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Report on PRA carried out by World Bank in ten villages in Mali to complement quantitative data previously collected on the red meat sub-sector for policy development purposes.
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This paper examines the effect of decentralisation on community participation, with particular reference to the channeling of funds to Municipal level in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The study suggests that where local governments are already democratic and responsive to their citizens as was found to be the case in Oaxaca, decentralisation can be a positive force increasing participation. However, the report suggests that devolving project-funding decision making to local governments will not necessarily increase participation and indeed may actually reinforce authoritarian rule at the local level in instances where the necessary institutional change has not taken place.
Drawing on the experience of Anil Shah in facilitating participatory irrigation management in Gujarat, this paper explores how policy can be influenced to facilitate the spread of participatory approaches.
This book brings together papers presented in 1995 at a workshop organised by Duryog Nivaran, a South Asian network promoting participatory approaches in situations of natural disasters and internal conflicts. Many of the papers reflect on the limitations and challenges of applying participatory approaches in emergency situations.
This World Bank Technical Paper presents a discussion on participatory development at all stages of the development process, with a specific emphasis on participatory evaluation. Involving stakeholders closely in all aspects of the program is argued to foster ôownershipö, accountability, and a willingness on the part of users to manage and invest in services. A mechanism is needed to allow for learning, correction, and adjustment to be built into this participatory development process. To do this, a clear set of objectives and indicators of success which promote accountability and participation and which can be monitored and evaluated. This document is geared to provide policymakers, managers, and planning and evaluation staff with ideas about participatory processes and indicators that may be used to involve community members and others in program evaluation. The focus is on the development of key indicators that can be measured to determine progress of water and sanitation programs, their sustainability, effective use, and replicability. Short summaries (ôfield insightsö) of projects are included throughout to complement the discussions.
This paper argues that local perceptions of poverty have tended to be used as mere additions to more conventional poverty assessments because not only do people's perceptions of poverty differ making it difficult to compare results across locations but also, little is known about how to aggregate these local perceptions to be able to estimate overall levels of poverty at regional and national levels. Work carried out in Honduras to test a methodology designed to overcome these constraints is reported on step by step in the document.
Report of an International Workshop held in Calcutta, May 1997 which examined the challenges to PRA training in view of the rapid expansion of PRA. The report includes the workshop proceeedings, articles on the subject and also a joint statement by the participants.
Based on findings from participatory studies, beneficiary assessments and on quantitative survey data, this paper examines farmers' perceptions of the constraints being faced by them in agricultural production, including the quality of agricultural services. Coping strategies adopted by farmers as a consequence of the agricultural policy changes in Zambia in the 1990's are also outlined.
The paper identifies that using participatory approaches in World Bank country economic and sector work may involve extra costs, as well as some loss of control over timing and quality of the work. It argues that experience has shown that these costs are more than offset by substantial benefits, which include improvements in the Bank-borrower relationship, speedier acceptance of recommendations both by the Bank and the Borrower, and increase in-country capacity for policy research analysis. These issues are discussed by looking at the costs and benefits of the Participatory Country Economic and Sector Work, P-CESW, the different types of participation involved and the systematic involvement of stakeholders. The paper also discusses the experience of the Bank, by looking at steps involved in a P-CESW, the establishment of a Participatory Environment, the identification of questions for analysis and the participatory data collection and analysis. It also addresses issues on strategy and the doÆs and donÆts for Task Managers. It concludes that P-CESW is both feasible and valuable, in that it is not only fully consistent with the BankÆs growing posture of transparent operations and increased disclosure, but it can enhance the BankÆs status on these issues rapidly because CESW it self is such a crucial part of the BankÆs comparative advantage as an analytical institution.
This document focuses on the issue of whether community based development costs more or not by looking at the costs and benefits of some projects. It argues that when properly designed, community based programmes can be highly effective in managing natural resources, providing basic infrastructure or ensuring primary social services. In its view participation in community based development (CBD) depends on reversing control and accountability from central authorities to community organisations. It concludes that successful design requires tapping into local needs, understanding and building on the strengths of existing institutions, and by defining the changes needed in intermediary agencies to support community action.
This paper recognises that the irrigation sector provides a rich source of experience and lessons in user participation. It argues that participation by farmers in system design and management helps to ensure sustainability of the system, reduces the public expenditure burden, and improves efficiency, equity and standards of service. The report further presents that mobilising support at all levels and establishing the participatory process, however, involves costs; this also demands knowledge of the incentives facing each group of stakeholders, and of the essential elements in building effective usersÆ organisations. The paper costs, benefits and limitations involved in participation in this irrigation projects, it looks at the role and the incentives required in engaging the various participants, who are World Bank Task Managers, Policy Makers, Agency Staff, Farmers and others. Lessons learnt in organising Farmer Participation in different contexts is discussed and finally the process of building participation into the projects cycle through identification, preparation, appraisal supervision and evaluation is discussed.