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This paper focuses primarily on lessons from experiences in mainstreaming and up-scaling participation, which are relevant to the partnership and ownership principles of the World Bank's Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF). The paper explores its various themes in relation to the idea of participation as building ownership and partnership from the bottom up. Lessons learned from applying participatory appraisal methodologies, particularly in participatory poverty assessments, to help national-level policy makers design more appropriate anti-poverty policies, are examined. A summary of lessons from a range of large-scale government programs that have attempted to scale up participation is also presented. The paper then reviews the efforts of four large donor agencies - DFID, GTZ, USAID and the World Bank - in mainstreaming participation. The use of participatory monitoring and evaluation in assessing performance is discussed. The authors also propose the broader enabling environments they believe are necessary for participation to take root. The paper concludes by summarising the lessons considered most pertinent to CDF implementation.

In this review, the networking activities and coalition building abilities of CODE -NGO, a broad coalition of ten major NGO networks involved in development work, are assessed. The review provides a brief glimpse of the immediate post-Marcos era when the Philippines witnessed a rapid growth of NGOs and which also saw the NGO community being wracked by internal dissension and conflict. Details of the launch of CODE-NGO and its subsequent workings are provided and details of key areas of CODE-NGO's interventions, particularly at the levels of local government, public policy, national advocacy and the international arena are offered. The review also covers innovations in community development. The review concludes by saying that despite the gains made, CODE-NGO is still in the process of evolving into a coalition that was envisioned at its inception in 1990.

In a new approach announced by the World Bank and IMF, civil society is being offered a part in shaping and implementing national anti-poverty strategies. In order to trigger debt relief, countries are being asked to produce a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) drawing on inputs from all sections of society. This Policy Briefing details what a PRSP actually is, who should be involved, how to build participation into the process, what can be learnt from previous efforts to build participation into policy, where problems lie and how to monitor the process. It argues that learning from previous experience is vital if this new approach is to live up to its ambitious rhetoric.

Why do field workers use participatory approaches as they do? This paper uses a case study of fieldworkers' use of Participatory Rural Appraisal in ActionAid The Gambia to address the question. Original empirical material that focuses on fieldworkers' perceptions of the factors that influence them is examined through the conceptual framework of structuration theory. The dissertation argues that the practice of a participatory approach emerges from a complex process of negotiation where fieldworkers are subject to unique combinations of competing influences from the organisation they work for, the communities they work with and their own personal characteristics. It suggests that fieldworkers can actively pursue personal agendas and can also be involved in changing the structures that condition their actions. However the dissertation concludes that elements of the organisational structure can leave little room for fieldworkers to use their agency positively. Managers need to change this structure if the gap between the policy and practice of participatory approaches is to be reduced. A deeper understanding of fieldworker's use of participatory approaches will make it possible to establish what changes are required to improve the implementation and institutionalisation of these approaches.

The paper presents a strategy for poor people to achieve their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The paper asserts that international development targets for the poor can only be achieved with their active engagement and that a human rights approach provides a means of empowering people to take control of their lives. DFID has identified participation, obligation and inclusion as the three operational principles that apply to the achievement of human rights for all people. By outlining the international human rights framework and considering recent experiences in improving poor people's access to human rights, the paper notes the large gap between the aspirations of the Universal Declaration of human rights and the realities of poor people's lives. The paper urges the international community to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges facing governments in poorer countries and identifies the roles and responsibilities of key development actors. DFID's priorities to support a pro-poor agenda are set out and measurement of progress in the area through participatory human rights assessments and other quantitative indicators are considered.

ActionAid's Impact Assessment Unit convened a five-day workshop in Oct 1999 in Malawi. The focus of the workshop was the use of video as a participatory tool for development. In this report, examples of videos from Malawi, Ghana and Pakistan are drawn on to illustrate the potential use of participatory video. The pros and cons of video as a tool to understand change are also discussed.

Large-scale participatory natural resource management programmes often include national governments, large NGOs and donor agencies as major actors. The scaling up of participation to include more people and places constantly challenges these large organisations to become flexible, innovative and transparent. More specifically, the emphasis on diversity, decentralisation and devolution of decision making powers in the management of natural resources for complex and dynamic livelihoods implies procedures and organisational cultures which do not impose "particiaption" from above through bureaucratic and standardised practices. Under what conditions can bureaucracies be refashioned or transformed to ensure that their outcomes (policies, programmes, resource allocation and projects) actually facilitate, rather than inhibit, participation and the adaptive management of natural resources? What is the impact of institutionalising participatory approaches on the social dynamics, livelihoods and well-being of low-income rural and urban groups and local organisations? To focus on these issues and questions, IIED and IDS have inititiated an action-oriented research project to examine the dynamics of institutionalising people-centred processes and participatory approaches for natural resource management in a variety of social and ecological contexts. This bibliography includes about 390 references and critical overviews on seven key themes. Theories of the organisational change for participation Towards learning organisations Gender and organisational change Transforming environmental knowledge and organisational cultures Nuturing enabling attitudes and behaviour Policies for participation Methods for institutional and impact analysis