Behavior Change

Tools and Approaches

Cultural Resources Inventory

This is a participatory appraisal tool for use by communities and development workers. Working together as a group, community members are guided through the process of developing a simple matrix, or inventory, of cultural structures, events, rituals, roles, relationships, objects, symbols, etc. These may be integrated into various development strategies. The matrix is compiled through a combination of creative brainstorming, observant participation and other anthropological methods. The process of developing and using the inventory with development workers also promotes a sense of mutual respect and cultural efficacy and empowerment for the community members.

The tool has its conceptual roots in an anthropological coding system called the Outline of Cultural Materials (G.P. Murdock, 1971). This was created in order to develop an ethnographic database (known as the Human Relations Area Files) on 350 groups around the world. The cultural resource inventory was refined as part of a package of tools developed under Africare's "Dioro Approach," which applied IEC and community organization strategies to a child survival intervention in Mali.