SAMGAR R.SANGMA

Stress Management: How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress

2010-09-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

Stress Management: How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress

Misfits - Trendy Urban Outfits @ 15% Discount

2010-09-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Misfits - Trendy Urban Outfits @ 15% Discount

SAMGAR R.SANGMA: PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES. A GUIDE TO PRA.

2010-08-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

SAMGAR R.SANGMA: PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES. A GUIDE TO PRA.

PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES. A GUIDE TO PRA.

2010-08-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

PRA Tools are of three types-
1. Space-related tools
2. Time-related tools and
3. Rational tools.

Space-related Tools:
Space-related PRA techniques are useful tools to explore the spatial dimensions of people's realities. The primary objective is to understand how people perceive and relate to space in their communities. Various types of visual maps are utilized in the application of space-related methods.

The following space-related tools are described in this CD-ROM:

Mapping - a technique used to get people's visual representation

of an area or an issue
Social Map - an image of the habitation pattern of an area, according to people's perceptions
Mobility Map - a visual analysis of the mobility patterns of the local people

Resource Map - a visual representation done by locals to illustrate the natural resources of a community

Participatory Modeling - a three-dimensional depiction of an area

Transect - a cross-sectional view of an area used to explore the spatial dimensions of people's realities. Particularly useful in natural resources management.
Mapping:
Mapping is a spatial representation, used as a descriptive and analytical tool for a wide range of subject matters.
Why should we use mapping?
Different types of maps can be used to analyse various aspects of a community and can also be utilised as a tool for comparative analysis between communities. There are a number of reasons to use maps as a tool to aid communication, some of which include:
• Providing a framework for discussion over the relative location of resources
• Highlighting resources of importance
• Stimulating debate over the importance of specific resources
• Enabling facilitators to locate or identify problem areas / important issues
There are a great number of other practical reasons for using maps, which include:
• Breaking the ice and initiating discussion
• Identifying which elements are important to different groups
• Developing a basis for comparison which can be understood by all stakeholders, i.e. both villagers and foresters/agricultural extension workers/other local agency workers
• Discovering issues and locations that could be prioritized in a long term planning process
• Establishing a baseline for impact analysis and for monitoring and evaluation
How does it work?
There are a number of distinctive "types" of maps:
• Social Map
• Resource Map
• Dream Map
• Body Mapping
With whom can we use mapping?
Maps have been constructed with a range in group sizes, from on individual to around 50 men, women and children (examples exist of up to 300 people!). Although some facilitators prefer to work with smaller groups of around 8-10, others have had experiences with larger groups where a high degree of participation still occurred. In some cases, changes in the process had to take place in order to include the wider group, such as asking each individual present to mark their own houses (e.g. with stones) onto a social map. Large groups may be dealt with sequentially, for example as the main analysts move on, others may come in to add or comment on both the process and the "product". It is felt that maps made outside on the ground, and models, can cope with larger numbers.
In many cases, large groups have been split along gender lines, with comparative maps made by men, women, and youth. Children have a great potential to act as analysts as well.
Equally, there can be benefits in working with mixed groups to ensure debate and discussion, since the process of the mapping is as significant as the product. Having a range of participants may benefit social maps, particularly for ensuring that all different households are represented, and the different aspects of their knowledge are pooled together. It is important to always gauge where individuals feel more comfortable about participating whether it be in mixed groups or small homogenous groups.
When should we use mapping?
Maps have frequently been used early on, if not at the very start of participatory exercises. In addition, they are generally easy to construct, and participants feel comfortable starting with mapping before proceeding onto more complex diagrams.
Social mapping, as mentioned, leads easily into well-being assessments, or more detailed social analysis of a location, which in turn has been used to feed into institutional analysis and a discussion of power structures within an area. It also leads to livelihood analysis, for example identifying the major occupations or livelihoods of people in an area.
Resource maps have in many cases led on to ranking. This includes analysing preferences for different items that have been identified on the map, such as crops or cropping patterns/treatments, or assessing the perceived potential of different proposals. In addition, resource maps have led directly to discussing flows of identified resources and movements in relation to both formal/informal markets; seasonal calendars of resource availability, labour, inputs, outputs and so on. For visual/description, click here
Ground or Paper?
Much has been written on the "ground vs. paper" debate, and a wide range of materials have been suggested for mapping. Advantages of the ground primarily include the lack of boundary limitations, and therefore larger size and increased potential for participation, as well as greater ability to make alterations.
Where paper is used, both flipchart and large rolls of paper such as wallpaper or newsprint have been useful with a variety of colored pens and crayons. Additions to maps include the use of stickers of different shapes and colors, small labels, and so on. Beans and other counters can be laid onto maps to illustrate the relative importance of different elements.
Where the ground is used, the list of materials is endless, including the use of sticks to scratch marks in the soil, dust or mud, the use of twigs/sticks/branches, and the use of coloured chalks or powders such as rangoli, flour, ash or sawdust. Symbols can then be placed onto the map, or objects used such as stones, cans, pots, leaves, clods of earth, bits of wool, mealie cobs, etc.
Praxis advocates for the use of local materials as often as possible. Since some community members may have never seen fancy stationary products, using those materials in PRA exercises may hinder the involvement of some community members.
Strengths and Weaknesses

Dangers:
• Facilitators and/or participants overly concerned with accuracy, neatness and presentation of the final product at the expense of process and discussion
• Many facilitators express a difficulty in "getting started", particularly as this is often the first visual tool used, and participants (and facilitators) may lack confidence.
• In developed countries, participants sometimes believe that they should reproduce a professional map of the area because it is more accurate.
• In areas where land tenure, rights or boundaries are uncertain, the process of mapping may raise underlying conflicts.
• In areas where land use patterns are traditionally a sensitive subject, an exploration into this subject matter may provoke initial suspicion over motives. It is important for the facilitators to be explicit about their goals.
• In areas where security risks are high, people may feel threatened to open up in a mapping exercise. For instance, people may be concerned with revealing household assets to potential thieves.
• As with any PRA exercise, the process cannot be rushed. There is a need for rapport and trust to be built up before starting the mapping exercise.
Strengths:
• Maps can provide a clear spatial introduction to a discussion. This ensures that issues are not overlooked or ignored, while also establishing an outline for the discussion.
• This exercise ensures that the discussion is channeled through the map, and is therefore depersonalized to some extent.
• A participatory map can create a common orientation or understanding and provide a structure for ongoing analysis. They can become a basis for ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Specific issues or problems being discussed at a later stage in the process can be referred back to the initial maps, for example to see if there is a relationship between a certain problem and social or resource aspects identified earlier.
• Maps can reflect strengths and potentials as well as weaknesses and problems, important for community reflection and confidence.
Complementary Tools for Triangulation
As with any PRA method, it is important to "interview the map", because the discussion begun around this map will be as fruitful as the finished product. When working in a large group, the process of interviewing the map may allow new ideas and participants to enter the debate. If participants present the map back to other community members then this can be another forum for sharing and triangulating.

In other cases, different groups may have constructed similar maps, and the findings can be shared and the content compared. Semi-structured interviews, observations, and a range of other methods can also be used to cross-check the analysis on the map.
Social Mapping:
Social mapping seeks to explore the spatial dimension of people’s realities, and is one of the most commonly conducted mapping exercises. It is an ideal way to understand habitation patterns and the nature of infrastructure (such as drinking water facilities, drainage systems, etc.) within a community. Social mapping exercises have a few key distinguishing features: 1) they are made by local people and 2) they are not drawn to scale. Therefore, these exercises capture how community members perceive social dynamics within their locality.

Applications
The diverse applications of social mapping include:
• Creating a base understanding of the social and physical characteristics of a village.
• Collecting demographic data, such as detailed household specific information.
• Establishing a comfortable forum for discussion, where people are able to open up about the intricacies of social relations within their community.
In short, social mapping provides the researcher with a visual picture of the area, and identifies the incidence and prevalence of different poverty-related indicators. A social map is an interactive tool to gain insight on how different well-being groups live, and provides a means of comparison for factors such as proximity of different castes to water sources, government service-providers, etc.
Social mapping should include the following steps:
• Consult with community members, and determine a convenient time and location to conduct the exercise.
• Once convened, explain the purpose of the social map to the participants. Allow participants to choose the materials they would prefer to use. Requesting participants to draw the prominent physical features of a locality can be a fitting way to begin such an exercise.
• As the process unfolds, listen to the discussions carefully and take detailed notes of the proceedings.
• Create an environment where participants are able to take initiative, and become deeply involved in the process. Be cognizant of who is actively involved, and which sections of society they belong to. Proactively involve those who are left out of the process.
• If you require clarification, wait for the appropriate moment, and be careful not to interrupt the process. Ask the community members, “What about . . . ?” or ‘What does this symbol represent?”.
• Once the mapping is complete, make sure you number the households, and ask people to identify their home.
• If you require specific information, according to the purpose of the study, ask participants to depict the information that you are interested in. For instance, you may be interested in household-specific details, such as caste composition, number of school-age children, etc.
• Meticulously copy the map onto a large sheet of paper, making sure to include all details that the community has noted down. Be sure to include
- Title of the exercise
- Names of the participants
- Characteristics of participants (socio-economic background, gender, occupation, etc.)
- Location (i.e. locality name)
- Names of the facilitators
- Legends and symbols necessary to interpret the output
• Triangulate the information generated from the exercise with others in the locality.

Topical Social Maps - Practitioners also utilise social maps to investigate specific social issues. The following are some examples of how topical social maps can be utilised: :
• Kinship - Social maps can also be used as a basis for examining the genealogy of a location. Kinship ties can be constructed, and comparisons made between, for example, area of origin, length of residence in the area, and household ties.
• Skills - a topical skills analysis can also be created on a social map, identifying those who have skills that would be of importance in particular initiatives, i.e. a forestry programme or a business initiative.
• Education - in the same way that well-being and assets can be examined, literacy levels and education levels can also be specifically discussed.
• Health - Health maps have been constructed which examine the incidence of a wide range of conditions, including asthma, chronic illnesses, alcoholism, disabilities, malnourishment, family planning, etc. The map can also be used to discuss which members of individual households attend clinics or receive assistance from programmes.
• Political - maps can show concentrations of political affiliations, areas of conflict and other political aspects.
Advantages and Limitations
Social maps have been known to provide a good base for discussion, as they provide a common orientation of the locality. Since social maps have such a diverse application, it is a tool that has been utilised for problem identification within a community and in the planning of development interventions. This particular method provides great insight into the socio-economic stratification of a community by analysing the distribution and control of critical resources. Often, a social map is looked upon as a good exercise to break the ice with participants, because it involves a great number of people, and gets the community members conversing about common landmarks in a locality. Even the shyest person is eager to confirm whether his/her house is properly represented on the social map. Therefore, social mapping proves to be a non-threatening exercise that has the potential to build rapport with a community rather quickly.
It is quite common to face some reluctance from the community members as you begin a mapping exercise. Lack of confidence, fear of being ridiculed by others, and the belief that maps are only made by experts are the origins of such hesitations. The use of fancy pens and paper during the exercise could be intimidating for some of the participants, who may be illiterate or generally self-conscious of the contributions they have to make. This is one of the critical reasons why Praxis advocates for using local materials during mapping exercises, and using the ground as the canvas. It can be challenging to ensure that hesitant community members proactively contribute to the mapping process. Generally though, with a bit of encouragement, and in the worst cases, some prompting questions, the mapping process will unfold smoothly.
Mobility Map:
Mobility maps illustrate the main places where community members travel and the significance of those places. This type of mapping exercise generally analyses where community members need to travel to reach public institutions and attain certain services. Different symbols can be utilized to represent factors in such movement, such as distances, time involved and means of transport. Other aspects of movement, including which social groups are traveling and the importance of the places visited, should also be investigated and depicted in the map.

Applications
Mobility maps can be utilised for a number of purposes including:
• Gaining an understanding of the movement patterns of community members, specifically where they travel and for what reasons.
• Establishing gender awareness among community members, since the map depicts the differences in mobility patterns between men and women of a community.
• Measuring the impact of certain development interventions, in an evaluative manner, by examining the impact that programs have had on mobility patterns.

• Process
The suggested steps for mobility maps are:
• Choose a person or group whose mobility pattern you would like to explore.
• Explain to the participants the purpose of such an exercise, and inquire about places they visit regularly. Ask the participants to depict these places visually using symbols.
• Draw a circle on the ground or on a piece of paper which represents the locality. Ask the participants to identify the places where they visit, using the circle as a base.
• Request the participants to link the locations visited with lines. The formation of the lines (i.e. thickness, dashed, etc.) can represent a specific factor in the movement, such as the frequency of visits. Continue this process for each of the places indicated on the map.
• Encourage the participants to depict relevant details, in the form of visuals or writing, such as: Purpose of visit, mode of transport, frequency of visit, time to reach location/inconveniences involved, etc.
• Throughout the process, encourage participants to make modifications as they see fit.
• Request the participants to explain the map in detail, and at the same time clarify any doubts that have arisen.
• Throughout the mapping process, pay close attention to the discussions and take notes.
• Once the exercise is complete, replicate the diagram in detail on paper.
• Triangulate and thank the participants for their active involvement.
Advantages and Limitations
A mobility map is an effective manner to initiate a discussion, and constructs a holistic picture of the movement patterns of different community members. Throughout the mapping exercise, it is important to avoid being focused on the output. If that occurs, the facilitators can miss out on critical information, particularly information that speaks to the factors determining such mobility patterns.
One major advantage of a mobility map is that it complements other PRA methods very well, and therefore the facilitators are able to attain greater levels of insight into the dynamics of a community. For instance, the seasonality of a mobility pattern can be critical in areas where seasonal changes have a great impact on livelihood options and mobility patterns.

Resource Mapping:
Resource maps are one of the most commonly used PRA tools. The purpose of a resource map is to understand the natural resources of an area, such as the rivers, fields, vegetation, etc. At times, it can be difficult to distinguish between a natural resource map and a social map. Generally though, social maps illustrate habitations, community facilities, roads, while resource maps focus upon the natural resources of the community.

Resource Maps are quite powerful tools, as they take advantage of the community’s unparalleled knowledge of their surroundings. Detailed visual representations of the position of resources reflect candid perceptions of local people, and are therefore not drawn to scale. By avoiding precise measurement to scale, new insights into the realities of access to services and resources for different sectors of the community are illuminated.
Applications
Resource maps visually depict the location and condition of the natural resources of a community, such as:
• Bodies of water, irrigation sources, drainage systems, etc.
• Crop development, cropping patterns, levels of productivity, etc.
• Topography, terrain, and slopes
• Forest, vegetation, and species
• Land and land use, tenure, boundaries, and ownership

Process
• Consult with the community members, and determine a convenient time and location to conduct the exercise.
• Once convened, explain the purpose of the resource map to the participants. Allow participants to choose what materials they would prefer to use. Ask the participants to depict the major resources of the village.
• As the process unfolds, listen to the discussions carefully and take detailed notes of the proceedings.
• Create an environment where the participants are able to take initiative, and become deeply involved in the process. Be cognizant of who is actively involved, and which sections of society they belong to. Proactively involve those who are left out of the process.
• If you require clarification, wait for the appropriate moment, and be careful not to interrupt the process. Ask the community members, “What about . . . ?” or ‘What does this symbol represent?”.
• If you require specific information, according to the purpose of the study, ask participants to depict the information that you are interested in. For instance, you may be interested in cropping patterns, access to water, etc.
• Meticulously copy the map onto a large sheet of paper, making sure to include all details that the community has noted down.
• Triangulate the information generated from the exercise with others in the locality.

Topical Resource Maps
In the same way that specific aspects could be examined on the social map, resource maps may concentrate on a specific issue.
• Agriculture - this may include cropping patterns, both current and historical, and even an analysis of soil type and fertility.
• Water - location of water resources is often crucial, such as rivers, canals, ponds or wells. This can also lead to an analysis of broader water resources, for example, drainage systems or irrigation patterns.
• Livestock - a discussion of grazing areas may lead to the mapping of the quality and quantity of fodder available, as well as the movements of livestock.
• Forestry - not only can areas of forest be demarcated, but the species and history of the forest can also be shown. Further, access routes, paths, collection areas for different products can be illustrated.
• Farm Sketches/ Profiles - these involve mapping at the scale of a farm unit. In addition to simply creating a farm profile of existing conditions, the profiles can illustrate seasonal changes that occur or variations in cropping patterns that have taken place over a number of years.
Limitations
In communities where issues such as land holding and land tenure are sensitive as points of discussion, resource mapping is a difficult exercise. It is critical to be sensitive to these sentiments, and create a comfortable environment where community members are able to share their honest opinions. Many facilitators, particularly those who are not very experienced find resource maps difficult to initiate. Although, once they start taking shape, the mapping proceeds rather smoothly. There can be a tendency to over-emphasize the final product, so it is important to be cognizant of the discussions during the mapping process.

Participatory Modeling:

Participatory models are common tools utilised in PRA to create a three-dimensional representation of a community. Two defining characteristics of participatory models are: 1) they are not made to scale and 2) they are constructed by community members. A number of materials can be used in modeling, including: sand, soil, twigs, leaves, water, and coloured powder.

Applications
Models are particularly effective for purposes of natural resource planning and management. To have a three-dimensional representation depicting the communities’ perspectives on the condition of natural resources can be quite useful when approaching land-use planning and watershed planning projects.

Process
The steps in the process of participatory modeling are:
• Consult with the community members, and determine a convenient time and a location with a flat terrain.
• Once convened, explain the purpose of the model to the participants.
• Request participants to portray their locality in as much detail as possible. Encourage the use of locally available material in an imaginative way.
• As the process unfolds, listen to the discussions carefully and take detailed notes of the proceedings
• Create an environment where the participants are able to take initiative, and become deeply involved in the process. Be cognizant of who is actively involved, and which sections of society they belong to. Proactively involve those who are left out of the process.
• Meticulously copy the map onto a large sheet of paper, making sure to include all details that the community has noted down. Also, take a photograph of the model, because a drawing will not sufficiently capture a model’s complexity.
• Triangulate the information generated from the exercise with others in the locality.
Advantages and limitations
Participatory Models are a wonderful outlet for creativity, and allow community members to get very involved in the PRA process. The process creates a realistic representation of a locality with extensive details, which are impossible to capture in a two-dimensional map.
The involved nature of the process, results in quite a time-consuming process, as compared to some other PRA tools. Therefore, it often becomes difficult for women in the community to participate because of their time constraints and responsibilities.

Transect :
A transect is a cross-sectional representation of the different agro-ecological zones and their comparison against certain parameters including topography, land type, land usage, ownership, access, soil-type, soil fertility, vegetation, and crops. Although it is popularly used for natural resource management, social dimensions are not completely excluded from a transect.

Despite areas of overlap, transects are different from resource mapping. The resource map provides a bird's-eye view of the locality with a focus on natural resources. A transect however, depicts a cross-sectional view of the different agro-ecological zones and provides a comparative assessment of the zones on different parameters. It is generally done after a resource map and therefore helps in triangulation. It also helps in moving forward from problem identification to natural resources management and planning.
Applications
Transect has been used for various purposes including:
• Appraisal of natural resources in terms of status, problems, and potential
• Verification of issues raised during other PRA exercises particularly during social mapping, natural resource mapping, etc.
• Formulation of various interventions
• Monitoring and evaluation of interventions and projects

• Process
The proposed steps of a transect are:
• Identify a group of local people having some knowledge of the area and who are willing to walk with you for the exercise.
• Explain the purpose of a transect to the people. In consultation with the community members, define the list of indicators that will be analysed during the walk. Involve them in the decision-making process regarding the transect path you should take.
• Let the people show you their village by following the transect path that was agreed upon. Do not hesitate to make modifications if it is required. Also carry the list of parameters and preferably the resource map for the walk. It is a useful reference during observation and discussions en route.
• Observe the surroundings. Encourage people to explain things as you move. Take detailed notes.
• If necessary, stop at certain locations for detailed discussions on emerging issues. Use this opportunity to clarify issues emerging from the social map, resource map and other methods.
• Collect and bring some leaves, grass, etc. which you find interesting but are not familiar with. It helps to refer to them in discussions that will follow and also in documentation.
• After returning, draw the transect on a large sheet of paper. Let the local people take the lead in drawing the transect diagram. Use your notes and the notes of other members of the transect team while making the diagram.
• Show the transect to others in the locality and ask them to give their opinion.
• Triangulate the findings and thank the participants for their active involvement.

Q&A

Q) How should we choose the transect path?
The main ones are:
• Social/ Resource maps of the area - You can use available social or resource maps to select the transect path. Other regular maps of the village can also be used if necessary. While marking out the path for the transect, the guiding principle should be to capture maximum diversity and details within the limitations of time and physical access.
• Random selection method - All transect done without marking the transect path may come under this type. The problem, however, is that you may not capture important pieces of information about places that you have left out.
Whatever method you follow, local people must be involved in the process of decision-making, to utilize their local knowledge and expertise.
Q) What kind of transect route is the most appropriate?
There are different types of transect paths. The most common one will have you walk from a high point to a low point. Another one will bring you in straight line from one extreme point of the area to the other. To get a more detailed view of the area, one can also choose to undertake an S-shaped transect walk. Another possibility is a 'sweeping' transect.
Gender dimension in transect
It is not uncommon to have two transects done for the same area - one by local men and another by local women. The different perspectives that the two transects produce is usually quite striking and is useful when designing programs targeted at assisting local women. It also sensitizes the participants and the facilitators to the gender dynamics of the community.
Q) What kind of a team do we need?
The transect walk can be carried out by a single facilitator and a couple of local people. However it is generally better to have at least 2 or 3 facilitators and various homogeneous groups of local people willing to engage in fruitful discussions. About 2 to 3 local persons per facilitator is a good number.
In order to get the maximum out of the transect walk, each sub-team can fan out from the same point and meet again at another fixed point. It has the advantage of covering more of the area. Even if the teams use the same path, it is advisable to divide responsibilities and allot focal topics to each sub-team. This will provide an opportunity for triangulation and information checking.
Q) When is the best time to use transect?
Transect can be good a warm-up activity because it enables rapport building. The participants also start gaining confidence when the facilitators show interest by asking questions about the village.

Transects can also be conducted after social and resource mapping, to investigate the issues that have emerged in more depth.
Advantages and Limitations
Transects provide a quick cross-sectional overview of the different agro-ecological zones of the locality. They provide an opportunity to double-check the information generated through social maps, resource maps, and other PRA methods. They serve as an important entry-point for the PRA facilitators into the community in a non-intrusive, non-threatening manner. Walking together in small groups, local people and facilitators tend to become informal and shed some of their inhibitions. The local people tend to express their views on different aspects more candidly, which does not happen usually in a community meeting or even in a one-to-one interview.

While most practitioners find the transect walk easy to facilitate, the subsequent drawing of the transect by the local people is more demanding. The tendency to focus on the output can really influence the quality of transects. The discussion during the walk, and the asking of probing questions, are key to the process. The preparation of a checklist beforehand can help the facilitator to remain focused.
Time-related tools –
Time-related PRA methods assist in exploring the temporal dimensions of people's realities. The originality of these PRA methods is that they allow people to use their own concept of time.

The time-related PRA tools covered in this CD-ROM and their outcomes are:

Time Line - an aggregate of various landmark events in their community as perceived by the local people
Trend Analysis - a 'before and after' type of analysis that identifies the changes that have taken place across certain time milestones

Historical Transect - a visual representation of the temporal dimension of people's reality

Seasonal Diagram - an image of people's livelihood conditions over a period of time, the communities' notion of an annual cycle

Daily Activity Schedule - a representation of people's daily activities from the time they get up until the time they go to bed. Hours are generally the unit of analysis

Dream Map - the future vision or aspirations of the people
Testimonial - a technique used to capture and record the striking story of an individual
Timeline:
The Time Line exercise provides an ideal opportunity to capture the chronology of events in an individual or community’s history. As opposed to being a chronicled history, the Time Line represents important moments as perceived and recalled by the people involved. This tool can serve as an effective rapport builder, since people are generally willing to reminisce and share important moments from their past.

Applications
Time line objectives are:
• Learn about important events in the community's past from the community members.
• Understand the community’s historical perspective on current realities.
• Generate a discussion about how different aspects of their lives have transformed over time; i.e. education, health, food security, gender relations, etc.

• Process
The following are suggested process steps for a time line:
• Identify a few elderly members of the village, who are willing to speak candidly about the history of the village. Determine a convenient meeting time and place, and explain to them the purpose of the exercise.
• Begin a discussion on the history of the village. Some initial questions may include:
Q) When was the village established?
Q) What are the important events in the history of the village?
Q) What are some of the major changes that have taken place?
• Go over the events in the order that the community has placed them in, from top to bottom. Ensure that they are satisfied with the chronology, and that the participants have made all the modifications that they see fit.
• Add dates to the left side of the events listed. If it becomes difficult to reach a consensus about the date of a particular event, or if community members have forgotten when something took place, ask about the event’s time period in the context of other important moments.
• Encourage the participants to reflect upon these events. You could ask questions to solicit their further insights, such as “What changes have taken place”” and ‘What are the reasons for those changes?”
• Document the names of participants, facilitators, location details, dates, legends, etc. Triangulate the collected information with other elderly members of the community.
Note on the Concept of Time
At times, participants may be unsure about when particular events occurred. Using indicators such as “the year my first child was born,” is quite common and may create difficulty in establishing the precise time of an event. As an alternative, inquire about whether the community members can recall parallel regional or national events that occurred in that same time period.
Advantages and Limitations
One clear advantage of the time line is that it is a PRA exercise that prioritizes the participation of the elderly, and emphasizes the contributions that they have to make.
The exercise may become quite challenging if participants cannot recall when events took place. Despite that obstacle, it is critical that facilitators do not impose their concepts of time on local community members, because it will negatively impact the process. It is also important to keep the discussions focused, and to beware of digressions and tangents from the topics of conversation.

Trend Analyses:
A trend analysis captures changes and trends related to certain variables over different spans of time. Such an exercise investigates the trends in crop yield, livestock population, rainfall, etc. and provides meaningful insights into the dynamics of change within a community.

Applications
Trend analysis is useful to:
• Understand how the community perceives changes that have occurred over time.
• Explore problems that have become more pressing in the village and why.
• Discuss development interventions that have taken place in the past, and analyse the changes they have triggered.
• Create the appropriate environment for people to find solutions and plan for the future.

• Process
The suggested steps in the process of trend analysis are as follows:
• Select a group of local people interested in taking part in this exercise and explain to them the purpose of the exercise.
• Initiate a discussion on the present situation and focus on specific areas that you are interested in. Allow the participants to brainstorm a list of indicators related to your specific area of interest. For instance, a trend analysis related to forests might explore - density of trees, grass, wild animals, collection of minor forest products, income from forests, moisture content, etc.
• Ask them to select time landmarks acrosswhich the trends will be studied, and encourage participants to depict these landmarks visually.
• Ask participants to draw a table on the ground, using chalk. Ask them to represent from top to bottom the landmark years and from left to right various aspects such as density of trees, grass, wild animals, etc.
• Take up one indicator, and ask participants to describe today's situation in the relevant cell by using symbols, visuals, seeds, sticks, sand, etc. Move to the next time landmark and so on. After the completion of one indicator, go through the same process with all identified indicators.
• Encourage the participants to discuss and reflect upon their analysis. Some important points for discussion may include:
- Causes of the trends
- What indicators do local people have an effect on?
- How are certain indicators impacted with assistance from outside organizations?
• Copy the diagram onto a sheet of paper with details of the legend, the scoring system, the date, location, participants and facilitators.
• Triangulate the diagram and other findings generated during the discussion with others having knowledge about the topic.
Fixing Landmark Years
Establishing the landmark years is quite critical to the process of trend analysis. The landmark years should be 1) relevant to the topic of study, so that those particular years capture important changes and 2) easy for the participants to relate to. For example, if you want to study the trends related to forests in a village in India, you could consider time landmarks such as the year of Indian independence, the year of nationalization of forests, the year of the introduction of joint forest management, the present year, and any other years with some direct implication for forests. Please keep in mind, however, that it is critical for the participants to choose these landmark years.
Advantages and Limitations
Trend analysis is a useful way of understanding the local people's perception of change across certain indicators over a period of time. The discussion during the exercise, often uncovers the causes behind change that has occurred, along with solutions of how to improve the present situation.
Trend analysis is not very suitable in the initial stages of the PRA work as it can be too complex to manage without having a good understanding of local people's reality. At times, it is important to be aware of people’s tendency to glorify the past, which can lead to false analyses.

Historical Transact:
Applications
Historical transects are used to explore and represent the temporal dimension of people's reality. This tool has been commonly used to explore the changes in the availability of natural resources over a period of time. Historical transects also reveal potential causes behind the fluctuations in such resources. Once these factors are established, discussions can focus on preparing the communities for periods of such change.

Process
The suggested steps for a historical transect exercise are as follows:
• Invite a group of local people who are interested in natural resources and who are also familiar with the history of the community to participate in a discussion.
• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants. Identify the aspects that you would like to study from a historical perspective and also identify the time landmarks that you would like to use. Proactively involve the participants in the identification of these parameters.
• Encourage the participants to use symbols or visuals to depict the landmark years.
• Draw a grid on the floor and place the cards marked with the important factors that you would like to investigate horizontally and the time period cards vertically.
• Encourage a discussion among the participants on the historical transect. Some key points for discussion could include:
Q) What is it like today?
Q) What was it like earlier?
Q) What are the causes of change?
Q) Are the changes desirable or not?
Q) What can be done to improve the situation?
Q) Who will do it?
Q) What will the time frame be?
• Remember that the output is not the final product. The subsequent discussion and analysis are critical aspects of the process.
• Copy the diagram on a sheet of paper with all details. Thank the participants for their time and involvement.
• Triangulate the output with other members of the community.

Advantages and Limitations
Historical Transects provide a clear picture of the evolution of a number of different factors over time. Local people usually find the process easy to follow and the use of visuals and symbols to represent these events generates a great deal of interest. However, some facilitators find the exercise difficult to manage, particularly in communities with a strong oral tradition.

Seasonal Diagram:
A seasonal diagram (also called seasonal calendar) is used to understand changes in livelihood conditions, income availability, diseases, expenditure, and other entitlements of the poor, across different periods of the year.

Applications
Seasonal diagrams help to identify and analyse annual livelihood patterns, such as heavy workload periods, periods of relative ease, times of debt, etc. It is a helpful tool when planning interventions, so that one can understand prime periods of stress and ideal time-frames for project implementation. Seasonal calendars have also been used to discuss diversification of income by examining the differences in income sources and expenditures throughout the year.
In general, seasonal diagrams focus on livelihood and can be very useful in evaluateing incomes, expenditures, etc.

Process
A seasonal diagram exercise can be conducted as follows:
• Explain the objective of the exercise to the participants
• Inquire about the work that the participants are involved with at the moment. Ask them to identify other relevant months or time periods in the year.
• For each identified month or period of time, ask the participants to identify a unique characteristic of that period.
• Draw a grid with chalk on the floor. In the grid, draw at least 13 columns and as many rows as the number of items to be studied. Place the month cards along with their symbol in the top horizontal boxes in chronological order. On the vertical axis, add the activities whose seasonal variations will be explored.
• Ask the participants to show the period(s) of time during which the activity is taking place. Ask them to represent the magnitude of the activity using different numbers of seeds or sticks of different sizes. For example, if you are interested in identifying the availability of wage labour during various months, seeds can be used to indicate the number of days during which they can earn wages. Similarly, sticks of different sizes can be used to indicate the quantity of rainfall during the month.
• Go through the analysis with each indicator during each time period.
• Asking probing questions may be helpful in developing new insights and in-depth understanding. It brings new facts and relationships to light, which the community may not be aware of at a conscious level.
• Copy the diagram on a piece of paper with details of the participants, facilitators, locality, and date.
• Thank the participants for their active participation and valuable time.
• Later, triangulate the findings with other members of the community.
Note:
People usually have their own systems and units to keep track of time. Therefore, in any seasonal analysis, it is important to first understand the system of time used by the local people. The key questions that can help identify the patterns of local seasons and individual months can include:
• What month/season is this?
• What are the other months/seasons?
• What is the sequence of the months/seasons?
• What are the major activities during the different months/seasons?

Advantages and Limitations
Seasonal diagram is one of the most popular time-related PRA methods. It assists local people in understanding the interrelationships between various aspects of their lives. Not only are the activities that take place throughout the year described, but their relative importance to the community is also demonstrated.
Some facilitators find it difficult to adjust to the local concept of time. Facilitators also need to be conscious that the diagram output is not an end in itself. The subsequent analysis is critical as it identifies particular periods of stress, and allows for the community members to plan accordingly.

Daily Activity:
The Daily Activity Schedule is a popular PRA method used to explore the activities of an individual, group or community, on a daily basis. It depicts various activities that individuals or groups are involved in, along with the duration of those activities. The basis of temporal analysis is hours or periods of the day.

Applications
Daily activity schedule has been used to:
• Enhance people's understanding of who does what, when and for how long.
• Finalise timing of interventions and activities organized in the village, e.g., training classes, literacy classes, non-formal education, etc. for the target group based on their convenience and availability of leisure.
• Compare differences between men, women, children's daily schedule (e.g. gender differences in workload).
• Evaluate time allocations given to productive activities, household management, rest, etc.
• Evaluate seasonal variations in workload.

• Process
The possible steps include:
• Explain the objectives of the exercise to the participants. Try to keep the group homogenous and relatively small.
• Initiate a discussion about the activities that they perform in a normal day. Ask them to list the tasks or activities they perform from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed.
• Ask them to either write or preferably depict the activities by using visuals or symbols, and ask them to organize the activities in such a way that it indicates the duration of the activities.
• Discuss the emerging details with the participants. The key points for discussion may include: which activities they enjoy, how they feel they utilise time, etc.
• Keep a record of the proceedings and make a note of the points that emerge during the discussions.
• Copy the diagram on a piece of paper with details of the participants, facilitators, locality, and date.
• Thank the participants for their time and cooperation.
• Triangulate the output generated and also the outcomes of the discussion of the daily activity schedule. You can also observe the individuals or the group and verify whether the output depicts reality.
Advantages and Limitations
The Daily Activity Schedule exercise is a useful means to gender sensitize a community. The separate daily activity schedules of men and women create a basis for comparison, and allows community members to discuss workload allocation. This helps to create awareness about gender roles and clarify reasons for gender-based divisions of labour and control over resources.
Placing a person’s schedule in such a format does run the risk of routinising people’s daily lives. Although, on some level, daily activities schedules do reveal constructive patterns in the daily lives of a community.

Dream Map:
Dream maps can be used to understand the aspirations of local people. What distinguishes a dream map from other types of maps is that it is an exercise where community members conjecture about the future. Not only does it reveal what changes people would like to see in their lives and community, but the exercise may also uncover potential solutions to obstacles facing the community. Through this exercise, participants have the ability to build upon the dream map and initiate a discussion on planning activities for a better future.

Applications
A dream map can be used for:
• Understanding the dreams, aspirations, and perspectives of the local people.
• Planning interventions in relation to areas where people desire change.
• Monitoring the progress a community has made against the standards or goals set by the community members themselves.
You can also have dream maps made by different groups. This helps in arriving at the different perspectives of various groups about their future. Such dream maps can include:
• A dream map of a village drawn by men, women, and children separately
• A dream map of a school drawn by children, parents, and teachers separately
• A dream map of a house drawn by various family members
• A dream resource map of a village drawn by the landless and land-owning households.

• Process
The suggested steps for dream mapping include:
• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants and ask them to draw a map depicting the present situation.
• Once the first map is completed, ask the participants to visually illustrate their aspirations for the community.
• Once the dream map is made, showcase the two maps and initiate a discussion among the participants. The main points for discussion may include::
- The problems of the present situation and their causes
- The aspired state and ways of realizing it (including the actors who could help or hinder its realization
- Factors affecting the realization of their dream
- Their own role in the realization of their dreams
• Ask them to list indicators against which the realization of their dream can be monitored.
• Listen carefully to the ensuing discussion, and take note of important points. Copy the maps with all the relevant details. Thank the participants for their time and active involvement.
Advantages and Limitations
Dream mapping provides valuable insights into the present circumstances of a community, the aspirations of the people, and possible ways of improving the situation. The process of articulating their aspirations is a good motivator for many, as they can easily visualize what they are aiming for and find ways of achieving their dream. Thus, if well-facilitated, dream maps can significantly improve the quality of people's planning.
At times, it may be difficult to keep participants grounded in reality as they share their aspirations. It is quite easy to start fantasizing, and may also unnecessarily raise the expectations of community members. In addition, lack of commitment in following up on the outcomes of the dream map may further complicate the situation.

Rational Tools-

Cause-Effect Diagram - a visual representation of people's perceptions of the causes and effects of a problem

Network and Flow Diagrams - a picture

of the depth and diversity of people's contacts with institutions, groups, etc.

Venn Diagram - a visual analysis of the importance and closeness of various institutions to the participants as perceived by them

Matrix Scoring/Ranking Method - a preferences analysis method that allows for comparison of different elements against a range of criteria

Force Field Analysis - a representation and analysis of the positive and negative forces affecting a problem situation

Pie Diagram - a representation of the proportions of constituents in relation to the whole as allocated by the people can be useful to analyse income generation activities.

Livelihood Analysis - a temporal analysis of changes in livelihoods on an individual, household, or community scale

Cobweb Diagram - a visual tool used to show the relative performance of a number of individuals or groups on various dimensions

Body Mapping - a visual method used to understand people's perception of their bodies, the functions of various parts, and their understanding of various health issues
Pairwise Ranking - a variation on the matrix method used to rank and compare various elements with each other

Well-being Analysis - a comprehensive PRA exercise that generally uses a variety of PRA tools to evaluate people's well-being situation
Cause-effect Diagram:

A Cause-Effect diagram falls under the broad category of flow and linkage diagram methods. Also known as a Fishbone or Ishikawa diagram, it focuses on the causal factors of a phenomenon, activity, or problem, and the resulting effects.

Applications
Cause-effect diagrams have been used for the study and the analysis of a wide range of issues including illiteracy, alcoholism, the status of women, migration, drought, food insecurity, ill-health, etc. This method is often utilised when planning interventions to ensure that interventions directly address the root causes of pertinent issues.

Process
The suggested steps in the process of making a cause-effect diagram include:
• Decide on a topic and invite a group of people to get involved in the exercise.
• Introduce the topic to the participants and explain the purpose of the exercise.
• Ask the participants to describe the causes behind the phenomenon that is being investigated.
• Once the causes have been sufficiently explored, move on to discussing the related effects. Request the participants to visually portray the indicated causes and effects on cards.
• Place the causes on one side of the paper and the effects on the other side. Ask the participants to link the cards with chalk to illustrate their linkages and connectivity.
• Once the diagram is ready, ask the participants to make any required alterations. Note down the diagram on a sheet of paper with details.
• Ask the participants to explain the diagram to others in the community. Later, ask them to discuss the diagram and come up with their own findings and reflections.
• Thank the participants for their time and active participation.
• Triangulate the diagram with others in the village.
Advantages and Limitations
Cause-effect diagrams are actually very complex, and are generally not conducted at the beginning of a PRA exercise. Good facilitation is required to ensure that the participants have a clear understanding of the topic, and are therefore able to adequately address the subject matter. If facilitated well, this exercise can lead to incredible insight regarding the complexities behind an issue, and can therefore provide great feedback when planning appropriate development interventions.

Network and Flow Diagram:
Network diagrams explore the contacts that an individual, group, or community has with the outside world. This exercise explores who certain people interact with, the nature and quality of such relationships, the functions that such relationships serve, and the frequency of contact between the two parties. As in other PRA exercises, the network diagram provides great insights into the perceptions that community members hold about the nature of their relationships with outsiders.

Applications
This exercise is conducted to try and understand how people interact with others outside of their community. This provides communities an opportunity to reflect upon the relationships that they maintain, and possible ways to strengthen those networks and strategic alliances. This method is quite common when conducting farm profiles to analyse inter-linkages and flows related to agricultural inputs and outputs, farm owners and labourers, etc. Network diagrams can be made by individuals, households, groups, communities, organizations, etc.

Process
The following are suggested process steps for a network diagram:
• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants and initiate a group discussion on the topic.
• Draw a circle on a sheet of paper. Request that the participants depict their contacts with the outside world on small, individual cards.
• Spread the small cards around the circle, and ask the participants to arrange the cards in a meaningful way.
• Inquire about the nature of each relationship by asking questions such as:
Q) What function do the contacts perform?
Q) How frequent is the contact?
Q) What are the other relevant issues?
• Ask these pertinent questions about each contact. Request the participants to illustrate the different aspects of their relationship with each contact by using different symbols.
• Encourage the participants to discuss their findings.
• Copy the diagram on paper, and indicate the names of the participants and facilitators, date and time of the exercise, as well as a legend.
• Triangulate the diagram and findings with other community members.
Advantages and Limitations
Using the findings of a network diagram, strategies can be developed for strengthening linkage and alliances with critical outsiders. If the quality of particular relationships is poor, the network diagram can also assist community members in understanding why that is so. Despite its potential advantages, the network diagram is quite a complex process, the facilitator therefore needs to be particularly conscious to not dominate the exercise.
Venn Diagram:
Venn diagrams provide a visual representation of the relationships and linkages between people and institutions. Circles of different sizes are allocated to different institutions, groups, departments, or programmes, based on their importance. The bigger the circle, the more important the institution or individual. The distance between circles for example, may represent the degree of influence or contact between institutions or individuals.

Applications
The Venn diagram method has been found very useful to study and understand local people's perceptions of local institutions, individuals, programmes, etc. The method provides valuable insights into power structures, decision-making processes, etc. Venn diagrams are particularly useful when analysing:
• Various institutions and individuals and their influence on local people
• The influence of various groups and individuals in the locality
• The relative importance and usefulness of services and programmes
• Social hierarchy in a locality etc.

• Process
The suggested steps in the process of doing a Venn diagram are as follows:
• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants.
• Ask them to list local institutions, individuals, groups etc. related to the research topic.
• Ask them to write and/or depict the things indicated on small cards.
• Ask the participants to place the cards in a descending order according to the perceived importance of the institution. Encourage the participants to make changes, if necessary.
• Ask them to assign paper circles of different sizes (cut and kept ready) to the institutions or individuals. The bigger the circle, the more important the institution or individual is for them. Paste the circles and the name cards on paper.
• Draw a circle on the ground representing the community. In the context of a specific variable, for instance accessibility, request the participants to place circles in relation to the circle of the community. The circles should be close together if the ranking is high, while those ranking low on that variable can be kept far away.
• In some cases there are institutions/individuals that interact closely in which case they could be placed overlapping each other. The closer the circles, the higher the degree of interaction.
• Ask the participants to discuss and explain why they placed the cards in such a manner. Note down the points of discussion and explanations.
• Copy the output onto a sheet of paper. Record the name of the village, participants, date, legends, what the size of the circle represents and what the distance represents.
• Thank the participants for their active involvement and time.
• Triangulate the diagram and the major findings with other community members.
Advantages and Limitations
The Venn diagram is a simple but useful visual tool to study complex relationships between various institutions, groups, individuals, programmes, etc. Despite its usefulness, it can be quite difficult to facilitate. If the facilitator approaches the exercise one step at a time, the Venn diagram is quite manageable and neither the participants nor the facilitators get ahead of themselves in the process. The Venn diagram may become a difficult exercise to conduct when the participants are in the presence of representatives from the institutions that are being critiqued. Therefore, it is important for the facilitator to be aware of these dynamics, so that the participants are able to be honest.

Matrix Scoring/Matrix Ranking:
Matrix scoring/ranking is a preferences analysis used for comparing different elements against a range of criteria. While simple ranking can be used as an indicator, more complex matrix and scoring techniques enables a criteria based indepth analysis.

Applications
Matrices have been applied as part of PRA within almost all contexts. The aims of ranking, scoring, and creating matrices are to discover individuals or groups relative prioritization of components of a single issue. For example, matrices allow you to assess various institutions, schemes and provisions on different parameters, in relative as well as absolute terms. This tool can be used to discuss the following issues:
• Credit, preference for sources, access, problems, preference for use
• Income generation, preference for activity, problems
• Project preferences, priorities, interventions
• Institutions, service provision
• Health facilities, food and nutrition, diseases, symptoms
• Livestock, preferences, fodder types, species (for milk, etc.), diseases
• Agriculture, soil types, production problems, species, varieties, trial performances, pest damage, etc.

• Process
The suggested steps in the process of matrix scoring/ranking are as follows:
• Identify the topic you want to discuss. Also identify the individuals or group with whom you would like to do the matrix, and clearly explain the purpose of the exercise.
• Initiate a discussion on the topic.
• The next step is to generate criteria for assessment. If a large number of criteria come up, discuss them with the participants and decide upon a few important ones. Ensure that the criteria are all of the same type (either all are positive or all are negative). The use of positive and negative criteria in the same exercise can be confusing .
• Draw up a matrix with the items/options top to bottom and criteria left to right. Keep in mind that the comparisons are made criterion-wise and not item-wise. Then, ensure that each criterion chosen has been ranked or scored against all of the items. Repeat until all of the criteria have been ranked/ scored in this way, and properly recorded.

Ranking Method
The basic technique is ranking, where elements are placed in order of preference, by writing, drawing or moving cards representing individual elements. Preferences from 1 to x can be discussed in this way:
• Take up a criterion and ask the participants to rank or score the objects on the basis of that criterion. Questions which can help ranking could include:
- Which is the best?
- Which is next best?
- Which is worst?
- Of the remaining ones, which is better?
• Record the rankings directly onto the matrix. You can also use a card sorting method instead of this approach, particularly when you have a large number of options.
Scoring Method
• You can opt for fixed scoring on a 1 to 10 scale. Take up a criterion and ask the participants to give scores to each of the items in such a way that the items scoring high for that particular criterion get high scores and others get low scores depending on the magnitude in the range 10 (highest) and 1 (lowest). Record the scores in the relevant cells using flexible material like seeds, pebbles, etc.
• After scores are given for all the objects on one criterion, move to the next criteria and continue on till all are covered.
• Listen carefully to the discussions that the participants engage in while deciding on the scores/ranks.
• Request the participants to reflect upon their findings.
Notes on the process:

'Overall' Criterion - Some facilitators have a tendency to add up all the scores for each object across all criteria to arrive at an overall picture. This is wrong because it implies that all criteria have equal weight for the participants. If you want to know how the matrix items are rated as a whole, a better option is to add another 'overall' criterion and to get the participants to rank/score each item.
People's Criteria - There is a temptation among the facilitators to determine the criteria for the matrix method themselves, especially when the research or project demands information on certain pre-fixed criteria. At times, the local participants may not come up with many criteria. They may be interested in a few criteria only while you may have a number in mind. However, it is important and necessary to use the criteria of the people and not yours if you want to capture their own reality.
Arriving at the Criteria - You can arrive at the criteria in different ways. One way is to go through a quick pair-wise ranking. As the participants tell you the preference for one over the other, ask them the reasons for this. Go over to the next pair, ask for their preferences, and ask for the reasons for their preferences. The reasons are nothing but the criteria. Identify as many criteria as possible. If a very large number of criteria are generated, facilitate prioritization by the participants. Take up only the most relevant criteria for matrix ranking/scoring. Another way of arriving at the criteria is to ask the participants themselves to list the points on which they would like to compare and assess the items. A discussion on this can help generate criteria. If a large number of criteria are generated, ask the participants to prioritize and select the most relevant ones.
Analysis and Reflection - Matrix ranking and scoring is much more than just the output. A large amount of information can be lost if one does not record the points discussed by the participants when selecting and describing each criteria. The facilitator should encourage the people to give a detailed presentation of their findings. Do not hesitate to ask questions at any point in time to make sure that you fully understand the information provided by the people.
Advantages and Limits
Matrices have been used at all stages in the project cycle, from appraisal, as a planning tool, and for evaluation, and is one of the most versatile methods in PRA. The subject matter does not restrict the use of matrices, and criteria are fully flexible, depending on the context and the participants.
Good facilitation is critical to the success of this exercise, and there are still a number of worrying cases where facilitators appear to have pushed their own criteria onto villagers or where information from semi-structured interviews is taken away and drawn up into matrix after the event, with no feedback.

Force Field Analyses:
Applications
Force-field analysis is a technique used to identify and analyse the positive and negative forces affecting a problem. It has been used in diverse contexts, including organizational change and self-development.

Process
The circumstances, location, profile of the participants, etc. will determine the exact nature of the process. Nonetheless, the suggested process steps are as follows:
• Indicate the topic of discussion on a sheet of paper. Try to make it as quantifiable as possible for the participants.
• Ask them to visualise the problem in a state of temporary equilibrium, which is affected by two sets of opposing forces - one favouring change (driving forces) and the other opposing them (restraining forces).
• Each of these forces can be illustrated on small cards. Different colour cards can be used for driving and restraining forces.
• Draw a line through the centre of the paper. Spread the cards with restraining forces below the line and those with driving forces above the line.
• Request the participants to assign weights to each of the forces. They should position each force card at varying distances from the problem-line/present status line in such a way that the distance denotes the 'strength' of the force. The greater the distance, the greater effect that particular force has on the problem.
• Check if they are satisfied with the diagram, then ask them to discuss how they can change the situation. Which of the driving forces can be reinforced and which restraining forces can be diminished?
• Smaller cards, preferably of different colours, can be used to write down possible interventions for each of the driving/restricting forces so as to increase/reduce its magnitude. Each of the possible interventions can be further weighed in light of various factors e.g. resources available, time, ideology of the organisation etc.
• Copy the diagram onto a piece of paper with all the details.
Advantages and Limitations
Force Field Analysis is a widely used PRA tool because it is an effective way to uncover the pertinent forces that affect pressing problems. The discussions establish an understanding about the forces that most effectively bring about change, and therefore enables the community to capitalise upon that knowledge.

Pie Diagram:
A pie diagram is generally used as a tool to present information in a visual form that is based on factual data. This tool is unique in that it deals with both factual and perceptual data.

Applications
Among other things, the pie diagram has been used to illustrate:
• The population composition according to: caste, religion, tribe, occupation, literacy levels, etc.
• Household details: general income and expenditure, cost of inputs and returns, debts, etc.

• Process
Various ways of making a pie diagram include:
• Collecting details according to differentiated categories, and then using that information to prepare a pie diagram. For example, during a social map, each household is marked according to characteristics such as caste composition and well-being categories. These compiled figures from a community can be easily transferred to a pie diagram.
• Using movable lines in the form of sticks, strings, etc., to mark the approximate proportion of various sections of the pie. These estimations are not based on concrete data, but are perceptions expressed by the community after due deliberation.
The '100 Seeds' Technique
The 100 seeds technique is a simple method used for understanding people’s perceptions about the relevant components of an entire issue. Suppose you are interested in finding out the proportion of expenditure involved with a child’s education. The suggested process steps include:
• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants.
• Ask the participants (may be a family in this case) to list out all possible heads of expenditure on their child's education.
• Give the participants one hundred seeds, and ask them to assume that one hundred seeds is the total expenditure on their child’s education. Ask them to distribute the seeds, and place them on the cards depicting expenditure categories.
• Count the number of seeds that have been placed in each category. These numbers will provide you with the percentage of expenditure which can be easily converted into a pie diagram.
• Request the participants to reflect upon their findings.
• Copy the output on a piece of paper, with details about the participants, facilitators, location, time, and make an index indicating symbols used.
• Thank the participants for their cooperation and time.

Livelihood Analysis:
Livelihood analysis is used to examine and depict the livelihoods of individuals or groups. The focus is on income, expenditure, food consumption, coping with crisis, livestock, agricultural production, employment related issues, etc. A comprehensive livelihood analysis uses one or more PRA tools to arrive at a detailed understanding of the livelihood circumstances of an individual or a group.

Applications
The livelihood analysis provides detailed insights into the monthly or annual patterns of an individual's or a group's livelihood. Two main categories of analysis can be considered: one at the community level and one at the individual level. Firstly, occupational and employment issues are explored at the community level, which provides a profile of the area. Ownership of livestock and agricultural production, for example, can also be discussed with reference to the entire community. Secondly, individual livelihoods are examined, which tend to focus on income, expenditure etc., as well as food consumption and distribution within the household
Process
Many of the PRA tools described in this CD-ROM can be used for livelihood analysis. A very commonly used approach is to start a livelihood analysis by making a social map, and then continue the process by identifying sources of income or expenditure for the households on the map. Different indicators can be used to decipher relative levels of income and expenditure for each household. A similar process can be conducted for other factors related to livelihood, including different types of employment, etc. These characteristics of the households should be indicated clearly on the social map
Advantages
In actuality, livelihood analysis is not one specific tool, but rather the adaptation of multiple tools to serve a specific purpose. The utilisation of multiple tools also allows for a strong, comparative analysis between individuals, between men and women, and between different forms of livelihood.

Cobweb Diagram:
Cobweb diagram - also referred to as spider diagram, participation wheel or evaluation wheel - is a visual tool often used to show the relative performance of different groups on a number of indicators. Each arm of the diagram represents one indicator and lines of different colours or patterns are used to denote the performance of different individuals or groups in relation to those specific indicators.

Applications
Cobweb diagrams are commonly used in participatory evaluations.
More specifically, spider diagrams can be used to:
• Compare the performance of different groups on various indicators (preferably 5-6)
• Evaluate the performance of one group or individual over a period of time on different indicators
• Conduct participatory evaluations and monitoring of development projects. If the size of the cobweb increases over time, it means the performance of the project has been improving.
• Evaluate participatory development projects, such as evaluating the status of self -help groups

• Process
The steps for doing a spider diagram will depend to some extent on the topic and whose comparative performance you are interested in analysing and recording. For example, if you are interested in evaluating the performance of five self-help groups (SHGs) in a village, the steps would include:
• Call for a meeting of representatives and active members of the five SHGs. Explain to them the purpose of the exercise and initiate a discussion with them about how the groups are performing.
• Ask them to identify the indicators on which these groups can be evaluated. The cobweb diagram works best with 5-6 indicators, therefore, you may like to arrive at the 5-6 most useful indicators through the discussion.
• Once you have decided on a set of indicators, the next step would be to draw a centre point on a large piece of paper or on the ground, and draw as many lines as indicators identified. Write the name of each indicator, one on each arm. Each of the indicators could also be depicted by visuals or symbols.
• Now ask them to give a score to each group on different indicators. You can follow any system. For example, a scale of 0 to 5 - where 0 means low and 5 means high - may be easy to follow. The scores for each group can be plotted on the arms. Link the points/score on different indicators for each group, using a particular colour or live pattern.
• Facilitate a discussion on the output, and clarify any lingering doubts.
• Copy the diagram on paper with all relevant details, including names of the participants, names of the facilitators, the date, and the location.
Advantages and Limitations
Cobweb diagrams are simple, visual exercises. It is an accessible tool for many community members because of the effective use of symbols.
Unfortunately, cobweb diagrams are unable to process large amounts of information. The complexity of the diagram increases with the number of items, which makes it difficult to interpret. In such cases, matrix scoring or ranking is a more appropriate PRA tool.

Body Mapping:
Body mapping is a visual method used to understand people’s perceptions of their bodies. It is interesting to understand that some people’s perceptions of the human body, its parts and its functions are quite different from the conventional scientific view. At times, attempts to pass on clear messages on health, diseases, birth control and contraception are not very successful because of this differing understanding between local people and outside agents about the human body.

Applications
The main purpose of body mapping is to organize discussions around issues of reproductive health, contraception, sexual health, and the general functions of different body parts. This exercise is also a method to probe sensitize subjects, such as women’s control over their bodies, strategies to cope with body ailments, etc.

Process
The steps in the process of mapping the body will vary considerably according to the cultural context, the objectives of the exercise, and the type of participants. Nonetheless, a few suggested process steps are:
• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants.
• Ask them to draw an outline of the body of a woman (or the body of a man if the group is male) on the ground with a chalk or a stick.
• Depending on the purpose of the exercise, ask the participants to depict the parts and processes you are interested in, e.g. where conception takes place, how the foetus grows over the months, etc.
• Encourage the participants to explain the map in detail, and also reflect on the findings. Ask probing questions revealing who they feel has control over their bodies and how that control could be increased.
• Copy the diagram onto a piece of paper with all details, including the names of the participants, the facilitators, the date and the location.
Advantages and Limitations
Body mapping has been found particularly effective when introducing sensitive subjects. It is also useful when identifying common terms in the local language for body parts, and grasping the locals' understanding of how certain body parts function. The body mapping exercise is not an effort to correct these local beliefs, but instead is an opportunity to gain more insight into the rationale behind these beliefs.
In many communities, discussing and illustrating private body parts is a cultural taboo. Therefore, it is critical for the facilitator to be aware of these customs before embarking upon such an exercise. It is quite common to conduct this exercise separately among men and women, so that community members are more comfortable openly discussing these issues.

Pairwise Ranking:
Pairwise Comparison Matrix is an adaptation of the matrix method used for a general comparison of various objects across different criteria. In a pair ranking method, two attributes or factors are compared at a time. Then, by looking at the frequency of people’s preferences, certain pertinent patterns are revealed.

.
Application
If you are faced with a situation where:
• You want to determine people's preferences or priorities between a few options.
• You want to understand their decision- making processes and their criteria for arriving at decisions.

• Process
• Identify the topic of your study. Express your interest in understanding the problems of the villagers and the relative prioritizations of certain problems.
• Request the participants to list critical obstacles facing their community.
• Once the list is complete, ask the participants to illustrate the indicated problems on small cards.
• Ask them to draw a grid on the ground with as many rows and columns as the number of problems listed.
• Keep one set of the cards depicting the problems in the grid from top to bottom. Keep one other set of cards from left to right in the top.
• Now take up the first card and compare it with all the other cards. The question you ask the participants for comparing the two items will depend on the nature of your study. Remember that it is important to use the same question every time you compare two items. Also, you should ensure at the beginning that the participants understand the question. Some helpful questions may include:
- Of 'A' and 'B', which one do you like/prefer?
- Of 'A' and 'B', which is more important?
- Of 'A' and 'B', which one will you give priority to?
• The responses need to be recorded in the matrix. You can write or depict the preferred item in the relevant cell. Once you have initiated the process and the local people have understood it, you can hand it over to them. Your job will be to copy the matrix on paper and to listen carefully to the ensuing discussion.
• At the end of the exercise, count how many times each of the items have been preferred. Note it down against the item at the end of the row. The higher the frequency for that item, the higher the preference for that item.
Advantages and Limitations
Pairwise ranking method is useful as an exploratory exercise. When you have little understanding of a particular area, it can prove helpful in enumerating dimensions that need to be further explored. Also, this exercise provides insight into the decision-making process of a group in a very short period of time, which would not be possible with a casual conversation or by direct observation.
Pairwise ranking method has certain disadvantages as well. One is that it can be too simplistic at times. Decision-making is a very complex process that may require more sophisticated tools, such as matrix scoring for a multi-dimensional analysis.

Well-being Analysis:
Well-being ranking, or well-being analysis, is commonly used for ranking and grouping households and communities on the basis of income, wealth, and other perceivable well-being criteria. Well-being ranking is a relative and not an absolute assessment of people's wealth or well-being, and therefore provides insights on how the poor differentiate themselves amongst each other.

Applications
Well-being ranking method has been used for different purposes including:
• Identifying and classifying households or groups based on relative well-being in the areas of income, wealth, assets, status, etc.
• Studying inter-household and inter-group socio-economic disparities.
• Arriving at an understanding of people's criteria and indicators for wealth, well-being, development, etc.
• Studying the impact of interventions or well-being programmes for different groups/households and developing a baseline for monitoring and evaluation.

•
• Process
Well-being ranking can be done in different ways including:
• Card sorting method
• Social mapping method
Card Sorting Method
• Arrange for a list of households in the locality where you want to do the well-being ranking.
• Write the names of the head of households on small cards - one household per card.
• Ask the participants to rank the households based on the well-being of the households concerned. A good way to start the process would be: "Who's the happiest person in the village?"
• While dealing with small villages with households ranging from 30-40, ask the participants to arrange the households in descending order of well-being.
• As the participants arrange the household cards, ask them why they have placed the cards in a particular order. This gives you the criteria participants are using to do the well-being ranking.
• When dealing with larger villages, the above method may be too time-consuming. In such cases, ask the participants to sort out the household cards into representative categories of well-being. Ensure that the participants discuss amongst themselves and arrive at their own well-being categories.
• Find out the characteristics of each of the categories. If the participants have not already named the well-being categories, ask them to do so.
• Note down the number of households falling in each category of well-being. Add the necessary basic details on each household card, including the head of the household. Also prepare a category-wise list of the households with details of assets, income, occupation, etc.
Social Mapping Method
A simple technique of doing a well-being ranking relies on the social map. Suppose the participants come out with five categories of well-being using symbols or colour codes; the houses could then be classified directly on the map itself by the participants. Of course, the criteria of well-being for each category should be developed by the participants.
Advantages and Limitations
A clear advantage of the well-being ranking is that it focuses more on quality of life characteristics, and actively avoids an economic-centred analysis of well-being.
Well-being ranking exercise is based on the assumption that the participants are experts about the relative well-being of their village's households. This assumption proves to be incorrect in certain cases. In large localities or communities, and in urban or semi-urban areas, it is difficult to find participants who have an extensive understanding of different community groups. One way to deal with this problem is to conduct the well-being ranking for neighbourhoods with only the local inhabitants.
Wealth, income, assets, etc., are generally considered sensitive topics and are not discussed openly in many communities, therefore, well-being ranking can become a difficult exercise. There is also a strong tendency amongst people to present themselves as poorer than they really are in order to be eligible for benefits. Participants believe that households identified as poor during the PRA exercise will get benefits and subsidies and hence most of the households make attempts to be treated as poor. In this regard, it is critical that the facilitator does not create false expectations among the participants about the outcome of the exercise.

http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/tncecotourismprogram/publications

2010-08-11T18:14:00.003-07:00

http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/tncecotourismprogram/publications

Sustainable Tourism

2010-08-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

PHD_Sam/Shifting%20Cultivation_26%20final_qxp-jamestr.htm

2010-08-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

file:///E:/PHD_Sam/Shifting%20Cultivation_26%20final_qxp-jamestr.htm

Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy by Dean W featuring SwarovskiWedding Present$25 - swarovski.comMore Swarovski jewelry »Men's Rings | Cartier Platinum Wedding Band | New York Estate Jewelry...$1,550 - newyorkestatejewelry.comMore Cartier rings »Griffin's Genuine Diamond Brushed Stainless Steel Dog Tag Necklace$73 - fantasyjewelrybox.comMore jewelry »Roberto Coin 'Spiga' Diamond Bar Bracelet$2,920 - nordstrom.comMore Roberto Coin bracelets »Danuba, Sapphire$245 - swarovski.comMore Swarovski accessories »Suits at FashionBeans.com. The Men's Fashion and Men's Style Guide.180 GBP - fashionbeans.comAltea Silk Twill Tie (For Men) - Save 56%$65 - sierratradingpost.comFossil Sawyer$9 - fossil.comSuits at FashionBeans.com. The Men's Fashion and Men's Style Guide.180 GBP - fashionbeans.comHARRY WINSTON MEN, BY THOM BROWNE, THREE ROW DIAMOND CUFFLINKS$33,000 - harrywinston.comMen's Warrior Shield Celtic Wedding Rings$1,490 - celticweddingringking.comDolce & gabbana tops BLACK58 GBP - matchesfashion.comFine poplin slim shirt90 GBP - brownsfashion.comLalique Crystal Parrot Couple$750 - neimanmarcus.comLalique "Blackberry" Bottle Stopper$99 - neimanmarcus.comBlack Tuxedo Shoes - Tuxedo Shoesfinetuxedos.comMore shoes »Men's Silk Underwear: briefs, bikinis, boxers, thongs, tankswintersilks.comRose Moet Pink Champagne Gift For Her - Pink Champagne Rose Moet Gifts...independentshopping.ieTropic Thunder premieredowneyunlimited.comTropic Thunder premieredowneyunlimited.comRolex Daytona Model 116520 Steel Black Dial - Rare!perfect-timing.bizGivenchy Pi Neo Cologne by Givenchy, 3.4 oz Eau de Toilette Spray for...luxuryperfume.comBuy Gifts For Her from Multiply Design - Handmade pewter pebbles,...multiplygifts.co.ukTropic Thunder premieredowneyunlimited.comTattoos : Free tattoo designs and outlinestattoos-henis.blogspot.combrianna's present 1victoria-wedding.com

2010-08-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy by Dean W featuring Swarovski

Wedding Present
$25 - swarovski.com
More Swarovski jewelry »

Men's Rings | Cartier Platinum Wedding Band | New York Estate Jewelry...
$1,550 - newyorkestatejewelry.com
More Cartier rings »

Griffin's Genuine Diamond Brushed Stainless Steel Dog Tag Necklace
$73 - fantasyjewelrybox.com
More jewelry »

Roberto Coin 'Spiga' Diamond Bar Bracelet
$2,920 - nordstrom.com
More Roberto Coin bracelets »

Danuba, Sapphire
$245 - swarovski.com
More Swarovski accessories »

Suits at FashionBeans.com. The Men's Fashion and Men's Style Guide.
180 GBP - fashionbeans.com

Altea Silk Twill Tie (For Men) - Save 56%
$65 - sierratradingpost.com

Fossil Sawyer
$9 - fossil.com

Suits at FashionBeans.com. The Men's Fashion and Men's Style Guide.
180 GBP - fashionbeans.com

HARRY WINSTON MEN, BY THOM BROWNE, THREE ROW DIAMOND CUFFLINKS
$33,000 - harrywinston.com

Men's Warrior Shield Celtic Wedding Rings
$1,490 - celticweddingringking.com

Dolce & gabbana tops BLACK
58 GBP - matchesfashion.com

Fine poplin slim shirt
90 GBP - brownsfashion.com

Lalique Crystal Parrot Couple
$750 - neimanmarcus.com

Lalique "Blackberry" Bottle Stopper
$99 - neimanmarcus.com

Black Tuxedo Shoes - Tuxedo Shoes
finetuxedos.com
More shoes »

Men's Silk Underwear: briefs, bikinis, boxers, thongs, tanks
wintersilks.com

Rose Moet Pink Champagne Gift For Her - Pink Champagne Rose Moet Gifts...
independentshopping.ie

Tropic Thunder premiere
downeyunlimited.com

Rolex Daytona Model 116520 Steel Black Dial - Rare!
perfect-timing.biz

Givenchy Pi Neo Cologne by Givenchy, 3.4 oz Eau de Toilette Spray for...
luxuryperfume.com

Buy Gifts For Her from Multiply Design - Handmade pewter pebbles,...
multiplygifts.co.uk

Tropic Thunder premiere
downeyunlimited.com

Tattoos : Free tattoo designs and outlines
tattoos-henis.blogspot.com

brianna's present 1
victoria-wedding.com

"Memoir of Garo Hills".

2010-08-08T04:03:00.000-07:00

Distorted Pictures.

2010-08-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

NOKREK PICTURES.

2010-08-07T21:21:00.000-07:00

RIGHT TO EDUCATION.

2010-08-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

2010-08-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

A TRADITIONAL A'CHIK WOMAN.

RISK MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE.

2010-08-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Principal Risks

This chapter discusses the evidence on the type and magnitude of

risks. The chapter is organised around production risks and price or

market risks. Because of the paucity of risk studies at the farm level,

we consider the sources of production risk in weather and in pests

and diseases. In price risks, we show how exogenous and endogenous

factors play a role in price variability.

Risk Management at Farmers’ Level

This chapter discusses farmer strategies to combat risk. This

chapter as well as the next rely heavily on the findings from ICRISAT

village studies. A distinction is usually made between risk reducing

strategies that the farmer adopts ex-ante to lower risk and risk coping

strategies that the farmer adopts ex-post. Risk reducing strategies

include crop diversification, intercropping, farm fragmentation and

diversification into non-farm sources of income. Risk reducing

strategies can be effective in production and market related risks but

they are typically costly for those farmers who have to forego their

most profitable alternatives. Risk coping strategies are relevant for

dealing with catastrophic income losses, once they occur. Under risk

coping strategies, farmer may rely on new credit, the sale of assets,

temporary off-farm employment. Other strategies might involve

contractual relations in land and labour. For instance, sharecropping

distributes production risks while contracting with traders and

Risk Management • BHARAT RAMASWAMI e t al . 35

merchants for credit and marketing is another way of coping with

market risks. Similarly, interlocked contracts are another mechanism

which re-distributes risk between the contracting parties.

Risk Management at Community Level

At the community level, exchanges and informal credit are the

principal traditional risk coping strategies. This section will discuss

their effectiveness and their limitations that arises because of the

covariate nature of agricultural risks.

Production Risks, Technological Change

and Crop Insurance

The green revolution and the subsequent developments that have

led to improved varieties has been a major factor in the

transformation of Indian agriculture. The first part of this chapter

considers the impact of technological change on production risks. The

second part of this chapter considers the government response to

production risks in the form of crop insurance programmes.

Market Risks, Government Interventions

and Futures Markets

The most important development in the agricultural economy to

have an impact on market risks was price support programmes. This

chapter considers market intervention operations and their impact on

producer risk. The chapter also considers a newer development in the

private sector, which is the system of contract farming. This system

takes its appeal among growers because of the price insurance that it

offers. Another private sector solution to price instability is futures

markets. The chapter winds up with a discussion about the value of

futures markets in India as a risk management tool.

Sources

This study on risk management is a part of the larger study

conceived by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation,

Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India called “State of the

Indian Farmer – A Millennium Study”. The guidelines that have been

provided to the authors of the individual components of the

36 State of the Indian Farmer: A Millennium Study

millennium study seek to define their scope and content. According

to them, the millennium study “seeks to record the impact of the

transformation induced by public policy, investments and

technological change on the farmers’ access to resources and income

as well as the well-being of the farm households at the end of five

decades of planned economic development.” Thus it is expected that

the study “give a historical perspective of developments, changes in

policies and programmes and their impact on professional and

economic environment of the farmer………The papers are in the

nature of comprehensive reviews in which the authors are expected to

paint an objective and unbiased image of developments in agriculture

during the last five decades keeping in view the farmers’ perspective

or farmer at focus…. Policy prescriptions are to be avoided.”

In keeping with the objectives of this study, we focus entirely on

India although there are occasional references to other developing

countries. For recent surveys on agricultural risk management in the

developed countries, see OECD, 2000 and European Commission,

2001. Within the literature on agricultural risk management in India,

we exclude papers that are exclusively modelling contributions.

Clearly, progress in modelling is essential for better design of risk

management programmes and policies. However, unless the paper

throws light on either existing risks, risk management practices or

policy issues, the subject is not appropriate for this study. The study

also excludes from its ambit prescriptions for better policies.

We also note two limitations of this study. First, because of the

absence of relevant literature, this study is unable to provide a

systematic chronology of developments in agricultural risk

management. This lacuna is addressed to some extent by our

description and analysis of the impacts on the farmer’s risk

environment due to major changes in the agricultural economy (in

Chapters 5 and 6). Second, as documented in Chapter 2, paucity of

information at farm level has meant that the goal of viewing risk from

the perspective of farmer is difficult to achieve by a direct description

of the farmer’s risk environment. To circumvent this problem, this

study supplements the limited number of farm-level studies by

information assembled from diverse sources on farm-level risk factors.

Project evaluation and Project preparation.

2010-08-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Project Preparation

Project evaluation and Project preparation.

2010-08-03T20:45:00.001-07:00

EVALUATION AND PROJECT PREPARATION

A. EVALUATION AND PROJECT DESIGN

This chapter explains how evaluation can improve project design and planning, and can set the stage for evaluation activities throughout the project cycle. It begins by reviewing the steps to ensure that the project is addressing the relevant development problem and that it has a clearly defined purpose, as these two attributes are important for enhancing project performance and facilitating evaluation activities. The chapter also describes the evaluation products that are generated at the design stage of the project. It must be emphasized that, at the project design stage, some of the more vital aspects are:

Establishing a clear understanding of the development problem;
Building into the project design lessons from previous operations; and
Setting the stage within the project design for effective evaluation both during the monitoring and ex-post stages.

The above considerations do not replace, and are only complementary of the Bank's economic, financial and technical analyses.

1. Evaluation Framework for Project Design

The Logical Framework is an evaluation tool that may be used at the ex-ante or project design phase of the project evaluation process. This handbook cannot do justice to all the details of Logical Framework Analysis, but a brief synopsis is provided. For further details, see Annex 1 of this handbook.

2. Preparing for the Development of a Logical Framework

A central part of any evaluator's work is to determine whether a project has been successful in addressing the development problem it was designed to solve. In too many past projects this has been difficult because the development problem was never well understood when the project was designed, nor was a link established to the solution provided by the project.

3. The Stakeholder or Interested Party Analysis

This analysis clarifies which groups are directly or indirectly involved in a specific development problem, their respective interests in relation to it; their perceptions of the difficulties related to the development problem; the resources (political, legal, human, and financial) they may contribute toward resolving the development problem; their respective mandates with regard to the problem situation; their reactions to a possible project strategy; and the existing or potential conflicts among stakeholders. The stakeholder analysis is an important source of information for the evaluation of the project during its execution, and thus it is important to identify the stakeholders and understand their roles in the execution of the project.

4. The Problem Tree

The problem tree is an important aid to understanding the development problem. It considers the negative conditions perceived by the stakeholders in connection with the development problem. It arranges the principal problems according to their cause-and-effect relationships, thereby clarifying upon which objectives the project should focus. The definition of the chain of problems allows for improvements in project design, a better monitoring of the "assumptions" of the project during its execution, and, upon project completion, facilitates the task of the evaluator, who must judge whether these problems have improved or worsened as a result of the project. A simplified example of a problem tree is presented on Figure 3. It addresses the issue of a city bus service and identifies the cause and effect relationships between the principal problems.

5. The Objectives Tree

The development problems identified in the problem tree are transposed into project objectives as part of the initial stage of designing a solution. The objectives identified as the outputs of a project become the means for addressing the identified development problem and provide a means to assess performance. An example of an objectives tree is on Figure 4, using the problems identified in the problem tree.

B. THE LOGICAL FRAMEWORK

The logical framework is one of the principal tools used nowadays by agencies for project design and planning. Developed for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the late 1970s, the logical framework provides a matrix within which the evaluator can examine aspects of project performance at all stages of the project. The strengths of such a framework are that it provides:

a clear means-ends analysis of project inputs leading to outputs for set purposes in support of a goal
specification of inputs and costs for project activities;
objectively verifiable indicators of performance and sources of verification;
specification of the key assumptions or risks underlying the project; and
a framework for introducing lessons learned to be incorporated in future projects

The logical framework is a tool that helps project designers better understand the problems they are trying to solve. The framework is based on two basic principles: first, cause-effect relationships between different parts of a problem which correspond to the four levels (or rows) of the framework which relate to activities (or inputs), components (or outputs), the purpose and the goal as the set of hierarchical project objectives; second, the principle of correspondence, which links the four levels of objectives to the measurement of attainment (indicators and means of verification) and conditions which may affect attainment (or assumptions.)

1. Vertical Logic

The logical framework helps systematize and apply a rational approach to the design, execution and evaluation of projects. In Tables 3 and 4 the vertical logic postulates that if we contribute certain inputs we will deliver certain outputs: thus, there is a necessary and sufficient relationship between inputs and their corresponding outputs, as long as the assumptions are confirmed in reality. At the next level of vertical logic of the framework we again make a causal inference. If the project delivers those outputs (or components), and the assumptions hold, the purpose (a hypothesis) will be achieved (i.e., the outputs are necessary and sufficient conditions). Continuing to the final step, if the purpose is achieved, and the assumptions at the purpose level hold, we will have contributed significantly to the attainment of the goal (i.e., the purpose is necessary but not sufficient).

2. Horizontal Logic

In practical terms, the horizontal dimension is a description of how project managers, Country Office staff responsible for monitoring the project, and evaluators measure the attainment of results expected at each level of objectives. In the Tables mentioned above, the second column includes what are called "indicators". These are predetermined, quantitative and qualitative measures that indicate the status of input or output delivery, the achievement of the purpose (project impact) or the extent of contribution toward attainment of the goal. The third column explains how they will be measured, by specifying sources of information and methods to be employed. The fourth column describes the assumptions or risks that must hold in order to ensure the achievement of the activities or products of each level, and to proceed to the next level in the hierarchy of objectives.

3. Indicators

Indicators provide the focus for evaluation data collection, so they need to be specified carefully and sparingly. The logical framework must include indicators for all the important objectives, but, at the same time, indicators should be chosen carefully to ensure their measurability. In setting indicators, the quantity, quality and timing required to achieve the next level of objectives must be considered.

These indicators are very important because they provide an operational response to the issues being addressed by the project. Furthermore, they provide a focus for data collection at the preparation stage and a map to guide project monitoring and evaluation later on. The former function is presented later in this chapter; the latter are the subjects of chapters IV, V, and VI.

A general introduction to the logframe concepts is presented on Table 4. It is followed by a sample logical framework that builds on the example used for the problem and objectives trees presented earlier in this chapter.

4. Assumptions

As mentioned in previous sections, for the "vertical" relationships to hold, project managers rely on the verification or confirmation of the establiched critical assumptions which, as stated previously, in the logical framework matrix are outlined on the far right column for each level. These assumptions are the critical factors not controlled by the project managers or the executing agency, but which influence its implementation and chances for success.

Table 4 : THE STRUCTURE OF THE LOGICAL FRAMEWORK
Objectives	Indicators	Means of Verification	Assumptions
GOAL The Goal is a statement of how the project or program will contribute to the solution of the problem (or problems) of the sector.	The indicators at Goal level describe how the overall impact of the project shall be measured. They are specific in terms of quantity, quality, and time (target group and location if relevant).	The means of verification are the sources of information that can be used to verify that the targets were achieved. They can include published material, visual inspection, sample surveys, etc.	The assumptions indicate the important events, conditions, or decisions necessary for the sustainability in the long run of the benefits generated by the project.
PURPOSE The Purpose is the direct impact to be achieved as a result of the Outputs produced by the project. It is a hypothesis about the impact or benefit that the project attempts to achieve.	The indicators at the Purpose level describe how the direct impact of the project shall be measured. They should include targets reflecting the end of project status (EOPS). They are specific in terms of quantity, quality, and time (target group and location if relevant).	The means of verification are the sources to which that the executor and evaluator can refer to see if the targets are being achieved. They can indicate that there is a problem and suggest the need for changes in project Outputs. They can include published material, visual inspection, sample surveys, etc.	The assumptions indicate the events, conditions, or decisions that must occur in order for the project to contribute significantly to the achievement of the Goal.
OUTPUTS These are the goods, services, and training that the project executor is required by contract to complete. They should be expressed as work completed (systems installed, people trained, etc.).	The indicators for Outputs are succinct, but clear, descriptions of each of the Outputs that has to be completed during execution. Each should specify quantity, quality and timing of the goods, services, etc. to be delivered.	This cell tells where an evaluator can find the sources of information to verify that the products/services contracted have been delivered. Sources can include site inspection, auditor's reports, etc.	The assumptions are the events, conditions, or decisions that have to occur in order for the Outputs will achieve the Purpose for which they were undertaken.
ACTIVITIES Activities are the tasks that the executor must carry out in order to produce each of the Outputs of the project and that denote costs. Activities are listed in chronological order for each Output.	This cell contains the budget for each Output produced by the project.	This cell tells where an evaluator can obtain information on whether the budget was spent as planned. It is usually the accounting records of the executing unit.	The assumptions are the events, conditions, or decisions that have to occur in order to complete the Outputs of the project.

Table 5 (a): LOGFRAME FOR IDB PROJECT DESIGN AND EVALUATION Example: Transportation Project Case
COUNTRY:		PROJECT PLANNING TEAM __________:
PROJECT:		PROJECT NO.:
ESTIMATED PROJECTG START DATE:
ESTIMATED PROJECT COMPLETION DATE:
NARRATIVE SUMMARY	INDICATORS	MEANS OF VERIFICATION	ASSUMPTIONS
PROJECT GOAL Use of the CBS by the population increases.	l Number of passengers increases from X₀, in base year, to X₃, at the end of the year 3, X₄ at the end of the year 4, X₅, by December 2002 and X₆, by December 2003. l The number of passengers complaints decreases from B₀, in base year, to B₃, at the end of year 3, B₄, at the end of year 4, B₅, by December 20002 and B₆, by December 2003.	l Audited City Bus Company statistics reported to the City Council. l Results of passenger surveys.
PROJECT PURPOSE The service offered by the CBS is reliable.	l The rate of accidents decreases from Y₀, in base year, to Y₁, at the end of year 1, Y₂, at the end of year 2, Y₃, at the end of year 3 and Y₄, at the end of the project (December 2001). l The number of delays (+/.5 minutes) drops from Z₀, in base year, to Z₁, at the end of year 1, Z₂, at the end of year 2, Z₃, at the end of year 3 and Z₄, at the end of the project (December 2001).	l City Department of Highways statistics. l Statistics from the City Police Department. l Audited City Bus Company statistics reported to the City Council.	(l The relative price of the gas is stable).
PROJECT OUTPUTS 1. Drivers drive carefully. 2. Buses are in good condition. 3. Scheduling and use of buses is optimized.	l Infractions of safety regulations decline from S₀ in base year, to S₁ at the end of year 1, S₂ at the end of year 2, S₃, at the end of year 3 and S₄, at the end of the project (December 2001). (1) l Breakdowns decline from J₀, in base year, to J₁, at the end of year 1, J₂, at the end of year 2, J₃, at the end of year 3 and J₄, at the end of the project (December 2001). (2) l City residents living within 1/2 mile of rush-hour bus stops increases from R₀, in base year, to R₁, at the end of year 1, R₂, at the end of year 2, R₃, at the end of year 3, and R_4, at the end of the project (December 2001). (3)	l Audited City Bus Company statistics reported to the City Council. l Audited City Bus Company statistics reported to the City Council. l Baseline data from the census; updated from the monthly current population survey carried out by the National Statistical Office.	(l Special bus lanes are approved by the City Council.)
PROJECT ACTIVITIES 1.1 Train bus drivers. 1.2 Introduce incentives to drive carefully. 1.3 Improve working conditions. 1.4 Introduce safety regulations and inspection system. 2.1 Store repair equipment and parts. 2.2 Improve the repair facility. 2.3 Establish schedule for replacement of buses. 3.1 Optimize the routes and scheduling. 3.2 Equip buses with radios for communication. 3.3 Establish a communication station at the central bus terminal. 3.4 Collect statistics regarding compliance with schedules and safety regulations. 4.1 Undertake continuing passenger survey program.	B U D G E T	BUDGET EXECUTING DOCUMENTS	(l Adequate road maintenance and reconfiguration by the City Public Works Department.) (l The drivers union is in agreement with the project strategy.) (l Import duties on vehicle parts do not increase.) (l Revenues from bus fares are sufficient to allow replacement of buses.) (l The City Council approves the revised scheduling and routes.)

C. EVALUATION AND PROJECT APPROVAL

Everyone involved in project approval should ensure that each new project will be able to benefit from future evaluation processes. An evaluability assessment must be incorporated at the design stage, and project documents submitted for approval should include the Logical Framework and other elements that ensure "evaluability".

"Evaluability" is a review undertaken by the project team to assess the extent to which the design described in project documents is able to support monitoring and evaluation activities. An evaluability assessment will:

support the design team in ensuring the project is of the highest quality
ensure that logical framework standards are being adhered to
ensure that the project plan provides adequate criteria for monitoring and evaluation
assess the extent to which lessons and best practices have been incorporated

The following guidelines should be used for this evaluability assessment.

Table 6: Evaluability Guidelines
Evaluability Requirements	Paragraph No.
Objectives
Problem or need that the project is attempting to address has been identified and analyzed.
Identification of whose problem or need it is.
Causes of the problem or need have been identified and ranked.
Expected objectives have been consistently defined.
Lessons learned from previous operations and evaluations have been taken into account.
Indicators
Conditions (physical, institutional, economic, social) prior to the execution of the project have been described.
Baseline data on the conditions prior to the execution of the project have been included.
If no baseline data provided, project design includes data collection.
Benchmarks, target figures, or other evidence to monitor progress and determine attainment of the objectives have been provided.
Outputs
Goods or services that the project will generate have been identified and described.
Description of how and when the beneficiaries will use the goods and services generated by the project has been provided.
Benefits to be derived from the use of the goods and services generated by the project have been identified.
Assumptions
Individuals, groups, institutions, and organizations that could positively or negatively affect the execution of the project have been identified.
Events or elements that are outside the direct control of project management and that could affect project viability, outputs and objectives have been identified and described.
Provisions have been made to review financial and economic feasibility analyses if the project experiences implementation delays which will negatively impact the indicators of project success.

Table 7: PROJECT STRUCTURE: PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
PROJECT CYCLE STAGE	TYPES OF BENCHMARKS	PROJECT ISSUES	EXAMPLES OF INDICATORS	MEDIOS DE VERIFICACIÓN
CONDITION AT PROJECT START-UP
SITUATION: to be changed as a result of the project and its objectives (ex-ante). (For Logframe users: refers to Stakeholder and Problem Analysis)	BASELINE BENCHMARKS: or zero of the project indicator system.	(a) problem or need identified and analyzed. (b) causes of the problem identified and analyzed. (c) data on initial conditions of the problem set (physical, economic, social, gender, financial, institutional, environmental, etc.) (d) identification of project stakeholders (i.e. population that will benefit from the project, interested public and private institutions, public and private institutions that could become impediments to the project) and listing of assumptions on behaviour of stakaholders and/or events that could affect project execution and/or development impact upon completion. (e) Lessons learned from previous operations.	(a) high mortality of children between ages of 0 and 5 in rural areas, of which "x" % with skin infections,"y" % with gastrointestinal diseases, etc. (b) (1) sanitary conditions in hospitals; (2) sanitary conditions in the home; (3) children's malnourishment; (4) low level of education of mothers. (c) (1) "x" number of hospitals without basic sanitary modules in children's wards; (2) "x" % of nursing staff with only "y" number of years of training; (3) "x" % de mothers with only "y" number of years of primary schooling; (4) "x" % of children under five years with only "y" level of nutrition, etc. (d) (1) women's employment must increase in the region/country/city, etc; (2) Health Ministry functions will be decentralized; etc (e) (1) no new hospitals are needed -- rehabilitational improvement of existing is sufficient to attain project outcome; (2) no new physicians need to be trained -- training of nursing staff is sufficient; etc.	Specific means of verification must be identified for all indicators (i.e. hospital and school records, social and demographic sources,etc). With the timeliness and periodicity required. If these sources do no exist the generation of validating information will have to be introduced as a project activity.
PRODUCTION OF COMPONENTS AND PROJECT PERFORMANCE
OUTPUTS: or products to be generated as a result of project activities during execution and at completion, or final disbursement (ex-dure). (For Logframe users: refers to Activity and Component levels)	MONITORING BENCHMARKS: (a) measure the progress and efficiency of project execution (by adhering to expected schedules and products) at mid-term and completion stages, (b) assess the behavior of critical assumptions as they may affect project execution.	(a) goods and services the project will deliver mid-term upon completion. (b) assumptions on behavior of stakeholders and events that are outside the direct control of project management.	(a) Mid-term: (1) "x" number of hospitals rehabilitated at "y" water quality level by years "t1", "t2", "t3", etc; (2) "x" number of nursing staff trained in "y" quality techniques by years "t1"..., etc.; (a) Upon completion: (1) a total of "x" hospitals rehabilitated and capable of sustaining "y" quality standards of medical attention to the 0 to 5 year age grupo by year "z"; (2) a total of "x" nursing staff trained at "y" technical standard and capable of assisting in training of other nurses by year"z"; etc. (b) (1)"x" number of hospitals budgets are adjusted to "y" level by years "t1"...etc. to facilitate rehabilitation programs; (2) "x" number of schoold budgets and teaching programs are improved by "y" levels to facilitate training of mothers by years"t1" ...etc.
PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT
OUTCOME: or desired situation after project completion as products are used by beneficiaries (ex-post) (For Logframe users: refers to Purpose and Goal levels)	TARGET BENCHMARKS: measure the use and effectiveness of project products and assess the behavior of assumptions that could affect project development impact.	(a) Use beneficiaries will make of the goods and services of the project and benefits they derive; (b) Solution, or contribution to the solution, of the problem identified at situation stage above; (c) List of assumptions on behavior of events in the hands of the borrower/beneficiaries, or beyond their control, after project completion (final disbursement).	(a) (1) "x" % of hospital staff uses "y" % improved basic services in "z" number of hospitals; (2) "x" % of better trained nurses provide care to "y" level to "z" number of children within target age group per year; etc. (b) decrease of child mortality in rural areas: (1) rate of infections of children in target age cohort falls from "x" to "y" % between years "z" and "v"; (2) number of hospitalizations of children in target age group falls from "x" % to "y" % between years "z" and "v"; etc. ( c) (1) all assumptions of project completion stage continue to operate and project sustainability is attained by beneficiaries contributions to upgraded hospital, training and nutrition programs.

D. BASELINE BENCHMARKS

These benchmarks, and their corresponding indicators (see Table 8), are most important and are intended to provide a picture of the situation before project intervention. They describe the situation by quantifying the levels of selected indicators which can be re-visited later on. Changes in the levels are expected to have a plausible link to the effects of the project. Baseline benchmarks provide a basis for the measurement of change and test the reliability, validity and feasibility of certain types of information upon which monitoring and evaluation can be built.

E. ESTABLISHING BASELINE BENCHMARKS

Unless they already exist, baseline benchmarks may have to be collected for at least some of the indicators identified in the project logical framework. The following checklist can be used to identify necessary baseline data and to indicate when it should be updated. It often happens that when projects are evaluated, at mid-term and ex-post levels, appropriate data are difficult, impossible or too costly to acquire. Careful attention at the preparation stage can often do much to alleviate these problems.

The first step in completing the checklist is to identify the status of data on each indicator:

What data are available now?
Should additional baseline data be collected before the project is implemented?
Will data be required for this indicator for project monitoring activities?
Will data for this indicator be required for mid-project, end-of-project, and/or impact evaluations?

The following checklist has been completed for two of the indicators identified in the logical framework presented earlier in the Chapter.

Table 8: Baseline Benchmark Checklist
Indicators	Baseline Data		When will updates of data be required?
	Data Available	Data to be Collected	Monitoring	Evaluation
				Mid	BEP	Impact
Number of Passengers using CBS	2,317 fare-paying passengers, August 1994 (CBS statistics)	N/A	N/A		ü	ü
Reliability of CBS service		Require data on delays (+/- 5 minutes) for representative sample of rush-hour bus stops	ü		ü	ü

SUMMARY POINTS

Through its contribution to a sound logical framework and integration of lessons learned, evaluation is a fundamental part of project design.
Evaluability assessment provides decision-makers with vital information for those in charge of project approval and those involved in the project's execution.
Baseline data are essential for sound planning and subsequent evaluation.

The ‘Problem’ of Shifting Cultivation in the Garo Hills.

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The ‘Problem’ of Shifting Cultivation in the Garo Hills.

Although several alternative critical perspectives on shifting cultivation have been elaborated, the practice of this form of agriculture continues to be viewed in north-east India in a deprecatory manner. This pervasive attitude has now come to affect the cultivators themselves. While the calculations and compulsions of the electoral process do confer some space for shifting cultivation, it survives in extremely sub-optimal circumstances. The gap between what could be done and what has been done has worked to the disadvantage of shifting cultivators. This essay studies the historical processes that gave rise to this situation and is part of a larger study based on extensive written records and fieldwork in the Garo hills region.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

SINCE THE 1950S, shifting cultivation in north-east India has been trapped in a low-level and unstable equilibrium owing to two equally unviable paradigms that operate at the policy and institutional levels. The dominant perspective is that shifting cultivation is a wasteful and ecologically dysfunctional system, detrimental to forests and soil, and hence needs to be eradicated by inducing cultivators to adopt other forms of livelihood. When such efforts meet with failure, the other paradigm comes into play, according to which shifting cultivation is a legitimate practice that ensures the survival of people living on marginal lands and hence should be allowed to carry on as it is without external influence. As a result, shifting cultivators fall through the crack between marginalization and traditionalism.

The reality is that shifting cultivation, in an increasingly intrusive market environment, is on a downward spiral of production and regeneration, and both approaches preclude the need of interventions necessary to make it a feasible basis of livelihood for cultivators without practicable options. If shifting cultivation is accepted as one more type of agrarian practice that, like with other forms of ‘permanent’ cultivation, needs the services of agronomical study and agricultural extension, it can be transformed into an occupation whose detrimental effects can be mitigated and productivity increased.

This essay traces the historical trajectory that made shifting cultivation, still a widely prevalent agricultural practice in the Garo hills, Meghalaya in north-east India, a victim of two imprudent policy choices that prevail despite the existence of critical literature pointing to the third option. The government’s efforts to eradicate shifting cultivation by changing the subsistence basis of cultivators have often met with failure, as the last part of this essay shows. In the absence of practical alternatives and a stoic aversion by the state to steping and improve shifting cultivation from within, shifting cultivators are increasingly vulnerable, and their lands are progressively being degraded. The dominant official ideologies and policies relating to shifting cultivation have been instilled and reproduced over a period of time. These ideologies and policies in turn, directly or indirectly, have influenced the corpus of knowledge (techniques, practical skills and know-how) of shifting cultivation communities.

HISTORICAL PROFILE OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN THE GARO HILLS, MEGHALAYA

In the Garo hills shifting cultivation, jhum kheti or aba-oa, has historically been the principal mode of agricultural production. It is difficult to estimate the population/ area figures for shifting agriculture in the north-east as a whole. Even today, figures are an approximation and do not include land degraded and subsequently abandoned by shifting cultivators. The practice is carried out in semi-evergreen forest in the upper reaches and moist deciduous forest at lower elevations. The flora includes a wide variety of tree species, bamboos and an arrested succession of weeds. The soils on which cultivation is carried out are red and lateritic, they are acidic, and low in phosphorous and potassium. Nitrogen availability is irregular due to steepslopes that cause cation losses and due to depletion during the burning activities accompanying grazing and agriculture.

The climate is subtropical at lower elevations and sub-temperate in the hills. Rainfall averages are higher than in other Indian regions where shifting cultivation is practised, ranging from 2,000 mm per year to over 9,000 mm in Cherrapunji. Maximum temperatures do not exceed 33°C. Climatic factors make for quick regeneration of vegetative cover in contrast with the hotter and drier tracts of central and south-eastern India. Hence, jhum cycles of even just over seven years may be viable under certain conditions (Singh 1996). Other areas, by contrast, have a twelve-year rotation.

Historically, the Garos of the plains were under a zamindari system of land tenure of the Mughal empire. Under this system, land was allotted by the Mughal state to a zamindar who was given a land revenue title. In 1765 the region, which formed part of Rangpur district of Bengal, came under the East India Company. By 1826, when Assam too came under British rule, a separate district consisting of Goalpara, Dhubri, Kariabari and the Garo hills was created out of Rangpur. At the time British power extended mainly to the plains. David Scott was made the commissioner of the new district and he concluded several agreements with the a∙king nokmas (heads of clans or machongs) of the region, extending the control of the British into the hills. Administratively, the Garo hills were a district under an Assam commissioner within the division of Bengal. Between 1905 and 1911 Assam was added to Eastern Bengal and formed into the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, under a lieutenant-governor. It became a separate governor’s province in 1912. The Garo hills were first deemed an excluded area (as per the provisions of the Montague-Chelmsford reform proposal of 1917) and subsequently a backward area (following the Government of India Act 1919) with the nomination of a member representing the area in the Legislative Council. In 1935, according to Schedule VI of the Government of India Act 1935, the area was again declared a partially excluded area with limited franchise given to the headmen. In 1947 the Garo hills were included within the union of India as a part of Assam. By the provisions of Schedule VI of the Constitution of India, in 1952 the District was declared autonomous, under an elected district council, and universal Adult franchise was introduced for the first time. In1971, after the North Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, the state of Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. The Garo hills became part of this new state.

The region forms a large, complex ecosystem in which various forms of production coexist with each other and with the forests as a whole. These activities include shifting cultivation, terrace agriculture, wet-rice cultivation, fishing, grazing, And hunting and gathering. Orchard and plantation cultivation are relatively recent additions. Over 80 per cent of Meghalaya’s population is tribal.

Shifting cultivation systems exhibit continuities despite transformations attendant on a still circumscribed capitalism, expanding market economy and demographic pressures. While more land-intensive systems also relate organically to forests, shifting cultivation is more closely integrated with forests and has been called an agro-forestry system. Here, the agricultural system is characterised by continuous fields, which witness long fallow periods interspersed with shorter periods of cultivation, rotation of fields rather than of crops, mixed cropping, almost exclusive reliance on human labour, absence of artificial irrigation and, most characteristically, firing of the fields before sowing. Long fallows and firing before cultivation are the two hallmarks of the system. Most shifting cultivators domesticate animals, tend tree crops, and gather and hunt. As with grazing, there are common misconceptions of the practice, where it is called ‘roving’ and ‘nomadic’ in a sense that erroneously implies that shifting cultivators have no notions of usufruct rights. Like elsewhere, there are varieties of shifting cultivation practices in the region, employing different techniques and varied fallow lengths depending on the locale and its circumstances.

The dominant perspective precluded policy makers from viewing jhum as a legitimate form of resource use. Jhum has at various points been the concern of the forest department, the tribal areas department and, since 1955, of the soil conservation department, whose primary concern has been to limit and control the practice, as a prelude to ‘weaning cultivators’ away from it. At no point has it been on par with wet-rice cultivation, terrace, plantation or horticultural systems, nor has it come under the direct purview of the state agricultural department. Officially, wellintothe1990s, shifting cultivation has been regarded as a menace to be done away with, at best tolerated. The enduring image of the practice as inferior and wasteful, supporting an economy on the brink of impending collapse, became the justification for interventionism, particularly in post-independence

India

The earliest accounts of jhum fall in either of two frameworks:

1. Shifting cultivation was a primitive and inferior system of cultivation that needed to be changed, even done away with. Baden-Powell’s views expressed at a forest conference held in Allahabad in 1874 are a sample:

The fact is that the system is so wasteful that somehow or the other it must be put as top to, just like ‘suttee’ or any other great evil. It consists in destroying a large and valuable capital to produce a miserable and temporary return. To put as top to it, is only to anticipate by a few years, the natural determination of the system which will happen if the system continues long enough, because there will be no more forest to cut down and burn. The way out is to reserve large areas and prohibit jhum. Efforts should be made to change people to permanent agriculture.

2. Shifting cultivation was seen as the response of a marginalised people to natural conditions, the termination of which would mean starvation.

Both these generalised approaches were strong enough to preclude the need for, or the desirability of, distinguishing between the different systems of jhum or studying the principles of the system in earnest. On the one hand, if jhum was as much of an evil as sati, the question of ‘improving jhum’ did not arise, since by definition there could be no reformed version of either. On the other hand was the view that jhum should be left alone since it was a matter of survival for those dependent on it. Neither approaches actually tried to look beyond the phenomenological, and so jhum was not really understood by policy makers in the colonial period, a lacuna compounded by the absence of a land revenue levy in the upland regions of north-east

India

. Empirical surveys on land use practices, productivity, soil types and cropping patterns were never undertaken in areas under jhum. Consequently, jhum as a practice tended to be captured through superficial and impressionistic categories.

Forest Department To begin with, the department’s only concern with shifting cultivation was to control and limit the practice in the areas directly under its control (forest reserves). The official policy of forest use and the practice of shifting cultivation seemed systemically at odds. The department, determined to impose scientific and ‘rational’ forest management, banned shifting cultivation wherever possible. The justification of reservations was on the ground of arresting degradation of forests. In Assam, as elsewhere, the department viewed fire in the forest with some horror. Jhuming, along with grazing and burning the forest, remained the bane of the forest department. In the annual progress reports of the forest department, firing due to jhum and grazing ranked on par with insects, pests and disease, which caused ‘injuries to the forest’.

While settling forests, the department proceeded on the assumption that shifting cultivators were migratory and nomadic, and lacked defined notions of territoriality.

In the early years of state forestry there are few recorded instances of organised protests on the part of the cultivators, perhaps be cause productivity crises, arising from demographic pressure on shrinking arable, had not begun to manifest themselves on any significant scale. Subsequently, protests of surprising intensity were expressed through different modes, ranging from outright refusal to surrender lands for the creation of further reserves even after being compensated, petitions, organised movements (Sonaram Sangma’s agitation, 1904 to 1912)8 and requests for the dereservation of some forest tracts. These protests led to an official examination and recording of existing rights over land in the Garohills, and the enthusiasm for demarcating ‘reserves’ waned in the region.

‘Primitive’, ‘irrational’ and ‘short-sighted’ jhum was contrasted with rational, scientific, long-term state management of forests. The non-reserved areas were designated unclassed forests’ where shifting cultivation was permitted.

On the subject of highlands in the Jaintia lands I have the Honour to bring to your notice that although the Chief Commissioner permits Syntengs to carry on shifting cultivation in its high lands without payment, it would not permit any permanent occupation of such land or admit the growth of private rights in them, or pay compensation if such land was taken up for any purpose.

Shifting cultivators vigorously contested the proprietary claim of the government. The sub-divisional officer of Jowai was surprised by the flood of petitions from Shifting cultivators claiming private proprietary rights:

It does not appear from the sub-divisional office records that any special notice or proclamation of any kind has been issued to the people on this point . . . .

In 1887, certain inhabitants of Satunga who had been jhumming on the borders of the Saipung reserve forest were ordered by the then SDO to cease further operations until the boundaries of the reserve forest were demarcated. Upon this a number of petitions were filed by the people of Satunga claiming private rights in the land where they jhummed.

The people of the affected area produced sale deeds claiming rights to the land dated before 1885, the year the order claiming all high land belonged to the government came into being.

The government’s claim to proprietary right over such land arguably redefined to some extent the notions of rights to land among the cultivators in Satunga. They also began using the coloniser’s language of proprietary right.

By the turn of the century ideas related to ‘ecology’ and management were incorporated into the rhetoric of the forest department. The colonial administration gained in political confidence in the upland regions of the north-east. The importance of timber and commercial forest produce in the imperial war effort lent an aggressive thrust to state forest operations. Finally, in a parallel movement, there was the subtle but emphatic shift away from the forest department’s pursuit of purely exploitative and commercial interests (albeit in a utilitarian sense: the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest period). The new emphasis on the role of forest management was in the prevention of deforestation, deemed to be the single greatest cause of floods, soil erosion and disturbance of the watershed system. This lent an immediate and practical aspect to state forest operations and undoubtedly gave it credence. Influenced by the concept of climax vegetation in biology, state forestry aimed at minimizing irrational interference (usually by human actions), which would arrest the development of species. Forest management

was simply to aid natural processes. However, this rhetoric did not seem to interfere with the plantation of purely commercially valuable species. In fact the rhetoric was deployed to justify commercial plantation on the grounds that these operations afforested lands that might otherwise have remained unforested. Commercial forestry of this nature required labour. Both due to local protests and international outcry, the existing regimes of labour such as begar or impressed labour were no longer feasible on the same scale. Therefore, a new system of labour management had to be devised. The fact that prior to 1900 the negative attitude to firing in the forests had changed to a recognition of its benefits, proved to be handy in securing the necessary labour. This was done by assigning jhum plots to cultivators in forest reserves on condition that they planted and tended commercially valuable trees on these plots. Thus, jhum from having been an unequivocal vice became a tolerable practice, particularly so under controlled and modified forms that would also meet the labour requirements of commercial forestry in an overall climate where the scientific forestry community had come to revise its views on the effects of firing on forests. People who had once been ousted from the forest when reserved areas were demarcated were brought back into these policed reserved areas as cultivators labouring for the forest department.

The conversion to the merits of controlled firing came about with the successful incorporation of shifting cultivation in British colonial forestry in Burma. This was known as the taungya system and was extended to parts of British India, including Assam, where it continued until 1969 and was actively used for forest ‘regeneration’. It seemed to solve several problems all at once: management and control of labour, and the need for regulated firing, supervised planting and careful tending of tree saplings, especially in the first few crucial years. In the north-east it could only beat tempted in the reserved forests. The department could not extend the ban on jhum to the unclassed forests, the other category of forests, mainly for political reasons. Too many people depended on this form of agriculture (Stebbing 1926: 218). Taungya rendered shifting cultivation a supervised caricature of its former self. The point is that people often confuse taungya and jhum: while taungya, as used by the department, entailed shifting cultivation procedures, it was vastly different from shifting cultivation as jhum.

PROJECT APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

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PROJECT APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

Need for Project Approach:

Decentralization of planning process
Spatial integration of economic activity
Benefiting the needy directly

The three taken together means-

“Development of Individual, Area and Nation simultaneously – hence linking national objectives and local activities based on knowledge of local resources, problems and needs”

Why Decentralisation

Eradication of Poverty
Removal of Unemployment
Balanced Regional Development

Decentralisation can be viewed from two angles-

I. Planning at local level keeping local needs in view, and

II. Desegregation of national development programmes/activities into smaller activities (Projects) and planning for each activity (project) at local level.

Such an approach to decentralized planning starts with Pre-planning activity and end with the evaluation of the project.

Pre-planning Activity

I. Evaluation of socioeconomic situation in the area. This is known problem analysis and need identification or need-gap analysis.

II. Evaluation and appraisal of existing plans/schemes – survey of ongoing schemes, their performance and shortcomings.

III. Assessment of resource potential (including institutional factors) – necessary for project identification.

NEED – IDENTIFICATION OR PROBLEM ANALYSIS

In order to identify needs which should get priority in a development plan, following aspects are to be considered;

What is the existing level of socioeconomic development of the area in comparison to larger area around it (Regional disparities influencing the perceived needs)
What is the existing structure of local socio-economic system (income disparities between different sections of the rural society helping in conceptualization of needs); and
What are the (actual) needs of the people as well as of area?

The devices and methods which could be used to analyse the three are summed up here:

Indicator Method
Location Quotient
Coefficient of Specialisation
Mix and Share Analysis
Economic Base Methods

B.CONCEPT OF PROJECT

“(Plan) project is technically pre-determined set of interrelated activities involving (as far as possible) the most effective use of given human, financial and technological resources over a given period of time to achieve some pre-determined objective(s), and which in association with other developmental projects result into certain pre-determined objective situation(s)”

ESSENTIAL FEATURES:

Set of inter-related activities
activities are phased over time
activities entail use of human, material, financial and technological resources
these activities are goal oriented
the outcome of these activities contribute directly and along with the activities other plan projects to the sustenance and growth of economy (level defined)
the outcome of activities, the use and allocation of resources, the time span the objectives and relationship with other project – all are pre-determined.

PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

Project identification is concerned with (a) collection, (b) compilation, (c) analysis of data for eventful purpose of locating possible opportunities for development projects.

Felt Needs
Identified problems
Past experience or the results obtained from earlier projects; and
Local resource potential to sustain and support the projects or developmental activities in the area

The methods of analyzing the first two aspects have already been discussed in the proceeding sections. Analysis for the third aspect start with quantitative and qualitative assessment of all available resources in the area and level of their utilization at present. This could be done through descriptive analysis method. Resource potential and utilization analysis done for all sectors would reveal that what are the areas/activities where more attention is needed and what kind of projects should be selected to narrow down the gap between available/achievable potential and present land utilization to enhance the production.

Resource analysis can also help in identifying the areas of activities or prospects which could be directly projected towards the weaker sections who do not possesses accessibility to resources or suffer from local competition.

PROJECT FORMULATION

A description of the Project

i. Defining the objectives

ii. Location and size – (a) Area bound; (b) Point bound

iii. Technical aspects/Backward and forward linkages

iv. Market potential

v. Strategy

vi. Cost considerations

vii. Financial procedures

viii. Organization and management

ix. Project administration

x. Project authority

xi. Implementation

xii. Monitoring and Evaluation

FEASIBILITY STUDY

Once the project has been identified, it is subjected to various tests:

What are the unique advantages of the area – for the project;
What sources of raw materials/inputs are available locally
Market potentials
What new technologies can be applied
Minimum and maximum time for completion
Specific infrastructure required
Organizational structure of the implementing body

DECISION CRITERIA

Before appraising the project from different dimensions of feasibility, a sound decision criterion has to be fixed for this purpose besides the traditional feasibility analysis:

a) Employment potential criteria – K/L ratio of projects

b) Productive capital ratio – VA/C VA is the sum of salaries, rent interest and profit generated during a given time (say a year)

c) Higher income level criteria

d) Foreign exchange criteria

e) Distributive scheme criteria

FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS

Technical Economic Financial Social Environmental

Feasibility Viability Analysis Desirability Compatibility

After the results of feasibility analysis are available project is appraisal is followed by formulation of final project and drawing of activity chart.

PREPARE THE WORK PLAN

After feasibility analysis has been done, the representative working group should concentrate on drawing a simple and concrete work plan to get the project started: the work plan with reference to any project should contain-

List of all the activities to be carried out in order to implement the project
Name(s) of the person(s) responsible for each activity of the project
Stating and specifying the beginning point and ending point of each activity with time schedule
Indicating the means by which activities would be carried out.

PROJECT NEGOTIATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Once the project is prepared the next step is negotiation for sponsorship. Having finalized the sponsorship, project is implemented.

STEPS FOR PROJECT PLANNING

The above description of preplanning activity to project implementation and successful culmination involves twelve steps.

STEP I : DEFINE THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

PROJECT OBJECTIVES ARE TO BE DEFINED PROPERLY AND SPECIFICALLY ENUMERATING THE TARGET SECTOR AND TARGET GROUP

STEP II : SELECTION OF THE AREA FOR THE PROJECT

AREA OF THE PROJECT SHOULD BE DEFINED CLEARLY WHERE THE PROJECT IS ACTUALLY TO BE IMJPLEMENTED IN TERMS OF FOLLOWING.

Cluster of villages or CD Block (in case it is an area development programme)
Target Group
Water resources and catchments area (in case of an irrigation of fishery development project)
Area or block of land (in case of farm or forestry or plantation or horticulture projects etc.

SETP III : JUSTITICATION AREA SELECTION

Proper justification or reasons for selecting the particular area(s) for the project should be enumerated in terms of following.

i. People of the area and the area itself needs the programme

ii. The area has the potentials for the programme

iii. People of the area exhibit the responsiveness to the suggestion of the project and have participative attitude.

iv. Sponsoring organization has the commitment to work in the area.

v. Sponsoring organization has the requisite resources.

SETP IV : IDENTIFICATION OF BENEFICIARY

Beneficiaries of the project should be clearly defined in terms of categories (whether small farmers/marginal farmers etc. or SC/ST category/ artisans/ craftsmen/ women/ literate etc.) and in terms of coverage (whether the all the people inhabiting the project area/class of coverage or only part).

SETP V : REASONS FOR SELECTING THE BENEFICIARIES

Define the reasons for selecting the beneficiaries in terms of following –

i. Their need for the proposed programme

ii. Their potential to absorb the proposed programme

iii. The response to the suggestion to take up the programme

iv. Organizations commitment and capacity to work for them and with them.

SETP VI : SURVEY OF THE AREA

A COMPRENEHSIVE SURVEY OF THE AREA SHOULD BE CONDUCTED TO GET THE FOLLOWING DETAILS

1. Resources and Development Activities comprising

a. Geographical resources

b. Demographic profile

c. Land use

d. Soil characteristics

e. Agriculture

f. Irrigation

g. Fisheries

h. Industries

2 Physical and Organizational Infrastructure

a) Roads

b) Transport

c) Electricity

d) Banking

e) Drinking water

f) Marketing storage and water supply

g) Cooperation

h) Rural engineering services

3. Social Infrastr5ucture and services

a) Education

b) Health and medical services

c) Social welfare activities

SETP VII SURVEY OF BENEFICIARY

The rationale of the project should be explained in following terms –

1. How is it consonance with the Aims (Step I)

2. How is it based on assessment of the needs of the area (Step II)?

3. How is it based on the assessment of the needs of the people (Step V)?

4. Is it within the capacity of the organization to implement the project? (Step III V, IX)

STEP IX SPONSORING ORGANIZATION

Give details as below:-

1. Name

2. Legal Status

3. The data from which it is functioning

4. Location

5. Area of operation

6. Number of members

7. Composition and terms of the present Executive Committee

8. Composition and terms of the last three Executive Committees

9. On which dates the last five Annual General Body Meeting were held

10. Year for which latest audited accounts have been complied

11. Year(s) for which audit reports are due

12. Permanent assets of the organization

13. Present cash holdings of the organization

14. Staff with qualifications

15. Programmes under execution (give details regarding name of the programme, objectives, data of sanction, duration, cost, source of finance area of implementation and beneficiaries programme content and benefits expected)

16. Programmes completed during the last three years (give details regarding name of the programme, objectives, date of sanction, duration, cost, source of finance, area of implementation, beneficiaries programme content and benefits expected)

17. Capacity of the organization to implement the project.

SETP X OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT

Design the project by feeding materials on the following lines:-

1. Title of the project

2. Location

3. Implementing agency

4. Objectives of the project

5. Expected data of commencement

6. Expected date of termination

7. Duration of the project

8. Staff, land, building, machinery, equipment and other resources (Specify) required for the project

9. How many of the above mentioned human, physical, technical and other resources are available with the organization?

10. How many of the above mentioned resources are expected to be contributed by beneficiaries?

11. How many of the above mentioned resources would be specifically procured for the project

12. Time schedule for procuring such resources

13. Cost of procurement for maintaining such resources

14. Training needs of project functionaries

15. Training needs of beneficiaries

16. Financial resources needed for the project

17. Source-wise availability of financial resources needed for the project

18. Physical plan for implementing the project

19. Activity schedule for implementing the project

20. Results envisaged in the project

21. Economics of the project

22. Continuation of the programme envisaged in the project after the duration of the project.

STEP XI ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PROJECT:

Structure institutional arrangement for proper implementation of the project by defining the following:

1. Responsibilities of the sponsoring organization

2. Manner in which the responsibilities of the sponsoring organisatiojn will be discharged

3. Who is the Chief Co-ordinator?

4. His/her responsibility

5. Responsibilities of the staff of the project

6. Are there Administrative committees proposed at State level, district level and project level proposed?

7. If so, responsibilities of such committees

8. Schedule of filing of physical progress

9. Schedule of filing of financial programme reports

10. Schedule of filing of audited statement of accounts

11. Schedule of filing of utilization certificates

12. Internal reviews and evaluation proposed

13. Arrangements for keeping and operating funds

STEP XII MONITORING:

Design the monitoring system by listing out the elements of the project in two column, first of which indicating assumptions and second of which actual outcome. The first column will be filled up at the time of the project preparation which the second column will be filed up from time to time, in the course of implementation of the project. The design of the monitoring format will be as below:

1. Data by which survey of area was to be done and was actually done (Step VI)

2. Data by which survey of beneficiaries was to be done and was actually done (Step VIII)

3. Staff, land, building, machinery, equi9pment and other resources stated to be available and actually available (Step X)

4. Staff, land, building, machinery, equipment and other resources (specify) envisaged to be contributed by the beneficiaries and actually so contributed (Step X)

5. Schedule according to which staff, land building, machinery, equipment and other resources (specify) envisaged to be specially procured for the project and actually procured (Step X)

6. Projected and actual cost of specially procured staff, land, building machinery, equipment and other resources (specify) for the project.

7. Envisaged and actual training of the project functionaries (Step X)

8. Envisaged and actual training of project beneficiaries (Step X)

9. Projected and actually generated financial resources (Step X)

10. Envisaged activity schedule for implementing the project and actual implementation (Step X)

11. Schedules of filling physical progress, financial progress and audited utilization reports and actual compliance (Step XI).

12. Envisaged and actual internal reviews/evaluations (Step XI)

MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF PROJECTS

MONITORING

Project Monitoring is a method of over seeing a project and examine whether:

1. The activities are going to a given time schedule, ahead or behind the schedule

2. The results, such as achievement of targets, benefits expected to be generated are realized

3. The co-ordination between various department involved in the project is good; and

4. The participation of the community is sufficiently strong to sustain the efforts made through the project

Thus monitoring is essentially a managerial decision making and control process.

Two factors involved in monitoring are:

a. Collection of information on project formulation and

b. The decision whether any modification to the project should be made

The two factors taken together; the effective monitoring of the project activities and helps deciding the following:

a) The project schedule can be retained in its original form or necessary revisions need to be made to complete the project within the stipulated time;

b) Any resource – reallocation is to be made so that overall objectives can be achieved; and

c) Any additional support or infrastructure is to be created in order to sustain the efforts made.

THREE ASPECFTS OF MONITORING:

A. Physical progress

B. Financial Progress

C. Economic progress –especially necessary for repayments

Normally, the progress reports of most of the projects prepared under various Government programmes meant for poverty alleviation are based on (A) and (B) only

The effectiveness of monitoring and control depends on the frequency and accuracy of data collection. The frequency of data collection may be – yearly, six monthly, or even more frequently. Once this decision has been taken, it is necessary to determine following:

I. The physical aspects of the project which were planned to take place during the period of monitoring.

II. Whether the physical performance was on schedule during the period

III. Reasons for variations between planned and actual physical performance

Same steps may be applied to financial and economic progress. Successful answer to these questions need following requirements:

i. A speedy and accurate system for collecting information

ii. A system to ensure that data collected are used by project directors/managers and decision makers to adjust the project

IMPLICATIONS

The process of monitoring has three important implications:

i. It implies that operations and programmed so that performance could be assessed against what has been planned.

ii. Means and standards are fixed against which performance could be measured. This requires setting up of Indicators of completion of each activity.

iii. Suitable reporting system are designed for appraisal.

EVALUATION

“A retrospective analysis of experience to see if we achieved out stated objectives and to determine how and why the objectives are or were not achieved”.

Three concepts of evaluation:

1. Ex-ante evaluation for assessing development needs and potentials of the target sectors, target and target area to determine the feasibility or project/programme.

2. no-going or concurrent evaluation to determine whether the project has been executed accordingly to the guidelines and early detection of deficiencies to take immediate remedial measures.

3. Expose evaluation the assess effects and impacts, with the aim of obtaining information on (a) the effectiveness of the programme in achieving its stated objectives, (b) its contribution to achievement of sectoral target group, target area, and national goals and (c) self-sustaining character of changes resulting from the programme/project.

OBJECTIVES OF EVALUATION

I. Measures of programmes in both quantitative and qualitative terms

II. Assessment of efficiency/deficiency of the process of conversion of inputs into output-effect-impact and efficiency

III. Identification of inducting and reducing factors

IV. Provision of feedback to refine the policy/strategy/objective/operational process

THE RESULTS ARE CLASSIFIED IN THREE CATEGORIES

I. Output – physical targets

II. Effects – direct and immediate consequences of the programme

III. Impact – on standard living/inter-personal and inter-regional disparities

TYPE OF EVALUATION

A. Evaluation of need

B. Evaluation of process

a. Whether beneficiary represents the target group

b. Critical inputs delivery time-schedule

C. Critical inputs delivery time schedule

a. Whether beneficiary has realized the expected level of income

b. Whether beneficiary is better off compared to non-beneficiary

c. To what extent the project has been responsible for observed benefits

d. Changes noticed in behavioral dimensions of beneficiary

D. Evaluation of Efficiency: To see cost effectiveness and project effectiveness

E. Purpose oriented Evaluation

F. Formative evaluation

G. Summative evaluation

PRE-REQUISITES OF EVALUATION

I. Clearly defined objectives

II. Indicators measuring and representing those objectives

III. Above two indicates the input-output nature of project activity. Another pre-requisite, which may be fulfilled only at above two is – there should be pre-conceived and desired effect of the project, and

IV. The impact of the project. Lastly, but most important –

V. A system of information – selection of method of data collection and analysis

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

I. Effort – total efforts put into project

II. Performance

III. Adequacy

IV. Efficiency

V. Process – input – output causality

INDICATORS OF IMPACT

Indicators are simple measures capable of measuring a phenomenon. Impact indicators are designed to measure of show the degree of achievement of performance objective.

CHARACTERISTICS

A. Validity: What is measured is the same what was intended to be measured

B. Reliability: Same value should be obtained regardless of the fact who collects data.

C. Relevant – To the objectives and the programme

D. Sensitive – To smallest change in value

E. Objective – Free from value judgment

F. Simple – Measurement should not be costly or time consuming affairs

Indicators of Project Sustainability

A. Continued Delivery of Services and Production of Benefits

· Comparison of actual and intended benefits and services and their stability over time

· Efficiency of service delivery

· Quality of services (benefits)

· Satisfaction of beneficiaries

· Distribution of benefits among different economic and social groups

B. Maintenance of Physical Infrastructure

· Condition of physical infrast5ructure

· Condition of plant and equipment

· Adequacy of maintenance procedures

· Efficiency of cost-recovery and adequacy of operating budget

· Beneficiary involvement in maintenance procedures

C. Long-Term Institutional Capacity

· Capacity and mandate of the principal operating agencies

· Stability of staff and budget of operational agency

· Adequacy of interagency coordination

· Adequacy of coordination with community organizations and beneficiaries

· Flexibility and capacity to adapt project design and operation to changing circumstances

D. Political Support

· Strength and stability of support from international agencies

· Strength and stability of support from the national government

· Strength and stability of support from provincial and local government agencies

· Strength and stability of support at the community level

· Extent to which the project has been able to build a broad base of support and to avoid becoming politically controversial.

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