Resources

This booklet systematises 12 years of the work of ORCA (the Riparian Organisation Against Contamination of Lake Patzcuaro), a regional organisation of 23 mainly Indian peasant communities living in Patzcuaro Basin, Mexico, since 1982. It reveals how a well organised and highly motivated regional popular organisation, in collaboration with committed social and natural science researchers, can mobilise local populations to influence local government environmental policies and acquire greater control over the sustainable management of fragile ecosystems such as Lake Patzcuaro.

This paper describes how the Indonesian government incorporated elements of PRA to launch a nation-wide programme of participatory village planning in 60,000 villages to be completed within the 1995-1996 budget year ending in March 1996. The article analyses the mistakes committed in attempting to scale up too fast in the face of too many constraints: too few sufficiently experienced trainers resulting in poor quality training, unrealistic budget and time constraints imposed by government, and the pre-existing top- down culture of development planning in Indonesia. The article shows in very clear terms that participatory approaches cannot be tagged on to existing national programmes, and that scaling-up will fail if it is rushed.

This document is a detailed account of six poor women collected using a variety of PRA methods, viz., time lines, wealth mapping, pocket chart voting, seasonality diagrams among others. The nature, causes and the extent of poverty as perceived by these six poor women and the actions taken by them to cope with poverty are described at great length. The report makes more broad as well as specific policy recommendations to reduce poverty. The report includes annexes with tables and diagrams.

This training manual with a practical reference guide clearly presents the rationale for participatory project development and a step-by-step process for its use in training workshops. Workshop sessions are outlined in a sequence of stages in project development, viz., planning (understanding the community, needs assessment, determination of goals and objectives, assessment of resources and constraints, planning project activities), implementation and evaluation. The use of sample charts, checklists, and worksheets applied to different stages of project development make it easy for trainers to follow the reference guide. The manual emphasises community participation at all stages of project development.

This paper shares FARM AFRICA- Farmers Research Project 's (FRP) experience in bringing attitudinal and behavioural change among the professionals of the project. The paper asserts that although the focus of PRA training at FRP is on methods, substantial albeit varied changes have been noticed in the attitudes and behaviour of professionals involved with the project. This includes the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture whose attitudes have changed as a result of PRA training and other related activities such workshops, seminars, visits and dissemination. The paper outlines a series of strategies to spread the impact of PRA and to convince senior policy makers about the importance of PRA.

This report describes the experience of New Dry Zone Participatory Development Project, a government project, in using PRA and its impact on the behaviour of both the public servants and the beneficiaries. The report summarises the main components of the project and the implementation process which involves PRA training for the technical support team (the staff of the government departments), development of a village resource management plan and the implementation of the plan using participatory methods. The report presents the findings of the case study conducted in selected villages to find out the extent of PRA influence in changing attitudes, roles and behaviour of the staff and the villagers involved in the project and the parameters used in measuring such changes. It also outlines the constraints and limitations of using PRA in the context of the project and the issues for further discussion.

Neighbourhood Action Packs have been developed with the help of 'professionals' and other 'local experts', to facilitate decision-making about the neighbourhood. They can be used to work out step by step what has to be done and who is best placed to do it, drawing on the knowledge of 'experts' of both kinds. This guide explains the methodology underlying the approach and some of the applications in the Neighbourhood Action Packs. These concern relations between locals and council or government representatives, education for neighbourhood change in schools, finding out about local needs and resources, doing local research and planning action. The Neighbourhood Action Packs are aimed at 'northern' country settings, but most of the issues involved are common to other settings as well.