Resources

This paper introduces the work of the project introduces the work on the project Action Research on Community-Based Planning (CBP), providing both the background to the topic and findings after two years. How community involvement in planning and management can link to decentralised delivery systems has formed the basis of this DFID funded action research project covering Uganda, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and South Africa. The CBP project was developed as a response to two challenges: an analysis of the institutional issues in trying to implement a sustainable livelihoods approach; and a realisation of the limitations of efforts to promote decentralisation, where these concentrated on local government itself, and not also on how local government serves citizens. The paper begins by looking at the challenges of implementing a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach on micro (community) and macro (local government) levels. It goes on to describe the purpose and approach of the action research on community based planning project. An approach was adopted addressing all the focuses of CBP in a manner that is implementable and sustainable using the resources available to local governments and in local communities. The principles underlying this approach to CBP are described together with the main challenges of the approach. The core methodology of the approach involved the use of a variety of PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal)/PLA (Participatory learning and Action) tools, combined in a three to five day strategic process. In the first year of piloting two million people were covered by the methodology. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges of upscaling CBP projects.

This article examines the guiding ideas and ultimate realities of government-led participatory research in Tanzania and Uganda. It considers the extent to which research results have influenced meso- (e.g. district) and macro- (e.g. national) level planning for poverty reduction and why; the degree to which research processes have contributed to democratisation and citizen empowerment and implications for the future of participatory approaches to policy oriented research. The article reflects over the consequences of recent initiatives from development aid donors to streamline development assistance and improve the performance of sector ministries, leading to unprecedented pressure for poor countries to generate up-to-date, detailed socio-economic data. It looks specifically on how this has affected East Africa. It goes on to give a background to the development and role of Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) in Africa, and looks specifically at the Tanzania PPA (TzPPA), 2002-2003, and the Ugandan PPA Process (UPAP), 1998-2001. It compares the methodological differences of the two projects, where the bad experiences with Community Action Plans (CAPs) in UPAP led TzPPA; and UPAP focussed more on involving as many individual community members as possible while TzPPA only sought large community-wide. Finally an analysis is made of the benefits of participatory approaches in UAPAP and TzPPA on policy and empowerment, and it concludes with the potentials and pitfalls of PPAs.

This paper is a case study exploring the process of mobilising citizen action around the right to information. It documents a recent experience with a participatory social audit carried out with marginalized villages in Orissa under a less-than-transparent panchayat (local government). A campaign involving participatory action research, popular education, training and alliances among people's organisations, NGOs, sympathetic government officials and the media, led to exposure and prosecution of corrupt panchayat officials.

This journal, published by PRIA (Participatory Research in Asia) in New Delhi, focuses on the facilitation of citizenÆs participation in development and democratic governance. This volume presents 7 articles where of 3 are based directly on experiences from practice in case studies, and many are based on experiences from workshops organised by PRIA. Tandon and Mohanty examine the role of civil society initiatives in influencing public policy in India (Influencing public policy: civil society and governance in India). Poverty eradication and democratic governance in South Asia by Sen, is based on the deliberations and concerns that emerged out of the first module, ôUnderstanding the Macro-Policy frameworkö in the second course of Regional Advocacy Training programme held at PRIA. Sen also describes the Status of Baisis in the contemporary context: a study in the Deogarh district of JharkhandI, which is a tiered traditional system of self-governance. Dwivedi contributes with the Challenges of leadership in Voluntary Development Organisations and a discussion of Participatory impact Assessment in South Asia, a pilot project initiated by New Zeeland VASS (Voluntary Agency Support Scheme). Anand write about Experiences and lessons of strengthening citizenÆs monitoring in Jharkand: A citizenship perspective, and Mohanty analyses Research practice engagement for social development. The journal also includes four book reviews on: Internatinoal prespective on voluntary action- Reshaping the third sector edited by Lewis; Complex responsive processes in organisations- Learning and knowledge creation by Staecy; Participation of the poor in Development Initiatives- Taking their rightful place by Long; and Roles and relevance- Development NGOs and the challenge of change by Lewis and Wallace.

This second edition of the The SAGE Handbook of Action Research has been updated to bring chapters in line with the latest qualitative and quantitative approaches in this field of social inquiry. Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury have introduced new commentaries that draw links between different contributions and show their interrelations.  Contributing authors engage with the pragmatics of doing action research and demonstrate how this can be a rich and rewarding reflective practice. They tackle questions of how to integrate knowledge with action, how to collaborate with co-researchers in the field, and how to present the necessarily 'messy' components in a coherent fashion. The organization of the volume reflects the many different issues and levels of analysis represented.