Resources

This is a summary of a larger study for the World Bank of loans for rural development to Brazil. Programme evaluations shed more light on the causes of failure than of success. This summary seeks to do the opposite. The projects are introduced and problems summarised. The remainder of the article discusses the causes of success in some regions and in some periods. Factors include 'inherent capabilities', flexibility, innovation, simplicity, co -ordination between agencies, control by higher authorities, involvement of non-specialised agencies. The implications for standard project design are discussed. Five points summarise the conclusions, and it is emphasised that reality is unpredictable.

This document suggests the uses of pre-phases as a participatory planning tool in development projects. Pre-phases can be used to enhance mutual understanding among project partners. Such understanding is a precondition for successful planning of relevant, need-based and area-specific project interventions. They can also serve as a framework to developing partnership. Characteristics include: a workshop-culture, joint planning exercises, continuous interaction and dialogue and decentralised decision-making. Potential drawbacks are also listed. The first part discusses the planning process in an animal husbandry project in Orissa (Chs. 3-4) and in Sikkim (Chs. 5-6). The second part provides a comparison of the two planning approaches. The potentials and risks of pre-phases as instruments in project planning are discussed in Ch. 8. Ch. 9 suggests areas for improvements.

This discussion paper addresses ways in which SSP - a Sri Lankan NGO which specialises in participatory methodologies - can continue in a sustained way after external funding ends. It discusses the establishment of PID, to operate in a more demand-oriented approach, based on cost-recovery for advisory, training and other services. The strategy for planning and effecting the institutional change is outlined.

This article asks "what actually is farmer experimentation?" Examples are given of farmers in Sanando, a semi-arid region of Mali. Farmers' understandings of 'experimentation' were elicited through interviews. They were also asked why they experimented and how. Experimentation was found to mainly concern new varieties and soil fertility. The farmers' process of testing, rejecting and reframing hypotheses is documented. Persistent observation is noted as a key component. It is noted, however, that some 'experiments' are more akin to experience, and thus it may be difficult to determine where an experiment begins and ends. This is particularly so since farming in Sanando is characterised by variability and unpredictability - problems have to be reframed according to the situation. Experimentation/experience is therefore a learning process.

The manual provides details of a training workshop which could be run in a community. It describes the carefully studied sequence of ideas which community members can be encouraged to consider and discuss. Issues of perceptions, prejudice, love, sexuality, condoms, and HIV/AIDS are treated in a series of different sessions encouraging people's self-assertion and empowerement. Appropriate exercises and session timetables are also provided for the trainer. It is important to follow the preordained sequencing of exercise and ideas in order to take people through a gradual training process leading to greater knowledge and consciousness related to AIDS. The accompanying video provides illustrative material, from Uganda, showing members of a rural community discussing and re-enacting their own problems and developing their own solutions. Again, the video is divided into fifteen brief clips, provoking discussion in a participatory way to accompany the sessions described in the manual. Both the manual and the video have been designed specifically for users in Sub-Saharan Africa. A final warning: this training package is for use only where there is an on-going AIDS prevention and support programme, or a programme where AIDS is included.

The article reviews two needs assessment methodologies "rapid rural appraisal" and "participatory rural assessment", which balance the field perspective with academic rigor. These methodologies have been used in FSRE to help communities develop natural resource management plans. Advantages and disadvantages of the methodologies are discussed, and specific steps in conducting a particpatory rural assessment are described. The example used is an adaptation of participatory rural assessment that was piloted in Costa Rica to identify the training needs of rural development workers.

A study of six indigenous peoples' communities involving field research on the main concerns and needs at the local level as well as organisational capacities. This was undertaken by the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) so as to facilitate the involvement of indigenous people in the country's democratisation processes. Communites were selected on the grounds of geographical spread and development issues affecting the indigenous groups. The research was carried out during a period of six months, involving secondary data review in the preparation phase and PRA investigation in the fieldwork phase. The latter mainly focused on diagramming visual sharing, and mapping activities. The research aimed to obtain a preliminary assessment of rural indigneous people's livelihoods, especially issues concerning resource tenure and day-to-day existence. In particular, farming and fishing systems were analysed, relationships with outsiders explored and the issue of ancestral domains discussed. The indigenous group profiles are the following: 1) Ifugaos in Malabing Valley, Nueva Vizcaya 2)Manobos in Magpet, North Cotabato 3)B'laans in Polomolok, South Cotabato 4)Tagbanwas in Coron, Palawan 5)Dumagats in Casiguran, Aurora 6)Sulodnons in Lambunao, Iloilo.