Resources

Nutritional surveillance, as part of, or complementary to, the famine early warning system in Ethiopia, has been used to collect reports on local food security from community leaders using structured interviews. It is important to assess the extent to which this information reflects the food-related behaviour of the community. Information on various socio-economic variables related to nutrition was collected at the household and community level through interviews in western Shewa Province. The data was compared and generally the correspondence between the two was good. Information topics which might be missed using only the local leader, and ways to improve collection are discussed.

The article focuses on the collection and use of ethnoveterinary data in the context of community-based animal health care training programmes in Kenya. The programmes ranged from pastoral areas such as Samburu and Pokot to settled farming in Meru and Machakos and were carried out by the Kenya Livestock Programme (KLP) of the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) in collaboration with various community-based NGOs. The lessons learned in the programme and directions for the future are also discussed.

The Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) has used PRA methods in a number of livestock projects in Kenya. This paper describes some of them, which have included the collection of base-line information and design of village animal health care (VAHC) projects, exploring traditional veterinary knowledge and the use of traditional medicines, and monitoring and evaluating animal health and restocking projects. The methods used include mapping, wealth and other types of ranking, interviews and discussion, ethnoveterinary interviews, progeny histories, workshops and diagrams. The paper also discusses some of the potential pitfalls as well as advantages of using PRA methods.

This paper presents a number of methodological innovations on RRA and PRA in the context of food security. It is interesting in the first instance because it reviews work done as a follow-up to a PRA workshop on household data collection for food policy needs. On the method front, there are examples of mapping, diagramming, ranking and how each method feeds into food policy decisions. An increased use of visual methods is highlighted, and the connected increase in participation in and ownership of the research by local people. Along with this is an increasing importance of qualitative data in food policy decisions. The paper also includes an introduction to and comparison of PRA and RRA. It concludes by commenting that an additional advantage of these methods is that they are cost-effective, but that this may bring a linked disadvantage - that PRA methods are used with the intention of "extracting" information.

This report provides an assessment of the extent of and changes in poverty in Kenya during the '80s and early '90s. It uses data from different sources and of different kinds, including was a Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) and a Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS). Interestingly, in three out of five districts the results yielded by the two approaches were almost identical. The PPA provided critical insights on a number of issues - people's perceptions of the extent and causes of poverty, the status of women, the extent of and reasons for low school enrolment, the reasons for not using public health facilities and the ways in which poor people cope with food insecurity and drought. Methods used included social mapping and wealth ranking, interviews and focus groups discussions. The different chapters present the findings of the study, focusing on economic development and poverty; revitalising the rural economy; structural transformation in agriculture; social sector spending (education and health); food security and nutrition; and targeted programmes and institutional factors. A strategy of programmes and policies for poverty reduction is suggested.

In this literature review, the author, in describing the origins of participatory approaches and methods, discusses their application in animal health services and research in developing countries. The focus is on dryland areas of Africa particularly pastoral and agropastoral areas of the Greater Horn of Africa. The author reports that most experiences with veterinary uses of participatory approaches and methods remains with community based animal health projects and have proved to be more effective in comparison to more conventional approaches to service delivery. He also contends that while participatory methods are being used increasingly by epidemiologists, in general, there is a continued reliance on conventional survey tools such as questionnaires. He is of the view that as veterinary epidemiology has a history of borrowing from other disciplines it may be helpful to consider participatory methods including quantitative and qualitative perspectives and enhance the understanding of animal health and well being.