Resources

The effects of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and the subsequent 10 years' worth of rain which fell in five days brought environmental and agricultural devastation to Central America. World Neighbors (WN) had worked for many years on the promotion of soil and water conservation; the hurricane provided an opportunity for WN to study the effectiveness of this work in combating the disastrous effects of a potentially destructive climate and this newsletter gives details their work. They decided to carry out Participatory Action Research (PAR), a level of study which not only allowed the involvement of those most greatly affected by the climate - the local people - but other participants who expanded their own knowledge through the research methods and results. The system used was a pairing of plots with similar characteristics such as location and vegetation, but which provided a sharing of data through a direct comparison of agro-ecological and conventional cultivation. Other organizations were invited to participate in the study and form teams with the farmers, and all participants attended a workshop to learn methodologies. The methods used to analyse different variables such as slope, top soil thickness, texture, organic matter, insect and animal life, vegetation, erosion, landslides, and conservation practices are detailed along with the findings and lessons learned.

: Les effets de l'ouragan Mitch en 1998 et la pluie suivante qui est tombÚe en cinq jours de la valeur de 10 annÚes; a apportÚ la dÚvastation environnementale et agricole en AmÚrique Centrale. Les Voisins Mondiaux avaient travaillÚ pendant beaucoup d'annÚes sur la promotion de la conservation du sol et de lÆeau, et l'ouragan prÚsentait un moyen d'Útudier l'efficacitÚ de ce travail en combattant les effets dÚsastreux d'un climat potentiellement destructif ; ce bulletin donne les dÚtails de leur travail. Ils ont dÚcidÚ d'effectuer la Recherche Action Participative (RAP), un niveau d'Útude qui non seulement permet la participation de celles le plus considÚrablement affectÚs par le climat - les personnes locales - mais dÆautres participants qui ont augmentÚ leur propre connaissance par les mÚthodes et les rÚsultats de recherches. Le systÞme utilisÚ Útait un appareillement des parcelles de terrain avec les caractÚristiques semblables telles que l'endroit et la vÚgÚtation, mais qui ont fourni un partage des donnÚes par une comparaison directe de lÆagriculture Úcologique et celui conventionnelle. Des autres organismes ont ÚtÚ invitÚs pour participer Ó l'Útude et pour former des Úquipes avec les fermiers, et tous les participants ont participÚs Ó un atelier pour apprendre des mÚthodologies. Les mÚthodes utilisÚes pour analyser les diffÚrentes variables telles que la pente, lÆÚpaisseur du sol supÚrieure, la texture, la matiÞre organique, les insecte et les animaux, la vÚgÚtation, l'Úrosion, les Úboulements du terre, et les pratiques de la conservation sont dÚtaillÚs avec les rÚsultats et les leþons appris.

This book is a collection of selected papers by Anil C. Shah. The book spans the worlds of Government and civil society over a lengthy career working with the poor and marginalised.

It covers a wide range of activities based on direct personal experience and innovation in the field. It contains a mixture of short personal articles and longer, broader and more detailed articles.

The work is presented from a variety of contexts ranging from government administration to NGO's, from community development to joint forest management, from watershed development to participatory irrigation management, and from behaviour, attitudes and training to influencing and changing policy.

This working paper details a new community-led approach to sanitation in Bangladesh. Access to latrines in rural areas is less than 15 per cent. Despite many agencies having been involved in the provision of subsidised latrines and toilets over the last three decades very few villages are totally sanitised. This new approach concentrates on empowering local people to analyse the extent and risk of environmental pollution caused by open defecation, and to construct toilets without any external subsidies. The Paper details the background to the work, the process of participatory total community sanitation, the impact of the project, it's national and international spread, how it differs from other sanitation programmes and limits to the approach. Finally it provides a list of recommendations, which have implications for policy makers and require institutional change. This project has had a huge impact: open defecation had been stopped in over 400 villages in Bangladesh and the methodology is being adopted in parts of India and elsewhere in Asia and Africa.

The Dampara Water Management Project (DWMP) was implemented in 1998 in Northern Bangladesh for the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The task was to provide flood control to a 15,000ha area which experiences flash flooding several times annually, and the main activity was the construction of a 30k embankment along the Kangsha River. A PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) approach was taken, involving the land owners in the affected area, and the alignment of the embankment was discussed. Public negotiations were held in the fields, going plot-by-plot with land owners for them to decide what part of their land would be expropriated for the building of the embankment. The strategy used was that the people were negotiating with each other, not with the project itself. A power analysis of each community was developed through participatory wealth ranking, which helped ensure protection for the vulnerable, an also worked as a management tool. Project personnel used Venn diagrams to identify each community's powerful people, to be used in staff meetings. While the project's participatory process continued in the communities to the end of the project , assigning and adjusting ratings confidentially amongst staff, helped project social and multi-sector technical personnel to develop a common understanding and coordinated approach with community members.

This paper is the first of several 'think pieces' that have been commissioned as part of a collaborative research programme designed to examine the dynamics of institutionalising people-centred processes and participatory approaches for natural resource management (NRM) in a variety of settings. The paper focuses on natural resource management in Europe and explores the tensions between state-led and participatory management of water and forests. The authors analyse and discuss how participation does - or does not - occur in the management of forest and water resources at various institutional levels in European contexts. Using a historical perspective, they critically reflect on the roles and interests of the state in offering an institutional framework for participation and/or facilitating processes aimed at institutionalising participation in natural resource management. The paper comprises four parts: Institutionalisation of the State and Natural Resources Management; Forests and Water Management - the Changing Role of the State; Participation - States or People's Control? and Conclusions.

The Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Process (UPPAP) is an initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MFPED). Its overall aim is to bring the voices and perspectives of poor people into policy formulation, planning and implementation by central and local governments. A first participatory poverty assessment (PPA1) was carried out in 1998/99 in 36 research sites in nine districts. Its findings were used to inform policymaking. This book details the second PPA (PPA2) which has now been implemented, with two main aims: to deepen the understanding of poverty and poverty trends gained in the first PPA; and to investigate people's experiences with selected government policies. Research was carried out in 60 research sites in 12 districts. Work was undertaken in three phases, or 'cycles', between November 2001 and May 2002. The research was undertaken by seven partner organisations - NGOs or research institutions - working with local researchers, usually from the district administrations, and the overall coordinating and implementing agency was Oxfam GB. The book includes sections on: the Uganda participatory poverty assessment process; poverty, vulnerability and poverty trends; livelihoods and the plan for the modernisation of agriculture; environment and poverty; health and poverty; water and sanitation; education; taxation; and good governance and poverty reduction.