Resources

This paper discusses the use of PRA applications in the area of education and addresses how useful participatory research is in this area. The author argues that the combination of participation and visual analysis a faculty for life analagous and complementary to linguistic and mathematical skills. He suggests that they should be part of curricula. Chambers also notes that balanced reversals in the flows of teaching and learning would be useful, with adults learning from children and policy makers from farmers. The report also describes the use of visual analysis in empowering children and the poor.

This paper has its origins in a participatory action research project by Roofless Women's Action Research Mobilization (RWARM). The organisation seeks to consult directly with those who have experienced homelessness to seek their expertise on how to restructure the current system to effectively combat homelessness. Narratives or stories of formerly homeless women are shared in order to promote understanding of reasons why women become homeless and of issues faced by women once they are homeless.

This study examines the problem of street youth and their empowerment through various programmes set up for them in the Dominican Republic. The paper argues that existing street programmes are limited in scope as they exclude programme beneficiaries from programme planning, monitoring and evaluation. The paper calls for an alternative approach, based on a support system for the youths' own micro-enterprises. Such an approach places the youth at the centre of the planning, designing, implementing and monitoring of programmes that are aimed for their empowerment.

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.

A report of developing a sexual health training pack with low-literacy youth who are attached to religious groups. The authors question the use and efficacy of participatory methods to facilitate information collection and analysis for producing a manual by tracing their experiences which saw the youth group opting for the use of drama instead of PRA tools and setting the agenda for the development of the manual. The article ends with a series of questions for reflection about facilitation in the participatory process.

This article recounts the experiences with the three year action-research pilot project called Living for Tomorrow which focuses on HIV prevention from a gender perspective. The Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research (NIKK), coordinates the project aimed for people from countries belonging to the former Soviet Union. The author shows how the project works with young people in Estonia to address gender issues in a subtle way through the use of films, theatre, participatory drama and other mixed media.

This IDS Source Pack aims to give an introduction to micro-finance and micro-enterprise and provide a comprehensive listing of other good sources of information on the subject. An introductory article by Christian Sorenson gives an overview of the subject. This is followed by some readings which include: a look at how to identify the poorest clients around the world; details of how participatory monitoring and evaluation can strengthen a street youth micro-entrepreneurs programme in the Dominican Republic; and information about the work of a rural women's bank in India. The last section gives details of around twenty recommended materials on micro-finance.