Resources

This book is aimed at anyone who wishes to consult or involve children and young people in any setting. The first part sets the scene of what this book is about and the definitions and background to participation. The second part outlines the values underpinning the work, of co-operation, participation, inclusion and involvement. It raises issues to consider, such as, why involve children and young people, what the children and young people will get out of it, questions around resource limitations, and who should be involved. It also gives some hints about planning and running a session, and provides a trouble shooting guide to potential problems. The third section gives a toolkit of starting activities, information gathering and promoting discussion exercises, and other examples. The fourth section gives ideas for your own programmes and methods.

This is a resource directory of individuals and organisations practicing PRA approach in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. The directory is the product of the individual and organisation questionnaires received during a process of PRA mapping in Pakistan.

This document is a report on workshop which had the purpose of developing a common understanding of various aspects of PRA. Another purpose was to outline PRA's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and future threats. It also aimed to identify PRA practitioners and trainers.
The report has three parts: a brief review and background of the workshop; the proceedings and outcome of the workshop in detail; and appendices that include participant's presentations, a presentation on the PRA Mapping Project, and synthesised information received from questionnaires. The SWOT analysis revealed many common points among PRA practitioners' perceptions of the approach, and future strategies were identified to address these issues under the headings of: approach, capacity building, documentation, empowerment, funds and resources, networking, policies, time.

This article documents participatory research activities in the International Potato Centre over the past thirty years. During the 1980s the centre became famous for its development of a flexible approach to research, known as farmer-back-to-farmer. Since that time it has lost leadership in the field. The study finds that during the 1990s the participatory research centre grew unevenly, with little support from the organisations with which it is affiliated. As a result there was fragmentation of the research and a withering away of successful outputs. Recently, however, there has been a revival of interest due to increasing interest in integrated pest monitoring, donor support, and the recruitment of international staff that have been exposed to other currents of participatory research and training. It is recommended that these factors be monitored carefully to ensure a flexible and effective approach to emerge.

This paper originally developed as a Masters' thesis investigates the relationship between child beneficiary participation and project effectiveness. It is argued that beneficiary participation in decision-making is now part of development consensus, but not if the beneficiaries are children: whilst children's participation is at the centre of many campaigns for children's rights, it has not been central to the promotion of children's provision or protection.
An evaluation is undertaken of the important information that beneficiaries have and professionals lack, where beneficiaries are competent compared to officials; and how beneficiaries are reliable compared to professionals. From this, findings emerge that projects involving child beneficiaries have had considerable success, but not without difficulties. These include relating success to participatory methodology, and problems in data collection. Overall, it is recommended that the participation of child beneficiaries in project decision-making should be made a priority given that it appears to enhance their self-esteem and improve the effectiveness of measures for provision and protection.