Resources

This document is a guide to conducting village appraisals, aimed at communities in the UK. It introduces what village appraisals are about, what they can be used for and what the expected benefits may be. How to decide what to do and how to go about it are discussed, with a sample timetable of activities, and sample documents for informing the community about the appraisal, sample questionnaires, lists of funding options and documentary sources.

This report presents the results of a village appraisal questionnaire conducted in a community in northern England. The questionnaire addressed health, education, elderly, transport, housing, services, employment and village life issues in the community. The tabulated responses to the questions on local people's opinions on these issues are presented. There are also short discussions of particular issues such as road safety, litter etc., and of what should be done.

This book presents a participative action model to assist groups in developing the organisational, analytical and management skills required for community action to achieve sustainable use of land and water resources at the local level. Groups using this book are expected to develop participatory mechanisms for planning and implementing land and water management projects. It is aimed at developing self-learning skills by community leaders, extension officers and students in Australia. The contents are divided into short learning units in which outlines of theories, concepts and principles are followed by personal and group activities. The organisation of chapters follows the pattern of group development. It explains the philosophy of participative action in land care (Ch. 2); and discusses learning to work together, development of leadership skills and defining of roles and responsibilities (Chs. 3-5). The next eight chapters are on 'how to' aspects of group functioning: running a meeting, organising activities, planning, motivating oneself and others, effective communication, finding human and financial resources for projects. The last two chapters discuss how to keep momentum going and how to manage conflicts that accompany change.

This video is one product of a participatory appraisal training workshop held in Hull, England. Following classroom-based learning of methods, participants applied these methods to projects in local communities. The first application shown aimed to help a parish council to understand the leisure needs of teenagers to improve the planning of a youth centre (4). The appraisal team met with the parish council to understand what they wanted to know (6). They then met with groups of teenagers on the streets and used mapping, and matrix scoring and ranking methods to elicit their preferences for the design and operation of the proposed youth centre (10). These were then reported to the parish council who also used participatory methods to help them understand the report (19). The second application concerned preferences of shoppers and supermarket staff regarding Christmas opening times (22).