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Introductory article to special edition of PLA notes on HIV/AIDS.
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A workshop was held in India to "adapt some of the participatory methods developed within agriculture for conducting PRA exercises on women's health". A "body mapping" exercise was conducted with a group of traditional birth attendants to discuss their concepts of reproduction, contraception and nutrition. A village mapping exercise led later to construction of "pregnancy time lines" and information on family planning acceptors. The article briefly mentions constraints, such as how to deal with sensitive issues like abortion.
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Outlines the REFLECT method, a new approach to adult literacy techniques developed by ActionAid. REFLECT stands for Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques. The approach seeks to build on Freirian theory but provide a more effective methodology by drawing on PRA visualisation methods. Initial observations are that REFLECT is keeping learners motivated, teaching them literacy more effectively and linking literacy to wider development based on the agenda of local communities.
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The Rakai AIDS Information Network (RAIN) in Uganda used PRA methods to help community members identify and analyze factors which put them at risk of HIV infection. The article describes the different methods used, which included mapping, seasonal calendars and men and women's 24-hour activities, and what community members and programme staff learned about community HIV risk factors.
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This paper report a workshop of a child health programme in Honduras. Previous attempts to keep health diaries to record illness, and how illness was treated within families and communities had failed. Workshop participants were rural illiterate women. The aim of the workshop was to take a case history of children under five years and to record both illness and developmental milestones over the previous 12 months. The women were first asked to draw pictures to represent each month of the year. Below each picture they were asked to draw what happened to their child during that month. This was followed by a discussion to explain the drawings. The paper discusses some of the problems the women had in drawing these calendars, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the technique. One of the strengths is that the technique enables the women to explore patterns of illness and analyse them, drawing on the knowledge acquired by their participation in the programme.