Resources

This paper describes an action-research approach that extends participation from the village level to national policy-making processes. Villagers were able to contribute to the Malawi Government policy on rural energy and natural resource management. Video was used as a tool with communities to research, reflect and analyse their own problems, and to represent themselves directly with policy-makers.

The methodology recommended by this document builds on rapid rural appraisal techniques. The author develops a framework for more effective analysis and design of community forestry activities. First, the framework analyses tenure issues within three broad tenure types: the holding, the commons, and the forest reserve. Second it examines, from the point of view of the household, the opportunities for tree planting and use under each of these three tenure systems. While it is recognised that there are obvious limits to the use of the rapid appraisal methodology, it should be possible to significantly reduce related design problems in projects through the procedures suggested in the publication. The author's knowledge of a forestry project in the Arusha region of Tanzania provides examples.