This is a midterm participatory evaluation report of a watershed programme in Tiruchirappalli, South India. The project used PRA techniques (integrated with other methods) in the planning and impact evaluation stages. The report includes a detailed background to the programme and quantitative findings. No detail is given on how the PRA activities were carried out as the emphasis is on the information collected, including case-studies on the impact on women's status.
Conference paper argues that participation can leave decision making largely in the hands of middle class elements and not with the peasant mass. Participatory approaches also favour the internationalisation of authority, diluting standards of national accountability. The approaches are based on a hierarchy of values and attitudes and not on the promotion of a truly representative democracy.
This journal article presents a case study of the Social Forestry Support Programme in Vietnam, in which Participatory Curriculum Development (PCD) plays a fundamental part. Beginning with stakeholder identification and analysis, PCD provides an overall framework for educational development. Recognising constraints associated with the process, the paper describes strategies aimed at capacity building, management of stakeholder involvement and planning and evaluation. As different stakeholders learn to learn together through discourse and interaction, the chances of sustainable outcomes from the PCD process should be improved. The dynamic and flexible nature of PCD suggests that there is considerable potential for its adaptation and application in a range of different contexts.
This bibliography was prepared for the Development Research Centre (DRC) on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability, a research network co-ordinated in the UK by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). This DRC aims to include the voices of citizens into the debates around citizenship and contribute to the understanding of citizenship: the realities, challenges, and opportunities it poses for different people and the utilization of citizensÆ knowledge to develop strategies for change. The range of contemporary thinking around citizenship is reviewed in an essay included in the booklet. This provides a theoretical frame of reference for empirical work on the relationship between citizenship, participation and accountability. Also included is a section of references of recent texts that have been selected by the authors relating to citizenship, participation and accountability. Each one has a brief description.
Over a fourteen-month period, the author lived in two rural villages in south-central Bali and "tested the application of PRA tools with over 300 women and men (villagers to provincial government officials) to explore their gender roles, gender perceptions, gender relations and their Practical (PGN) and Strategic Gender Needs (SGN)". Government-designed programmes for women were also evaluated. Chapters 1 and 2 show how PRA has more in common with GAD (Gender And Development) than the WID (Women In Development) approach, since "they both focus upon relations of power". GAD and PRA are seen to be complementary approaches: GAD uses "extractive tools, with outsiders conducting interviews and participant observation" whilst PRA "has not addressed questions concerning exactly who within a community participates" and lacks tools to address conflict. Certain PRA tools do not enable women to express their particular perceptions and needs. Chapter 3 describes the research methodology in detail, analysing which PRA tools were successful in the field. Chapter 4 presents findings, showing that women have tended to become "implementers of government development initiatives, rather than participants in their own development". Conclusions (Ch 5) include evaluation of the research approach, listing the strengths and weaknesses of PRA and GAD in detail. Recommendations (Ch 6) suggest how PRA could be integrated into Gender Analysis training programmes.
This report discusses appropriate mechanisms for community involvement in different social, economic, and political contexts and identifies the corresponding requirements for training health personnel and strengthening communities. Participatory methods are suggested for training health workers. It is suggested that monitoring and evaluation involves a mixture of quantitative and qualitative techniques.
This manual on self-evaluation is aimed at helping those involved in running rural community development projects to learn how to do more effective and appropriate evaluations independently. The case study of a rural development project is used to illustrate why self evaluation can be useful, with a list of key reasons given. Using the same case study, the following chapter examines who stands to benefit as a result of this evaluation taking place. Examples of beneficiaries are listed as being; project staff, community members, members of the general public, amongst others. Logically, the next question asked is who should be responsible for carrying out the evaluation and a list of potential partners who may be involved is provided. The fourth chapter examines the different levels at which evaluation can take place i.e. at the preparation, implementation, sustainibility levels etc. Following from this, is a look at when to evaluate in relation to the different levels. The issue of what to evaluate was decided by considering the indicators that would be utilised to measure the different sectors of the project i.e. health, education etc. This process helps to demonstrate how difficult it is to measure intangible criteria that involve a description of 'human qualities' i.e. enthusiasm. A variety of PRA type techniques are suggested for the different sectors and this concludes with a discussion of how to communicate the findings. The paper as a whole concludes with a summary of the above mentioned questions, recommended resource materials on evaluation and an appendix that illustrates some of the issues raised in the document.
Discusses the methods of collecting information during a field-study carried out in Brazil, in the health district of Pau da Lima. It was intended to provide a learning experience for students as well as to explore the local potential for Primary Environmental Care (PEC) and to produce a number of recommendations to local bodies. Possible actors, conditions, means and resources to promote PEC within the Pau da Lima district were investigated. PEC integrates three components: empowering communities, protecting the environment, and meeting needs. The first step was a preliminary identification of present and future potential actors in PEC in the Pau da Lima district. A Rapid Appraisal (RA) was conducted in three squatter communities within the district, focusing on felt problems; interests and priorities in PEC; forms and conditions of community organisation; and instances and conditions of community-based action. Methods used include: review of secondary data, informal disucssions with informants, direct observations, laboratory analysis of water samples collected during the observation walks, life history interviews, focus groups and ranking exercises, semi-structured interviews. While the study found the RA methods useful, it suggested that they may not be sufficient to identify community-based solutions to specific problems. The techniques in "Making Microplans" (Goethert and Hamdi 1988) provide an example of how this action-oriented phase could proceed.
This article is a case study of the author's participatory research with the Annette Lomond garment workers' co-operative in the North East of England. It discusses the relationship between the researcher and the participants, power imbalances, accountability, empowerment, effects of the research project, and presentation of findings. She concludes that the aim of uniting research with action and education is not always possible within one project. This alters the balance of the relationship and the nature of accountability.
This book is a guide to a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods for research and practice. It examines the concept of participation and ethical considerations in fieldwork, and stresses methodological pluralism and dialogue in development planning. The main part of the book is devoted to participatory methods. It discusses techniques such as ranking and scoring, mapping and diagrams, and the use of indicators, focus groups and semi- structured interviews in poverty and gender analysis. Participatory monitoring and evaluation and sustainability analysis are also discussed.
This is a summary of a larger study for the World Bank of loans for rural development to Brazil. Programme evaluations shed more light on the causes of failure than of success. This summary seeks to do the opposite. The projects are introduced and problems summarised. The remainder of the article discusses the causes of success in some regions and in some periods. Factors include 'inherent capabilities', flexibility, innovation, simplicity, co -ordination between agencies, control by higher authorities, involvement of non-specialised agencies. The implications for standard project design are discussed. Five points summarise the conclusions, and it is emphasised that reality is unpredictable.
This training manual with a practical reference guide clearly presents the rationale for participatory project development and a step-by-step process for its use in training workshops. Workshop sessions are outlined in a sequence of stages in project development, viz., planning (understanding the community, needs assessment, determination of goals and objectives, assessment of resources and constraints, planning project activities), implementation and evaluation. The use of sample charts, checklists, and worksheets applied to different stages of project development make it easy for trainers to follow the reference guide. The manual emphasises community participation at all stages of project development.
The Lesotho Primary Schools Sanitation Project, undertaken in 1976-9, had limited success. When a follow-up project was proposed, it was decided to hold workshops to find out the communities' views on how the follow-up should be designed. Workshop participants included school and community representatives, ministerial and donor agency representatives. This paper describes the results of those workshops held in March 1981. Most of the report discusses technical implications of the workshop discussions. A final section discusses the role of community based workshops in development planning.
This document is an abstract from the executive summary of a larger report on participatory village planning in Indonesia. It assesses GTZ's experiences with participatory village planning in six programmes (in area development, food security, social forestry and farming systems development). The participatory planning methods used include ZOPP, Poster Analysis and gender analysis. Strengths and limitations of the participatory planning processes and methods used in each programme area are discussed in detail. Overall, it is concluded that the institution building approach to village planning supports existing regulations on bottom-up planning (an objective decided without villager participation in overall project planning); and, no systematic analysis of the weaknesses of village institutions was conducted before attempts were made to strengthen them. Key questions which emerge from the analysis are: Who needs to now what for which type of planning? Who needs to participate in which type of planning? Which type of planning procedure is appropriate to a given situation? How can facilitator quality be ensured? How much may a planning process cost in relation to the programme being designed? The paper ends by considering minimally required steps to institutionalise villager participation in routine bottom-up planning:
This is a report based on studies using RRA methods, the aim of which was to assess the implementation of agricultural policies in Bangladesh and to establish a benchmark for future impact analyses. It presents analysis of trends in the delivery and use of key agricultural inputs (fertiliser, seeds, irrigation, pesticides, credit and extension service). Major constraints are discussed and conclusions and recommendations are made. Six local studies are presented in an appendix.