Resources

The paper discusses the use and usefulness of participatory approaches in the work of Save the Children Fund (SCF). It asks how PRA can be used effectively by SCF when the nature of its work means it is unlikely to be involved purely as a facilitator in a community development process. Areas where PRA has proved useful are research, training and awareness, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. It is suggested that the awareness and skills of a growing number of staff members will gradually increase SCFs capacity to use PRA. Participatory methods are also seen as having a useful role to play in turning SCF into a more child-focused agency, and in helping to develop partnerships between SCF, local communities and partner organisations.

This article reports on an innovative secondary school environmental awareness initiative designed to complement a program to develop village level aquatic resource management. Students were provided with discussion questions on past, present and future issues regarding local aquatic resources resand encouraged to use semi-structured interview techniques to investigate the issues in their own villages with elders and relatives. Essays were then written by the students based on this research and the best essays presented at ceremonies where district government officials, village chiefs and members of the school parents committee attended. One of the best essays was also published in the Lao language newspaper. The process increased awareness levels regarding aquatic resource management not only amongst students but also amongst teachers, those who helped supply information and the village leaders and district government officials attending the ceremonies.

This article argues that theatre has featured highly in the tool kit of PRA yet there are many other forms of creative art which could be utilised, including dance, story telling, poetry and creative play. The article suggests that these other tools should be considered alongside theatre and the appropriate one selected according to the cultural environment and objectives of the exercise.

This article reports on the use of REFLECT by the Oxford Development Education Centre (ODEC), as part of The Learning from Life Project (LFL), with members of various African Caribbean communities living in Oxford. Participatory methods used to provide an opportunity for younger and older people to learrn from each other, are described, including a timeline of the histroy of racism in the city.

This article reports on research carried out in case study schools from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and India, to investigate the use of agriculture as a medium for the development of young learners' basic skills of literacy, numeracy and other life skills. The findings were aimed to provide decision-makers at national and international level with information for future planning and implementation of primary education programmes. PRA methods were used to learn more about the formal environments of primary schools, through facilitating the analysis of the school situation by teachers, pupils and parents.

This article discusses CARE's experiences with involving youth through participatory research on sexual and reproductive health in Zambia. The research findings indicate that adolescents have incomplete, inaccurate and distorted information on sex and reproduction. CARE acted on the findings and implements adolescent and sexual health programmes in shanty towns. The authors opine that adolescent sexual behaviour has serious implications and there is a need for extensive interventions.