Resources

This research report provides an interesting example of participatory tools and approaches applied in the context of a developed country. Responding to local tensions within the Somali community and also the wider community in Lewiston Maine, USA, researchers from Clark University's Department for International Development decided to conduct a pilot participatory needs assessment of 60 Somali households resident in Hillview, a large public housing unit in Lewiston. The overall objective was to enable Hillview Somalis to bring together their different clan, gender, age, class and educational diversities to build unity and to speak with one voice about their needs. In conclusion, the report suggests that participatory approaches were useful, and that three process goals were achieved: good local support, meaningful and probing discussions, and local ownership. In addition, five products were also created: the assessment of achieved consensus, a community action plan, an action committee with strong backing from the community, support and involvement from a local NGO focusing on Somali community services, and partnerships between different stakeholders. Overall, the needs assessment worked because it combined all the ingredients for creating sustainable actionùinclusiveness, public group processes, transparent ranking, listening to others, visual data gathering techniques, building consensus rather than voting, creating a community action plan, organising information, mobilising resources, and building partnerships. As the report concludes, these are æthe qualities that will enable the Hillview Somali community to continue listening to each other as well as to become the managers of their own community.

11 Briefing Papers from the Institutional Learning and Change Initiative

This report documents the proceedings of the 3rd LIFE grantee NGOs workshop, held during two days in Faisalabad, Pakistan, 1998. LIFE (Local Initiative Facility for Urban Environment) was launched in Pakistan in 1993 by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). It supports local initiatives carried out by city dwellers in cooperation with municipal governments, NGOs and CBOs (community based organisations) to tackle environmental and social issues facing rapidly growing town and cities. The workshop was arranged with representatives from LIFE grantee NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to compare, analyse and discuss project experiences. Participants also visited one of the nearby LIFE projects. This report contains some brief notes on the proceedings and general discussions held in the workshop. It also gives more detailed account of some of the presentations made. This includes a keynote address concerning lessons learned in community based urban development from low income settlements, drawing from experiences of the Orangi pilot project; a presentation reflecting on the role of UNDP in changing urban patterns in Pakistan; and a session on exchange of key issues of mutual concern for the involved NGOs. Some of the main conclusions were that NGOs need to work together with the government at the policy level and at the field level; they need to seek out community activists, integrate them into the projects and give them training; larger projects should consider paying staff; young people should be encouraged to participate as they are intrinsically idealistic; NGOs need more transparency; information sharing should be improved in order to avoid duplication of work; and the involvement of commercial businesses should be considered. Annexes include statistics on urban growth in Pakistan; summaries of three LIFE projects (Anjuman Samaji Behbood, Lahore Sanitation Programme, and Faisalabad Area Upgrading Project); workshop schedule; and a list of participants.

This brief guide to mainstreaming HIV/AIDS was produced by Project Empower in partnership with Oxfam HIV/AIDS Programme (South Africa). It describes the features and milestones of rights-based mainstreaming. It reflects the experiences of 23 South African development organisations as well as some international agencies. The content is based on a review and analysis of a mainstreaming gender pilot conducted in South Africa between 1999 and 2001. The briefly describes mainstreaming and looks at differences in understanding of HIV/AIDS mainstreaming. The rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS mainstreaming is explained briefly as a process of change and transformation whereby individuals, committees and institutions are empowered through access to resources and services based on principles of justice, equality and respect for human rights, to enable women, men and children to live full meaningful lives. It looks at the main features of HIV/AIDS mainstreaming and defines eight areas for planning and action. It also gives a practical example of rights based mainstreaming

This issue of Compas magazine focuses on the main controversies that individuals, communities and agencies involved in endogenous development are experiencing, and to show examples of methodologies to handle these controversies. Many of the articles presented show that the experiences of development agencies in consciously and systematically dealing with controversies are still few. The issue focuses on four controversial issues dealt with in separate sections: traditional leadership and governance, gender roles, agriculture and health care. Some of the main questions dealt with are how controversies between traditional leadership and formal government can be bridged; how to build on the strengths of both traditional and modern health care systems; how to understand culture-based gender concepts and support women in traditional cultures who face suppressive gender-related taboos; and how understanding between scientists and traditional farmers can be increased to help agriculture adapt to changing conditions. The issue includes articles on traditional ways of dealing with controversies; challenges between African, Asian and western philosophy; contexts, concepts and controversies between Andean and western cosmovisions; potentials and questions regarding indigenous institutions in Ghana; blending governance systems in Ghana; revitalising traditional leadership in Andhra Pradesh, India; conflict transformation between pastoralists and settled farmers in Sudan; dealing with land conflicts in Zimbabwe; livestock controversies in Europe; traditional leadership and gender in Kenya; rituals, taboos and gender in Sri Lanka; lessons from Buddhism on equality and diversity in Sri Lanka; ancient farming and modern science in Sri Lanka; changes and controversies in Uganda; controversies between farmers and scientists regarding grain storage n Nepal; and integrating different healing practices in Cameroon. The magazine also contains book reviews relating to the subjects discussed and descriptions of future issues. Sri Lanka, Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, Europe, the Andes, Uganda, Nepal

Since the 1970s many non-governmental development organizations have moved away from top-down modes of operation toward participatory practices that hand over decision-making power to the poor. The bilateral development agencies of the industrialized states have been slower to follow suit, but in the 1980s and 1990s a number also initiated participatory-oriented reforms. Development scholars have paid little attention to reforms of the larger organizations. In this paper we analyze the efforts of the United States Agency for International Development to embrace participation in the 1990s. Internal reformers managed to change some agency procedures but had only limited success in institutionalizing participatory practices. Forces internal to the agency, including rigid rules and employee incentive structures hampered reform efforts. Also, while some developments external to the agency facilitated participation, many others, including legislative interference and shifting national policy priorities, hindered change toward participation. The case reveals how complex webs of accountability relationships make participatory-oriented transformation a cumbersome process in large development organizations. Change toward participation can succeed, but only if reformers acknowledge and consider existing institutional constraints.

This information pack from the Exposure and Dialogue Programme (http://www.exposure-nsd.de) contains instruction materials for immersion and exposure and dialogue programmes (EDPs). In EDPs participants share the life of poor, in order to get better insight in their life. The main aim of the EDP is to transform the existing structures in favour of the poor and underprivileged by encouraging key individuals form diverse sectors to make use of their respective competence and their possibilities to act in favour of the poor. ôGuidelines for Reflection and Dialogue in Exposure and Dialogue Programmesö are concerned with the two phases that come after the exposure phase. They cover the time spent in reflection of the experiences of exposures and in deepening these experiences in dialogue. The guidelines go throw five steps of dealing with this process including individual reflection; telling key stories, communicating the main experiences of the exposure; thematic deepening of experiences to feed into policy development; north-south dialogue and networking; and reflecting on consequences and follow-up. ôGuidelines for Facilitators of Exposure and Dialogue Programmesö goes through all the phases of the EDP and looks specifically at the role of the facilitator. It gives thirteen key recommendations on how implement an EDP. The ôHand-out for shaping the Immersion Process: Exposure, Reflection and Dialogueö is directed at participants of an immersion programme, and gives practical tips for shaping the phases of a programme, and the individual steps that participants should take during the course of the programme. The ôHand-out for shaping the process of Immersion and for analysing the findings about vulnerability, life cycle risks and the risk management strategies of women workersö is directed specifically at participants of an EDP undertaken with the Self Employed WomenÆs Association, SEWA, in Gujarat, India. It contains tolls for shaping the phases of exposure and reflection, and for the analysis of life cycle risks and for writing life stories focussing on risk management strategies. The booklet öDevelopment has got a faceö gives an overview of EDP process, and presents experiences from EDPs conducted by the Association for the promotion of North-South Dialogue in Brazil, the Philippines, India and Bolivia. The pack also contains an example of a brief report from an EDP conducted with SEWA, India.