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Questions of Difference: PRA, Gender and the Environment

Authors: 
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
1995

Abstract

This four-part video aims to merge recent developments in PRA with existing conceptual frameworks on gender to provide a practical and thorough approach to gender analysis in natural resource management. It is intended as a training tool to enable fieldworkers to understand and incorporate gender issues in their work. The first section gives a summary of the analytical framework subsequently illustrated by three case studies. It is structured as a series of short themed segments (2-10 mins) which allow trainers to select what suits their specific training objectives and to stimulate discussion on related topics. The trainers' guide provides extensive suggestions for the use of each segment (34 mins). The following sections present three case studies from different cultural and environmental contexts. They demonstrate several PRA methods in detail and can be used in a training context as fieldwork examples, or for more in-depth exercises. The case studies are accompanied by hand-outs in the trainer's guide. The first case study looks at the use of coastal mangroves and other natural resources by women and men in two neighbourhoods near Karachi, Pakistan. The methods demonstrated include natural and social resource mapping, venn diagrams, a matrix of income sources, a pie diagram of fuel use, and a matrix of fuelwood types (28 mins). The second study of natural resource use and management issues in two villages in Burkina Faso shows seasonal calendars, transects, a matrix of land-use types, natural and social resource mapping, and a flow diagram (28 mins). The third case study explores biodiversity in forests and agriculture, historical change, and land use and management issues in Brazil. It demonstrates the use of seasonal calendars, transects, flow diagrams on deforestation and the impact of medicinal plants on local work, and a matrix of maize varieties (28 mins).

Groundwork: Participatory Approaches to Girl's Education

Authors: 
Economic Development Institute (World Bank)
1994

Abstract

"Investing in education for girls is the single most important thing a country can do...it leads to faster economic growth, higher family incomes, lower infant deaths and in many, many ways a better life for this generation and the next." Yet in most parts of the developing world girls receive much less education than boys. The film shows a PRA exercise which was carried out in a village in Gambia to investigate the constraints to female education and what might be done to improve access to education for girls. The methods used during the PRA included village mapping to establish which households had children attending or not attending school (06); pi-charts to show village income and expenditure (08.30); matrix ranking of problems and solutions (09); and card sorting to identify rich and poor households (12). Information from the ranking and the map were then compared and checked for discrepancies (13). However, it was only discovered by accident that 25% of girls did not appear on the map. These were girls who had never been to school or were about to get married (15). It was found that two of the major constraints to educating girls were the expense and demands for their labour at home. Cost was an important deterrent, particularly as the largest school expenses occurred just before harvest when people had no money. In addition, the demand for girls' labour in the fields was heaviest at the busiest time of the school year, while the demand for boys labour at that time was light (16). All the problems the villagers had identified were then ranked in pairs by different age-groups of women and men (18). An inventory of village associations was also made using venn diagrams to show the relationship between them (20). Having identified the problems and the resources available within the village, in the last phase of the PRA the villagers met to decide what action to take (23). The video concludes by discussing some of the wider applications of PRA (25) as well as some of the dangers (26).