Although there are many different ways of learning about communities, this section features ethnographic methods.
Ethnographic methods enable learning about children’s lived experiences, bring forward the views of local people, and build the deeper levels of trust and respect that are needed for community-led work on child protection.
The tools were developed and used in Sierra Leone (with some modifications) but can be adapted to many different contexts. The Sierra Leone emphasis is presented here in order to show a contextually specific adaptation of learning tools.
Although this section focuses specifically on the early phase of learning about (and with) the community, the tools from previous sections are relevant as well.
For example, it can be useful to think through how the people who will be collecting information in communities might benefit from first using several tools related to empathy (FAC 4), asking probing questions (FAC 6), and enabling inclusive dialogue (TRN 7), among others.