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This book explores the potential contribution of a human rights perspective to the development of policies and programmes that strengthen the sustainability of poor people's assets and livelihood security. A review of key elements in human rights, livelihoods and sustainable development debates identifies areas of common concern. This shows that concepts of livelihoods and sustainable development both require a stronger analysis of power relations, institutions and politics.

This book intends to provide participatory development tools that will enable those traditionally excluded - particularly women - from decision-making processes and control over resources to have a voice and to play an active role. The authors contend that the tools described increase the capacities of local communities, NGOs and public sector agencies by integrating applied and analytical methods. To illustrate, examples from field experience in urban, rural and agrarian communities from around the world are described.

Amid the growing realisation that top-down, technocratic approaches to agricultural development largely fail, alternative approaches have begun to emerge, based on participatory methods, the use of local technologies and resources and the notion of 'farmers first'. In this context, a project began in the Chivi District in southern Zambia, which aimed to work, using alternative methods, with smallholder farmers to develop technological options in order to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods in marginal areas.

This special issue of PLA Notes reflects on Popular Communications, drawing on a workshop held at the Institute of Development Studies in May 2000. The workshop drew together a wide range of international development and community practitioners who use innovative popular communications media in their work. At the workshop, the idea emerged of a 'Well of Inspiration', a collection of stories from experience from the workshop participants which could be shared amongst them and with other popular communications practitioners and activists.

Recounts the experiences of the Eritrea Community based Theatre Project from its inception through the voices of those involved to reveal the kind of impact it had, the mistakes and methodologies that had to be worked through and the lessons learnt. Presented in a series of personal accounts, the article tries to capture the moments as they happened.

This article describes the Most Significant Change (MSC) approach to project monitoring across an Australian extension project whose aim was to enhance the viability of the dairy industry. The MSC approach is participatory, in that all the project stakeholders are involved in deciding the sorts of change to be recorded. The process involves collecting stories of change, emanating from the field level and the systematic selection of the most significant of these stories by project steering committees. This article highlights the experiences gained during a 12-month trial with the project.

This Special Issue of PLA Notes focuses on participatory approaches and processes in the North. It presents a variety of case studies where participatory techniques have been used in a range of sectors and contexts, the key linkage between them being their location in the 'North'. Participatory approaches have been increasingly adopted in northern countries, influenced by the long history of participatory practice in the South. Articles draw from experiences in Japan, USA, UK, Norway, Australia, Northern Ireland and Canada.

"Voices of the Poor" is a series of three books that collates the experiences, views and aspirations of over 60,000 poor women and men. This first book of the series gathers the voices of over 40,000 poor women and men in 50 countries from the World Bank's participatory poverty assessments. Using participatory and qualitative research methods, the study presents very directly, through poor people's own voices, the realities of their lives; these voices send powerful messages that point the way toward policy change.

An account of the way a women's environmental network made use of participatory processes to make connections between the national and local levels in the UK on breast cancer. The article demonstrates how links can be built between advocacy and empowerment through a participatory process.

In this article, the authors recount the development of an innovative monitoring tool for use by sex workers in a peer education programme. A brief history of the project in Nepal is given and the use of the tool - the 'mala' is described with an accompanying note on its impact.