Resources

A guide to the collection, analysis and use of information about the cultural context of diarrhea - household and behavioural factors are identified in a cultural context. the aim is to facilitate the development, implementation and monitoring of programmes for the control and prevention of diarrhea. Part III is a field guide to the use of Rapid Assesment Procedures, many of which are closely related to PRA tools such as mapping, the use of key informants and checklists for informal interviews. Emphasis is placed on understanding the beleif system - how the body works, the causes and consequences of illness - and how the household and caregivers respond to diarrhea. The final section considers practical options for applying the information and testing (often through more formal methods) the generalisability of information.

This paper describes how The Mazingira Institute in Nairobi created and used a series of illustrated learning packages on environmental issues to stimulate responses from school children. Annual competitions invited children to answer questions and submit essays and drawings on a variety of topics. The children's responses proved a valuable source of information on their perceptions of environmental issues, and traditional knowledge and action in their communities. The "information exchange with children" project helped children to link what they learned in school with what they heard from the elders in their community, and with what they could see and do themselves. The authors conclude that the distributed learning packages and responses gathered from children combine mass media with the education system, allowing the youth to address environment and development problems, and potentially linking with policy making.

This report summarizes the result of the 2nd Internal evaluation of the ongoing 4th phase implementation of the 'Rural Family and Welfare Project'. The evaluation objective was not only to assess the current progress of the project and the willingness of the actors at the village level to sustain the program but also to 'test relatively new methodological approaches, mainly PRA, in order to further strengthen grassroot participation'. In doing so the report devotes a great deal of attention to exploring the ideology and rational behind the 'PRA approach' to M&E and provides an extremely useful summary of the key issues involved (in Chapters 1 and 2). There were six main methods applied in this evaluation: 'Rapport building with participants', 'Transect walks', 'Matrix scoring and ranking', 'Trend and situation analysis', 'Dramatized case study/role play' and 'Balloon opinion analysis'. Each of these methods are well introduced in the first two introductory chapters, while the results generated from their application are provided in the remainder of the report. An extensive bibliography is also provided in Chapter 7. This report presents a powerful, and well argued, case for the use of both PRA methods and a 'PRA orientation' in M&E activities (as the reported highly positive impact of these evaluation activities illustrates) while, in addition, it provides a well structured basic reference source for those interested in implementing such activities.

The research was carried out using participatory qualitative rapid appraisal procedures (RAPs) in order to assess the health needs of women and their children. The study was quite large involving two hundred mothers of children under five years of age. Data was collected by volunteers from the Maternal and child welfare association (MCWA) and the Myanmar Red Cross (MRC). The assessment covers planning issues of communication between formal and informal Health Services, quality of care and training through the importance of the roles of midwives and traditional birth assistants (TBAs), as well as investigating local perceptions and practices. These concern reproductive health issues, ranging from pregnancy to post-natal care and long-term problems, family planning methods, contraception in the prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS, and abortion. Other related issues such as health financing, drugs policies, and a broader socio-cultural gender analysis are also analysed. The methodology used for this assessment is innovative, participatory and appropriate, generating a considerable amount of new data in a short time. Of particular interest may be the techniques of body mapping used by the women to identify reproductive morbidity and the side effects of birth spacing and other contraceptive methods; sexuality life lines are also used to give an awareness over time of the trials and tribulations faced in the reproductive lives of the women.

This paper examines participatory evaluation in projects of the NGO PLAN International in Senegal. Through brief case studies it compares the viability of PRA evaluations in urban and rural contexts, and reflects upon the extent to which the methods can be used to reach the least advantaged groups in the communities. A number of criteria are used in assessing PRA as an evaluation tool: limited dependence ono external facilitators; replicability; community 'buy-in' to the process; adaptability to local time constraints; broad participation; reliability of data; turn-around time from data collection to use. The author concludes that PRA is problematic in urban settings if a 'community' is assumed in the same way as in rural areas. Some aspects for improvement (e.g. need to be more focused, and to prevent it from being appropriated by certain groups to the exclusion of others) are discussed.