Popular. CIE "Graciela

Bustillos". Asociación de Pedagogos de Cuba. Primera edición Ciudad de la Habana,
agosto 1998. Segunda Edición, Ciudad de la Habana, marzo 2001. Financiados por la
organización alemana "Pan para el mundo".

Prepared by:

Mareike Brunelli for Universitas Forum, as part of the project

“Innovative Practices of Inclusive Urban Development and Poverty Reduction”

May 2014

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Systematization, in the field of social sciences, refers to the generalization,
replication and extension of past practices. The purpose of this guide is to better
define the concept of systematization and what this practice implies, as well as to
provide a methodology for participatory systematization.

1. What is systematization?

Systematization can be described

as the initial step in the research
process. It involves arranging and
evaluating practices, and is rooted
in practical experiences. These
experiences can be defined as
dynamic social processes based on
a complex combination of factors
such as context and conditions;
the actions and interactions of
diverse actors; perceptions,
intentions and interpretations of
reality, as well as results. Discussion group with Traditional Healers in Bandiagara
(Mali)
Systematization is an organized Photo: Piero Coppo
reflection on an experience as a
permanent process, through the accumulation of information and knowledge. It can
be seen as the link between practice and theory, or a conceptual interpretation of
practice, whose outcomes must serve as the foundation for deeper analysis. It
creates a logical connection between the practical process, its context, and the
theoretical premises on which the experience is based.

What differentiates systematization from other forms of interpretation is its

participatory character. Through systematizing experiences, the researcher and the
actors directly involved aim to understand a social process from within, drawing on
the dynamics of the experience in order to comprehend the reasoning behind the
process itself and the factors influencing it.

Systematization is therefore a critical interpretation of experiences, which, through

organizing and reconstructing all of the elements, brings to light the logic of the

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process, the intervening factors, and how these factors have interacted to produce a
given event. When we systematize, we sort out the experience and describe it in a
structured way so as to understand it in context. This process allows us to make our
experiences communicable and replicable.

2. Reasons to systematize:

Systematizing is important as it
provides us with a critical overview
of the experiences and processes
being examined. However, it is not
an end in itself. It is a tool that can
be used to conceptualize how an
initiative has been made possible,
what results have been achieved,
and why certain outcomes have
occurred over others. This facilitates
the transfer of knowledge and the
search for new solutions.

Systematizing aims at Planting event in Winnipeg's Selkirk Garden (Canada)

understanding the experience and Photo: Dufferin Residents' Association of Winnipeg
the process behind it, so that we can
improve practice and learn from our mistakes. This can be accomplished through:

 finding consistencies and inconsistencies in a project

 building on strengths
 improving upon weaknesses
 and establishing better conditions for future projects

Through systematization we can communicate and share our experience and the
lessons we learned from it and, by sharing, learn from other similar practices. An
analysis of the results and outcomes of an experience should therefore be made
accessible to others (e.g. other organizations in our same field, people interested in
our work, academics). Communication is vital if we want to fulfill the purpose of
systematizing, which is to create a space for comparison and confrontation among
different experiences, based on an exchange of knowledge.

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To allow others to understand our work and share with them our experience, we
have to make sure that the information we provide is communicable, meaning that
it has to be easily understandable and accessible.

3. How to systematize: a proposed method.

This proposal is structured in five steps. The methodology will allow you to identify,
document and transfer experiences and the key lessons from your project or series
of projects so that they can be shared, learned from and replicated.

There are many variations to the following structure and each phase can be
adapted. At the same time, the steps highlighted here will help your outcome
become clearer and more complete:

I. Starting point
Take part in the experience
Keep records
II. Fundamental questions
What is the purpose?
What is the object?
What is the concept?
III. Recover memory of the experience
Retrace history
Organize and categorize information
IV. Considerations about what happened
Analysis, summary and critical interpretation of the process
V. Finalization
Formulate conclusions
Communicate the results

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I. Starting point (when and who)

The starting point is the experience itself, our practice. Therefore, systematization
comes in at a second moment, as it is not possible to systematize something that has
not yet been implemented.

Take part in the experience

It is crucial that those who were

involved in the experience take part in
the systematizing process. This does
not necessarily mean that all of the
people who are systematizing must
have been involved in the experience
directly, or to the same degree. What is
important is that systematization
should be a participatory process that
involves people who have been
involved in the experience in some
way. No participatory systematization
can be conducted by any person or Moravia community garden in Medellin (Colombia)
organization not related to the Photo: Shauna MacKinnon
experience.

External help, however, can be provided in terms of technical support (e.g. help with
methodology or technology), often by a trained researcher.

Keep records

Any experience we want to systematize has taken place over a period of time, in
which many events have taken place. It is important to keep records of everything
that is related to the experience. It would also be best to register any event that
takes place as quickly as possible, so that the moment being recorded, its
implementation, the expectations and the actual results are noted, as well as any
reflections for the future. We should not trust memory, as time can change the way
we think things have happened. Not only quantity but especially, quality of the
information recorded is a key to the systematization process.

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 Keeping records can be done through several tools: personal journals, reports,
recording of seminars and workshops, photos, films and videos, charts, maps…
Creativity is welcome when dealing with this task, so don’t stop at these proposed
tools, but find the most suitable method for your experience.

II. Fundamental questions

This phase corresponds to the actual beginning of the systematization process.

The whole process will be based on the answers we give to the following questions.

What is the purpose?

This question helps us to define, as clearly as possible, the meaning and the
usefulness of our systematization.

Example:
An educational centre focused on community work recognizes the need to
reproduce its action plans, as the situation in its country is changing. On the basis of
previous experiences, its team decides to systematize with the purpose of creating a
new approach to community work in response to the challenges posed by the
national situation.

What is the object?

Now we have to choose the experience(s) to be systematized. There are several

factors that can influence the decision to pick one experience over another.
Whatever experience you decide to systematize, it must have a clearly defined time
and space (i.e. exact context) in which it took place.

Example:
The above-mentioned educational centre decided to focus on creating a new form of
community work. They could delimit its systematization object to “experiences of
community health work which took place in the urban area of La Union and the rural
communities of Palmar and San Jeronimo between 1992 and 1993 (a time when a
new government was changing its strategies towards rural communities)”.

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 What is the concept?

This is not an easy question, but it certainly is the core element of the whole process
of systematization. Experiences can be so rich in components that, even when there
are clearly defined purposes and objects, we still need to specify the focus of
systematization.

The concept can be seen as the theme that goes through the entire experience, or its
central idea. There might be various concepts; it is just a matter of deciding which
one to focus on in the systematization process.

Example:
Our educational centre could summarize its concept for the systematization as one
or more of:
- “work in health, autonomy and capacity building by community members”
- “work in health and women’s participation”
- “role played in the process by health promoters”.

III. Recover the memory of the experience

Procedures used and time spent on this task

may vary, depending on the duration or
complexity of the object and the level of detail
expressed in the concept.

Retrace history

We should get a global vision of the most

important phases of the experience, usually in
chronological order. Help will come from the
records we mentioned earlier.

Issues considered for the historical

reconstruction will depend on the
systematization we are carrying out (concept). Retracing history of Moravia's community
garden with involved women (Medellin,
What is important is that this work provides
Colombia)
an overall vision of the process. Photo: Shauna MacKinnon

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 Example:
Our educational centre will retrace previous urban and rural experiences, paying
attention to changes that have occurred in national policies with special reference
to community-sensitive issues.

Organize and categorize information

Given the overall vision, we now need to organize all the elements that define the
experience. A useful tool will be guidelines or a series of questions that will allow us
to reconstruct the experience around basic questions. Again, help will come from
our records. The intentions and opinions of the participants (those who promoted
it, and those who benefited from it) must be taken into account.

Example:
Our educational centre could use the following timeline to organize and categorize
each step:
- Goals fixed by centre
- Needs expressed by communities
- Achievements and difficulties
- Effects of the health programme
- Link between communities and governmental bodies
- Perception among community members
- Other

IV. Considerations about what happened

This is the phase in which we ask

ourselves the reasons why the
experience we are systematizing
has taken place. We are starting
here with a critical
interpretation.

Discussion between local farmers and researchers on

indigenous seeds (Kambila, Mali)
Photo: Assetou Founé
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 Analysis, summary and critical interpretation of the process

In order to carry out this deep analysis, we can use a series of critical questions, or a
critical guide, that examine the process. This can allow us to identify those factors
that were significant to the process and, by analyzing them, help us in explaining the
meaning and logic behind the experience.

Example:
Our educational centre that systematizes its experience in community work on
health could ask itself:
- Were there changes in the goals? Why?
- Have needs remained the same? In what way have they changed?
- What was the link between goals and needs in the different stages of the
experience? Compare urban and rural community needs.
- Has the relation between government and communities changed? In what
ways? What tensions and contradictions emerged, and why? Do they still
exist?
- What can be seen as the proof of autonomy and capacity building results?
- Which factors contributed positively to these results? What had negative
impacts? If there were any, how could they be overcome?
- How can we explain our focal concepts, such as “autonomy”, “capacity”? How
can they be related to neoliberal orientations? What do we mean by
“neoliberalism”?

V. Finalization

With this final step in our

systematization process, we should
take time to formulate conclusions
and communicate results. This is a
very important task, because from it
stems the most basic outcome of
systematizing: understanding and
sharing.

Discussing conclusions on social enterprise creation

with community organizations working on HIV
prevention (Skopje, Macedonia)
Photo: Sara Swartz

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Formulate conclusions

All of the interpretation that has been carried out up to this point must be
summarized through a clear formulation of conclusions, both theoretical and
practical.

Conclusions should respond to the purpose we fixed in the initial steps of

systematization. Theoretical conclusions should emerge from the reflection on
direct experience, and lead to a possible generalization. Practical conclusions, on the
other hand, can be deduced from experience and will be used to improve and
enhance future practices for the systematiser and your audience.

Example:
Our educational centre could formulate theoretical conclusions about autonomy
and capacity building and the extent to which social policies impact communities in
a neoliberal context. At the same time, they could formulate a proposal on new
approaches and contents of community work in consideration of a new national
context. They could try to generalize about positive and negative aspects of the
experience.

Communicate results

Finally, documenting allows

knowledge to be shared with others.
It is worth spending time to make
results easily comprehensible to
audiences that are not specialized or
who do not know the experience
directly. A useful tool could be a
paper or case study, hopefully
written in a creative way. Any other
creative form of communication Presentation of the International Laboratory on
(theatre, stories, video, graphs, poverty reduction in Winnipeg (Canada)
comic strips, …) is welcome, as long Photo: Shauna MacKinnon
as it makes our experience
communicable and the language is adapted to our audience.

Please see the following Annex for a guide on how to elaborate a systematization
proposal.

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Annex:
A guide on how to elaborate a systematization proposal

1. General aspects
Title
Produced by
Date
2. About the experience
What is the experience to be systematized (Define object)
Why is it important to systematize it
Briefly summarize the experience (when and where it took place, who participated in it,
what was the aim, main results)

3. About the systematization plan

Reason of the systematization (purpose)

Main aspects of the experience we want to systematize (concept)

What elements are relevant for a historical reconstruction

What elements are relevant for organizing and categorizing information

What elements are relevant for the critical interpretation

What sources of information are used

What procedures will be used to systematize, and who will take part in the process

Outcomes of systematization

4. Period of time required and timetables

Total time of systematization process
Timetable:

Date Activity / Step Participants

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Useful resources

If you want to learn more about systematization, you can refer to the following
online readings, by clicking on them:

 SELECCIÓN DE LECTURAS SOBRE METODOLOGÍA DE LA EDUCACIÓN

POPULAR. CIE "Graciela Bustillos”

 SYSTEMATIZATION FOR KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER. Methodological Series on

Knowledge Management, Sharing Knowledge for Development Project.
Knowledge Management Unit, UNDP Regional Centre for Latin America and
the Caribbean

 RESOURCE PACK ON SYSTEMATIZATION OF EXPERIENCES. ActionAid

International

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