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Chapter 4. PAR on population dynamics and the local environment: information gathering and appraisal Any participatory action research on population dynamics and the environment begins by appraising the current situation. In this chapter the design of a comprehensive appraisal is outlined. Practical suggestions are provided for environment and development professionals to:
In a number of the example boxes, a fictitious village named 'Amada' is used for illustrative purposes. The names and data are a composite based on experiences in different countries. Additional information on specific field methods can be found in Annex B. 4.1 Preparing for participatory appraisal A participatory action research process begins with some steps that help communication flow between the relevant community and the non-local professionals and focus the exercise on topics of common interest. This includes building a support team for PAR, making contacts with influential community persons, carrying out preliminary participant observation sessions and interviews, reviewing secondary (i.e., existing, already compiled) information, and drafting the participatory appraisal design. Building a support team for participatory action research The best support for participatory action research is a professional team that is sensitive (i.e., capable of working with local people in a consistent, friendly and relaxed way) and technically skilled (i.e., capable of facilitating and applying relevant methods and tools and providing technical information and support, as needed). An ideal support team for a participatory appraisal exercise is comprised of a balanced mix of people with theoretical and practical expertise. The most appropriate members will be persons who are knowledgeable about the local setting, language and culture and have a record of good relationships with the local communities. As gender issues are critically important in such a process, it will help to include both men and women as active members of the team. The team will be strongest if a variety of expertise is represented. Depending on the scale of the project, the professionals for a participatory action research team focused on environment and population might include persons with training in environmental sciences, public health and social sciences. The size of the team should be proportional to the size and accessibility of the territory and the community population to be involved in the activities: 5-10 full-time persons may be sufficient to manage a PAR initiative at district level within a reasonable number of months. Smaller teams are more appropriate if the territory is limited to a selection of 'pilot' villages or settlements. If none of the selected team members has solid experience in PAR methods, it is recommended that a resource person (consultant) be recruited for a start-up and training period. Terms of reference for the consultancy could stress the need for transferring sufficient skills and knowledge to the team to enable them to facilitate a comprehensive PAR activity. Training will be most effective when provided in a 'learning by doing' format, with the external consultant acting more as a supporter than a director of activities. In this learning process, special attention can be given to the attitudes of the members of the support team, which should be conducive to a genuine participatory approach. Making contact with influential community persons Once the team is set and oriented to the purposes and methods of action research, exploratory field visits can be carried out in the concerned communities. An important task in these visits is establishing contact with the local leaders, authorities and other influential persons. These initial contacts can be done in a relaxed and relatively informal way by small sub-groups of 2-3 team members. The scheduling of such meetings is best arranged at the convenience of the local people - which, in most rural communities, is usually late afternoon. Meetings with local authorities and leaders will be an occasion to present the reason for the team's presence in the community. Permission may need to be requested for team members to contact local people and observe the community setting. The essential message could be:
There is a risk of raising unrealistic expectations or creating distrustful feelings during this first encounter and in subsequent interactions with community members. It is important to be clear up front about the ability of the support team to commit to long-term follow through, or to bring funds into the community. Also, a good understanding of local etiquette will be extremely useful to the successful introduction of the PAR initiative. The team will also need to remain sensitive to excluded or minority groups who may not be represented among or even mentioned by the community leaders. Conducting regular evening debriefing sessions among team members will help to monitor the state of the relationship between the team and the community. Preliminary participant observation sessions and interviewing Once introductions are made and, if necessary, formal permission is obtained, team members may spend some days in the community observing what is going on and finding ways to talk with people. Opportunities to meet natural groups (see Chapter 2) for an informal conversation occur in many everyday activities, such as: queuing for the bus, drinking tea at a public stall, taking a walk though the fields, sitting in the village square and, in some cultures, visiting private homes. Natural groups might include women waiting for their turn at a water source or washing clothes, men engaged in community work or sitting together socializing, youngsters playing football, etc. In these preliminary observations and informal interviews the team can identify existing interest groups in the community (see Box 4.1).
Such groups are more or less organized clusters of persons who share a common interest, e.g., bicycle taxi drivers, woodcutters, women market vendors, traditional birth attendants, farmer clubs, etc. As interest groups are usually the main actors in the action research process, this task is of great importance. Readiness and capability of local leaders, school teachers, community workers and aged influential persons to collaborate as key-informants can also be explored during these visits.
Various kinds of information can be gathered informally in these initial contracts, including main livelihood activities, common age- and gender-related roles and behaviors, and typical daily or seasonal activities in the village. Discreet note-taking after observation sessions will help to gradually build a data base, which the team can review during debriefing sessions. Grids (tables or matrices) can be created to help identify and summarize the clusters of persons likely to form an interest group and the interest which is keeping them together (see Table 4.1 above). If needed or applicable, a comparison between different sites (villages or settlements) may help to identify patterns of interest groups in the region to be covered by the action research initiative. Review of secondary information The preliminary interaction with the community can be complemented by a review of existing compiled information (secondary information). Types of data and documents likely to be available and useful include:
Reviewing this information will help in compiling a baseline profile of the community that includes demographic, environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects. It is worth remembering, however, that finding a figure in printed form does not necessarily mean that that figure is accurate. Among the potential difficulties likely to be encountered are contradictory statements in different sources, and information which is outdated or no longer relevant for various reasons. The secondary information can be compared (triangulated) against the 'primary' information collected during the initial observations and interviews. Similarly, interviews with knowledgeable persons can be used to check for the current validity of printed data. Calculation of quantitative indicators (see Annex A) may help to summarize some scattered information. Focusing the participatory appraisal A possible next step is to generate a list of specific action research questions concerning environment and population dynamics in the relevant communities. These have to be the community's own questions, although some of the members of the support team are likely to be professionally interested in the matter (e.g., because they are employed locally in environment or development initiatives). Such team members may contribute to phrasing the questions, making them more specific or proposing to add some dimension of concern (e.g., sustainability, equity). The questions can be elicited through individual interviews, group discussions or even in an open community meeting. Once various questions have been listed (see Box 4.2), they can be clustered by main topic by the community and the support team.
Next is linking the topics to be investigated with the community persons having the strongest concerns about each topic, i.e., their 'interest groups'. A matrix can be generated by overlapping the research questions list with the interest groups list (see Table 4.2). Based on this matrix and on the direct knowledge of persons and place gained by interaction with the community, the support team can invite some members of relevant interest groups to participate in the action research process. As a first step, it will be important to discuss issues affecting their capacity to participate, e.g., available time, willingness, literacy and any special skills. Literacy can be helpful, e.g., for taking notes, but should never be an essential requirement for participation. Also, interest groups can be involved in a prominent way to explore questions of importance to them, but should not be the only people involved in exploring such questions. Ideally, a few members of each interest group will agree to participate in all PAR exercises in an active way. Table 4.2: Example of a completed 'what' and 'by whom' action research matrix ('Amada', 1997)
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