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Guest Editors: Mae Arevallo, Irene Guijt and Kiko Saladores
Ordering Information

Summary

Most of the articles in this issue of PLA Notes draw on a workshop on Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation which was held in the Philippines in November 1997. This issue explores some of the opportunities for moving towards a monitoring and evaluation process that has greater local value. It also takes the following challenges into account:

• How do we make monitoring and evaluation more participatory – and maintain high levels of involvement?
  
• How does participation of diverse groups influence the selection of what we monitor or evaluate?
  
• What methods are feasible in which contexts?
  
• How do we use PM&E in hierarchical organisations and in conflict situations?

Editorial

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1. Comparing transect walks with experts and local people
Ishmail Mahiri

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Abstract
This article compares two transect walks, one with an interdisciplinary team of 'experts', and one with a group of local people. It seeks to address the assumption that 'expert' knowledge holds the key to environmental matters, and argues that 'expert' and indigenous knowledge bases are complementary and interdependent.

2. Musings on the use of chapati diagrams
Cathy Rozel Farnworth

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Abstract
This paper is an account of what happened during a PRA exercise using chapati (Venn) diagrams at a Community Centre in Norwich, UK. The author describes the process of undertaking chapati diagrams and reflects on how the outcome was determined by group boundaries and dynamics.

3. Participatory community planning: some unresolved challenges from the Gambia
Sharon Truelove

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Abstract
This paper describes some of the challenges of scaling up participatory approaches in the Gambia, in particular how local plans can be integrated into regional and national planning.

4. Beauty is in the process and not in the name: an alternative approach for participatory planning
Kamal Bhattacharyya and Ajay Kumar

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Abstract
Starting from the argument that some approaches for planning that claim to be bottom-up are not fully participatory, the authors go on to describe an alternative approach (AAA) that was used with an NGO in Bihar, in India, which attempts to overcome the defects of other approaches and to enhance village participation.

5. Reflections on institutionalising participatory approaches in local NGOs in Eastern Nepal

Marion Gibbon and Gopal Shrestha

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This paper reflects on an 8-day training workshop held in Eastern Nepal for local NGOs in Dhankuta committed to a community empowering process. The workshop involved developing appropriate attitudes and behaviour for community participation, practical work in the communities and preparation of an action plan at two levels, in the community and for developing a participatory climate for Dhankuta NGOs to work together.

SPECIAL ISSUE:

Participatory monitoring and evaluation

6. Tracking change together

Irene Guijt,, Mae Arevalo and Kiko Saladores

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Drawing on the discussions at an international workshop on PM&E in the Philippines, this article highlights some of the diverse approaches and methodological innovations that have occurred under the banner of "participatory monitoring and evaluation".

7. Monitoring and evaluating in the Nepal-UK community forestry project

Raj Kumar Rai

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The Nepal-UK Community Forestry Project is experimenting with a number of participatory methods based on pictures to allow for greater ease of understanding among less literate Forest User Group members. In this way, PM&E becomes a strategy for empowering less literate forest users. In this article, four of these PM&E methods are described in detail.

8. Participatory self-evaluation of world neighbors, Burkina Faso

Paul Bandre

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This article describes the process and findings of a participatory self-evaluation of the World Neighbors Liptougou programme. The self-evaluation was motivated by concerns as to whether programmes and activities were implemented in ways that improved the livelihoods of the target population. One of its results was to increase the capacity of local village organisations to define and carry out their own evaluations, thus reinforcing WN's approach to self-development.

9. Institutional issues for monitoring local development in Ecuador
Victor Hugo Torres

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COMUNIDEC, a national Ecuadorian NGO, has developed a participatory monitoring and evaluation known as SISDEL (Sistema de Desarrollo Local). This article describes how SISDEL is being used to integrate planning, monitoring and evaluation of social development projects.

10. Growing from the grassroots: building participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation methods in PARC

Janet Symes and Sa’ed Jasser

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This article discusses how the Palestinian NGO PARC (Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees) is developing a participatory approach to monitor its rural work. PARC is increasingly moving away from logical framework analysis (LFA) because of its lack of flexibility - a problem in the Palestinian context, where things are moving very quickly - towards a system where planning, monitoring and evaluation are intrinsically linked in one process.

11. ELF three-year impact evaluation: experiences and insights
Roy Abes

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This article describes a process of participatory evaluation undertaken by the Education for Life Foundation (ELF), an NGO based in the Philippines, to assess the effects of its leadership programme. The data gathering methods - which took into account the Filipino local culture and language - included guided discussions, story telling, asking questions, observation, psychological assessments, surveys and interviews.

12. Participatory monitoring and evaluation in flood proofing pilot project, CARE-Bangladesh
Shawkat Ara

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In 1996 CARE Bangladesh initiated a three-year community-based Flood Proofing Pilot Project (FPP). Findings from the PM&E activities helped to develop replicable and cost-effective methodologies for flood proofing. The participatory monitoring and evaluation activities guaranteed the project's relevance to the needs of flood prone areas of Bangladesh.

13. Feedback:
Can stratified PRA platforms improve dialogue and build consensus?
C.U.Okuye with a response from Somesh Kumar

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14. Extracts:
3D Venn diagram in PRA – a methodological innovation
Somesh Kumar

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A brief guide to the principles of PLA (I)

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Tips for Trainers:

Participation 'poker'
Irene Guijt

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