et al.

A comprehensive account of a large scale experimental PRA conducted for SCF in Vietnam. The approach taken and its justification (not agreed by all doners) is detailed. The methodology section is extensive, discussing the theory behind PRA, training, tools and fieldwork, as well as problems such as the external and timeconsuming production of the report. The final report gives details of the education system and educations problems encountered, in general terms and by specific commune.

This handbook goes through the stages of implementing PRA from "getting started" through visits to other projects, to "data gathering, problem analysis, mobilising external support and handling money". Each stage is broken down into suggested activities and illustrated with detailed case-studies. Several sections would make useful training material - for example, internal problems are explored through case-studies of "A Controversial Chief" and "Water and Posho Mills Don't Mix".

Participatory modelling was organized by a team on a training course in North Omo. To avoid men dominating the activity, as is usual if only one group is formed, the group was divided into men, women and children. Each group created a model which showed their different perceptions and "a version of their area which begs certain emphases and areas for intervention."

The Highlander Center, a non-profit adult education centre in Tennessee, is working in three rural communities where unemployment has been growing. Their role is "not to create jobs or development, but to help the community undertake a process of education and participatory research through which they could assess their own situation, define and implement strategies for themselves". This article describes briefly the methods used, such as oral histories, community mapping and drawings, videos and community theatre.

The Communication Centre at Queensland University of Technology is currently developing a programme to "plan ecologically sustainable development strategies with the aid of advanced technologies such as interactive multimedia". An action learning framework, using methods similar to PRA such as focus groups and semi-structured interviewing, is used to involve the community in planning new facilities.

This article reports on Tamil Nadu Agricultural University collaboration with the Ford Foundation in exploring the applicability of recent advances in farmer participatory research and extension methods to rainfed conditions in Tamil Nadu. It reports on exercises conducted over two days in Kalkaruchi village near Aruppukottai. It describes a sequence of participatory social and resource mapping exercises combined with wealth ranking that attempted to discover the poorest people in the village.

It describes why and how wealth ranking was used in the early stages of a collaborative policy research and training project in Mongolia. The Policy Alternatives for Livestock Development project aims to facilitate the transition from a command to a market economy in the extensive livestock sector which dominates the Mongolian rural economy. The paper addresses the role and value of wealth ranking by card sorting in the research and training process, and its sequencing with other activities, rather than the technical details of the method itself.

It deals with farming systems research and discusses the ingredients which make an analysis successful. Specifically, these issues are discussed in relation to the eastern Visayas upland region of the Philippines.

In this brief note, recent innovations which help researchers learn about variables influencing farmers' resource allocation decisions are discussed. Participants in a workshop, which took place at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, looked at transect walks, mapping, modelling, seasonal analysis, ranking, scoring, resource flow diagrams, as well as other analysis tools. All techniques discussed had been developed by Rama Gounder and other individuals, who played a leading role in the workshop, acting as teachers.