Resources

This paper reflects on issues related to participatory evaluation in the context of child-centred community development and raises questions that it believes community development organisations need to consider. In reflecting on these questions it draws upon the author's experience as technical manager of PLAN International. The focus of the work was mainstreaming the participation of children of different ages into development processes. The paper details basic considerations to guide evaluation and looks at missed opportunities and the importance of shared values. It goes on to consider how evaluation should be built into a project from the beginning and not just considered at the end, and also looks at how to engage all partners and the risk of unintended consequences. Examples are given from Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, El Salvador and India.

Global knowledge of the experience and perspectives of displaced children is limited. Much of the knowledge is researcher-centred and does not reflect the perspectives of the children, other documentary evidence is anecdotal. Based on the author's previous experience and secondary sources in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Peru, this paper examines some of the key questions and issues regarding the participation of refugee and displaced children in societal and programmatic processes. It begins by reviewing some of the structural, operational and conceptual reasons why children's participation is, as a rule, highly restricted in refugee and displaced communities, and concludes by considering some recent development in the field. It includes examples from Cambodia, Laos, South Africa, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo.

This article is about a workshop for Oxfam partners in the Yemen. Its key objectives were to introduce community participation as a tool for sustainable development work; to develop and understanding of the role of Oxfam partners for community mobilisation/participation; to introduce participants to PRA tools and show the relevance to their work; and to enhance mainstreaming gender analysis in Oxfam partner's work. Most participants at the workshop represented local NGOs who receive funding form foreign donors, including Oxfam. They represented diverse fields of work, such as women's development, marginalised communities, disability and Social Fund for Development.|The workshop involved discussions around the concepts of community and participation and the changing roles of the partners in the light of using participatory approaches and tools. It includes a discussion of PRA for people with disabilities including methodological innovations.

This is the second in a series of reports being produced by the International Reflect Circle, CIRAC based on the systematisation of results from the global reflect circle. It provides a comprehensive overview of different aspects of Reflect practice. Following an executive summary the report looks at the organisation of the process, the participants, the facilitators, training of facilitators, training of trainers, manuals and materials and other comments.

This workshop paper presents six propositions to problematise, and to stimulate thinking around, issues of citizen participation in local governance. First, the author argues that the relationship between government and the governed - throughout the world - is becoming one of distrust and disillusionment. Second, that both citizens and institutions of the state need to work together to rebuild this relationship; citizens need to be more active and engaged, and the state more responsive and effective. Third, that we need to rethink participation in political processes towards an engagement that is more deliberative and which can be understood as a right in itself. Fourth, that citizen participation at the local level can still be exclusionary and not pro-poor, but there is potential for new state-citizen synergies to develop. Fifth, that participatory governance calls for certain preconditions to be created. Sixth, that in the context of globalisation the 'local' needs to be critically examined in terms of discourse, rights, and scale.

This guidebook, produced by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the Southeast Asian Network for Agroforestry Education (SEANAFE), aims to provide the foundation for guiding agroforestry learning in Southeast Asia. It is meant to serve as a tool for educational institutions to address the rapidly changing area of integrated natural resource management. The guide is the result of a collaborative process where members of SEANAFE have drawn on their experiences from agroforestry education and curriculum development as well as agroforestry research and development. It is oriented towards the following: À Providing a general guide about the curriculum development process À Presenting an overview of the contents that should be in focus in agroforestry education À Emphasising that practical exercises are essential for attaining agroforestry education objectives The guide is divided into two parts, the first of which focuses on participatory curriculum development and teaching methods. The second part develops a framework for agroforestry curricula. This includes a look at concepts and principles, at systems, practices and technologies, at institutions and policies related to agroforestry and lastly at advancing agroforestry practices. Since this guide is generic, further elaboration and local adaptation is needed regarding contents and especially regarding the practical exercises. It should be complemented with local information and materials.

This conference paper was written to introduce educational researchers attending the NETREED conference to some of the issues of using PRA as an approach to research. It assumes that readers are familiar with PRA. The paper was intended to complement the keynote speech made by Robert Chambers at the conference. It is structured as four main sections:

- PRA: an approach to education or an approach to researching education? 

- Exploring PRA in the UK teaching and educational research context;

- Educational research and PRA in the South; 

- Issues arising around the use of PRA in educational research.

The author concludes that on reflection, using the visual to communicate more openly and adopting a more participatory and moral approach to research and teaching can be a liberating and enjoyable experience for all involved.