Both ASA and SPEECH have been working on tank and bund rehabilitation programmes, and watershed management/soil and water conservation. PRA was used to evaluate the performance of these programmes, discover the impact of the project, and assist in finding the future direction.
In 1984, MYRADA and the Government of Karnataka, with backing from the Swiss Development Co-operation, started working together in Gulbarga on a project focusing on watershed management. This booklet discusses invaluable practical lessons learnt so far in the PIDOW project about supporting people to better manage their natural resources. The first part discusses general lessons: critical indicators of success (sustainability and equity), people's priorities, the role of people's institutions, and why focus on people's participation in watershed management. The next three sections discuss strategies used in the intervention. They are applicable to projects in which Government and NGO are co-intervenors and operational partners; parts can certainly be adopted by an NGO-only project. The three sections deal with the entry phase, planning phase and implementation phase. The emphasis throughout is on the role of the NGO. The booklet ends with a case study of a situation which differs from the Gulbarga experience and the consequences of such differences in the process which takes place.
As part of a study of pollution in the Kabul River initiated by IUCN- Pakistan and others in 1992, a PRA was carried out in the village of Deri Zadad to examine the effects of pollution on health, downstream water uses and fisheries. Water pollution has negatively affected agriculture, the economic mainstay, and is the cause of human and livestock health hazards. Since the villagers have no control over the polluting process, they cope by finding alternative sources of water for drinking, irrigation and for livestock. The report includes interesting figures of the matrix scoring, time lines, and impact and causal diagrams used to determine water sources, impact of water pollution and changes in sources.
Mlenge, with Johansson as consultant, carried out a six-week study in Bariadi District, Tanzania, "on indigenous knowledge, attitudes and practices (IKAP) in relation to plants and environmental degradation", using a team of local persons. The report focuses on the "dagashida", a community assembly of men which formulates laws and sanctions and which used to have more power. Three "dagashida's" to which women were also invited were held in three villages, specifically on environmental issues. All three raised very similar issues and recommendations. The authors feel the "dagashida" has much potential in community management of natural resources. They also feel working with IKAP, which lies between research and extension, can contribute to change
This report describes the results of a training workshop on Participatory Environmental Assessement held in Cambodia. The initial training in Environmental Impact Assessment and PRA is briefly described, with some attention given to the concepts behind them. The results of an appraisal and planning process by two groups in separate villages are described in detail. Throughout, the report nicely illustrates the work done with diagrams, maps, etc. An extensive evaluation of the process by all involved, while specific to this workshop, provides interesting ideas for training in general.
A Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture team used PRA to assess the impact of its Catchment Approach in six catchments, focusing on community level changes. This impact analysis linked differences in the implementation process with differences in results. It was clear that increased levels of community mobilization and involvement led to greater, quicker and replicating changes. One page summaries for each catchment include: process of implementation; changes in productivity; changes in resource degradation; changes in local resilience and vulnerability; changes in self-dependence of local groups; replication; and operational procedures. Two further impact studies are planned; the full report should be finished in November 1994.
A brief history of soil and water conservation and harvesting work worldwide concludes that it has been too dominated by external ideas and intervention and it has often been ineffective or harmful. Two new approaches, Rapid Catchment Analysis in Kenya and the work of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in India, are introduced as ways in which external institutions can provide more effective support for locally run processes. The steps involved are described in some detail. Performance indicators and the role of support institutions are also described. The report ends with five guidelines to be considered by external support institutions for effective environmental care.
This very interesting history of SWC worldwide argues that over the last century conservation policies and practices have treated farmers as bad managers of soil and water. Through coercion and financial incentives, they have been made to adopt externally imposed measures. While enormous amounts of time and money have gone into this, the results have been minimal if not counter-productive and have destroyed much of the credibility of conservation work. New approaches to SWC must consider the farmer as the potential solution rather than the problem, and use interactive and empowering participatory processes to put local knowledge and skills at the heart of new programmes. Three short examples of success are given.
This is a brief summary of the well-known Projet Agro-Forestier (PAF) in Burkina Faso, which has had much success promoting rock bunds as a soil and water conservation and harvesting method. One reason for success is considered to be the strong involvement of farmers in the design and building of the bunds, which are basically an improvement of a traditional technique. Another factor is the strength of the bunds. The fact that a few women have also been trained is mentioned, but also that more attention should be given to them considering their important role in agriculture.
The report, written for an Arid Lands Workshop, very briefly discusses the main issues in SWC in sub-Saharan Africa. A list of "do's" for participatory soil and water conservation are then briefly discussed, which are mostly to do with the organisational side of SWC, rather than the technical. A short analysis is made of the character of Oxfam-funded SWC projects which concludes that the Oxfam projects are innovative and successful at getting the local population involved when compared to other such projects in the area. Four short case studies, from Burkina Faso, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, end the report.
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Farmers are seen as informants in most development projects, despite their detailed knowledge and understanding of processes. In the work of the Aga Khan Rural Support Project, the farmers not only gather the information themselves, but they analyse it and make decisions based on their own analysis. The article gives a number of ways in which farmers are encouraged to develop their information gathering and analytical skills. It also discusses farmers' abilities as facilitators and presenters. Six types of farmer generated maps are described in detail, including resource, watershed, thematic, social, base line and monitoring/impact maps.
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The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme supports soil and water conservation work on private land, a priority identified by villagers, as part of a watershed management project. Villagers suggested that monitoring should look at: erosion controlled; land reclaimed; moisture retention in soil (as inferred from crop growth); and productivity and income generation. The article goes through the process of participatory impact monitoring, illustrated by real results. The benefits of such monitoring are listed, most of them related to increased farmer understanding of processes and control over further experimentation.
This, the key-note address at a national symposium in India, argues that planners, administrators and scientists working on watershed development are too far removed from the realities of farmers to suggest effective plans and solutions to problems. For effective (and therefore scientific) approaches, people must be central to watershed development. The paper suggests elements of a new government organization structure for watershed development, in which states must play a key role. These are specific to India and administrative structures found there.
In 1990 SPEECH carried out a PRA training workshop in Paraikulam, India. The outcome was a workplan to develop 60 acres of barren land. This four-day PRA workshop was intended to evaluate progress made, make future plans and act as a training workshop for other NGOs. Observations and recommendations on soil and water conservation were presented as past, present and future watershed plans. These plans are not in the report, some of the recommendations are.
This statement, by the participants of a workshop held in 1991 in Kenya and Tanzania by the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation, says that centrally conceived programmes and technologies for soil and water conservation which are then transferred to the field have been the norm till recently and have led to disappointing results. New, participatory approaches to soil and water management, including PRA, reflect a change in mentality from outside professionals controlling work focused only on SWC to local land users defining problems and directions for finding solutions which lead to improved land husbandry. Experiences with such participatory approaches are very encouraging and further development of the methodologies and their implementation should be encouraged.