Resources

Helen Hambly's introduction focuses on the key viewpoint behind this book: that conventional approaches to the monitoring and evaluation of research and development projects have been dominated by Euro-American scientific perceptions of environmental and development change, using "top-down" approaches to data collection and analysis. The objective of the book therefore is to draw attention to grassroots indicators i.e. measures or signals of environmental quality or change formulated by individuals, households and communities, and derived from their local systems of observation, practice and indigenous knowledge. Looking first at the different motives for such indicators, the author goes on to introduce concepts of desertification and development, and grassroots indicators and desertification in Eastern and Southern Africa .

This article shares the author's experiences in promoting gender equality in the æSupport to Generation and Transfer of Agricultural Technology ProjectÆ (PRODETEC) in Nicaragua. They represent important lessons for gender sensitive participatory diagnosis and are applicable to other organisations. The article presents the background to the project, and its two main approaches: farming systems and gender. Rapid gender analysis was carried out at the start of the project and this explored the broad differences between male and female production systems. This is followed by a participatory diagnosis during the planning process phase. The article stresses the need for gender equality in the project, especially in participation in decision making. It offers practical tips on when and how participation may happen. It also offers a clue to increasing female participation as discussion by separate men and womensÆ groups. In conclusion, the article advises that a high or low profile gender approach should be adopted according to what is appropriate and sensitive to the context.

This paper is about the use of PRA in exploring indigenous technical knowledge which could be useful in the management of natural resources. The ways of discovering such knowledge, such as folklore, from the elders and how participatory research can help in understanding the indigenous knowledge systems are explained. Specific examples suggesting the harmony between nature and people in the old days and erosion of these institutions after the establishment of formal legal systems at the beginning of this century are discussed.

This note describes in detail how different research methods - such as RRA, PRA, participatory decision making and ecological economics - could be integrated to make the research relevant to the needs of local people, planners and academics. The importance of selecting a particular research method or a combination of methods depending on the specific situation of the research site is highlighted. The actual process involved in conducting the research are explained. Multidisciplinary participatory research can help generate rich findings and may be useful in linking micro-macro planning, the note concludes.

This brief note describes the principles and practice of integrated pest management (IPM) as part of the FAO country programme in South and South East Asia. The objectives of the programmes are outlined, emphasising the importance of minimising the use of pesticides in rice crops and encouraging farmers to learn about their agro- ecosystem. Procedures involved in training the farmers to use transects method are described along with the outcome of the training. Although the main part of the training methodology applied is said to be the transect and the use of the word PRA is made once in the note, the whole emphasis of the paper seems to be on imparting knowledge from the trainers to the farmers rather than on a two-way learning process.

This article highlights the danger of using quantitative research methods alone, based on the experiences of a research project examining sustainable management of mangroves in El Tamarindo, El Salvador. The important contribution PRA techniques made to the quality of the research and also how they reduced overall project costs are outlined. Moreover, the article describes how the PRA stimulated community action, reactivating the pre-existing Ecological Committee of El Tamarindo and the production of an educational booklet.

This paper describes how the combination of chemical soil and water analyses and PRA exercises were found to be complementary methods in assessing the magnitude of the pollution problem caused by the tannery industry in Kamtchipuram village, Tamil Nadu.