Resources

'Voices of the Poor' is a series of three books that collates the experiences, views and aspirations of over 60,000 poor women and men. This second book of the series draws material from a 23-country comparative study, which used open-ended participatory methods, bringing together the voices and realities of 20,000 poor women, men, youth and children. Despite very different political, social and economic contexts, there are striking similarities in poor people's experiences. The common underlying theme is one of powerlessness, which consists of multiple and interlocking dimensions of illbeing or poverty. The book starts by describing the origins of the study, the methodology and some of the challenges faced. This is followed by an exploration of the multidimensional nature of wellbeing and illbeing. Most of the book comprises the core findings - the 10 dimensions of powerlessness and illbeing that emerge from the study - and is organised around these themes. These include livelihoods and assets; the places where poor people live and work; the body and related to this, accessing health services; gender roles and gender relations within the household; social exclusion; insecurity and related fears and anxieties; the behaviour and character of institutions; and poor people's ratings of the most important institutions in their lives. These dimensions are brought together into a many-stranded web of powerlessness, which is compounded by the lack of capability, including lack of information, education, skills and confidence. The final chapter is a call to action and dwells on the challenge of change.

Effective poverty reduction requires narrowing the gap between words and actions, making trust and accountability real within and between organisations, at all levels and between all actors. Aid agencies today are shifting emphasis from projects and service delivery to a language of rights and governance. They have introduced new approaches and requirements, stressing partnership and transparency. But embedded traditions and bureaucratic inertia mean old behaviours, procedures and organisational cultures persist. This Policy Briefing looks at how current practices maintain such cultures, and at how they can be changed by achieving consistency between personal behaviour; institutional norms and the new development agenda.

This article examines the guiding ideas and ultimate realities of government-led participatory research in Tanzania and Uganda. It considers the extent to which research results have influenced meso- (e.g. district) and macro- (e.g. national) level planning for poverty reduction and why; the degree to which research processes have contributed to democratisation and citizen empowerment and implications for the future of participatory approaches to policy oriented research. The article reflects over the consequences of recent initiatives from development aid donors to streamline development assistance and improve the performance of sector ministries, leading to unprecedented pressure for poor countries to generate up-to-date, detailed socio-economic data. It looks specifically on how this has affected East Africa. It goes on to give a background to the development and role of Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) in Africa, and looks specifically at the Tanzania PPA (TzPPA), 2002-2003, and the Ugandan PPA Process (UPAP), 1998-2001. It compares the methodological differences of the two projects, where the bad experiences with Community Action Plans (CAPs) in UPAP led TzPPA; and UPAP focussed more on involving as many individual community members as possible while TzPPA only sought large community-wide. Finally an analysis is made of the benefits of participatory approaches in UAPAP and TzPPA on policy and empowerment, and it concludes with the potentials and pitfalls of PPAs.

This journal, published by PRIA (Participatory Research in Asia) in New Delhi, focuses on the facilitation of citizenÆs participation in development and democratic governance. This volume presents 7 articles where of 3 are based directly on experiences from practice in case studies, and many are based on experiences from workshops organised by PRIA. Tandon and Mohanty examine the role of civil society initiatives in influencing public policy in India (Influencing public policy: civil society and governance in India). Poverty eradication and democratic governance in South Asia by Sen, is based on the deliberations and concerns that emerged out of the first module, ôUnderstanding the Macro-Policy frameworkö in the second course of Regional Advocacy Training programme held at PRIA. Sen also describes the Status of Baisis in the contemporary context: a study in the Deogarh district of JharkhandI, which is a tiered traditional system of self-governance. Dwivedi contributes with the Challenges of leadership in Voluntary Development Organisations and a discussion of Participatory impact Assessment in South Asia, a pilot project initiated by New Zeeland VASS (Voluntary Agency Support Scheme). Anand write about Experiences and lessons of strengthening citizenÆs monitoring in Jharkand: A citizenship perspective, and Mohanty analyses Research practice engagement for social development. The journal also includes four book reviews on: Internatinoal prespective on voluntary action- Reshaping the third sector edited by Lewis; Complex responsive processes in organisations- Learning and knowledge creation by Staecy; Participation of the poor in Development Initiatives- Taking their rightful place by Long; and Roles and relevance- Development NGOs and the challenge of change by Lewis and Wallace.

This resource pack is designed for anyone interested in poverty reduction in a context characterised by inequality and exclusion. DFID has focused on the political dynamics of poverty in Peru in order to address the underlying causes of inequality and exclusion. This has meant engaging with political processes, supporting new spaces for dialogue and participation, and working with and building alliances between state, society and the international community. This resource pack includes a book of reflections from DFID, its partners and other local and international voices highlighting lessons and key issues; a DVD looking at DFIDÆs work to strengthen accountability, build citizenship and institutionalise rights in Peru; and a CD-ROM containing a selection of material on DFIDÆs experience such as the book, a series of papers prepared for DFID on state-society relations, and key corporate documents e.g. DFIDÆs target strategy papers. Some of the main recommendations raised include issues for donors, such as addressing poor people as citizens with rights and responsibilities as a key means of tackling inequality and exclusion; working systematically with both the state and wider society to achieve more inclusive development; investing in alliances between those individuals and institutions that are committed to pro-poor reform; and acting openly, transparently and accountably in tackling this more political agenda.

This information pack from the Exposure and Dialogue Programme (http://www.exposure-nsd.de) contains instruction materials for immersion and exposure and dialogue programmes (EDPs). In EDPs participants share the life of poor, in order to get better insight in their life. The main aim of the EDP is to transform the existing structures in favour of the poor and underprivileged by encouraging key individuals form diverse sectors to make use of their respective competence and their possibilities to act in favour of the poor. ôGuidelines for Reflection and Dialogue in Exposure and Dialogue Programmesö are concerned with the two phases that come after the exposure phase. They cover the time spent in reflection of the experiences of exposures and in deepening these experiences in dialogue. The guidelines go throw five steps of dealing with this process including individual reflection; telling key stories, communicating the main experiences of the exposure; thematic deepening of experiences to feed into policy development; north-south dialogue and networking; and reflecting on consequences and follow-up. ôGuidelines for Facilitators of Exposure and Dialogue Programmesö goes through all the phases of the EDP and looks specifically at the role of the facilitator. It gives thirteen key recommendations on how implement an EDP. The ôHand-out for shaping the Immersion Process: Exposure, Reflection and Dialogueö is directed at participants of an immersion programme, and gives practical tips for shaping the phases of a programme, and the individual steps that participants should take during the course of the programme. The ôHand-out for shaping the process of Immersion and for analysing the findings about vulnerability, life cycle risks and the risk management strategies of women workersö is directed specifically at participants of an EDP undertaken with the Self Employed WomenÆs Association, SEWA, in Gujarat, India. It contains tolls for shaping the phases of exposure and reflection, and for the analysis of life cycle risks and for writing life stories focussing on risk management strategies. The booklet öDevelopment has got a faceö gives an overview of EDP process, and presents experiences from EDPs conducted by the Association for the promotion of North-South Dialogue in Brazil, the Philippines, India and Bolivia. The pack also contains an example of a brief report from an EDP conducted with SEWA, India.