Braden, Su

This paper describes an action-research approach that extends participation from the village level to national policy-making processes. Villagers were able to contribute to the Malawi Government policy on rural energy and natural resource management. Video was used as a tool with communities to research, reflect and analyse their own problems, and to represent themselves directly with policy-makers.

This introduction to the "Learning from Analysis" theme looks at the definition of analysis and at it's benefits, considers different types of analysis and who is involved in it, and investigates the tools and methods used for analysis. Finally it considers the match between good local analysis and outside expectations, as well as facilitation for analysis. It asserts that thorough analysis can make the difference between a superficial descriptive report or simplistic feedback session and one that is based on a deep understanding, with ownership that motivates people to action.

This special edition of PLA notes looks at Learning from Analysis. Where does participation in analysis begin and end? When does it happen and how and by whom is local learning represented? The articles in this issue discuss what happens when data is "collected", discussed, summarised and shared, where priorities are made and action points agreed. Insights are shared from community-based analysis of gender differences in Uganda, poverty assessment in the UK, and irrigation planning in Peru.