Resources

This is a letter written to Mr. Wolfensohn as a comment on a talk delivered at the professional Bankers Association. The letter specifically refers to an issue raised on not judging by volume, but by results. This is in connection with the way the World Bank judges effectiveness as part of the change management process. According to this letter, judging effectiveness of work in the Bank should be linked to the key question ôwhose reality counts?ö The letter says that the Bank has predetermined indicators for monitoring and evaluation of its operations from its own perspective. In order for the Bank to understand its effectiveness in alleviating poverty, it should try to understand its own biases and to offset them by putting the views of the poor first. In conclusion, the letter says that indicators for monitoring and evaluation should not be determined by the Bank, but by the stake holders. The indicators should remain part of an on-going negotiation process because perceptions change.

This book (in Chinese) introduces and explains a number of social science methodologies which can be applied to rural development, including: RRA, PRA, Social Impact Assessment, Gender Analysis in Resource Management, Situation -Specific Analysis, and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. The chapter on PRA discusses the differences with RRA. The chapter on PM&E explains the concepts behind PM&E, and discusses process and indicators.

A reflection on some social development issues which have arisen in the first 5 years of the rainfed farming project in eastern India. The current paradigm is that seeing development as formal, planned and intended projects run by rule- and procedure-led institutions is no longer useful. A different vision is current: of mutual determination between individual action and social structures, of choice, resistance and struggle, of the power of the apparently weak, of the multiplicity and contingency of perceptions of reality and of the negotiated character of development outcomes. The paper describes the project, the assumptions on which it is based, relationships between actors and difficulties with PRA.

This workbook describes 'systematization' as a method of instituting a continuous process of participatory relection and evaluation. It elaborates on the concept of systematization as well as the methodological procedures to follow in planning. The final section includes a number of tools that may be used for conducting the process. The tools emphasize the use of written exercises, worksheets and tables and raise insturctive questions and issues.

This paper reports on research carried out on the use and effectiveness of participatory materials on child health, which were developed at community workshops, by the Kumasi Health Education Project in Ghana.
A high degree of satisfaction with the new materials was reported by teachers and health workers who had been trained in the new materials, when asked to carry out self-reporting questionnaire. This was found to contrast with the results of focus-group discussions of mothers attending well baby clinics, at home, in market places and with pupils at school who reported a low level of exposure to the new materials, although those who had been exposed to them were satisfied with them and recalled the messages well.

This document is an ACTIONAID report on the two-year REFLECT program that was piloted in villages in Bangladesh, El Salvador, and Uganda. The REFLECT program is founded on the principles of Paulo Freire's philosophy of conscientisation and was aimed to promote active dialogue and empowerment among the participants. The report discusses the theoretical roots of the program, the methods that were used with REFLECT, and evaluations of the various projects in the previously mentioned countries.