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Guest Editors: Irene Guijt and Su Braden
Ordering Information

Summary

The special theme section of this issue of PLA Notes looks at ‘analysis’: the tricky process of ‘making sense’ of the information derived from participatory approaches. While it is easy to generate much interesting and unusual information through participatory processes, it is often very difficult to make sense of the mountain of data with which we are left. Where does participation in analysis begin and end? When does it happen, and how and by whom is learning represented? How can serious analysis ensure that local people learn about the value of their lives and gain the confidence to represent their own choices?

Articles in the theme section of PLA Notes discuss what happens when data is ‘collected’, discussed, summarised and shared, when priorities are made, and action points are agreed. It includes examples from Uganda, Peru, UK, Malawi, India, Brazil and El Salvador. The articles examine who is involved in analysing information at different stages in a participatory process and discuss how critical reflection can, and should, become part of any participatory process.

Editorial

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1. Pushing the limits of mapping and wealth ranking
 Anton Simanowitz

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Abstract
The author discusses the adoption of participatory approaches to poverty targeting through the work of the Small Enterprise Foundation, a micro-finance NGO working in the Northern Province of South Africa. He considers the benefits of participatory wealth ranking and finds the process to be more inclusive and transparent than the visual targeting methods previously used to identify levels of poverty.

2. Participatory assessment and the twenty points of progress program: the experience from Mexico

Gary M. Woller and James B. Mayfield

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Abstract
The authors describe a field test called the Twenty Points of Progress Programme (20PPP), a participatory methodology for systematically measuring and assessing the impact of village development programmes. The communities rate their villages with regard to certain indicators and, through plenary evaluation, the results are used for community action planning, consciousness raising and resource mobilisation.

3. Public participation and GIS: report back
Gavin Jordan

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Abstract
Reports on the Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist meeting held in Santa Barbara, USA, in October 1998.

SPECIAL ISSUE: Learning from analysis

4. Ensuring reflection in participatory processes
Irene Guijt and Su Braden

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Abstract
Introduces the theme of this issue of PLA Notes: analysis, that is, how to make sense of the information derived from participatory approaches. The theme explores who is involved in analysing information at different stages and discusses how critical reflection can and should become part of any participatory process.

5. Beyond the good discussion: the issues matrix for analysing intra-communal difference in PRAP
Grace Mukasa and Geoffrey Mugisha

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Abstract
The issues matrix is a table which captures, in summary form, all the issues of concern that arise out of the initial application of PRA methods by interest groups. The article explores how Redd Barna Uganda uses the issues matrix in the facilitation of independent discussions of different gender and age groups, in order to arrive at communal conclusions. Using examples from different communities, it highlights the process of developing an issues matrix, showing its use as an analytical, planning and monitoring tool, and its benefits and challenges.

6. Finding a voice through analysis of the everyday experience of poverty
Maria Chase, Joan Pine and Sam Swaby, with Su Braden

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Abstract
The article discusses a method known as 'Global Voices', used by Oxfam with the aim of bringing the voices of the real experts on poverty - the poor themselves - in to a strategic review in Devonport, one of the poorest regions in the UK. The process involved training Oxfam's local partners in the uses and processes of participatory video. The account given here examines the Devonport experience, the training processes, the ways in which they were used by the local partners, and the analysis that resulted.

7. Interaction for irrigation: how analysis guided a construction project in Peru

Natasha van Dijk

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Abstract
This article describes the analysis that took place during different stages in the rehabilitation of a small-scale irrigation system in the Peruvian Andes. The experience shows that if participation is constantly emphasised in all phases of the project - and not only in the appraisal and planning phases - local people will increasingly become the owners of the changes they propose.

8. Order from chaos? making local data relevant for policy audiences

S. Rengasamy, P. Bala Murugan, John Devavaram and Simon Croxton

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Abstract
Participatory methods are frequently extremely good at helping to gather huge amounts of information, but are often less helpful in dealing with, and narrowing down, all this data. This article relates some of the methods, such as diagrams, that were used to deal with this problem as part of a SPEECH research project in India.

9. PRA that supports local development: the experience of developing a municipal rural development plan in Tombos, Brazil
Andréa Alice C. Faria

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Abstract
This article focuses on the challenges of the process of analysis of qualitative information. It draws on experiences in Tombos (Minas Gerais, Brazil), where a PRA process was the foundation for elaborating a Municipal Rural Development Plan.

10. Communities meet policy-makers through video-supported analysis: rural energy issues in Malawi

Su Braden and Valerie Nelson

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Abstract
In March 1997, villagers contributed to the Malawi government policy on rural energy and natural resource management by presenting their video-based research. This article discusses some of the steps in a progressive sequence of reflection involving different participants and audiences over a 14 month period.

11. Making sense of community wellbeing: processes of analysis in participatory wellbeing assessments in South London
Andrea Cornwall

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Conventional health needs assessment generally involves the collection and analysis of quantitative data by 'expert' researchers. Shifting the frame from analysis by health researchers to a process of co-learning with community members involves a number of challenges, which this article seeks to address. It draws on experience with participatory wellbeing assessments in the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton over the last few years.

12. Rejecting "the manual" for more critical and participatory analysis: REFLECT's experience in El Salvador

Bimal Kumar Phnuyal

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Abstract
In the early years of REFLECT, local facilitators were trained on the basis of the REFLECT Mother Manual. This approach is now changing, away from the use of the original manual. This article relates the experience of CIAZO, in El Salvador, where analysis of the personal experience of methods was used for 'trainee facilitators' to develop their own, context-specific approaches to community development initiatives.

13. Feedback: Barriers to the institutionalisation of PRA in NGOs in Nepal
Marion Gibbon with a response from Michel Pimbert

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Abstract
Marion Gibbons raises concerns about the quality and follow-up of PRA training in Nepal, emphasising that PRA is not used on a systematic basis within organisations that have received PRA training. In his response, Michel Pimbert stresses that whilst good personal practice of trainers is essential, the process should be supported with affirmative action from the NGO and donor communities to institutionalise good practice.

14. A brief guide to training in participatory methods in the field

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Tips for Trainers: Introducing the 'H-form' - a method for monitoring and evaluation

Author
Susan Guy and Andrew S.Inglis

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