Resources

This study in Staveley, an area with high unemployment, aimed to: i) identify & enable people to address the personal risk factors for cardio-vascular diseases ii) enable unemployed workers to discuss health difficulties specific to unemployment iii) promote a greater understanding of the specific health needs of unemployed people Unemployed people and 200 children were interviewed, then key people in the professions of education, health, social services, police, clergy and housing. Video, photos and mapping were used and people "had an opportunity to test their own health by filling in a health profile questionnaire". The various groups' different perceptions of the problems and suggested solutions are analysed. There is a need for "an informed, integrated, inter-agency approach with the involvement of unemployed people in order to respond effectively to the problems of unemployment".

This book presents a participative action model to assist groups in developing the organisational, analytical and management skills required for community action to achieve sustainable use of land and water resources at the local level. Groups using this book are expected to develop participatory mechanisms for planning and implementing land and water management projects. It is aimed at developing self-learning skills by community leaders, extension officers and students in Australia. The contents are divided into short learning units in which outlines of theories, concepts and principles are followed by personal and group activities. The organisation of chapters follows the pattern of group development. It explains the philosophy of participative action in land care (Ch. 2); and discusses learning to work together, development of leadership skills and defining of roles and responsibilities (Chs. 3-5). The next eight chapters are on 'how to' aspects of group functioning: running a meeting, organising activities, planning, motivating oneself and others, effective communication, finding human and financial resources for projects. The last two chapters discuss how to keep momentum going and how to manage conflicts that accompany change.

This document is a village profile compiled from the results of both PRA exercises carried out at an open meeting in Callan and from interviews. The profile was prepared for the village to take part in the 1995-2000 Town Renewal Programme.

As part of a course in forestry and participation, 27 forestry officials from Africa, Asia and Scotland spent 10 days in County Kilkenny, Ireland, using PRA and visualisation methods to help local people develop a local forestry action plan. During meetings with local people, visual tools were used to encourage them to express their preferences about the environment. Methods used included resource and social mapping, Venn diagrams, and matrix ranking or tree species preferences. Local people's views were relayed to the local council, thus giving them a say in environmental management. One local council member recognised the need for better communication and broader consultation between the council and local people.

This discussion paper sets out to generate ideas on new approaches to evaluating citizen education in practice. It considers three broad perspectives - renewed interest in the promotion of citizenship in the North and South; the history of citizen education; consideration of how people learn - and then identifies lessons and challenges. The paper then focuses on several factors involved in the internalisation and development of citizenship, and finally reviews new work on learning from other academic fields in order to assess how citizen education can enhance active citizenship. In the final section, there are questions and challenges for future work.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) has a long history in development planning in less developed countries. In recent years, PLA approaches have also been promoted for participatory development planning in rural areas of industrialised countries with functioning democratic institutions. This paper draws on experiences of applying participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in a one-week planning workshop in M³hlen, Northern Germany and asks whether or nor PRA is an appropriate instrument for participatory community development in societies with functioning local democratic institutions. The authors conclude that PRA should be seen as a complementary instrument to the existing political and institutional arrangements. That while civil society actors can take over complementary responsibilities and initiatives, the local administrators and democratically elected bodies need to play a key role in order for PRA processes in community development to become successful in affluent societies.