Resources

This book is the outcome of a workshop on participation organised by Duryog Nivaran, a South-Asian network of individuals and organisations concerned with large scale disruptions in society due either to natural disasters or conflicts. This introductory chapter gives a glimpse of papers included in the above book. The papers come from a group who have not only encountered the notion of participation in different capacities but have also understood it in different ways. Four of the seven papers included in the book look at participation primarily in the context of development and development projects; two of the papers look at the link between participation and political process at the macro level and raise questions about the relationship between development projects and political processes in wider society. Finally, one paper attempts to straddle these two worlds. The book contends that it is important to promote healthy critical debates on the concept and the experience of participation in various contexts. However, the emergence of participation as a new development orthodoxy needs to be questioned.

This brief workshop paper stresses the role of attitudes and behaviour of PRA practitioners towards the overall philosophy of PRA. Any change in the behaviour and attitudes of outside professionals practising PRA should be permanent in nature rather than being merely need-based or temporary. Three broad categories of PRA practitioners based on their quality and convictions are identified. The paper asserts that good quality PRA training would certainly help change the attitudes and behaviour of the PRA practitioners to a great extent, while cultural and institutional barriers and a bad-quality PRA training would do quite the opposite.

This paper looks at participatory management as a basis for bringing about behavioural changes both at the individual and organisational level. The paper draws heavily on various theories of human behaviour, organisational management and their impact in shaping individual behaviour. The paper presents a review of dominant organisation behaviour models and the key events taking place in business management which have relevance to participatory development in general and to development workers in particular. A summary of the constructive approach is provided - the positivist, rationalistic paradigm, which helps to look at and understand the world in different ways.

This report documents the experience of a local Sri Lankan NGO, National Development Foundation (NDF) in participatory rural development. The report shows how NDF's approaches changed after being introduced to PRA methods, although NDF had been supposedly practising a participatory approach since the inception of the programme with an emphasis on providing technical support to villages and strengthening organisational capacities of farmers' organisations. The report concludes that the introduction of PRA in the programme has helped maintain a good relationship between the staff and the farmers' organisations, has encouraged active participation of the farmers' organisations in planning, decision making and in taking greater responsibility as the main actors of the programme.

This case book was prepared by an independent task force on 'community action for social development' as a prelude to the Copenhagen Social Summit. The 12 case studies on successful community-based social development are from a wide range of countries, such as Zimbabwe, Colombia, Tanzania, Sweden, India, Kenya, Poland, Pakistan, Tibet, Thailand and China. This casebook presents diversity of the worldwide movement towards community- based social development and defines a common process used by the successful programs. A common theme that runs through these case studies is that sustainable social development is difficult but possible; outside agencies involved in sustainable human development should respect people, their values and cultures, build trust and share power and responsibility with the people. The book also stresses the need to provide space for community action and maintain close co-operation between the state, community and NGO.

This report draws out lessons learned from the review of the South-South Environment Linking Programme, coordinated by Oxfam UK. It reports on what has happened in the regions where the programme operated and analyses the methodological, managerial and contextual factors which have influenced the process. It explores the impact of the programme from the perspective of some of the participants and Oxfam staff involved. Recommendations for the future of the programme are also made. Finally, the report points to some lessons learned in the evaluation process and draws some conclusions about networking as a development strategy. The report deals largely with networking processes and activities, some of which were regional PRA training courses and workshops.

This handbook is based on the experiences of the CUSO-CCPD Training Programme for NGOs in Northern Ghana. However, examples are used to bring out the underlying principles which shaped the training process and generated participants' experiences. The emphasis of the book is strongly towards participatory approaches to development and training. Chapters 1 and 2 present the theoretical framework of the handbook - participatory training and the designing process of a participatory training programme. Subsequent chapters cover the basic concepts on gender in development, how gender analysis may be done, and the preparation of gender-oriented extensions programmes. The handbook is very clearly written and organised, making the concepts extremely accessible.