Resources

The Ad Hoc Working Group set up following the adoption of the DAC (Development Co-operation Directorate of OECD) Orientations on Participatory Development and Good Governance at the December 1993 DAC High Level Meeting (HLM) has completed its three-year mandate. Part I (i.e. the present part) of this report sets out the main results of this work as agreed by DAC Members in the framework of the Ad Hoc Working Group. This includes an agreed policy note, endorsed by the HLM of 1996, on in country co-ordination and a related guidance note on possible first steps for donors. It looks at the conclusions and action-oriented outcomes; the major points emerging from topic discussions; promoting in-country dialogue and coordination; and linkages to other development objectives and the DAC strategy for shaping the 21st century. It also contains three annexes with: Mandate and scope of work of the DAC Ad Hoc working group on PD/GG; Policy note on strengthening country level coordination for participatory development and good governance; and Proposed guidance for introducing in-country coordination on participatory development and good governance issues. Part II, Lessons from Experience in Selected Areas of Support for Participatory Development and Good Governance, contains summaries of the discussions on the main themes taken up over the last three years in formal meetings and in a series of informal seminars organised jointly by Members and the OECD Development Centre. Additionally, a separate publication Evaluation of Programs Promoting Participatory Development and Good Governance resulting from surveys of evaluation results and lessons learned in a number of relevant PD/GG ôsectorsö.

This brochure describes the participatory methodology used by Helvetas, the Swiss Association for International Cooperation, which intends to help improve the quality of education and training. It introduces and describes the basic principles and approaches of curriculum development and the learning process, and presents a case study of the Social Forestry Support Programme in Vietnam. Other Helvetas experiences are also presented, from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Lesotho, Kyrgyzstan, and Bhutan. With regard to the financial costs of the approach, it is seen as too expensive, though the approach is a long term investment. A number of benefits are evident:| As it is an innovative process it raises the prestige of institutions and individuals involved;| As prestige rises and experience grows, attitudes change in terms of greater willingness to listen, communicate and learn;| It promotes the development of transferable skills, peer learning, building of relationships, and of mutual trust and support.|Constraints to the programme are related to time and resources, bringing stakeholders together and trying to establish a common agenda among them, different groups lead to different levels of involvement. Finally, factors which facilitate the approach are:| Innovation should be key to the process;| The principle of participation means the development of partnerships and networks, in which experiences and knowledge can be shared;| Awareness of the fact that it is a time-consuming and continuous process;| Understanding of what motivates different stakeholders.

This editorial introduces those who have contributed to this special theme of advocacy and citizen participation, and goes on to introduce some of the articles in the general section of this issue.

This paper provides an introduction to the concept of participatory or people-centred advocacy that emphasises the direct role marginalized groups must play if equitable power relations and advocacy victories are to be sustained. The author highlights the main differences between advocacy viewed as a systemic process of policy change, and advocacy understood as a process of social transformation. The paper identifies key elements of this approach that resonate throughout the case studies in this issue of PLA notes such as the role of a robust and culturally sensitive approach to communication and popular education; the importance of media advocacy; the need to build strong alliances and networks; and the pivotal issue of power relations.

This paper is a case study exploring the process of mobilising citizen action around the right to information. It documents a recent experience with a participatory social audit carried out with marginalized villages in Orissa under a less-than-transparent panchayat (local government). A campaign involving participatory action research, popular education, training and alliances among people's organisations, NGOs, sympathetic government officials and the media, led to exposure and prosecution of corrupt panchayat officials.

This paper is about an initiative to curb the misuse of public grain and food-to-work resources in India. Using a combination of direct citizen advocacy and legal action, public interest litigation was filed in Rajasthan naming 14 Indian states with high inefficiencies in public food distribution. The article details the uses of participatory research in the process and concludes with lessons and challenges for the future.

This paper is the story of a nation-wide advocacy effort in Pakistan, which is building on political space, opened up by the government devolution measures. The People's Assemblies process was initiated in 1998 to provide a platform for normally excluded voices to debate and to be heard in shaping politics and decision making. Taken forward by a nation-wide coalition of civil society organisations, a process of open debate on critical issues of governance was held in 40 locations across Pakistan. The paper describes this advocacy effort and goes on to discuss its strengths and successes, as well as its shortcomings.