Resources

This book describes a grassroots approach to empowering people for democratic social change. It explains participatory research using exemplarly case studies on community organizing, femist theory and ecological movements from a range of locations in North America. It challenges the relevance and validity of academic social science research.

This lengthy and detailed document represents a summarised report of the second Internal Evaluation of an ongoing Fourth phase implementation of the above named project in Bangladesh. The objective of this evaluation was both to assess the progress
of the project and to test some new methodological approaches that had been applied in order to further strengthen grassroots participation. The methods utilised were mostly PRA and they were applied at the beneficiary level. The emphasis was laid on the potentials of the participants to evaluate the present situation and outline realistic future options. The document is split into six major chapters which in turn outline the Terms of Reference, a discussion of the principles of PRA and a short introduction to the methods applied. Chapter three presents the executive summary which leads to a more extensive discussion of the findings in Chapter four. The observers comments and recommendations are used to draw some conclusions applicable for the on-going fourth phase implementation and for the planning of a fifth phase. The last chapter includes some appendices of the basic orientation and
results from the evaluation. A bibliography is added at the back.

'Voices of the Poor' is a series of three books that collates the experiences, views and aspirations of over 60,000 poor women and men. This second book of the series draws material from a 23-country comparative study, which used open-ended participatory methods, bringing together the voices and realities of 20,000 poor women, men, youth and children. Despite very different political, social and economic contexts, there are striking similarities in poor people's experiences. The common underlying theme is one of powerlessness, which consists of multiple and interlocking dimensions of illbeing or poverty. The book starts by describing the origins of the study, the methodology and some of the challenges faced. This is followed by an exploration of the multidimensional nature of wellbeing and illbeing. Most of the book comprises the core findings - the 10 dimensions of powerlessness and illbeing that emerge from the study - and is organised around these themes. These include livelihoods and assets; the places where poor people live and work; the body and related to this, accessing health services; gender roles and gender relations within the household; social exclusion; insecurity and related fears and anxieties; the behaviour and character of institutions; and poor people's ratings of the most important institutions in their lives. These dimensions are brought together into a many-stranded web of powerlessness, which is compounded by the lack of capability, including lack of information, education, skills and confidence. The final chapter is a call to action and dwells on the challenge of change.

A fundamental principle of successful participation is that participants are enthusiastic, interested and choose to take part. However, in some cases, community gatekeepers prevent some people from becoming involved, whilst forcing others to do so. This article, in PLA Notes, No. 40 examines the dilemmas faced by a community development project working with sex workers in Cambodia, bound by debt to their managers who, by not complying to their managers restrictions risk violent repercussions from them, as well as potential arrest by external authorities. The article describes the origins of the Lotus Club; a project established within the community health clinic for sex-workers to identify shared experiences and goals and thus form trusting relationships. It outlines the ethical concerns that the team working on the project have faced, so far, and the participatory steps taken to address these issues. The biggest concern was that of consent, with additional concerns being of transparency, confidentiality and compensation. The authors are optimistic that, despite difficulties, community building and collective action among sex workers can be sustained through PLA.

This book provides practical guidelines for using participatory approaches for planning social development programmes, particularly in the areas of health and education. It explores how information can be used to develop equal partnerships between professionals and the people who are intended to benefit from the programme. It discusses the importance of generating information, encouraging active participation and the subsequent empowerment of local people to give them the confidence needed to make decisions that affect their own lives - the book explores how information is obtained and used. Topics covered include why information is important for planning and empowerment choosing appropriate methods and techniques, carrying out a participatory needs assessment, and investigating particular samples of participatory planning. Drawings, tables and photographs are used to illustrate examples of planning techniques and a list of further reading is included with a select bibliography.