Resources

Discusses the methods of collecting information during a field-study carried out in Brazil, in the health district of Pau da Lima. It was intended to provide a learning experience for students as well as to explore the local potential for Primary Environmental Care (PEC) and to produce a number of recommendations to local bodies. Possible actors, conditions, means and resources to promote PEC within the Pau da Lima district were investigated. PEC integrates three components: empowering communities, protecting the environment, and meeting needs. The first step was a preliminary identification of present and future potential actors in PEC in the Pau da Lima district. A Rapid Appraisal (RA) was conducted in three squatter communities within the district, focusing on felt problems; interests and priorities in PEC; forms and conditions of community organisation; and instances and conditions of community-based action. Methods used include: review of secondary data, informal disucssions with informants, direct observations, laboratory analysis of water samples collected during the observation walks, life history interviews, focus groups and ranking exercises, semi-structured interviews. While the study found the RA methods useful, it suggested that they may not be sufficient to identify community-based solutions to specific problems. The techniques in "Making Microplans" (Goethert and Hamdi 1988) provide an example of how this action-oriented phase could proceed.

New agricultural technologies are often inappropriate to the needs of small farmers because scientists lack information about their needs and objectives. The IPRA method is a set of procedures which has been developed to put technology designers in regular contact with small farmers so they can better exchange information which will orient research to real needs. Farmers and scientists learn from each other and work together to identify problems, plan experiments and evaluate solutions. The aim is to mobilise the expertise and resourcefulness of small farmers so they can be active partners in agricultural research. The DVD demonstrates the various stages of the IPRA method as carried out in a village in rural Colombia. During first contacts with the villagers a rapport was established as the researchers attempted to carry out routine village tasks (09). Diagnostic meetings were then held for farmers to discuss common problems and the scope for improvement (10). When the farmers priorities had been established the researchers suggested new plant varieties, fertilisers and other components. The various options were considered for testing by the farmers (13). The farmers and researchers agreed on the components of the field trials and the same trial was conducted on several farms to obtain comparative results (14). The standing crop and the harvest were assessed by the farmers (17), and their families participated in evaluating samples of the products for flavour, quality and texture (18).

This paper argues that local perceptions of poverty have tended to be used as mere additions to more conventional poverty assessments because not only do people's perceptions of poverty differ making it difficult to compare results across locations but also, little is known about how to aggregate these local perceptions to be able to estimate overall levels of poverty at regional and national levels. Work carried out in Honduras to test a methodology designed to overcome these constraints is reported on step by step in the document.

Counter hegemonic globalisation occurs today in many forms and many settings and deals with a variety of issues from land and labour rights to sexual equality to biodiversity and the environment. This paper examines one urban experiment developed to resist the social exclusion that is an undeniable result of the globalisation process by redistributing city resources in favour of the more vulnerable social groups by means of participatory democracy. The experiment was the participatory budget established in 1989 in the city of Porto Alegre.

The first part of the paper describes basic information and the recent history of the city and its government, contextualising both within the Brazilian political system. The second part details a description of the main features of the institutions and processes of the participatory budget and of participation as well as the criteria and methodology for the distribution of resources. The third part examines the development of the participatory budget. The final part analyses the processes of the participatory budget with regards to its efficiency in redistribution, its accountability and quality of representation in a participatory democracy, the notion of dual powers and competing legitimacies and its relationship with the legislative body that formally approves budget.

This paper provides a resume of a D.Phil. research project. The overall aim of the project is to study and analyse the nature of conflicts in Canaima National Park, with emphasis on their history, structural causes and power relations. It seeks to find out which forms of participation are more likely to contribute to managing conflicts in national parks established in indigenous peopleÆs territories. The paper gives a brief background and rationale to the research project; presents the main points of argument and objectives; describes the project site and existing conflicts; and explains the research methodology which combines a community case study approach with traditional qualitative research methods. The paper discusses the spread of natural resource conflict management in Latin America; present trends and gaps in analysing conflicts in national parks; and the need to go beyond perception and stakeholder analysis in order to understand conflicts. The preliminary results of the study are presented regarding the nature of conflicts over implementation of park policy with focus on the use of fire by the Pemon people; tourism development; and the building of a power line to Brazil. The role of power in shaping different forms of participation is analysed focussing on the meaning of participation for the different factors. Based on the preliminary results, the paper proposes forms of participation that are likely to contribute to conflict management in Canaima National Park, focussing on the main conflicts (as mentioned above). An attachment gives further details of the field work process.