Resources

The paper analyses the experience of institutionalising participatory approaches in the design and implementation of slum improvement projects in India, focusing on the case of Calcutta. The authors highlight the excessively compartmentalised structure of the project institutions (strictly divided between Engineering, Health, and Community Development sections) as the most significant obstacle to the effective adoption of participatory approaches. Despite staff enthusiasm for PRA techniques, these were considered useful primarily to extract information rather than for planning. Another limitation was the insufficient attention paid to behaviour and attitudes training. The main conclusion was that for scaling up to be effective, it may be necessary to scale down first, by concentrating on a handful of cases of sustained community action in which participatory approaches played an important role, and using them as learning laboratories.

This paper reviews GTZÆs experience with participatory approaches since 1991, focusing on the organisational challenges implied by participatory development, both within GTZ and within in-country institutions at all levels. It outlines some concrete recommendations to re-orient GTZÆs approach to management, and ensure better quality control as a result of insitutionalising participatory approaches. Emphasis is made on the need for regional learning groups to reflect on GTZÆs experience with participation and suggest new ways forward. The paper also spells out GTZÆs present understanding of the dangers and challenges implicit in the institutionalisation of participatory approaches, with particular attention paid to the challenge of taking on vested interests that interfere with participation, and the challenge of assisting governments embarking on decentralization, which is recognised to be a fundamental enabling condition for participatory development.

This document describes the steps to be followed in a PRA training and outlines the objective and the contents of PRA training. The processes involved in conducting PRA training and the ways that farmers and the professionals learn from such training are discussed. The role of institutions in internalising PRA as a value is emphasised.

This brief paper argues that a participatory monitoring (PM) system is meaningful and effective only when people are involved right from the inception of the project, given a free hand in setting their own objectives and monitoring indicators. The outsider should aim at developing the institutional capability of local organisations, instead of overburdening them with data collection to fulfil the monitoring requirements of outsiders. The effectiveness of a PM system is questioned when people have to participate in a project designed by the outsiders often using indicators that are alien to them.

This document describes, in detail, the processes and the outcomes of a training workshop on participatory appraisal methods, the main objective of which was to develop a methodology for the study of urban poverty and violence in Jamaica. The training workshop, which was participated in by over a dozen people including the Bank staff, was carried out in three phases: an introduction to the methodology in classroom sessions, pilot fieldwork and review, and the planning for the main fieldwork . The report provides an example of how PRA tools can be used successfully in studying more sensitive issues in the urban context as well. The fact that a good PRA in practice can help to bring about changes in 'outsiders' view regarding the importance and practicality of PRA tools is demonstrated. The report contains annexes with tables and diagrams.

This report describes the relationship between 'people-centered agricultural development', sustainability of agricultural development and the empowerment of the resource-poor people. The report also describes the evolution of the principles of people-centered agricultural development, their spread, effectiveness, and modifications in their application. (Remarks - incomplete document, maybe some pages missing at the end)