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This paper describes how the combination of chemical soil and water analyses and PRA exercises were found to be complementary methods in assessing the magnitude of the pollution problem caused by the tannery industry in Kamtchipuram village, Tamil Nadu.
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This article describes how mapping of local peoples perceptions of child malnutrition was used to improve the quality of focus group discussions. Time was taken at the beginning of the study to understand all the words related to malnutrition and ensure that all members of the group had the same definition, since in the urban setting there was no one single language which all members shared.
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This paper describes the use of RRA to explore environmental and economic change over a period of twenty years as a result of dam building, within the Hadejia-Jama'are floodplain. The study was conducted in 27 sample villages and comprised of semi-structured interviews and field visits to examine villagers perceptions of changes in patterns of flooding and river flows, with timing determined using key events in Nigerian history. Ranking and scoring of activities before and after the construction of the dam were used to examine economic changes. The methods used allowed spatial patterns of economic and environmental change to be mapped and revealed significant differences between villages, for an area which had previously been considered homogenous. The potential of RRA to be applied in such a manner demonstrates its potential for planning on a regional scale.
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Brief account of a 'write-shop' held on participatory methods for community-based coastal resource management (CBCRM) at International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in the Philippines. Provides details of a 'Source Book on Participatory methods for Community-based Natural Resource Management' which was the result of the write-shop.
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This article reports on research carried out to examine the impact of customary tenure systems on marine management and to determine the appropriateness of incorporating such systems into more formal systems of fisheries management. The article critically examines the use of mapping exercises during the research and argues that while the mapping stimulated discussion of the research issue it actually constituted an intervention in the situation being researched. The paper highlights the risk of outsiders influencing the outcome of a participatory analysis, such that decisions reached by local people are more directed at outsiders and their assumed objectives than their own priorities.
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This article outlines how a participatory approach was used in five villages to investigate systems of access to fishing rights and their evolution as a basis for future fisheries development initiatives. Particular attention was paid to conflicts and disputes which had emerged over such rights and conflict resolution process charts were constructed by village elders to show how disputes had been resolved in the past.
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This article reports on an innovative secondary school environmental awareness initiative designed to complement a program to develop village level aquatic resource management. Students were provided with discussion questions on past, present and future issues regarding local aquatic resources resand encouraged to use semi-structured interview techniques to investigate the issues in their own villages with elders and relatives. Essays were then written by the students based on this research and the best essays presented at ceremonies where district government officials, village chiefs and members of the school parents committee attended. One of the best essays was also published in the Lao language newspaper. The process increased awareness levels regarding aquatic resource management not only amongst students but also amongst teachers, those who helped supply information and the village leaders and district government officials attending the ceremonies.
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This article reports on a workshop attended by men and women involved in different fishing trades to investigate and analyse their occupational problems and means of ameliorating them. Some of the tools used in the workshop and their results are described, including, listing of the trades in which fishers are involved and ranking of these according to the severity of problems and risks faced by each, seasonality analysis of activities and problems of the various trades and focus group discussions with fisherwomen. Thirteen recommendations made by participants during the workshop for improving their livelihoods are listed and the actions which had actually been taken three years later are mentioned.
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This paper reports on the activities of the Women in Fishing (WIF) programme which aims to The article reflects on the obstacles to womens participation in both an initial meeting on the theme of social security rights of fisher women and also in the women's associations formed as a result of the meeting.
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In 1991 the Guinean Fisheries department and staff based at Conakry of an FAO regional artisanal fisheries project carried out 'PRA port profiles' or participatory analyses with user groups of landing site problems and opportunities. Twelve of the landing sites involved in these PRA activities formed Land Site Development Committees which received support from FAO and became involved in activities to solve some of the problems identified, such as construction of breakwaters to protect anchored canoes. Funding terminated in 1995 and this article examines the situation in 1997 when only two of these LSDC's continue to be active. Elements contributing to the continuation of these compared with those which ceased to function are discussed. Key elements of sustainability identified include, the importance of strong support from local elected officials, the need for legal status for LSDC's and the provision of regular follow-up by PRA trained field officers, reporting to a co-ordinating committee. it was also considered important that LSDC's should have assistance with small project proposal planning and writing and provision of technical support for activities involving physical port infrastructure.