Resources

This DVD is meant as a visual aid to the participatory tools and techniques as used by the Rural Domestic Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (RDWSSP II) in Nyanza Province, Kenya. It focuses on some of the techniques that were used during a one-week PRA with the project community. The objectives of the programme are to provide safe and accessible drinking water, safe and low cost disposal of human waste, and to ensure user participation and responsibility for facilities. PRA assists the community with collecting and analysing data, identifying problems and developing an action plan (04). The basics of PRA are the techniques, the team and on the spot analysis (05). A variety of techniques were used during the PRA. The film focuses on a few of them: community mapping (07), transect walk (08), semi-structured interview (09), do-it-yourself (outsiders trying village activities) (10), seasonal calendar (11), village institutions (12), wealth ranking (13), gender discussions (14), women's daily activities (15) and men's daily activities (16). The community selected team members who took part in review meetings to analyse the information and discuss the findings. The findings were subsequently presented to the community for verification (17). Having identified the problems a ranking exercise was carried out by different groups to elicit the priorities of women and men (18). This formed the basis for drawing up a community action plan (19). The week concluded with a final presentation to the community (20).

This paper addresses the issue of using rapid socio- anthropological techniques to understand coping strategies, based on work conducted by SCF(UK) during 1992 in Darfur, Sudan. It begins with a general background to Darfur and definitions of the terms used, and then looks specifically at the Coping Strategies Research Project (CSRP) in Darfur. SCF(UK) hoped that this project would identify the range of coping strategies used, in order to improve their relief operation planning as well as longer term development projects. A number of rapid data collection techniques are used, including semi-structured interviews, use of key informants and group discussions. Data from these were used to construct historical profiles, seasonal calendars, daily routine diagrams, and preference and wealth ranking. Finally problems, constraints, weaknesses and strengths are put forward, with lessons learnt and suggestions for improvement.

This is abstracted in the annotated bibliography Famine Early Warning and Food Information Systems in the Sahel and Horn of Africa, Lambert et al, 1991, IDS Development Bibliography, no. 7.

It looks at the principles and the methodology employed on a research project in northern Nigeria, which involved the collection of both farm management and nutritional data. The study was a wide ranging one; as such clear decisions about the type of data to be collected was made on the basis of time costs. The use of registered-non registered, continuous - one point and data cores are described and discussed. From these follow the means of sample stratification using these principles. Some ideas for improving RRA are suggested.

This training manual for innovative, community-based shelter training programmes is the result of a partnership which has developed since 1991 between the People's Dialogue, a national network linking representatives from illegal and informal settlements in South Africa, and a group of three organisations in India. These are SPARC, an NGO working broadly in the area of housing and community development; the National Slum Dwellers Federation; and Mahila Milan, a federation of women's collectives. The first part of the manual describes the participation of the South African delegation in a shelter training programme in India. Part two focuses on a follow-up training conducted by the South African delegates in their own country, with the support of the Indian trainers. Forty leaders of the Federations of the Homeless Poor in South Africa took part as they assisted one township to explore their shelter options. The final section reflects on the kinds of methodology followed in the process and provides guidelines for training.

This paper describes reflections by a trainer after two PRA exercises in Zimbabwe and South Africa. After brief accounts of how the PRA activities worked in each context, Mascarenhas makes three points about training : i) Participants should be "vetted" beforehand to ensure that they can become trainers of trainers ii) "The exercises themselves should be conducted for real" , rather than just as a training exercise iii) PRA "has to be followed through with action... to lead to a development process".