Participatory policy analysis questions conventional policy-making procedures, challenges the behaviour and attitudes of policy makers and influences the style and substance of policy itself. This book examines the implications and issues of participatory policy-focused research through case studies and discussions. One section concentrates specifically on participatory poverty assessments as a means of bringing local poverty and policy analysis into the policy process.
The book explores the main issues and concerns of development professionals about adapting PRA from micro to macro organisations. It includes a checklist of practical considerations on training, taking projects from pilots and scaling up, changing institutional cultures and procedures and introducing participatory monitoring and evaluation.
The widespread uptake of participatory approaches has created a need to assess more critically if the work is benefitting women and men equally. Community differences are simplified, power relationships poorly understood and conflicts avoided or ignored. The contributors to this book provide an overview of issues and lessons, theoretical reflections, practical experiences and examples of how organizations are attempting to integrate gender into the participatory process.
Robert Chambers argues that central issues in development have been overlooked and that many past errors have flowed from domination by those with power. Through analysing experience - of past mistakes and myths and of the continuing methodological revolution of PRA - the author points towards solutions. He argues that personal, professional and instiutional change is essential if the realities of the poor are to receive greater recognition.
This book presents issues and challenges facing those facilitating children's and young people's participation. The contributors come from a wide range of backgrounds including NGOs in development, children's agencies, academic insitutions and governments and provide case studies from the UK, Eastern Europe, asia, Africa, the Carribean and central and north America. Chapter 1 gives and overview to the main issues and concepts and chapters 2-7 each expand on a particular theme. The main issues discussed and analysed include: the ethical dilemmas facing professionals, the process and methods used in partlicipatory research and planning with children, the inter-relationship between culture and children's participation, considerations for instiutions and the key qualities of a participation programme.
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
Participation has become a critical concept in development, increasingly employed in the planning and implementation of development programmes. This book takes participation one step further by exploring its use in the monitoring and evaluation of these programmes. Bringing together a broad range of case studies (12 in total) and discussions between practitioners, academics, donors and policy makers, the book explores conceptual, methodological, institutional and policy issues in participatory monitoring and evaluation. It distils the common themes and experiences in participatory monitoring and evaluation to show the challenges - and far-reaching benefits - of the approach. The book starts with a general overview of participatory monitoring and evaluation, followed by a synthesis of case studies and regional reviews of practice and methodological innovations around the globe in Part 1. Part 2 then presents case studies of learning with communities; these illustrate the diverse range of settings and contexts in which participatory monitoring and evaluation is being applied. Part 3 raises the key issues and challenges for participatory monitoring and evaluation, including the need for changing institutions. The book concludes by way of proposing areas for future research and action.
This book focuses on civil society's role in international policy debates and global problem solving. Increased citizen action over the last 10 years has enabled citizens groups to be a major force in nonstate participation in the global system. Against this background, case studies from a number of movements and NGO networks are presented, including: campaigns to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, the movement against Free Trade, the Landmine Campaign as well as several other human rights, social justice and environmental movements. The book finishes with a section on lessons learned and challenges for the future. A synopsis of the book and abstracts of each section can be viewed at http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/particip/research/citizen/globcitact.pdf
This book focuses on the use of participatory research in poverty reduction policies and presents a series of participants reflections on recent and on going processes. Contributions from researchers and practitioners in the field of poverty reduction examine how participatory research has affected the way poverty is understood and how these understandings have been acted on in policy making for poverty reduction. The critical reflections of the authors feature various aspects of the relationship between participation and policy, spanning different levels from the individual researcher to the global institution. They highlight lessons to be learned from current practice and challenges for the future, including the balancing of knowledge, action and consciousness in participatory research processes which can influence the development of policy that reflects and responds to the needs and priorities of poor people.
While there is general acceptance about the need for peopleÆs participation in development, there is a wide spectrum of views on the concept of participation and the ways of achieving it. This book is primarily focused on the question of how to achieve participation. It does this by providing examples from experience, material for use, and the space for innovations. The book is divided into five chapters. The first deals with the concept of participation and explores its multiple dimensions. It also considers the concept of PRA and its origin, principles, and applications. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 deal with methods of PRA that are related to space, time, and relationship respectively. The methods which are presented in each chapter are illustrated by a number of examples and straightforward steps. Each method is explained with an introduction, suggestions for application, examples, an overview of the process outlining the steps, the time and material required, its advantages and limitations. The final chapter provides a summary of PRA and recaps on ground the book has covered.
This manual aims to cover a wide range of development issues, including participatory poverty alleviation, micro and macro development, the role of the change agent, the use of participatory techniques in HIV/AIDS programming, and understanding childrens' perspectives. It is designed as a practical guide for NGO and government personnel and includes many examples from the field.
ParticipationÆ may have become the buzzword of the 1990s, but the pathways of current enthusiasm for participatory methods stretch back over decades. The most popularly recognized and widely used participatory approach, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) had its genesis in the late 1980s. Since then, it has come to be used in countless communities, in dozens of countries and in a huge variety of contexts. Once a marginal practice, it has now become an instrument used by the most powerful of global development institutions. This book offers a perspective on PRA. In it, thirty-two practitioners from twenty countries reflect critically on what PRA has come to mean to them, and draw on the wealth of their experiences as NGO workers, donors, activists and trainers to explore some of the lessons the past might offer future participatory practice. Embracing a range of entry points and experiences, past and future, challenges and opportunities, the stories include moments of frustration and revelation, of dilemmas and discoveries; together, their accounts speak of and about the variety of practices that have come to be called æPRAÆ.
Rapid changes are taking place in international development. The past two decades have promoted the ideals of participation and partnership, yet key decisions affecting people's lives continue to be made without sufficient attention to the socio-political realities of the countries in which they live. Embedded working traditions, vested interests and institutional inertia mean that old habits and cultures persist among the development community. On this premise, the authors of this book describe the need to recognise the complex, non-linear nature of development assistance and how bureaucratic procedures and power relations hinder poverty reduction in the new aid environment. The book begins with a conceptual and historical analysis of aid, exposing the challenges and opportunities facing aid professionals today. It argues for greater attention to accountability and the adoption of rights based approaches. In section two, practitioners, policymakers and researchers discuss the realities of power and relationships from their experiences across 16 countries. Their accounts, from government, donors and civil society, expose the highly politicised and dynamic aid environment in which they work. The book then explores ways forward for aid agencies, challenging existing political, institutional and personal ways of working. Breaking the barriers to ensure more inclusive aid will require visionary leadership and a courageous commitment to change. The authors show how translating rhetoric into practice relies on changing the attitudes and behaviours of individual actors. The book aims to present a contribution to the understanding of how development assistance and poverty reduction can be most effectively delivered by the professionals and agencies involved.
