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This publication reports on the findings of an advocacy Working Group of NGOs in the Philippines. The study documents the experiences of the NGOÆs in influencing public policy and provoked reflections on the current conduct of advocacy in the country. It identifies competencies and techniques useful in effecting policy changes, and identified the capacity-building needs of NGOs and the requirements for developing a discipline for advocacy. A case study method is employed to look at policy-influencing experiences from 1990 to the present, of advocates working on cooperatives, gender, ancestral domain, agrarian reform, labour, aquatic reform, local governance, debt and taxation, and social services. The cases examine processes and techniques for achieving policy reform and focus on the interaction between public policy makers and social actors. The study is also based on reflections and information emerging from discussion fora with key informants (academics, government, etc). Eight case studies are presented and analysed in the report, examining levels of advocacy within the organisation and action impact on policy. In conclusion, the study lists some of the reasons for success and failure in advocacy and gives recommendations for capacity building for supporting advocacy, which concentrates on: enhancing a framework; integrating research and information management; research; skills for market research; ability for negotiation; broadening linkages and networks; strengthening organisation and management; and developing the discipline Finally it proposes some general and comprehensive indicators on measuring advocacy outcomes.
This study looks critically at the varying concepts and practices of participatory development (PD) and asks how to practically strengthen the concept and practice of it for more effective programming with the poor. It first looks at the conceptual weaknesses of PD and suggests that ,fro participatory development to be a non-tyrannical paradigm , a rights based approach towards it, coupled with a series of practical mechanisms is required to strengthen it. It tests these theories against the programming of an international NGO, the HIV/AIDS Alliance. The research methodology included literature review, interviews with key informants from the Participation group at IDS (Institute of Development Science, UK) and SWOC (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints) analysis. The study report gives an introduction to the study and goes on to analyse the assessment of the concept of participatory development; conceptual assumptions; linking participation as a goal and a right, with better practice; strengthening the concept and practice of participation at the HIV/AIDS Alliance, on institutional personal and professional levels; and assessing the potential to strengthen the concept and practice of PD. It concludes that a rights based approach to participation is both possible and desirable, but that it will require considerable effort by all stakeholders to make it a reality.
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This paper surveys public participation policies across a range of international institutions and environmental agreements to better understand whether opportunities exist for meaningful participation in international decisions that affect the environment. It examines the implementation of Principle 10 in the Rio Declaration, supported by the Aarhus convention which details measures countries must take to ensure that citizens have access to information, participation, and justice in decisions that affect the environment. It looks specifically on how Multilateral Development Banks, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and trade regimes and regional economic bodies have lived up to these goals. Co-produced by WRIÆs (World Resources Institute) International Financial Flows and the Environment Program (IFFE) and The Access Initiative (TAI), the survey concludes that: Policies on public participation are quickly becoming the norm; Public participation at the national level is uniformly weak; domestic stakeholders have limited ability to influence international decisions that affect their environment; Institutions and agreements subject to the greatest public scrutiny have the most advanced public participation policy frameworks; A common methodology is needed to assess the implementation and practice of public participation. This analysis provides the reader with an overview of where multilateral institutions are contributing to the development of effective public participation, and the extent to which opportunities exist in domestic and international political spheres for affected parties and the interested public to incorporate sustainability concerns in multilateral decision-making processes.
This research report is borne out of CDRN and CAREÆs attempts to strengthen their support to civil society organisations in Uganda. The report takes the widely held belief that the needs and interests of poorer people are directly or indirectly represented through community-based organisations, and that working with CBOs is therefore a route to poverty reduction as its starting point. As more and more initiatives, both government and NGO-led, attempt to use this channel to reach the poor, the research examines the validity of this assumption. The report concludes by suggesting that the assumption: æfind the groups and you have found the poorÆ is only partially correct. It might be more accurate to assume that æin some kinds of groups, you will find some kinds of poor people.Æ
The report is structured into six main sections: introduction; an overview of the research sites, groups and external perspectives on group formation; the strengths and weaknesses of groups in representing the poor; exploring the relationship between a group and external groups/ institutions; an exploration of where the poorer members of a community are if they are not in groups; and conclusions and recommendations.
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This publication documents Reflect experiences in two countries: Nigeria (where a range of projects are supported by ActionAid Nigeria) and South Africa (where a specific project is implemented by Idasa, the Institute for Democracy and South Africaùa national NGO which receives no funding from ActionAid). These experiences were chosen because of their focus on issues of rights and governance. Both experiences contain rich learning, targeting three main audiences: Reflect practitioners, ActionAid staff and partners, and other people engaging with grassroots activists in working to influence governance and rights issues at a national and local level. The report is structured into four main sections: an introduction looking at Reflect, governance, and connections between governance and rights; the Nigeria experiences; the South Africa experience; and a concluding section that looks at key issues in Reflect, rights and governance.
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This resource pack is designed for anyone interested in poverty reduction in a context characterised by inequality and exclusion. DFID has focused on the political dynamics of poverty in Peru in order to address the underlying causes of inequality and exclusion. This has meant engaging with political processes, supporting new spaces for dialogue and participation, and working with and building alliances between state, society and the international community. This resource pack includes a book of reflections from DFID, its partners and other local and international voices highlighting lessons and key issues; a DVD looking at DFIDÆs work to strengthen accountability, build citizenship and institutionalise rights in Peru; and a CD-ROM containing a selection of material on DFIDÆs experience such as the book, a series of papers prepared for DFID on state-society relations, and key corporate documents e.g. DFIDÆs target strategy papers. Some of the main recommendations raised include issues for donors, such as addressing poor people as citizens with rights and responsibilities as a key means of tackling inequality and exclusion; working systematically with both the state and wider society to achieve more inclusive development; investing in alliances between those individuals and institutions that are committed to pro-poor reform; and acting openly, transparently and accountably in tackling this more political agenda.
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This is a collection of newsletters from ActionAid Kenya, Western region. The newsletters are designed to share learning tools and ideas to increase learning, sharing and documentation within the region, and to provide an avenue for sharing experiences with the rest of ActionAid Kenya. Mwangaza is Kiswahili for illumination. Some regular features of the newsletter include: working with community-based organisations; gender perspectives; HIV/AIDS perspectives; transparency, accountability and effective management; research perspectives; and news and updates.
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This is the report from the second meeting of a group of participatory practitioners in the UK looking at the history of participatory approaches in the UK. At the first meeting, the focus was on participatory appraisal. The group agreed a list of shared principles of participatory approaches, listing key issues such as empowerment, learning, inclusivity, critical reflection and ethics. The group also identified key issues that concerned the group, including guidelines for commissioners, action learning sets, regional networks and pulling together lessons learnt around good practice. The purpose of the second meeting was to take forward the discussions from the first meeting and re-evaluate the action plan that had been devised. The key issues of discussion where what is the function of the group? What makes the group æmovers and shakersÆ? And what are the obstacles facing the group? The meeting concluded with a revised action plan, and a concern for where long term funding for the group would come from.
This is the report from a meeting of 49 people engaged in advocacy and citizen participation efforts in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, North America and Europe. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together activists, researchers, trainers and other practitioners to discuss the challenges and successes of citizen-centred advocacy in different country contexts. This report aims to capture key lessons and recommendations to help donors and international NGOs refine their support strategies for training and action in participatory advocacy. The report is structured around the key themes of engagement in advocacy: when is a policy space strategic and when is it just window dressing?; issue-based struggle or struggle-based issues: linking social transformation and policy advocacy; whoÆs who in advocacy: identity, representation and legitimacy; and how to assess success: evaluation for learning.
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This book is designed to support professionals and others attempting to understand collaborative management regimes and strives to support them in developing their practice. This book is a stepping stone in the evolving understanding and lessons learned, and aims to synthesise key collaborative management features, important steps in developing those and lessons learned regarding management institutions and the evolution of a favourable policy context. The book aims to promote action, and offers a practical menu of examples, tools and checklists. The book is structured into four main areas: 1) towards a contextual framework, which includes chapters about managing natural resources, actors and entitlements in natural resource management, and co-management of natural resources; 2) towards effective processes, which includes chapters about partnerships, the natural resource management unit and negotiating the co-management agreement and organisation; 3) towards effective institutions, including chapters on co-management agreements, organisations and institutional learning processes; and 4) towards enabling policies, including chapters on natural resource policy and instruments, and empowering civil society for policy change. The book concludes with the authors' comments and accounts of their own field experience.
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This sourcebook forms part of a wider initiative to promote easy access to systematized information on field-tested participatory research and development concepts and practices. The sourcebook aims to identify and consolidate tested practices and concepts relevant to managing natural resources for agriculture and rural livelihood. The primary audience for the sourcebook are field-based research practitioners in developing countries. The sourcebook is divided into 3 volumes: Understanding, enabling and doing participatory research and development. Volume 1, understanding participatory research and development, looks at typologies and concepts (such as indigenous knowledge, property rights, monitoring and evaluation), approaches, participatory technology development and natural resource management. Volume 2, enabling participatory research and development, looks at capacity building, networking and partnerships, scaling up and institutionalisation. Volume 3, doing participatory research and development, looks at technology development, strengthening local organisations and multi-stakeholder based natural resource management.
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National Agricultural Extension Services are often criticised for not doing enough, not doing what they do well enough, or not being relevant. Participatory approaches can improve them by making them more demand driven and accountable. In this paper the author describes how management and field staff of the Department of Extension and Engineering Servicesin Ohangwena, a region of Namibia, have improved the efficiency and responsiveness of the services they offer by making them more participatory. The paper begins by looking at OhangwenaÆs organisational culture, examining the changes in approaches and how staff have reacted to them, with younger staff generally being more willing and able to take new ways of working on board. It then goes on to describe management innovations such as: planning and budgeting whereby farmers groups are involved in the process, and monitoring and evaluation for which the management team decided, with the help of technicians and farmers, to monitor themselves. It also looks at training, interaction with stakeholders and publicity. The paper concludes that although these types of services are seen as highly bureaucratic, they can change their managerial style to be more participatory, flexible, effective and responsive thereby empowering farmers and assisting rural communities in sustaining their livelihoods.
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In this short paper the author looks at the importance of development institutions providing staff with opportunities for experiential learning and reflection. The prevailing culture tends to be long hours, over-commitment and intensive activity. Even annual retreats are often overloaded, with little or no time allowed for genuine reflection. The focus is alway action-orientated, with no space for learning. The author argues that self critical reflection and respecting the self are a starting point for transforming practice and performance and cites a report from a South African NGO that states not to allow time for this may result in ôdoing things to the poor that are inappropriate, even destructiveö. The paper ends with a note of caution not to swing too far the other way: time spent on reflection and learning should be optimised, not maximised.