Resources

This paper presents the experience of farmer participation in irrigation management in Sri Lanka, in an attempt to address key issues of resource mobilization and production system sustainability. Participation was initiated either with scheme rehabilitation or modernization. However, it was found that participation in irrigation management dates back 2500 years. The paper notes particular areas where participation should be emphasised in order to overcome management difficulties: operation and maintenance; rehabilitation and modernization; resolution of conflicts; input co-ordination and decision making.

This brief overview report provides an outline of Flood Action Plan (FAP) 12 in Bangladesh that assessed the impact of flood control, drainage and irrigation in 12 projects. An RRA was carried out in each system. The final report consists of four volumes, the rapid appraisals are documented in volume 2. FAP 12 introduced Rapid Rural Appraisal methods on a scale never seen before in Bangladesh, and raised conventional sample survey practices to new levels of comprehensiveness and rigour. The ability to compare data from independent approaches permitted much more confident use of results in drawing conclusions. Many of FAP 12's techniques have been since adopted by other study teams within the context of the overall project. Prior to the RRA's of FAP 12 the methodology had been little used in Bangladesh. In all, RRAs of seventeen representative completed flood control and drainage projects were carried out.

This paper presents an analysis of the Nyandusi horticultural scheme in Nyanza Province, Kenya. The focus is on how the women members, landowners and agency staff participated at crucial stages of the scheme's design and implementation. Key issues discussed: Lessons for future farmer participation in design and implementation of schemes by themselves; effect of farmer participation had on the final outcome of the scheme; the complexity of the the factors involved in such design.

This paper draws on the experiences in the Mahaweli development project. It advocates that policy formulation should not be isolated from the analysis and understanding of the logic of human practice in local areas. Although not explicitly dealing with PRA it has a strong participatory theme that highlights the benefits of greater participation system analysis. Participatory development and appraisal, it is argued, should start with the interactions and strategies in the organization in family life; the crucial starting point for the development of any analysis.

The paper argues that PRA is a distinctive and innovative method because it is problem-focused. It offers a unique opportunity for researchers to work in partnership with farmers or the rural poor in joint identification of the range of local variables which may be connected to a given problem. Here the need for a user perspective to become integral in research and development is identified; farmers need to be viewed as subjects and not objects. It is suggested that the phrase "user" could be more appropriately replaced with the term stakeholder which incorporates all those who have a vested interest in the efficient and effective operation of systems. This would encompass a range of parties from the farmers to policy makers. Six roles for stakeholders are suggested for future research and development: * Providers of information * Partners in identifying research and development priorities * Partners in developing research, management strategies and technologies * Partners in experimental management of the resource or new technology * Partners in assessing performance of a technology or management strategy * Partners in training and institutional development

The focus is on the use of PRA in water and sanitation planning, while recognising that other priorities are likely to emerge. There is a description of PRA; uses, tools and principals. A programme for field work is outlined, and each tool discussed in detail, with checklists of 'what to cover' and 'dos and donts'. The structure of the work is fairly rigidly defined, as is the proposal for working with the community on the programme after the PRA, where a community committee is chosen for liason.