Links to Participation and Participatory Research

Gateways to Information on Participation in ARD.

Eldis Participation Resource Guide The latest from eldis on participation issues. Key gateway on participation issues, with weblinks, manuals, etc. - the place to start for any search on participation and methods, etc.

Participation Home Page of the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) Sussex University, UK.

Multi-stakholder processes resource portal. Access to many resouces through this gateway of Wageningen International.

Participation on the Internet. Extensive set of links to web sites dealing with "participation" in the context of integrated conservation and development. Strong on community based mapping, participation and GIS, etc.

Participation and Civic Engagementfrom the World Bank. Links to general resources on poverty and participation.

The Resource Centres for Participatory Learning and Action Network Links to resources, manuals, discussion lists, virtual library, etc.

The participatory development forum. A network to promote a philosophy of participation, with resources centre, conference proceedings and much more.

Participaton: Sharing our resources. Website with FAO;s vision, concepts, resources, etc.

Participatory Learning and Action. Perhaps the best collection of practical experiences from many countries. Back issues are available for free online.

Manuals and Toolboxes of Methods

The World Bank Participation Sourcebook. General guidelines and country experiences.

The Group Promoter’s Resource Book: a practical guide to building rural self-help groups. From the Sustainable Development Department of the FAO. Available in both html and pdf formats.

PRA/PALM series of Myrada in India. Useful tools and experience.

2002/2003 PPA Methodology "Field Guide" for Participatory Poverty Assessment from the Economic and Social Research Foundation, Tanzania.

Participatory Research Methods for Technology Evaluation: A Manual for Scientists Working with Farmers from CIMMYT (pdf 890 kb).

PRA diagrammatic techniques. Mapping, Venn diagrams, ranking, wealth ranking explained with examples and videos. From the World Bank Poverty Net programme

Participatory Poverty Assessment in Cambodia. Book available for download (pdf).

Manual for Bottom-up-Approach in Food Security Interventions: Analysis of Target Groups by H. Beerlandt and S. Huysman. "This manual provides a method for analysing food security and the causes of food insecurity and describes how to prepare and plan targeted food security interventions for the poorest sectors of a community" . See especially Chapter 3 - Instruments for Analysis.

Participation and Social Assessment: Tools and Techniques. Compiled by Jennifer Rietbergen-McCraken and Deepa Narayan. 358 page Training Manual from the World Bank (pdf - 831 KB). Includes tips for trainers, guidelines on social assessment, stakeholder analysis, participatory rural appraisal, beneficiary assessment, etc.

Who are the question makers? A participatory evaluation handbook from the UNDP.

Village Participation in Rural Development - Manual. From the African Network on Participatory Approaches, Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and World Bank. (pdf - 937 KB)

Power tools: for policy influence in natural resource management. IIED website with a range of “how-to” ideas that marginalised people and their allies can use to have a greater positive influence on natural resources policy.

More in-depth experience with and reflection on participatory methods

Gatekeeper Series by the Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihoods Programme, International Institute for Environment and Development, IIED, London. Recent articles available online.

Agricultural Research and Extension Network Papers from Overseas Development Institute, London (recent papers from 1999 onwards online in pdf format, previous papers available as abstracts).

Deepening the basis of rural resource management. Proceedings of a workshop by ISNAR, RIMISP, IIED, ISG, CIRAD-TERA, INTA, ECOFORÇA, edited by I. Guijt, J.A. Berdegué & M. Loevinsohn. Several interesting papers available as pdf.

International Conference on Local Development, hosted by the World Bank, the German Development Bank (KfW), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Inter-American Foundation. Lots of local experience documented.

"Farmer First", "Beyond Farmer First" and "Farmer First Revisited". A series of 3 workshops and resulting iconic books (1989, 1994, 2009) organised by the IDS Group. These represent a great collection of experience and thinking in the field of participatory research and development, which can be accessed from the above links and farmer first site .