Resources

A 1995 study in Zimbabwe of Harare's urban population revealed that 10% of the city's population were living in informal settlements. Labelled as temporary by the government, these settlements lack investment in social services, housing, health care, education provision, waste disposal and water and sanitation facilities. Concern over the children in the communities of these settlements prompted Save the Children UK and a local partner organization, Inter Country People's Aid, to carry out a situation analysis in two settlements. The results of this analysis led onto a new research project involving participation where the researchers were the children themselves. The article outlines some of the findings as well as problems encountered by the project, such as parents and confidentiality. It includes illustrations by children and has a detailed conclusion which includes issues such as how to involve children in genuine and meaningful debate, overcoming reluctance by younger children to participate in mixed age group sessions and the need for methodologies to be stimulating and interactive.

This paper documents the proceedings of a workshop run by SDDP for trainees on the theme of PRA and participatory planning techniques. The workshop was designed to give an introduction to the theory and practice of these themes which would enable trainees to then practice the methods in the field. The introduction to the workshop raised some important issues for discussion on the questions of what participatory development actually entails in practice. It also introduced the concept of a '' ladder of participation'' that discusses the potential for different degrees of participation to exist. The trainees were then divided into four sets of teams and introduced to a wide range of PRA tools that they were expected to try out in the field before initiating a process of participatory analysis among community members. The workshop provided a brief guide as to how to utilise the different PRA tools, with a prescriptive list of do's and dont's and an example of each was given. The concept of community action plans were then introduced in the workshop as a means of continuing the process of PRA. The document concludes with discussions arising from the process and the implications it had for the participants and the communities. In the adjoining annexes ( A-E) among other issues there is a short discussion of the relation between PRA and rural development and some comments that were made by participants during an evaluation that followed.

This report describes the relationship between 'people-centered agricultural development', sustainability of agricultural development and the empowerment of the resource-poor people. The report also describes the evolution of the principles of people-centered agricultural development, their spread, effectiveness, and modifications in their application. (Remarks - incomplete document, maybe some pages missing at the end)