Resources

This article examines the role NGO's should play in the participative process, baring in mind the typically short term and localised nature of their operations.
The case of the Intermediate Development Group (ITDG) in Chivi is examined, whereby from the very beginning the project sought to link farming communities with their service organisations, such as government research stations, training institutions and also with farmers in other districts, rather than implement an operational project in the conventional sense. This approach was found to enable farmers to continue to access these sources of information after the life of the project without the need for external support.

This study is part of a global research effort entitled Consultations with the Poor, designed to inform the World Development Report 2000/1 on Poverty and Development. The research has used participatory methods to involve and give a voice to poor people in twenty-three countries around the world. This report is from Bulgaria, from sites selected to give a rural/urban balance. The study focuses on four main topics, each with a set of key themes, as follows: Exploring well-being À How do people define their quality of life, their ill-being or well-being? How have these changed over time? À How do people perceive security, risk, vulnerability, opportunities, social exclusion and crime and conflict, and how have these perceptions changed over time? À How do households and individuals cope with a decline in well being and how do these strategies affect their lives? Priorities of the poor À Listing of problems faced by different groups within the community and identifying problems faced by the poor. À Prioritisation of problems, in terms of the most pressing needs of the different groups. À Have these problems changed over time? What are people's hopes and fears for the future? Institutional analysis À Which institutions are important in people's lives? À How do people rate these institutions? À Do people feel that they have any control or influence over these institutions? À Which institutions support people in coping with crisis? Gender relations À What are the existing gender relations within the household? What is women's relative position today as compared with the past, and to men? À What are the existing gender relations within the community? À Are there differences in gender relations among different groups within the community?

This article explores the question of whether the principles of organisational learning can be successfully adopted in complex bilateral programmes. Organisational learning is seen by many organisations as a means of attaining organisational change for greater impact on development. It covers the areas of team learning, shared vision, common goal, and strategy, and has had impressive results in non-profit organisations and in the private sector.
The case is considered in this piece of a programme between the Dutch and Kenyan governments in Keiyo Marakwaet, Kenya. It analyses the process of institutionalising participation as both a learning and a conflict-generating process. The case reveals some of the gaps and assumptions in the theory of learning organisations in the context of bilateral programmes which have multiple actors, competing interests and conflicting goals. It was found that learning depended on the position of an individual in an institution, which raises that question as to whether what individuals choose to learn or not to learn contributes to a shared vision. In addition, while individuals and teams may learn from the process of institutionalising participation, these lessons may not translate into action towards a common goal. The problem of high staff turnover in bilateral programmes is also a problem as it can lead to the neglect and erosion of institutional memory. It is recommended that in order to make the concept of learning organisation effective in bilateral programmes, organisations should be viewed as political systems and it should be determined what is learned, by whom, how, and for what purpose.

This book is intended for all who are committed to human wellbeing and who want to make our world fairer, safer and more fulfilling for everyone, especially those who are ‘last’. It argues that to do better, we need to know better.

It provides evidence that what we believe we know in international development is often distorted or unbalanced by errors, myths, biases and blind spots. Undue weight has been attached to standardised methodologies such as randomised control trials, systematic reviews, and competitive bidding; these are shown to have huge transaction costs, which are rarely if ever recognised in their enormity.

Robert Chambers contrasts a Newtonian paradigm in which the world is seen and understood as controllable with a paradigm of complexity, which recognises that the real world of social processes and power relations is messy and unpredictable. To confront the challenges of complex and emergent realities requires a revolutionary new professionalism.

This is underpinned by a new combination of canons of rigour expressed through eclectic methodological pluralism and participatory approaches that reverse and transform power relations. Promising developments include rapid innovations in participatory information and communication technnologies (ICTs), participatory statistics, and the Reality Check Approach, with its up-to-date and rigorously grounded insights. Fundamental to the new professionalism, in every country and context, are reflexivity, facilitation, groundtruthing, personal mindsets, behaviour, attitudes, empathy and love.

Colombia's new Constitution of 1991 gave the status of citizen and participant to a people which had not historically enjoyed it. This implied the need for citizenship education and formation to enable people to take advantage of their new status. Many non-governmental organizations in Colombia immediately rose to the challenge. Some of these were newcomers to this field. Others, among them the Instituto Popular de Capacitaci¾n (IPC, Popular Training Institute), came to this task with a long history of working to deepen democracy in a range of ways. Christian Aid Colombia began to support IPC in the area of citizenship education in 1992. This case study represents a collaborative attempt, by Christian Aid with IPC's Democracy and Citizenship Team, to document the experience of IPC in promoting citizen participation from 1991 to the present. It aims to be, on the one hand, a piece of applied research that informs future practice in the field of citizen participation in local urban governance, and on the other, an advocacy resource for IPC and Christian Aid in Colombia and the UK, that illustrates the challenges faced in holding open spaces for democratic participation in a country in conflict. After an introduction the study sets the context and then moves on to look at the legal framework for citizen participation in local governance. Next, IPCÆs experiences in promoting citizen participation are documented, followed by a look at some key variables (gender, armed conflict and other challenges). The final section looks at learning from the experience.