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This article is extracted from a report outlining the experiences of a partnership between the 'People's Dialogue', a national network linking representatives from illegal and informal settlements in South Africa, and a group of three organisations in India. These are SPARC, an NGO working broadly in the area of housing and community development; the National Slum Dwellers Federation; and Mahila Milan, a federation of women's collectives. The article describes several of the participatory methods and techniques which are used in community-based shelter training programmes, and explains why the training process is important to community development. It argues that experiential learning is a more useful approach than those offered by conventional training.

The ActionAid pilot projects linking literacy and PRA (see ActionAid, 1994) are soon to be evaluated. As empowerment is one of the central objectives of the new approach, a key issue is how do we measure empowerment? Matrices and semi-structured interviews form the basis of the evaluation which will be developed with the literacy learners. For example, matrices to measure community actions initiated through the literacy programme, participation of women in household decisions and children's education.

Unlike the conventional methods of information collection in which outsiders are the immediate major gainers, this brief note describes how PRA can reverse this tradition and enable the villagers to gain from information sharing. Two examples from India - Panahpur, Utter Pradesh and ActionAid Karnataka - have been presented. Local people were used as PRA trainers (after receiving trainers' training from outside experts) and the informal village organisations took the responsibility of organising PRA training for outsiders. The income earned (through fees collected from the participants of the training) was utilised in local development projects.

This case book was prepared by an independent task force on 'community action for social development' as a prelude to the Copenhagen Social Summit. The 12 case studies on successful community-based social development are from a wide range of countries, such as Zimbabwe, Colombia, Tanzania, Sweden, India, Kenya, Poland, Pakistan, Tibet, Thailand and China. This casebook presents diversity of the worldwide movement towards community- based social development and defines a common process used by the successful programs. A common theme that runs through these case studies is that sustainable social development is difficult but possible; outside agencies involved in sustainable human development should respect people, their values and cultures, build trust and share power and responsibility with the people. The book also stresses the need to provide space for community action and maintain close co-operation between the state, community and NGO.

This paper reports on recent developments in the rural-issue based research programmes of the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamilnadu, India. This has involved the consolidation of its village community development programmes. Emphasis has shifted towards the needs of special groups, with whom PRA meetings have been held. Some problems with such meetings are noted, including time constraints, tendency for some individuals to dominate, constraints on multi-disciplinary team, problems in group formation and discussions, and little documentation. Three-day PRA workshops were held to derive an action plan by and for villagers. The programme of workshops is outlined, discussing the extent of community participation, the methods used, and the specific projects and proposals which emerged. Strategies to support these processes beyond the workshops are also considered, and some weaknesses acknowledged: little attitude and behaviour change, dependency syndrome and internal conflicts.

This report concerns a conference involving a network of academics and NGO representatives involved in development issues in Southeast Asia. The network is committed to an alternative development paradigm, the advancement of people-centred development, associated with the work of David Korten. The report discusses the development of the network, and discusses themes which emerged in the conference: the failure of conventional development strategies; the evolving paradigm and action research; partnerships between universities and NGOs; and the importance of reversal in learning in development education curricula.

This paper explores the potentials and limits of REFLECT, with particular reference to its piloting in Bundibugyo, Uganda. Issues examined include, post-literacy support and the language barriers experienced by newly-literates. The paper argues that since the present REFLECT programme in Bundibugyo leans more towards the methodology and ethics of PRA, it holds less opportunity for Freirean conscientization.