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A district-based framework for health promotion and health care provision is advocated in this video produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It promotes a participatory and community-led approach which is responsive to the needs and demands of the community. The video focuses on examples of District health provision in three different regions: promoting health care among at risk groups such as the unemployed in the UK; mother and child health in Indonesia; and child immunisation in Zimbabwe.

Two RRAs, each lasting five days, were carried out in two villages in the North of Cameroon, a CARE Canada project area. LEARN (Local Environmental Analysis and Assessment of Rural Needs) type of RRA was used to focus on the environmental problems. None of the team had used LEARN in the field, so this was very much a training exercise, with an honest account of failings as well as successes. A checklist covering "what needs to be known", "indicators" and "methods to be used" formed the basis for guiding activities, choosing respondents and topics of discussion. Field activities are described in detail, and methods (especially interviewing techniques) analysed. Specific characteristics of LEARN are evaluated, as well as the "reliability and representativeness" of the information gained. Findings of the research are given in sections 6 - 12 : sections 1 - 4 are devoted to methodology and training aspects.

This paper describes the use of wealth ranking as part of rapid nutritional assessments undertaken between 1988 and 1989 in Darfur, Sudan by an Oxfam nutrition team. The assessments combined two techniques; wealth ranking, a technique to show people's own perceptions of differences in wealth, and conventional weight-for-height measurements of child malnutrition. The objective was to establish whether it was the poorer families who were more likely to have malnourished children. Contrary to expectations, poor nutritional status did not correspond with low wealth status as percieved by the people themselves. It was found that malnourished children were present in both rich and poor families in the three communities surveyed. This suggests that targetting food to households on the basis of socio-economic data may in some cases be inaccurate and wasteful. Wealth ranking was considered by the survey team to be far quicker than household interviews in previous surveys.

This report and bibliography is intended to provide ACORD programmes with information on the literature concerning participatory development methodologies in Africa. The report provides an overview of the literature and identifies key documents and methods, as well as outlining ACORD's experience in four countries. The bibliography includes ACORD reports relating to participatory techniques, and annotations of easily available selected materials which would be of most interest to ACORD programmes. A list of institutes and organisations that specialise in the development of participatory techniques is also provided.

This paper is a critique of conventional (FAO) approaches and practices in land use planning in the Sahelian zone of Africa. The need for land use planning in Africa (particularly the Sahel) is outlined in the first section. The second section describes the evolution of land use planning systems, and the process involved in conventional systems. The fourth section discusses problems with the application of land use planning in Africa, the main critiques being the weakness of a hard systems/top-down approach. these are contrasted with the value of a soft systems/insiders' view approach. The fifth section outlines the principles for participatory land use planning (PLUP), that it: produce advice for farmers in a short space of time, which is easy to understand, and which is widely applicable to varying communities in the Sahel. PLUP should be based primarily on local needs, involving land users in the whole planning process, and providing advice which is not prescriptive but facilitative, and which solves specific problems. PLUP should strengthen village level capacities for land resource analysis and structures for management, combining top-down and grassroots information. Suitable advice should be given in a non-prescriptive way, and feedback and monitoring mechanisms should be established. The final section discusses alternatives to conventional/FAO LUP, and a tentative framework for PLUP is outlined.

The author describes problems encountered while supervising an on-farm research project in S.W. Nigeria. Her task of "testing" alley farming under field conditions was made particularly difficult as there was no word to describe "alley" in the local language. She devised solutions to these communication problems by involving a primary school in a drama production called the "fertiliser bush". Dialogue is given to show how concepts, such as poor production related to soil quality, could be put across easily through theatre.