World Bank. Environment Department

This video explores numerous issues surrounding participatory poverty assessments (PPAs), using the example of a PPA in Tanzania. A key issue is the identification of the poor, about which appropriate information is needed to inform government policy. In contrast to traditional surveys of income-poverty, the PPA provides a way to understand poverty from the perspective of the poor and to enable this perspective to influence policy. The importance of the involvement of policy makers in the PPA is stressed at several points in the video.

This document is based on a paper written by Banerjee, A; Campbell, G; Cruz, C, M; Davis, S and Molnar, A, as a contribution to the Participation Sourcebook. It presents materials from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Haiti, Mexico, Philippines, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Nepal and India to support the notion that the participation of local communities and other stakeholders in managing forestry and conservation projects can help to improve forest productivity, alleviate poverty, enhance environmental sustainability, and make rules governing forest access more enforceable.

This document is based on a paper written by Davis, S. H and Soeftestad, L. T as a contribution to the World Bank Participation Sourecebook. It states that the characteristics of indigenous groups make participatory approaches especially critical to safeguarding their interests in the development process. Although such approaches, which recognise the right indigenous peoples to participate actively in planning their own futures are supported by major donors and international organisations, they have proved very difficult to implement.

This document addresses the World BankÆs approach to country poverty assessments. It looks at the increasing involvement of stakeholder groups, with the aim of building in-country capacity to address the problems of the poor. With examples from a number of countries, it argues that the participation of government and other institutional stakeholders in all aspects of the work increases sensitivity to poverty issues, enhances analytical skills, and builds allegiance to the measures proposed for poverty reduction.