Backhaus, C.

The article describes the experiences of Sri Lanka's North Western Province Dry Zone Participatory Development Project (DZP) in transferring participatory approaches from one institutional culture to another. It summarises some of the difficulties which have been encountered while facilitating participatory planning processes in 40 villages.

The article describes the experiences of Sri Lanka's North Western Province Dry Zone Participatory Development Project (DZP) in transferring participatory approaches from one institutional culture to another. It summarises some of the difficulties which have been encountered while facilitating participatory planning processes in 40 villages.

Much PRA has been through NGO, although government organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for participatory approaches. This is a greater challenge, as these organizations have a greater institutional inertia, requiring more time for real change to occur. This is illustrated by a programme in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. Several problems commonon to government organizations are discussed. Pressure to acheive unrealistic targets leads to critisism over the slow process of participation which may result in a desire to revert to faster top down approaches.