Resources

The stated aims of this tool kit and the visual aids it contains are not only to encourage community participation in planning and development, but also to enable field workers to have a visual "spark" which will enable them to work more effectively in the field. It is recognised that many of the activities can be conducted without the prepared materials, ie mapping and ranking on the ground. However, they consider that visuals can help to break barriers, although the danger remains that the process is extractive as the visuals will be removed from the community, or that they are not transferrable between cultures. The introduction describes the materials and their suggested use, as well as a few of the pitfalls associated with such a kit. There are 25 folders, each containing a number of visuals, which are very specific to particular circumstances. These are designed for the excercises which are described in the second part of the instruction book, which indicates purpose, time, audience, materials needed, materials supplied and directions on how to conduct the excercise. The target audience ranges from staff and trainers, to community members

A comprehensive account of a large scale experimental PRA conducted for SCF in Vietnam. The approach taken and its justification (not agreed by all doners) is detailed. The methodology section is extensive, discussing the theory behind PRA, training, tools and fieldwork, as well as problems such as the external and timeconsuming production of the report. The final report gives details of the education system and educations problems encountered, in general terms and by specific commune. In some communes this is felt to be one of the most significant constraints, and potential solutions are discussed in detail.

Reflections around the tensions between male fieldworkers and Women's Project Officers on an Oxfam project, lead to the idea that RRA training can help to raise gender awareness. The RRA approach encourages fieldworkers to listen, to see that communities are not "homogenous blobs" and to abandon preconceived ideas. A case-study from Sierra Leone shows how a social map drawing activity done separately by men and women revealed their different perceptions and needs. The second case-study shows how RRA work in Ghana caused male fieldworkers to change their views of women's position in the community. The next most important step would be to "transform fieldworkers' anger and resentment into positive pride in their awareness of difference".

This brief article outlines how Participatory Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (PAME) can be used in the context of gender and community forestry. PAME consists of three interlinked and complementary components: 1) Idea, the 'idea' is that the field staff are facilitators or catalysts rather than directors; 2) Methods, this consists of 'assessment', usually conducted by local people who identify and prioritise their problems, 'monitoring' conducted throughout implementation through recording information decided by local people, and 'evaluation' which takes place after activities have begun to ascertain whether objectives have been or are being achieved; 3) Tools, twenty three 'tools' are said to be available that take gender and environment into consideration. Three examples are given - 'drawing and discussion', 'historical mapping' and 'community environmental assessment'. The PAME approach reverses traditional development approaches because analyses is done by the community rather than outside experts. Focus groups with women offer an opportunity to focus on gender and environment as related issues.

This source book is organised into five sections: 1) background articles on issues of gender, environment, and natural resources, including discussion questions (see also Warren 1992(b) and Davis-Case 1992) 2) a set of cases from the field with a number of discussion questions 3) seven exercises related to the cases and background articles of use for training project teams (see Warren 1992(c)) 4) a brief glossary of relevant terms 5) a bibliography of published resources and easily accessible materials organised by region and topic area.

This study investigated rural livelihood systems and the response of local communities to changing resource conditions in two communities in Machakos District, a semi-arid region in Kenya. A section on methodolgoy outlines the methods used during the research, which included PRA techniques as well as more conventional approaches. Among the PRA techniques used were spatial methods such as village transects or mapping, methods focused on time-related data such as time-lines or seasonal calendars, and those focusing on social data such as household interviews and group meetings to discuss village institutions. Several of the techniques were easily modified for gathering gender-differentiated data. It was found that there had been a significant and rapid change in the lives of people living in the region as the livelihood base shifted from cattle rearing to coffee growing. The changes have had particularly adverse impact on the lives of women, particularly poor women, in the area.