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A major part of this twelve day workshop was spent in fieldwork, using the PRA techniques (listed in Section II) learnt in theory classes. This report describes in detail the methodology and findings of the field exercises, showing clearly the practical problems encountered (such as how to "reach" the women) as well as the lively and diverse information that can emerge from PRA activities. The fieldwork in Chimontu and Chongwe resulted in two methodological innovations : i) the seasonality analysis of illness was combined with trend analysis to show how illness had changed over ten years ii) the institutional diagram was used to show what the group would like to see in the area. Points about location of fieldwork, timing, structure of training and group composition conclude this report. The appendices include an interesting list of participants' concerns after completing the fieldwork, plus the actual visual results of the PRA activities.

This reports on ActionAid's project aimed at strengthening emergency preparedness and responses in famine vulnerable areas in a number of African countries. It examines the setting up of Community Based Food Security Monitoring Systems (CBMS) that help field staff make timely predictions about impending food shortages. One of the principles of a CBMS is that it is 'people-centred', and the community should be involved with data collection, interpretation and response. The aim is to build up a picture of the way peoples' livelihoods operate and what constraints and stresses they face. To assess the food security situation, PRA techniques are used including semi-structured interviews with key informants and group discussions with farmers and village leaders. PRA is also used to collect data on early warning indicators. The paper comments however that it is best not to take a full community-managed approach in circumstances where a number of participatory prerequisites are not in place.

This document describes the evolution of an auto-evaluation programme in the Gao and Tombouctou regions where ACORD-Mali is working to support informal village groups and associations. The programme aims to develop techniques which involve communities from project design to evaluation and is collaborating with two local research organisations, IMRAD and IRAM. Mechanisms used are: an identification/animation phase; action research; use of local resource persons; co-operation and consultation with the government; links with regional and local planning; and auto-evaluation. The paper describes the stages of the auto-evaluation process: both ACORD staff and communities set criteria and indicators and take part in the evaluation.

Report from a community woodland resource management project run by ENDA (Environment and Development Activities), Zimbabwe. A workshop was held to identify key concerns, their solutions and any constraints which were then all worked into a piece of theatre which would expose conflict over trees. The play was then used to stimulate discussion in a community workshop. Community members were given questions to discuss and dramatise as short sketches. Through this process, participants identified more closely with the issues raised and were more motivated to tackle them. Minimal external direction was needed for this workshop.

Participatory Evaluation Process [PEP] is an "approach to development" which has been employed in some World Vision [WV] international offices during much of the 1980s. In this paper the main objectives of PEP are summarised. These are; 1. To involve beneficiaries in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluating programmes 2. To empower communities 3. to promote an environment of mutual trust and respect among community members. The remainder of the paper is devoted to a stage by stage description of the PEP process. These include; Community description, Information gathering - or "problem focus", Problem analysis, and decision making. This is a slightly outdated paper which makes a few of the 'classic errors' - for example, in terms of who actually analyses, lists and represents the data - but is included here, as another common example of a PE approach.

This short report provides some useful comments on a two week training course on the use of PRA for PM&E conducted by the Development Support Programme Khartoum, part of the Community Development Services in Cairo. It took place over two weeks in Kordofan and involved fieldwork in villages, with varying involvement in SOS Sahel's Natural Forest Management Project, near to El Obeid. Among the problems that emerged from this course, were; 1. the difficulties in encouraging a "suitable PRA attitude" amongst course participants in their approach to the villagers; 2. A lack of confidence amongst the participants; 3. Problems with the use of symbols during the fieldwork. Although participants were slow to grasp the usefulness of PRA for PM&E, three "tools" were found to be most useful for evaluation, namely; Impact diagrams, Impact matrices and Evaluation Matrices. The later was developed from the Innovation Matrix in the SCF/IIED manual; PRA for community development (1991), and its purpose was to generate discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of forestry activities.

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.