Resources

The paper outlines how the Uttar Pradesh Watershed Management Directorate has been undergoing a programmatic and organisational transformation, from a standard Indian public sector approach to rural development and environmental management to a new participatory approach. It discusses the issues involved in transforming the organisation's approach to initiating a participatory method of village level planning during the first phase of the Doon Valley Project in the Himalayan foothills. Some of the problems encountered in implementing the new approach are discussed. The constraints derive partly from the Government's monolithic traditions in rural development, and from its advocacy of particular technology packages, many of which have hardly changed since the 1970s. Comparisons with two other experiences in the Philippines and Sri Lanka illustrate the need for patience and perseverence.

The article describes the experiences of Sri Lanka's North Western Province Dry Zone Participatory Development Project (DZP) in transferring participatory approaches from one institutional culture to another. It summarises some of the difficulties which have been encountered while facilitating participatory planning processes in 40 villages. These included raising the expectations of villagers; difficulties encountered by government officers in sticking to their promises; changing the behaviour and attitudes of government officers; and the temptation to make up results of 'participatory planning exercises'. It argues that to understand the constraints the principal differences between the institutional culture of NGOs and GOs have to be taken into account. The paper concludes that the changes required to realise true participation in large-scale government development projects are so fundamental that due time and resources must be provided if the approach is to succeed.

This report (based largely on the discussions held at the 5th Asia Forest Network meeting held at Surajkund, India in 1996), synthesises the experiences of community forestry management in the region.
The report begins by outlining the main trends in forest policy in each country.
The elements considered necessary for transition of forest management to local communities are examined, including enabling policies, the need for reorientation of Forestry Agencies and ways of enhancing development support agency programs.
The political and economic factors which undermine community involvement in forest management are considered, including inequities in resource flows whereby national goverenments tend to regard forest regions as resource banks to be used according to state requirements and also problems of delegating authority to the administrative village level which may not reflect interest user groups.
Finally, the strategies and activities planned to be taken in the future are outlined for each participating country.

The Asian Coalition for Housing Rights has had great success with community-to-community exchange programmes across Asia. Video supplements this process and allows more communities to actually 'see' what's happening with other poor communities in Asia. Groups have found this type of documentation and presentation easier and more productive than writing reports, particularly for confidence building. This story tells about the use of video for urban poor solutions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In December 1999 and January 2000, the largest slum community was facing eviction threats from government under pressure to redevelop the land. While having support from the local Municipality for land-sharing alternatives, they needed to influence government at a higher level as the Municipality had little control - the plans for eviction were directed from above, by people in national government. A short 10-minute video was made of the work ACHR was doing involving partnerships with government organisations and slum communities, offering an alternative process to forced evictions. The message was conveyed to the Prime Minister via video, whose response was very positive. The author concludes by reflecting on the potential for using video in even more participatory ways.

This is a resource book designed primarily for development workers working within the field of the rural poor. It describes a range of first-hand experiences with participatory approaches in the context of projects funded by The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and governments in Asia and the Pacific. The book is divided into a number of sections. Part One examines poverty and participation and explains why the poor should be targeted and in what ways this is possible. Part Two describes in detail the actual participatory approaches. Part three concentrates on participation in the project planning and implementation stage. Part Four assesses the monitoring impact and Part Five examines issues in participation with regards to institutions, partnerships and governance.