Shah, P.

The Forests, Trees and People Programme (FTPP) is a participatory programme addressing the management of natural resources. FTPP (i) organised a PRA training workshop in Uganda, and a follow-up workshop six months later to ascertain the use of PRA by participating institutions and the problems faced. Also, (ii) FTPP identified the need for a PRA workshop in Ethiopia. This report is an outcome and assessment of these activities.

The article discusses conflict and conflict management in using PRA as a long-term process of local institutional development. It describes factors which prevents practitioners from using PRA as part of a process which recognises and handles conflict. Examples from India illustrate situations where the use of PRA has generated conflict and how it was managed in different institutional contexts. The potentially serious consequences of failing to address conflict is highlighted by an example from Gujerat, India, where conflict generated by a PRA resulted in violence and death.

This short article describes the process and the outcome of a participatory urban appraisal carried out in Chainda (a large slum) on the outskirts of Lusaka. A number of methods used in the PRA approach were used for appraisal and planning. Although the process involved discussing most issues, people carried out detailed analysis and planning involving issues of improving livelihoods, support required by the women for the informal sector and institutional and power relationships. A number of adaptations were needed for use of PRA methods.

The emphasis of the AgaKhan Rural Support Programme in Gujerat is on building up local institutions in order that they can sustain watershed management in the long term. This is done though participatory appraisals of the area, through mapping such features as soils, drainage, run-off, existing water control structures and land use and mangement. Participation by the poorer section of the community is ensured through wealth ranking. Volunteers are trained in watershed management skills, and are compensated in some way by village structures.

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme supports soil and water conservation work on private land, a priority identified by villagers, as part of a watershed management project. Villagers suggested that monitoring should look at: erosion controlled; land reclaimed; moisture retention in soil (as inferred from crop growth); and productivity and income generation. The article goes through the process of participatory impact monitoring, illustrated by real results.

Farmers are seen as informants in most development projects, despite their detailed knowledge and understanding of processes. In the work of the Aga Khan Rural Support Project, the farmers not only gather the information themselves, but they analyse it and make decisions based on their own analysis. The article gives a number of ways in which farmers are encouraged to develop their information gathering and analytical skills. It also discusses farmers' abilities as facilitators and presenters.

This very interesting history of SWC worldwide argues that over the last century conservation policies and practices have treated farmers as bad managers of soil and water. Through coercion and financial incentives, they have been made to adopt externally imposed measures. While enormous amounts of time and money have gone into this, the results have been minimal if not counter-productive and have destroyed much of the credibility of conservation work.