摘要：Stakeholder and public participation in natural resources management (NRM) is now widely accepted as necessaryto achieve sustainable development outcomes. Yet, effective implementation of participatory processes necessitates well-calibrated methods and tools, as well as carefully honed facilitation skills that are difficult to gain without practice. Practitionersand academics leading these processes are thus encouraged to better reflect on, prepare, and justify their interventions, beforestarting to work in the field with stakeholders. Our paper shows how a Simulation Community of Practice (SCoP) was set upto support improved participatory practice. The specificity of this community is that its members not only discuss plannedparticipatory interventions, but also simulate these processes by adopting roles of future participants, and by working throughthe different steps of the workshop that will be later implemented in the field. The evaluation of our approach shows thatindividual and social learning of participants in the SCoP is developed, leading mainly to improved facilitator skills and tocalibration of the participatory methods and tools being tested. A space is also provided for deepening reflection on the purposesof the participatory process and the values that guide these interventions. Our experience could provide a model for others aroundthe world to set up their own SCoP to support participatory NRM practice. Further improvements to our SCoP and new onescould be made by enhancing the feedback mechanisms between the field sites and the community, in order to encourage morecumulative learning and to reinforce the members' interest, maintaining their involvement in the community over time.
关键词：community of practice; natural resource management; public participation; role play; simulation
