Resources

The recent growth in interest in the utility of indigenous environmental knowledge in Africa has brought more sharply into focus the cross-cultural limitations of many conventional geographical methods for collecting perceptual and behavioural data. There is a danger in uncritical reliance on transferred social science methodologies which often embody cultural assumptions exterior to the local culture. This paper explains the use of local traditional cultural forms, in particular the use of a Nigerian board game derived from Mancala. This type of multi-method approach, given carefully designed research programmes, could provide a variety of different learning formats and experiences for both research worker and farmer, and encourage mutual understanding and co-operation in agricultural research in developing countries.

This paper describes the results of applying wealth and income ranking techniques in a society spatially and culturally distant from the ones where it had been applied previously. With regard to the income rank, income data from 38 households in a rural Indian village wereg collected for the cropping year June 1985 to May 1986. Assets considered for the wealth rank were: land, animals and the number of people engaged in employment. The paper concludes that wealth ranking is a useful technique of stratification for the area of India in which it was tested. It is reasonable to assume from this that the technique could be used in other parts of India.

This paper describes a method of farmer participation which aims at more sustainable farming systems. In this method groups of farmers draw conceptual models on paper or on the ground using sticks, seeds, ash, or whatever is to hand to improve on-farm experimental design. Material flow models help farmers see how diverse enterprises can be integrated. Examples from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Malawi are given. Farmers' drawings foster two-way communication between researchers and farmers. The participatory methods described can help many more farmers integrate agroforestry and aquaculture into their farming systems for better livelihoods and regenerated environments.

In order to obtain detailed information about project participants's daily tasks, particularly in a gender context, 139 calenders were constructed for one specific day. The timeline focused on all the activities undertaken during that day, including agricultural work. Men did more agricultural work than women, although women worked harder overall. Of the 103 agricultural workers surveyed, the men spent more time with livestock, both were involved in nursery work, and men carried out slightly more work in the fields. The other projects studied were water and santitation, women's income generating projects and education. The gender difference in perception of agricultural tasks is noted, which relates closely to time spent talking, resting and in 'reproductive' chores.

As part of the UNICEF relief programme to Angola, a technical team carried out a ranking exercise upon which this paper reports. It took place between December 1991 and June 1992. Ranking is defined here as a process of priority ordering, in this case administrative areas in relation to the need for assistance. It used the knowledge that informants possessed from the country, at a national level, as well as from the provinces. No quantitative data were used. The ranking technique was expected to provide a rational framework to deal with time and resource constraints. The paper looks at the ranking process at a central and provincial level, as well as looking at the limitations and potential of the approach. It concludes that ranking was useful with regards to outlining the humanitarian issues in Angola; however, its efficiency depends very much on the choice of information source.

In the West African nation of Togo mid-level health workers are being routinely trained to conduct focus-group interviews with mothers of children under five. The intent is to establish qualitative data bases that complement conventional survey data. The authors document the findings of a five-day training programme during which health workers collected data from 81 focus groups (324 mothers). Two unanticipated effects emerged: firstly that the focus group method democratized data gathering by forcing health workers out of their perceived roles as experts and teachers; secondly that by stimulating this shift in roles community competence was enhanced, thereby promoting collaborative programme planning by health workers and target villages. Evidence is given that focus-group discussions paved the way for highly successful education campaigns which dramatically increased child vaccination rates.

This report is a summary of a workshop held by the HelpAge Association, to enable its volunteer members facilitate a process with the older people they work with to identify and analyse their situation and decide on activities to some of their problems.