Resources

The article describes work in a Malian village in the context of the process of government decentralisation. Villagers used venn diagrams and other methods to analyse local institutions, sketch organisational solutions to find ways of getting their priorities incorporated into local government and community action.

This paper is about the use of PRA in exploring indigenous technical knowledge which could be useful in the management of natural resources. The ways of discovering such knowledge, such as folklore, from the elders and how participatory research can help in understanding the indigenous knowledge systems are explained. Specific examples suggesting the harmony between nature and people in the old days and erosion of these institutions after the establishment of formal legal systems at the beginning of this century are discussed.

This brief note explains how visual methods, such as a ladder and faces with different expressions, could be used in measuring people's attitudes - level of satisfaction, happiness, etc. The use of locally available visual aids, with which people are familiar, were made for the purpose. Above all, this method was used to help the respondents to answer questions in a questionnaire-based survey.