Views of the poor: some thoughts on how to involve your own staff to conduct quick, low cost but insightful research into poor people's perspectives

This handbook is a result of the Views of the poor study, organised by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Tanzania, in late 2002, to assist in strengthening the poverty focus of the new Swiss country programme for Tanzania. The handbook focuses on a rapid and low cost approach used in the participatory rural study of household surveys of the poor. The intention of the study was to orient the SDC staff and partners directly in primary research and thus orient them in them current realities of rural poverty through a brief immersion experience, and gather first hand insights into experiences of poor households, contributing to policy design. The handbook goes through step by step thee design of the approach, looking at preparations such as: planning, training and orienting staff, site selection, piloting; and implementation of surveys. The authors also reflect on limitations and challenges in the approach.