Resources

This collection of articles demonstrates some of the methodological problems which may be experienced in participatory research. This is followed by examples of participatory research, which illustrate general and methodological observations from different sectors and continents. Donors perspectives are the subject of a chapter and finally there is a listing of contacts in participatory research and networking.

Article based on a workshop focussing around the REFLECT Mother Manual which was published in 1996. The workshop was held to pull together concerns and learnings regarding the manual and also to collect together recent innovations in practice.

This paper reflects on whether because of the very concept and nature of a manual, the REFLECT Mother Manual is in direct contradiction with the very approach which it is introducing.

This paper describes the work of YAKSHI, a small NGO in Andhra Pradesh, with an independant tribal peoples' mass organisation. REFLECT was only introduced after suport was given to reactivate a declining indigenous system of community interaction known as the 'Gotti'. The Gottis facilitated the introduction of participatory methodologies associated with REFLECT and ten REFLECT circles started focussing on two issues identified as local concerns : challenging the cash crop economy and looking holistically at health. In each community only a certain number of adults chose to learn literacy which in many other circumstances would have been seen as a failure. However, the article describes how participants perceived it differently, saying that it was only necessary for so many people in the community to be literate, just as it was only necessary for a few households to be able to climb palm trees to tap valuable oil. Promoting participation of women in the Gottis proved difficult initially and the paper outlines the way in which this was addressed.

This master thesis argues that in popular education in latin america there lies an approach to development work in which outsiders could have a real and useful role as catalysts of empowering processes that would correspond to the true needs and aspirations of the poor. The paper looks at education and development and the role of the outsider as an educator. Looking at the impact of outside popular educators in a Mexican Indian village, the paper illustrates contradictions inherent in their role as facilitators of empowerment.

This article based on a case study of the use of REFLECT in Bangladesh, suggests that when REFLECT is linked to a savings and credit programme it can promote a change in women's status.