Resources

AKRSP supports village institutions in undertaking soil and water conservation on the private land holdings of farmers as a part of the watershed management programme, identified by the villagers as one of their priorities for natural resource management. This paper examines this process with regard to the village of Madargadh. The programme has at its centre the Extension Volunteer, who prepare watershed treatment plans and maps for their village. They are trained in conducting impact studies in order that the impact of soil and water conservation programmes be assessed after the rains. The paper reports on: the sequence of participatory impact monitoring; the process of impact monitoring; recommendations of farmers, made in the light of analysis of impact data; and the application of participatory impact monitoring for natural resource management projects on the general level.

This article describes a three day workshop on PRA conducted by the NGO SPEECH in Tamil Nadu, based in a village where SPEECH was working. The main purpose of the PRA was to discuss the rehabilitation of an irrigation tank network, while introducing the concepts of PRA to the participants. Several techniques were taught and practised: timelines, participatory mapping, modelling, seasonal calendars. One of the group activities documented was the construction of a matrix of six trees according to eight criteria, illustration included. There was initial resistance to the discussion of trees in gardens, but apparently good discussion on the growth and suitability of different trees both near homesteads and on communal lands, along the bunds and on wastelands. The general concensus at the end of the workshop was positive, in terms of the use of PRA in daily planning activities.

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. Six types of farmer generated maps are described in detail, including resource, watershed, thematic, social, base line and monitoring/impact maps.

This case study describes the Siaya Health Education, Water and Sanitation Project (SHEWAS) which was implemented by the NGO CARE International in Siaya District in Kenya in 1990. It focuses on the use of PRA as a means of stimulating community participation in the identification and planning of water and sanitation micro- projects. The SHEWAS approach is outlined and some of the achievements and results, and lessons learned, are discussed.

This article argues that if participation is consistently emphasised in all phases of a project, local people will increasingly become the owners of the changes that they propose. It draws from experiences in a water management project in Haurancca, Peru. It describes the various phases of the project, including a participatory appraisal and planning phase, a process of interactive design, a construction phase and the stage of clarifying water management to enable effective use of the physical infrastructure. The lessons learnt from the experience are also reflected upon.

The article provides the overview and analysis, gives examples of diverse experiences and draws on emerging trends and patterns in community water management which is the thematic focus for this issue of PLA Notes. In teasing out the outcomes and progress of a research project for the International Water and Sanitation Centre which aimed to improve the management of water supply systems of rural communities in six countries, the authors challenge readers to think of water management in terms of participation, governance and democracy.

In this article, the authors argue that women's involvement (despite initial resistance from the village males) in a participatory water project has had an impact on their role in the community in northern Pakistan. By recounting the history and context of the water project, the barriers faced, the process of participation and the final resolution to the water problem by the community, the authors discuss the wider issue of gender politics. They show how in choosing to go with the women's strategy for harnessing water, the role of gender in mediating access to and management of water becomes apparent and how larger shifts occur in terms of community participation in development.