Resources

As part of the 50th issue of PLA Notes, this article provides an introductory overview of both critical reflections as well as future directions of participatory learning and action. The articles compiled in the 50th edition speak from personal analyses and experiences. This article describes the process and products of a writeshop, held at IDS, where the participants came up with a timeline of participatory development based on their experiences. The main themes identified then formed the basis for the articles in this special issue of PLA Notes, including literacy, adult education and empowerment; participatory communications; sexual and reproductive health and well-being; gender and development; children's participation; agriculture, livestock and fisheries; people-centred approaches for natural resource management; urban participatory development; participation and well-being; monitoring and evaluation; advocacy, citizenship and rights; participatory processes in the North; governance and democracy; and critical reflections from practice. Several crosscutting themes also emerged, such as the evolution or participatory discourse; sharing learning and best practice between the South and the North; recognizing the political significance of participation, democratization and issues of power; scaling-up and institutionalizing participatory approaches; the continuing importance of critical reflection and participatory monitoring and evaluation; and the links between working at the local, national and international levels. After identifying these themes, the article goes on to briefly introduce and summarise each of the articles in this special issue. The article concludes with a hope that readers of PLA Notes continue to send in critical reflections and examples of innovations and best practices.

This booklet is concerned with waste pickers in Dhaka and explores their livelihoods using the DFID Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA). It is based on a period of fieldwork and presents much of the livelihood information gathered as well as discussing the effectiveness of the SLA in this urban context. The booklet is divided into two main sections: À Key Findings: presents the livelihood-related findings for waste pickers and draws a number of conclusions about the nature, vulnerability and sustainability of their livelihoods. The performance of the SLA tool is also discussed in this section. À Field Notes: describes the fieldwork methodology and highlights some of the lessons learned and pitfalls encountered during research. This section describes a number of the participatory techniques employed, and raises general issues about research with illiterate, underprivileged children.

The search for valid and reliable indicators of household food and nutrition security has recently brought about innovations in participatory and qualitative indicators. This paper describes two of these. One is an indicator of household food security that relies on the frequency and severity of consumption-related coping strategies and on perceptions of sufficiency. The other is a participatory analysis of the determinants of malnutrition in children, using a concept mapping technique. Both approaches are described and discussed, particularly with localised applications. The article concludes by discussing the advantages of these indicators, and some of the problems and challenges associated with them.

This is a newsletter which describes the formation of the Midnet PRA group and includes a number of very short articles and thoughts on practitioners experiences with PRA in Southern Africa. Experiences shared include working with young people, in education, with periurban communities, for catchment management and for land reform. The methods used are discussed with details of venn diagrammes for community organisation, historical time lines. There are reports from trainings in Namaqualand and Namibia. The thoughts that emerged from evaluation/ reflection and planning meetings included the ideas of rapid learning and sharing and the need for more training. The final article summarises the PRA and gender workshop held at IIED in December 1993.