A Guide For Participatory Communication Research Methods (RRA, PRA & PAR)

A guide for field projects on adaptive strategies
The first version of this guide was drafted on the basis of
discussions at a workshop in Nairobi (September 1994)

organized
for the purpose, to assist implementation of IISD's
project on
adaptive strategies for sustainable livelihoods in arid
and semi-arid
lands (ASALs). Originally conceived purely as a
guide to participatory
research techniques for the IISD project, it
became clear that
the needs of project staff were not so much
for a tools manual
as for a guide that would help them apply an
abstract set
of concepts in a concrete field situation and guide
the fieldwork
design and implementation. There are many
sources of information
on participatory research techniques in
general, and most participants
had some skills and experience,
but there was little help on how
to apply them in practice to the
concerns of this project.
CASL Home Page
By the time a second workshop was

held in South Africa (March
1995), community and policy studies
had been drafted in
relation to nine sites in five countries,
although the Kenya field
study was not available for circulation.
We were thus able, in the
course of other tasks, to share ideas
and experiences about the
conduct of the project. The first version
of the guide had served
its initial purpose, and it was agreed
that it would now be useful
to incorporate the insights, experiences
and lessons learned
from the project in order to promote similar
projects elsewhere,
and to share these with a wider community.
This would serve
both to extend the understanding of the concepts
of adaptive
strategies, and to strengthen the policy recommendations.
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Underlying principles
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
This revised version has benefited from the submission of

updated
materials from project participants.
J. K. Rennie
N. C. Singh
August 31, 1995
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Purpose of this guide
It was the guiding hypothesis of the studies on which this

guide
is based, that changes over the last few decades have
led people
to evolve new adaptive strategies. Such strategies
- which are
many and varied - can form the basis of
sustainable livelihoods.
This is not to say that they already
constitute sustainable livelihoods,
nor that they are a universal
solution. They may need to be further
adapted, amplified or
modified by linking them to more formal,
generalized scientific
knowledge. They may need to operate in
a more supportive or
enabling policy environment. But any search
for sustainable
livelihoods will be greatly enriched and made
more relevant by
our beginning from the basis of initiatives already
taken by the
people themselves. In order for any of this to happen,
these
initiatives must first be identified, understood, described
and
analyzed in their dynamic contexts.
Participatory field research projects to identify, describe and
understand adaptive strategies, and to make policy

recommendations
to foster an enabling environment, were
undertaken in 1994-95
in an IISD project located in five
African countries. The success
of this pilot project has led to
the preparation of this guide,
to enable the project's wider
replication in other countries,
and in other ecological and
climatic zones. Replication of this
project can strengthen its
objectives, and in particular:
empower local communities by enabling them to
articulate,
document, legitimize, better understand and
share their adaptive
strategies;
recommend policy formulations at local, national and
international
levels which strengthen successful
adaptive strategies that have
the potential to support
sustainable livelihoods, to provide an
enabling
environment, and to articulate these strategies to
contemporary
knowledge;
contribute to sustainable livelihoods and poverty
reduction
in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) and
other environments;
empower Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in
Africa and
other developing regions by engaging them
in a project that can
meaningfully link their field
experience with communities on the
one hand, to the
development policy environment on the other.
As the project developed, it became clear that this guide

could
have a wider readership for further replication, and it
has
therefore been revised and expanded, taking into account
lessons
learned and instructive examples from the pilot
project. We believe
that this version will be of value to
prospective project implementors
and to the development
assistance community involved in the design
and execution of
similar field projects and policy analysis. We
hope also that it
will be of interest and value to the wider development
assistance community in promoting the understanding that, in

focusing
on poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods, it is
important
to start from an understanding of what ordinary
people on the
ground are already doing.
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It is also worth stating what the guide is not intended to

be, its
assumptions, and limitations. It is not a detailed manual
on
how to undertake Participatory Rural Appraisal
(PRA),
Participatory Action Research (PAR), policy research, or
quantitative surveys. The central concern is to ensure that

teams
select an appropriate mix of available research
methods, particularly
those based on participatory methods,
so as to link meaningful
field studies with policy research and
thus achieve both practical
results in the field, and policy
reform for an enabling environment.
The strengths and
limitations of PRA are discussed, but PRA is
only one of an
armory of methods to consider. The guide concentrates
on the
principles to be borne in mind in executing this type of
project,
with sufficient examples and other information from actual
experience to assist local project teams to make informed

decisions.
The scope and locations of the IISD projects have
caused the examples
and illustrations to be weighted towards
ASALs
in Africa. However, one hopes that projects which use
the guide
will be restricted neither to arid lands, nor to Africa.
CASL Home Page

CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
The guide also does not dictate project design or detailed

field
methodologies, which would be futile. Each organization will
have
its own styles and strengths. More importantly,
community-based
research is highly context specific. The
style and attitude of
the researcher, the ability to enter a
listening and learning
mode are more influential in producing
high quality results than
the ability to apply specific
techniques. What works in one situation
may fail in another,
and what frustrates one researcher may be
plain sailing for
another. Field methodology should therefore
be driven by the
dialog and dynamic in the field situation, and
not by a
prescriptive document. Common questions, more than
common
methods, will ensure meaningful comparisons
between findings in
different places.
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Underlying principles guiding project design
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Ecosystem-based approach
Participatory research
methodologies
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
Underlying principles guiding project

design
Two principles of project design must first be dealt with, as
they form the basis of the entire approach which follows. A

research
project not based on these principles would be
essentially different
from those that the guidebook is intended
to assist. These principles
are:
Comparative, ecosystem-based approach
Participatory research methodology
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The ecosystem-based approach
The overall purpose of the project is to promote sustainable

livelihoods
for the poor. There are many possible routes to this
end, but
the method proposed here derives from the fact that
predominantly
the poor of the world depend directly on natural
resources, through
cultivation, herding, collecting or hunting
for their livelihoods.
Therefore, for the livelihoods to be
sustainable, the natural
resources must be sustained. The
overall project approach is to
conduct a number of separate
country studies focusing on selected
sites representing a
single ecosystem type or family. From these
studies we can
proceed to derive commonalities and differences
on which to
base conclusions and policy recommendations. "Ecosystem
type" here refers to a set of ecosystems which share certain
key defining criteria. This guidebook concentrates on the

example
of arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) in Africa . Within
the selected
set of ecosystems or biome, and over millennia,
people have traditionally
evolved ways of life and stores of
knowledge that enable them
successfully and sustainably to
provide for their livelihood needs.
(We may note here that
many traditional societies have located
themselves so as to
be able to exploit several neighboring ecosystems
or
ecotones.) More recently, but quite independently, global
scientific
knowledge and understanding of these same
ecosystems has grown.
Yet the two sets of knowledge, local
and global, have been poorly
integrated, and have not
combined to inform a manageable set of
policy alternatives.
We can gain much by studying adaptive strategies of people

to
a set of ecosystems, deducing comparative knowledge that
will
be of use at the local, national and international levels.
Within
a set of similar ecosystems, common problems and
challenges can
be identified to which the inhabitants or users
have had to devise
solutions. The art of selection of sites in
which to study these
strategies is important - we must ensure
that the different sites
have enough in common to be
compared meaningfully with each other,
and yet display
enough differences of characteristics to ensure
representation
across a range, and for comparisons and differences
to
emerge. The definition of the ecosystem "envelope"
of the
project is therefore to hold constant a major variable.
We do
not yet know enough about adaptive strategies to enable
us,
for example, to make meaningful comparisons between
strategies
in tropical forests and those in arid lands.
ASALs provide an example of an ecosystem family. The term

"arid
lands" refers to areas prone to frequent and prolonged
droughts
and receiving up to 350 mm mean annual
precipitation. "Semi-arid
lands" are areas receiving from 350
mm to 700 mm precipitation,
in which rain-fed agriculture
combined with pastoralism is possible.
The purpose of this
distinction is not to create an agricultural-pastoral
dichotomy,
but to encourage, where possible, the selection within
each
country of two case studies representing points sufficiently
distant on the agro-pastoralist continuum. In some areas,

typified
by Burkina Faso, the distinctions are clearly
observable. For
example, the Fulani specialized pastoralists
occupy the drier
northern zone, often herding cattle on behalf
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of Mossi agriculturists
in the more humid zone.
ASALs constitute an important set of ecosystems globally,

accounting
for over a third of the land area and a seventh of
the world's
population (Ahmad and Kassas, 1987: 4). In
Africa, perhaps a tenth
of the continent's population, and a
much higher proportion of
those considered poor, derives all
or most of their livelihoods
directly from these lands. The
fragility of ecosystems in these
lands and their declining
pastoral and agricultural productivity
have been well
documented for decades. Livelihoods in these areas
are also
highly vulnerable to shocks and stresses, including those
arising from increases in human and animal populations, from

increased
intensity of use or changes in patterns of use, and
from ecosystem
change and declining natural productivity.
However, over time the peoples themselves who live in

ASALs have
evolved practices and ways of life which, in past
times, enabled
them to live in an environment characterized
by unpredictability
and variation.
Compounding this underlying threat to the balance between

the
natural resources and the livelihoods of the peoples
dependent
on them, is a reduction in access caused by
changes in designated
land-use through competing uses (e.g.
Berhanu 1995, p.5). These
changes include establishment of
national parks - many of
which are in ASALs - irrigation and
resettlement schemes,
commercial cattle and game ranches,
private farms and refugee
settlements. As if this were not
enough, ASALs have also often
been areas heavily affected
by physical insecurity, which itself
has undermined
productivity.
In Africa, ASALs frequently have been regarded as peripheral

or
marginal in national politics, policies and political
geography,
and have often been characterized as "problem
areas".
Centrally-planned development, although not without
its successes,
has often failed. ASALs have been
characterized by a lack of clear
and consistent central policy,
or even by "hostile"
policies based on perceptions of
"traditional" ASAL
farming and pastoral systems as inefficient,
unproductive, unsustainable,
and destined inevitably to be
undermined by the "modern"
economy. The rate of project
implementation is often extremely
low. In many cases ASALs
have become net importers of food and
of an increasing
proportion of the means of livelihoods, through
the export of
labor - usually very poorly paid because of poor
educational
attainments and low skills - and through the importation
of
food and relief efforts. Under these circumstances it is not
unusual to find that development objectives, which sometimes

in
the past embraced ambitions such as to turn ASALs into
major sources
of national meat supply or even the breadbasket of the country,
have often become reduced to the
modest objective of ensuring
merely that people can survive
there. Sometimes they are characterized
by an absence of
policy, and an implicit policy assumption that
over the long
term they cannot form the basis of sustainable livelihoods
(cf.
Mutiso, 1995:37-40).
In the case of the IISD project, selection of different country
sites illustrating typical points along the range of variation,
resulted in a broad typology with South Africa at one end and
Afars at the other. The South African example illustrated

relatively
dense, top-down planned settlement, a relatively
high level of
government provision of services (roads,
irrigation, electricity),
high dependency on migrant wage labor
for household incomes (about

50 per cent); and low
dependency on livestock. The Afars example
showed an area
with minimal government involvement (but planned
irrigation
that would alienate traditional grazing areas) low
population
density, and low integration with the wider economy.
It was
possible to discern the outlines of a hypothesis that would
indicate possible paths of future historical progression from
one end of the scale to the other.
Purpose
Special concerns & issues
methodologies
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
This approach could be applied to other sets of ecosystems

within
the same problematic of adaptive strategies for
For sustainable livelihoods based on
different ecosystems, but
challenged by similar threats, and
people's organizing responses
to combat development
threats, see the Thailand tropical forest
example described by
Janet Durno (1995).
Whatever ecosystem family is selected, it will be useful as a
preliminary step to compile a brief, non-technical and insightful
summary review of the "state of the art" of knowledge

on that
ecosystem family, as found in contemporary literature.
In this,
it is most important to realize that human societies
and
economies are part of the ecosystem. Directly and indirectly,
they not only depend on ecosystems, but through their

activities
and interactions they help to modify and change
them.
Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics and importance
Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics

and importance
Arid and semi-arid or subhumid zones are characterized by
low erratic rainfall of up to 700mm per annum, periodic
droughts and different associations of vegetative cover and
soils. Interannual rainfall varies from 50-100% in the arid
zones of the world with averages of up to 350 mm. In the
semi-arid zones, interannual rainfall varies from 20-50% with
averages of up to 700 mm. Regarding livelihoods systems, in
general, light pastoral use is possible in arid areas and
rainfed agriculture is usually not possible. In the semi-arid
areas agricultural harvests are likely to be irregular, although
grazing is satisfactory (Goodin & Northington, 1985).
In Africa north of the equator, arid and semi-arid zones are
bordered by Senegal, Upper Volta and Chad in the south;
and Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Egypt in the north. The
zones extend southeast through Somalia and Northern
Kenya, South of the equator the zones cover Lesotho, parts
of the Cape, Northern Transvaal and Free State provinces of
South Africa; Botswana; Namibia; and parts of Zimbabwe.
The notion of desertification has been a contentious subject.

UNEP's Desertification Control/Programme Activity Centre
(DC/PAC) defined desertification as "land degradation in
arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting mainly
from adverse human impact", aggravated by the
characteristics of dryland climates. Within the context of
Agenda 21, desertification is defined as "land degradation in
arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from
climatic variations and human activities". The difference
between these definitions has to do with causation. In the
former, human intervention is viewed as the central driving
force in desertification; while the latter clearly identifies both
human and climatic influences (Toulmin, 1993).
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Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics and importance
Another notion linked to desertification is that of desert

advance. Assertions have been made that the desert is
advancing at approximately 5km a year. This has been
disproved by Hellden (1991) whose work in the Sudan
shows no such advance and Tucker et al. (1991) who
asserts that patterns of vegetative cover in these areas are
dependent on rainfall. Hellden has further asserted that
contrary to arguments advanced, there is no evidence that
patched of desert were spreading outward from villages and
water holes into the drylands of the Sahel area, for instance.
Of significance in this debate is the recognition that the
majority of the population of arid and semi-arid lands depend
on agriculture and pastoralism for subsistence. These zones
exhibit ecological constraints which set limits to nomadic
pastoralism and settled agriculture. These constraints
include (Salih & Ahmed, 1993):
Community Sustainability - Home
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Some relevant resources on
ASALs and desertification:
IISD: Report on the Intl
Convention to Combat
Desertification
IDRC: Desertification
and land degradation
IDRC: Desertification Backgrounder for
journalists
IDRC: Water
management in Africa
and the Middle East
UNEP: Convention to
Combat Desertification
UNRISD: Reforming
Land Rights in SubSaharan Africa
rainfall patterns that are inherently erratic;

rains which fall mostly as heavy showers and are lost
to run-off;
a high rate of potential evapotranspiration further
reducing yields;
weeds growing more vigorously than cultivated crops
and competing for scarce reserves of moisture;
low organic matter levels, except for short periods
after harvesting or manure applications; and
highly variable responses to fertilizer.
Indigenous peoples of these areas have lived within these
constraints for centuries. They have existed on the
productivity provided locally and have used their knowledge
to devise coping and adaptive strategies.
In order to assist the process of efficient resource
management in these fragile environments, UNEP's Global
Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) and FAO's
Ecological Management of Arid and Semi-Arid Rangelands
(EMASAR) programmes have developed a methodology for
ecological monitoring which has been applied to rangelands
and planning for national parks in East Africa, and among
the Fulani of Senegal in West Africa. Ecological monitoring
encompasses the collection of biological and physical data at
ground, air and space levels providing information on
domestic and wild animal populations, human habitations
and populations, vegetation production and cover, soils, land
forms, climatic data and crop production. Ground level
ecological monitoring also provides information on socioeconomic practices of human populations which affect the
ecosystem and its productivity (UNSO, 1990). Work on
adaptive strategies has to focus on how this contemporary
knowledge is used to reinforce or inform
traditional
knowledge around resource management issues.
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Adaptive Strategies for Sustainable Livelihoods in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) Project
Adaptive Strategies for Sustainable

Livelihoods in Arid and
Semi-Arid
Lands (ASALs) Project
Under existing conditions (of externally driven development

policies,
concentration on the cash economy and existing
trade relations),
the typical responses of the poor have been
to appropriate common
property resources, intensify
agriculture on marginal lands, increase
heads of livestock
and shorten fallow periods; migrate seasonally
or
permanently to cities, towns, agricultural plantations and
to
more vulnerable and marginal lands; and have large
families
in order to diversify sources of income and labor.
These responses generally have not provided long-term

benefits
to the poor. However, there is a growing interest in
the poor
as agents for their own self improvement guided by
their own knowledge
base and strategies which could lead
to sustainable livelihoods.
Our preparatory workshops
confirmed the need for clear and detailed
documentation of
adaptive strategies
that have led to sustainable livelihoods
and the policy issues
that enhance or constrain the
development and implementation of
these strategies. These
strategies are likely to have evolved
from an interaction
between contemporary and indigenous knowledge.
Hence
the initiative sought to capture these synergies and the
conditions and processes which produced and reinforced

them. It
was recognized that these strategies were diverse
and included
adaptations to ecological, social, political and
cultural risks
and shocks.
Community Sustainability - Home

ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
IISD recognized that the problems enunciated above occur

globally
in diverse socio-ecological systems. It was agreed
that initially,
the initiative would focus on agropastoralists in
arid and semi-arid areas
with the view of using the lessons
learned from this experience
to develop similar initiatives in
other regions and socio-ecological
systems. Our entry point
was the identification of adaptive strategies,
which are the
result of indigenous knowledge and experiences,
contemporary knowledge including scientific and

technological
innovations and policy issues, and which have
led to sustainable
livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands.
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Project description
Project description
The project focused on nine communities in five sub-Saharan

African
countries during 1994-95:
Burkina Faso
Ethiopia
Kenya
South Africa
Zimbabwe
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outline & research protocol
Implementation structure
Constraints & weaknesses
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Within each country, local organizations were selected to

coordinate
a combination of participatory field research and
policy analysis.
The field researchers spent considerable time
working with
the communities to identify ways in which their
livelihood systems
had changed in response to both internal
and external forces over
the past few decades. That
information then directed in-depth
analyses of the regional,
national, and local policies which had
either constrained or
supported sustainable livelihoods. In order
to provide added
value to the communities, the project was structured
so as to
become a mechanism for promoting local ownership of
knowledge
and advocacy for necessary policy changes. While
the initial written
reports have been completed, work continues
on the transmission
of outputs to the communities and to
policy makers.
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Project Outline and Research Protocol
Adaptive Strategies of the Poor in Arid

and Semi-Arid Lands:
Project Outline and
Research Protocol
Section I. The Project Outline

I.A Institutional Framework
The International Institute for Sustainable Development is a

non-profit
private corporation established and supported by
the Governments
of Canada and Manitoba. It is a registered
charitable organization
for Canadian income tax purposes.
IISD's mandate is to promote
sustainable development in
decision-making within government,
business and the daily
lives of individuals in Canada and internationally
(see Articles
of Incorporation). As a relatively new Institute,
IISD is helping
to shape initiatives which move sustainable development
from
concept to practice. This requires the integration of the
wellbeing of people, environment and economy within the centers
of decision making in government, industry, the home and in

the
community.
As a knowledge and action-based institute, IISD is committed

to
producing useful and practical results, and to facilitating the
transfer of knowledge and experience. Its outputs are

expected
to provoke change rather than merely highlight
problems. Consequently,
IISD implements its activities in two
ways: through focused research
on policy and institutional
change, and through communications
and transfer of
knowledge. These processes are closely aligned
because
research without broad dissemination of results is unlikely
to
effect change. Also, there is consideration of the tremendous
need for the recognition of grassroots or community

knowledge
and practices as a source of inspiration and
knowledge about sustainable
development. IISD's
involvement in this initiative on adaptive
strategies is a direct
consequence of this consideration.
All of IISD's projects and programs are demand driven, they

must
clearly show the potential to make a significant
difference, add
value and demonstrate IISD's comparative
advantage in engaging
in any program activity. The IISD,
through inputs from the Nairobi
and Toronto workshops in
April and November 1993, respectively,
identified information its identification, documentation and
dissemination - as one of
the critical tools of empowerment, which
it has the capacity to
avail to the poor. Specifically, empowerment
through
facilitating information gathering and sharing, was identified
as
a major conduit of building the capacity of communities to
respond and adapt to changing social, economic and

ecological
conditions that undermine their achievement of
The Africa Case Studies project, in
collaboration with the Synergos
Institute and the African
Association for Literacy and Adult Education
(AALAE),
constitutes the first step in this endeavor. Engaging
in the
exercise of documenting and sharing adaptive strategies
of
the poor with the poor, and with policy makers including
governments,
development agents and the donor community,
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has become a priority

program area. This will be done in
partnership with local institutions
and communities in five
countries in East and Southern Africa
and the Sahel.
IISD experience in Africa to date is drawn from the current

poverty
and empowerment program staff who have lived and
worked in Africa,
two (2) board members resident in Nairobi,
the Africa Case Studies
project implemented in collaboration
with Synergos Institute and
the African Association for
Literacy and Adult Education (AALAE),
as well as through
participants in workshops held in Nairobi,
Toronto and
Winnipeg . The Institute's comparative advantage
in engaging
in an activity on adaptive strategies in Africa is
drawn from this
experience which has given us the capacity to
access a
network of institutions that work closely with the poor.
In
addition, through our past work on Poverty and Empowerment
we have established an understanding of the systems

approach to
impoverishment and sustainable development,
empowerment for sustainable
development and policy
adjustments, poverty and sustainability,
and we are now well
placed to undertake a more focused, concrete
piece of work
drawing on this work. We are now prepared to work
in arid
and semi-arid lands in other regions in which we might
be able
to network effectively. Our capacity to leverage resources,
our
experience in influencing decision-making in sustainable
development
and our in-depth knowledge of the broader
issues of sustainability,
offer other key advantages.
I.B Background
The conditions that were enunciated by the Brundtland

Commission,
UNCED and Agenda 21 with regard to the poor
in developing countries
remain unchanged. For instance,
population growth in Africa where
the ecological base is fragile
and deteriorating, is projected
to be the most rapid. External
and internal central urban institutions
and individuals such as
governments and commercial interests continue
to extend
their power, ownership and exploitation of rural areas.
Under existing conditions of externally driven development

policies,
concentration on the cash economy and existing
trade relations,
the typical responses of the poor have been
to: appropriate common
property resources; intensify
agriculture on marginal lands; increase
heads of livestock and
shorten fallow periods; migrate on a seasonal
or permanent
basis to cities, towns, agricultural plantations
and more
vulnerable and marginal lands; and resort to large families
in
order to diversify sources of income and labor.
These responses have not provided long-term benefits to the

poor.
However, there is a growing interest in the poor as
agents for
their own self improvement guided by their own
knowledge base
and strategies which could lead to
sustainable livelihoods. Our
preparatory workshops have
confirmed the need for clear and detailed
documentation of
adaptive strategies that have led to sustainable
livelihoods
and the policy issues that enhance or constrain the
development and implementation of these strategies. These

strategies
are likely to have evolved from an interaction
between contemporary
and indigenous knowledge. Hence the
initiative seeks to capture
the synergies and the conditions
and processes which produced
and reinforced them. It is
recognized that these strategies are
diverse and include
adaptations to ecological, social, political
and cultural risks.
I.C The Study Focus
IISD recognizes that the problems enunciated above occur

globally
in diverse socio-ecological systems. Initially, the
initiative
will focus on agropastoralists in arid and semi-arid
areas in
Africa with the view of using the lessons learned from
this experience
to develop similar initiatives in other regions
and socio-ecological
systems. Our entry point is the
identification of adaptive strategies,
which are the result of
indigenous knowledge and experiences,
contemporary
knowledge including scientific and technological
innovations
and social and economic issues, and which have led
to
sustainable livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands. (see
graphic, above).
I.D Purpose
The purpose of this project is to galvanize the transition from
poverty to sustainable livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands.

The project seeks ways to empower communities to mobilize
their
options for making the transition from poverty to
sustainable
livelihoods. The project will contribute to this result
through
model efforts with communities to articulate and share
relevant
information on successful adaptive strategies.
Through policy
analyses and assessments of the contribution
of contemporary knowledge,
the project will help reinforce
such strategies and provide policy
makers with information to
help them design more appropriate interventions.
The objectives are:

To document information on adaptive strategies which
lead
to, or have the potential to lead to, sustainable
livelihoods.
To package and disseminate information sets on
adaptive strategies
to local communities and other
interested groups.
To provide policy makers and local communities with
recommendations
through the identification of key
interactions, synergies, antagonisms,
etc. among
traditional and contemporary knowledge and the
relevant
policy conditions under which adaptive
strategies evolved.
To identify, in a preliminary manner, indicators of
sustainable
livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands.
To provide researchers and other interested parties with
information
on the process and methodology used.
To influence the outcome of the WSSD in the areas of
poverty
and sustainable development.
I.E Outputs
The Outputs will be:

documented adaptive strategies and processes that
have led
or may lead to sustainable livelihoods
a model package of recommendations which can be
used to reinforce
adaptive strategies
a comprehensive and analytical paper on policies that
impinge
on adaptive strategies
preliminary indicators of sustainable livelihoods in arid
and semi-arid lands

a report on the process and methodology of the
exercise
preliminary analytical report for submission to the World
Summit for Social Develop third preparatory committee
I.F Working Definitions

Coping and adaptive strategies
Davies (1993) draws a distinction between coping and

adaptive
strategies based on the type of risk faced by
households and communities.
For instance, coping strategies
are defined as "the bundle
of poor people's responses to
declining food availability and
entitlements in abnormal
seasons or years". Thus coping
strategies are characteristic of
secure livelihood systems used
only during periods of food
stress; they constitute a fall-back
mechanism during periods of
decline in access to food. Adaptive
strategies, on the other
hand, are characteristic of vulnerable
socio-ecological
systems and modes of production, they constitute
a
permanent change in the mix of productive activities and
require
modification of community rules and institutions to
meet livelihood
needs.
Sustainable Livelihoods
"A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (stores,
resources, claims and access) and activities required for a

means
of living: a livelihood is sustainable which can cope
with and
recover from stress and shocks, maintain and
enhance its capabilities
and assets and provide sustainable
livelihood opportunities for
the next generation; and which
contributes net benefits to other
livelihoods at the local and
global levels and in the short and
long term". (Chambers and
Conway, 1992)
Alternatively, we might view sustainable livelihoods as

concerned
with people's capacities to generate and maintain
their means
of living, enhance their well-being and that of
future generations.
These capacities are contingent upon the
availability and accessibility
of options which are ecological,
socio-cultural, economic and
political and are predicated on
equity, ownership of resources
and participatory decision
making. Both notions of sustainable
development and
sustainable livelihoods incorporate the idea of
change and
uncertainty.
I.G Criteria for Community Selection
Communities which possess many of the following

characteristics
as available will be chosen:
particular adaptive processes and strategies which lead
to
sustainable livelihoods
multiple vulnerability (ecological, political, economic,
social,
etc.)
existing information on adaptive strategies including
links
and contacts
available human resources and institutional
arrangements for
implementation
relative accessibility
a community that is representative of communities in
arid
and semi-arid lands, for example, population
density relative
to resource base and socio-economic
variation
communities that have experienced significant internal
and
external changes in the recent past (10 - 15 years)
and have adapted.
I.H Participating Countries
These include:
Burkina Faso
Ethiopia
Kenya
South Africa
Zimbabwe
I.I. Project Strategy and Implementation

Arrangements
The overall design of the project strategy and implementation
arrangements is aimed at ensuring ownership of the results by
the local communities as well as to give policy makers insights
into communities' perceptions of sustainable livelihoods.
The lead implementing agency will be the IISD. However, IISD
will work in close collaboration with other institutions such

as
UNDP, IDRC, UNEP and locally based Non-government
organizations.
The Institute will act as convener and facilitator
of the project
management team meetings, coordinate the
process with the project
coordinator resident in the region and
vet the quality of work
produced.
The Project Management Team includes:

IISD Staff
The UNDP
A locally based Regional Project Coordinator
has
been selected from the African Association of Adult
Literacy
and Education (AALAE), to ensure that the
project is effectively
anchored and managed in the
study region. AALAE is a continental
federation of
national associations, institutions, non-government
organizations and individuals involved in adult

education. The
thrust of AALAE's activities is aimed at
equipping individuals
and communities with skills to
deal with political, socio-economic
and environmental
change, through building capacities of members
in the
areas of research, training and evaluation; and through
facilitation of intra-continental and intercontinental

cooperation.
The International Advisory Group(IAG) will bring expertise
in the areas of policy, community engagement, ecology, socioeconomic

and political issues, communications, and small
business development
skills. The IAG will provide guidance
and advise on the overall
implementation strategy, the design
and final quality of the outputs.
Members of the IAG include
Charlie Shackleton from the University
of the Witwatersrand
Rural Facility in South Africa; Costantinos
Berhe of
Environment and Development Society in Ethiopia; Anil
Gupta
of SRISTI in India; Walter Luisigi from the World Bank,
Eugene Aw, regional coordinator for Africa 2000 network;

Joachim
Voss from IDRC and representatives from CIDA and
UNEP.
Lead institutions in participating countries will provide local
project coordinators, who will in turn, put together a

multidisciplinary
team to conduct the research. The skills
within each research
team must at the minimum include
economics, sociology, ecology,
agriculture and anthropology.
The lead institutions or local
partners include ENDAZimbabwe, Wits Rural Facility, Environment
and Development
Society and KENGO. The fifth local partner from
Burkina Faso
is still to be named.
I.J Project Review, Reporting and Evaluation
This project will be subject to review by IISD and UNDP six

months
after implementation. IISD, in collaboration with the
UNDP and
local partners, will prepare a report for submission
to the preparatory
committee of the World Summit on Social
Development.
Additional continuous review of progress will be done by the

International
Advisory Committee which will meet twice during
the implementation
period. At the end of the project cycle, an
evaluation will
be done to capture the experiences and
lessons learned, and to
monitor the impact of the exercise and
the outputs on communities
and policy makers.
I.K Ownership of Results
The project is designed to encourage local ownership of the

results,
especially outputs 1 and 2. As far as possible,
ownership will
reside with the local communities and this will
be appropriately
acknowledged. This, however, will not
prevent IISD from further
using the information in whatever
way it may see fit.
Ownership of the other outputs will reside with IISD.

Appropriate
quantities of the reports will be available to
international and
local partners and their contribution to the
project will be duly
acknowledged.
Appropriate arrangements will be made with other partner

institutions
Section II. The Protocol
This research protocol is intended as a concise statement of

what
is expected of each in-country program. It presents
questions,
guidelines and issues which each study site must
address and adhere
to.
In order to realize the goals and objectives of the adaptive

strategy
initiative, researchers will seek to capture the
synergies arising
out of the interaction between contemporary
and indigenous knowledge,
and the conditions and processes
which produce and reinforce adaptive
strategies.
II.A. The Role of the RPC and LPCs
The Regional Project Co-ordinator (RPC) will manage the
implementation of the project at national levels, liaise with
local project co-ordinators, monitor progress and synthesize

policy
reviews from the five participating countries.
The Local Project Co-ordinators (LPCs) will be the lead
researchers who must work directly in the field with other

researchers
and the community; and must reside within the
community together
with team members over the duration of
fieldwork. Delegation at
this level will be inconsistent with the
thrust of the project.
II.B Time-Frame
The actual field implementation of the project commences in

October
of 1994 and will end in August of 1995. Preliminary
reports are
expected in mid-December to allow for inputs into
the World Summit
for Social Development (WSSD) third
preparatory committee meeting
in January, 1995.
II.C Structure and Content
This section describes the questions which the research

report
should address, and indicates the structure and
contents of the
report.
1) Context
The context provides the national historical and macro-policy
environment in which communities exist and function and will

largely
be based on existing literature, but can be
supplemented by interviews
with appropriate individuals.
Special emphasis should be placed
on those policies which
impact on communities.
1.a) Historical context
Key question: What kinds of ecosystem, socio-economic and

political
changes have occurred in the project countries?
(Time-frame - emphasis might be placed on the post-colonial

period.
However, other strategic issues may be considered.)
In this section researchers need to describe the signals and

indicators
of change. Consider a tabular presentation of
national and community
data to put community data in
perspective. Examples of indicators
follow:
Ecosystem indicators i.e., agro-ecological zones;
climatic
variables including rainfall patterns and major
droughts; soils
status; extent of desertification; siltation
rates; vegetation
types and cover, etc.
Socio-economic indicators i.e., the nature of
enterprises;
income sources and their distribution;
migration and other demographic
factors; employment;
human health indicators (e.g., mortality
rates); animal
health indicators; rights, including grazing, land-tenure,
tree tenure and land-use.

Political indicators i.e., the nature of government; the
extent
of centralization and decentralization of political
authority
(i.e. local self-government); system of
procurement of goods and
services including trade,
and financial flows to communities.
1.b) Macro-policy context
Key question: What national and international policies, i.e.,
agricultural, economic, environmental, social, impede or

facilitate
the achievement of sustainable livelihoods?
Policies to be considered include macro-policy adjustments

including
structural adjustment programs, trade policy, and the
role of
the formal and informal sectors.
2) Community Profile
2.a) Defining community
Specify the size (density, size of territory), nature (ethnicity,
agro-pastoralist vs. pastoralist), migration patterns and

relationships
with other communities.
(It may be necessary to use a sampling design.)

2.b) Indicators of change
In addition to indicators outlined in (1.a) above, use

community
knowledge to describe the following indicators of
change:
(Note here that the time boundary may be as far as

communities
can recall.)
Ecosystem
biomass, species and water availability and
access
(Biomass availability is a function of herd
species composition,
i.e. mix of cattle,
sheep, and goats. Is herd mix a survival
strategy?
Is the strategy sustainable?
What about the composition of human
diet as an indication of ecosystem

stress?)
indicator species
vegetative cover - note seasonal variations
water quality and availability as indicators of
ecosystem
health
Socio-economic
infrastructure, credit, labor
incidence of animal disease
commodity markets - links to foreign markets,
procurement,
zoning and other restrictions
2.c) Common property institutions
Issues to consider include boundary rules, resource allocation
rules, and mechanism for conflict resolution and enforcement

(sanctions).
(Include, for example, traditional institutions of managing

quarantine
as opposed to modern quarantine rules which
restrict the free
movement of livestock.)
2.d) Values, beliefs and practices
What are the values, beliefs and practices of communities

which
support or impede adaptive strategies? What relevant
cultural
changes have occurred over time and how have these
impacted on
values and livelihood systems?
It should be recognized that values, beliefs and practices are
dynamic. In some instances beliefs may not be translated into
practices and in others merely used for convenience or as

excuses.
2.e) Technological innovations
Identify and describe local technological innovations such as
water conservation, soil stabilization, etc.
(It has been suggested that weather prediction is the most

important
technological need of communities. Are
meteorological forecasts
available to them? What are the
traditional methods of weather
prediction?)
2.f) Possible indicators of sustainability
Net worth resilience, i.e. depletion and replenishment

cycle
in response to perturbation. Note that this may
not be necessarily
sustainable
Time and energy spent on meeting basic needs
Change in age and sex composition of community. Note
the implications
for who tends the cattle and the
distance covered in cattle herding
Herd size to family size ratio, e.g., six herd per family
of
six a threshold level
Shift in size and composition of herd. (Major increases
in
sheep may be unsustainable)
Trends suggestive of reduction in carrying capacity, i.e.,
depletion of groundwater table (note that longterm hydrological
cycles have not yet been
determined);
water quality;
degradation of common lands;
Trends in shift from household labor to hired labor;
Shift in composition of expenditure on consumption
baskets.
2.g) Community responses
What has been the impact of ecosystem, socioeconomic and

political changes on livelihoods in the
study area?
What are the demographic, socio-economic, cultural
and political
responses (adaptive strategies) of
communities to these changes?
Are there differential
responses between men and women?
What informs these responses - traditional,
contemporary knowledge
and practices or the
integration of the two; internal and external
technological innovations?
Have these responses led to sustainable livelihoods?
or, Do
they have the potential to lead to sustainable
livelihoods?
What kinds of interventions (communication and
outreach strategies,
technological innovation etc.) are
needed to enhance communities
responses so that
they lead to sustainable outcomes?
What is the process by which communities and external
change
agents integrate contemporary and indigenous
knowledge in pursuit
of adaptive strategies that lead to
sustainable livelihoods?
3) Identification of adaptive strategies that lead to
sustainable
livelihoods
What economic, ecological, social, cultural, or political
environment contributes to the evolution of successful

adaptive
strategies (best practice)?
To what extent does this environment impact positively
or
negatively on poverty alleviation, employment
generation and social
cohesion?
What indicators can be used to measure progress
towards sustainable
livelihoods?
What role can external agents play in developing
indicators
and reinforcing adaptive strategies?
What kinds of policy changes are needed to support the
evolution
or enhancement of adaptive strategies that
lead to sustainable
livelihoods?
4) Community Methodology
The country researchers will utilize, as desirable,
participatory
action research approaches and a
multidisciplinary team of which
two members will be
senior students with complementary skills
from local
universities.
Within communities, agreed upon methodologies will be
used
in in-depth interviews with elders, community
leaders and community
members preceded by country
and community profiles.
Interviews at the community level will be conducted in
local
languages.
The information gathered will be complemented by a
literature
review of adaptive strategies.
The participatory methodology mixes used to collect
local
information will have to utilize an iterative process
to maximize
effectiveness as experience is gained on
the ground.
Agreed upon methodology will be made available. This
manual
provides just one aspect of the methodology
mixes which the LPCs
will require to answer all the
questions outlined here and will
hopefully assist them
in decision making and keeping the Project
on track.
5) Policy review analysis
A separate but closely linked review of policy will be

conducted,
which will follow the following process:
5.a) Identification of policy priorities
The LPCs will identify policy priorities one month after

commencement
of field work, i.e., at the end of October. They
will also reflect
on how policy has affected communities, for
example, the impact
of policies on incentives/disincentives to
utilize certain adaptive
strategies; and then have communities
respond.
5.b) National seminars
ASAL Project
ASALs
The Regional Project Co-ordinator (RPC), the International

Advisory
Group (IAG), and LPCs will help to identify the
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
author of a lead
policy paper for each participating country;
and appropriate policy
makers and analysts to participate in a
seminar held in February,
1995.
The outputs of the seminars will be two-fold:

A comprehensive and analytical paper on policies that
impinge
on adaptive strategies
The generation of reasonable responses to policy
issues raised
by the studies.
Project implementation structure
Our management strategy was to have early involvement and

buy-in
at the international, national and local levels.
At the international level, we involved major development

agencies
such as UNDP, the World Bank, IDRC, CIDA and
UNEP as members of
an International Advisory Group
which
included leading individuals in the field from other institutions.
Apart from helping to guide the project with their vast
experience,
we were also setting the stage for them to want to
use the results
at the end of the project. We also sought and
obtained financial
resources (US$175K) from UNDP to help
with the field work.
At the national level, we held workshops with senior

government
officials including for example the Vice President
of Ethiopia
and the Premier of the East Transvaal Region in
South Africa,
to gain their perspectives on our proposed work
and to set the
stage for them to understand the policy
implications of the work
and hopefully to use the insights
gained at the end.
Our key implementing partners in each country were the local

NGOs,
and the communities who were at the heart of the
project. In
each country, we selected a local project
coordinator (LPC) from
the collaborating NGO partner. In cooperation with the LPCs,
we selected policy analysts in each
country. The local NGO was
responsible for fielding a
multidisciplinary team which conducted
the participatory
exercises with the local project coordinator
in charge. The
policy analysts were required to work closely
with the LPC and
the teams.
ASALs
Project Description
Intl. advisory group members
Intl. workshop participants
Implementing agencies
Project coordinators' terms of
reference
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
We held an orientation workshop to ensure common

conceptual and
methodological understanding and clarity
among the LPCs at the
beginning of the project
implementation. A review workshop was
held half way through
the project cycle to review progress, clarify
difficulties, ensure
all were on track and agree on the format
and contents of the
outputs.
IISD provided management, logistical and intellectual support
throughout the project. We have also undertaken the final

checking,
editing and publishing of the outputs.
The success of our strategy is already evident from the

feedback
from our local NGO partners as well as the use
already being made
of the project concept and approach for
example by UNDP; the Government
and NGOs in Ethiopia,
and indications of possible financial support
from other
agencies for further related work. At a recent meeting
organised by UNDP in Harare, the 5 UNDP Resident

Representatives
expressed interest in using the project's
approach in their country
programs.
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International Advisory Group (IAG) members
International Advisory Group (IAG)

members
The International Advisory Group draws together persons who

combine a very wide range of rich experiences relevant to the
Project and its goals, with extensive knowledge of the issues.
They also bring to the project a wide range of institutional links
and network affiliations.
Eugenie Aw (Senegal)
Africa 2000 Network
United Nations Avenue
Gigiri, Block B
Nairobi, Kenya
Elizabeth Migongo-Bake
UNEP, DC/PAC
P O Box 30552
Nairobi, Kenya
Costantinos Berhe-Tesfu
Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia
P O Box 8632, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Steve Blais
CIDA
200 Promenade du Portage
Hull, Quebec, Canada
K1G 3H9
Anil Gupta
Indian Institute of Management
Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380 015, India
Walter Lusigi (Kenya)
World Bank
1818 F Street, NW
Washington DC, USA
Charlie Shackleton
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Acornhoek 1360, South Africa
Joachim Voss
IDRC
250 Albert St.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1G 3H9
ASALs
Helen Hambly
Associate Officer
International Service for National Agricultural Research

(ISNAR)
P.O. Box 93375
2509 AJ
The Hague
The Netherlands
tel. 31-70-349-6100
fax. 31-70-381-9677
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Project Description
H.Hambly@cgnet.com

Alioun Sall
UNDP
One United Nations Paza
New York, NY 10017 USA

reference
Contraints & weaknesses
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Alternates at second meeting:

Chris George (for Steve Blais)
First Secretary
Canadian High Commission
Harare, Zimbabwe
Nigel Motts (for Joachim Voss)
IDRC Regional Office for Southern Africa
P O Box 477
Wits 2050, South Africa
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International workshop participants
The following individuals attended the first and second

international
workshops of the Adaptive Strategies for
in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Project
undertaken by the International
Institute for Sustainable
Development. These workshops were held
in Nairobi,
September 1994 and at the Wits Rural Facility, South
Africa,
March 1995. The Guidebook for Field Projects on Adaptive
Strategies was one of the outputs of these workshops.
(Participants marked + attended both workshops. Participants

marked
* attended the Nairobi workshop only.)
Alexander Amuah
5458 85th Avenue #102
New Carrolton, MD 20784 USA
Kassahun Berhanu
Department of Political Science
Addis Ababa University
P O Box 1176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
LEM Environment and Development Society
P O Box 8632
John Gear
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Chris George
First Secretary
Harare, Zimbabwe
David Gylywoychuk
IISD
161 Portage Avenue East - 6th Floor
Winnipeg, MB R3B 0Y4 Canada
Ken Jeenes
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Peter Karinge*
KENGO
P O Box 48197
Nairobi, Kenya
Bowdin King
ENDA-Zimbabwe
1 Waterfield Road, Mount Pleasant
P O Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
UNEP, DC/PAC
P O Box 30552
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Nairobi, Kenya
Nigel Motts
P O Box 477
Samuel K Mutiso
Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Nairobi
P O Box 30197
Nairobi, Kenya
Fanuel Nangati
7 Queensgate
Mount Pleasant
Harare, Zimbabwe
Sharon Pollard
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
J. Keith Rennie+
3047 Meeting Street
Falls Church, VA 22044, USA
John Reynolds*
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Charlie Shackleton
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Sheona Shackleton
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Naresh Singh+
IISD
Winnipeg, MB R3B 0Y4, Canada
Phosiso Sola
ENDA-Zimbabwe
P O Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
Jonathan Stadler
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Dumisayi Takavarasha*
ENDA-Zimbabwe
P O Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
ASALs
Project Description
Shibru Tedla+
ECO-Consult
P O Box 5998

reference
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Daniel Thieba+
GREFCO
01 BP 1895
Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso
Vangile Titi+
IISD
Christophe Zaongo
GREFCO
01 BP 1895
Local NGO and community partners
Local NGO and community partners
During 1994-5 IISD worked with five institutions in the following

African
countries:
Outline &
research
protocol
Implementation
structure
Intl. advisory
group
members
International
workshop
participants
Implementing
agencies
Project
coordinators'
terms of
reference
Contraints &
weaknesses
Country
Organization
Location (Ethnic Group)
Burkina
Faso
GREFCO
Noungou, Oubrutenga (Mossi)
Menegou, Oudalan (Fulani-Rimaibe)
Melka Worere (Afar)

Ethiopia
LEM
Areri and Dubluk Medds (Borana)
Kitengela, Kajaido (Maasai)

Kenya
KENGO
Tigania (Meru)
South Africa
Wits Rural
Facility
Zimbabwe
ENDA
Tshunelani, Gazankulu, E. Transvaal

(ethnically diverse: Sotho, Tsonga,
migrants, refugees, etc.)
Mlambapehle, Gwanda (Ndebele)
Makaha, Mudzi (Shona - Budga)
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IISD project on adaptive strategies in ASALs: Terms of reference
IISD project on adaptive strategies in

ASALs: Terms of reference
Regional Project Coordinator (RPC)
The RPC is responsible for the management of the project in
the region. He/she will:

Coordinate and monitor five country studies
Assist in the organization of the orientation and training
and other project related meetings

Ensure the delivery of drafts and final documents on
schedule
Review and analyze policy conditions under which
selected
adaptive strategies evolved
Participate in national policy meetings
Prepare a report on the process and methodology of
the exercise
Assist in the dissemination of outputs to communities
and
monitor utilization
Local Project Coordinator (LPC)
The five LPCs are responsible for

the management and
implementation of the project in their respective
countries.
Each LPC will:

ASALs
Project Description
reference
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Participate in the orientation and training workshop

Convene an interdisciplinary team
Orient the team to the project concept and in the use of
participatory
action research methodologies
Convene and facilitate national meetings
Prepare background material on the participating
communities,
including location, history, sources of
livelihoods and adaptive
strategies employed
Identify policy priorities relevant to adaptive strategies
and prepare a brief policy issues paper

Conduct fieldwork
Ensure the delivery of drafts and final documents on
schedule
Translate the results of fieldwork into English
Participate in the regional meeting to consolidate the
results
from participating countries
Disseminate outputs to communities and monitor
utilization
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Project constraints and weaknesses
Project constraints and weaknesses
The major constraint was the short time in which the project
was implemented. Participatory work
requires virtually openended approaches which permit the development of trust and
understanding
between researchers and community. To
partially alleviate time constraints, we selected partners and
communities who had a history of trust and familiarity with

each other. However, this has the
disadvantage of reducing
the open mindedness required to work with new approaches
and to develop
new insights.
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Our policy analysts were not involved in the first orientation

workshop which discussed concepts and
methodology in
detail nor in the field work. In retrospect they should have
been. While the workshop
focused largely on participatory
methodologies applied to adaptive strategies and sustainable
livelihoods, we needed to build a team approach from the

inception with the policy analysts included.
Their grasp of the
concepts remained weak until a late stage in the project which
resulted in difficulties
in making all the necessary linkages
between policy, technology and local adaptive strategies.
The local teams which conducted the participatory community

work did not give enough attention to
the contribution of
external technology, except perhaps the South African team.
This seems to be due
to the composition of teams which were
somewhat under represented in agricultural extension
knowledge and skills, but also to the non-technological culture

of groups who work with local
communities. The remedy is in
identifying this possibility early and addressing it in both team
composition and orientation.
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Project Outputs
Project Outputs:
Completed Outputs
The two primary outputs of this project were:

The analytical framework for community adaptation
and sustainable livelihoods - This framework involves
an understanding of the interaction of science, local
knowledge, and policy in determining how communities
adapt to change in a sustainable manner. It is
presented in the introduction to IISD's CASL program.

Further testing and revision of the model for more
general application are currently underway.
The guidebook on participatory research for
sustainable livelihoods - This is a
detailed guide,
based on our field experience on how to apply
existing
participatory research tools and policy analyses to
adaptive
strategies and sustainable livelihoods
projects. The guidebook
will be useful to both
practitioners and researchers interested
in conducting
work in this field. It is not a PRA/RRA type manual,
but
rather a guide to using the integrated approach we
have developed,
which brings together policy and
community initiatives.
In the process of creating these
outputs, a number of other documents were prepared.
These included reports written by our collaborating
partners on the community-articulated adaptive
strategies and policies researched in each of the five
countries. Summaries of their findings have been
compiled into a working paper which may be of interest
to other researchers working in these countries.
Work in Progress
Discussions on the development of popular forms of the
results
for community use, to further test our
hypothesis of self empowerment
of communities
through validation of their adaptive strategies
and
knowledge systems and informing them of policy
issues.
Dissemination of outputs and presentation of findings to
major
players such as UNDP, WB, etc.
Analysis of the outputs to identify possible generic
principles
and prepare an overall report on the project.
Follow-up discussions have been initiated for possible

collaboration
with specific groups such as UN Capital
Development Fund, UNSO,
Regional Bureau for Africa,
Regional Bureau for Asia, Bureau for
Policy and Program
Support, Technical Cooperation among Developing
Countries
(TCDC) Units.
Community Sustainability Home
Discussions with the World Bank have led to an invitation to

present
the project concept and results to an in-house
seminar in the
Africa Division of the Bank. Discussions at this
meeting are
likely to focus on the implications of the project
findings for:
ASAL Project
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Project Outputs
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
policy making and policy-makers

project development and design
understanding the context of proposed development
interventions
development thinking related to agro-pastoralists in arid
and semi-arid lands in Africa

community empowerment
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Project findings
Project findings
The documentation of adaptive strategies of people living in

arid
and semi-arid land reveals that people have evolved
complex adaptive
strategies to deal with their environments in
a sustainable way.
Various pressures are forcing an ever
increasing rate of change,
necessitating the adoption of new
strategies for survival. Thus
some of the adaptive strategies
identified are relatively new,
while others have been passed
on from one generation to the next.
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Diversity among pastoral groups
Key stresses
Adaptive strategies
Policies which affect adaptive
strategies
Significance
Bibliography
These findings are not surprising. It is clear that in searching
for insights into the promotion of sustainable livelihoods, the
adaptive strategies which need close inspection are the ones

which
are entrenched in the traditional systems, because,
unlike the
modern statutory systems, they tend to be explicit in
the norms
and regulations which guide people in their
interaction with natural
resources. The policy debate has yet
to pay sufficient attention
to the arrangements within
traditional systems which enable the
development of adaptive
strategies which are attuned to the long-term
survival of the
environment. The different support systems and
decisionmaking processes of the various groups of pastoralists
need to
be taken into account to support lessons learned from
local
adaptive strategies for policy, as well as for sustainable
livelihoods.
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ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Key stresses
Adaptive strategies
strategies
Significance
Bibliography
The nine communities studied are all located in arid and semiarid regions (ASALs) of Sub-Saharan
Africa. However, it is
important to note that while there are many similarities in the
types of stresses
and adaptive strategies faced, there are also
significant differences which affect their livelihoods. The
most
stark difference probably emanates from the fact that some of
the communities are completely
sedentary, e.g., Mudzi in
Zimbabwe and Tshunelani in South Africa, while others are
migratory
pastoralists, settling in their villages for part of the
year and moving with their herds as the seasons and
availability of water and grazing for their livestock demands.

Such is the case with the Afar and Boran
in Ethiopia, and the
Maasai of Kenya. However, in general there is a movement
towards a more
settled lifestyle. In some cases, such as in the
Mlambaphele Village case, only some members of the
village
move with the livestock to alternative water sources as the
water near the village becomes
insufficient to supply all
human and animal requirements.
The above is important in trying to extract insights, especially

for policy, because it underscores the
fact that not all
pastoralists in Sub-Saharan Africa face the same kind of
lifestyle, and that indeed there
is a certain dynamism in the
lives of inhabitants of the ASALs. There is clearly a need to
distinguish
more among different types of pastoral
communities in designing policy intervention, rather than just
referring to a "homogenous" group of "African pastoralist", as

is often done in the literature.
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Key stresses
Key stresses
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Key stresses
Adaptive strategies
strategies
Significance
Bibliography
The common stresses on livelihoods experienced in the

communities
were related mostly to drought and water
shortage, increasing
animal and population pressure and
illness among both human beings
and livestock. Among the
policy-related stresses, the groups
which are migratory,
especially the Afar, Boran and Maasai, face
constant pressure
to become settled, their non-sedentary lifestyles
often having
been judged to be in conflict with official plans
to "modernize"
the nation states. In all the groups,
the traditional system of
leadership and governance has also come
under increasing
pressure as new systems of national and local
government
have become more powerful, usually at the expense of
the
traditional systems.
Other stresses on livelihoods emanate from the civil strife in
the recent histories of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia,

which
were all very disruptive. The Afar also face conflict with
their
Somali neighbors, arising mostly from competition for
water and
grazing pastures for their livestock.
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Adaptive strategies
Adaptive strategies
Some of the adaptive strategies were common to almost all

the
groups:
Multi-species composition of herds
Cultivation of more than one type of grain staple:
sorghum,
millet and maize
Community regulations for the maintenance of ecosystem health:
bans on cutting of certain types of trees
(e.g. acacia), preservation
of certain areas of the forest
commons, regulations for the use
of water and forest
resources
Adoption of irrigated agriculture where opportunities
permit
Use of "modern" veterinary services where services
are
available
Supplementary feeding of livestock as seasonally
required
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Key stresses
Adaptive strategies
strategies
Significance
Bibliography
Other adaptive strategies were specific to the groups:

Supplementary income sources from outside the
community: gold panning in Makaha, Zimbabwe;
sale
of livestock; seeking employment in neighbouring
South Africa
and Botswana
Community management of wells among the Boran
Community regulations governing the provision of social
safety
nets among the Boran and Afar
Communal decision-making about the movement of
livestock,
and in the case of the Afar, the sale of cattle
and camels
has to be approved communally
Reliance on new forms of social organisations, such as
village
committees, religious organisations and NGOs
in Kenya, South Africa
and Zimbabwe.
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Policies which affect adaptive strategies
One of the most important sets of policies which have had an

impact on the adaptive strategies, and
therefore livelihoods of
the study areas have been land tenure policies. These have
tended to shift
power from the traditional system; to the state
whose decisions for land use have sometimes been in
conflict
with the livelihood requirements of the pastoralists, e.g. in
Ethiopia where state plantations and
reserves were placed on
land formally used for grazing; in Tshunelani where the
apartheid system of
government restricted seriously people's
access to productive land.
All policies which influence the traditional system of

governance are particularly significant for
sustainable
livelihoods because the adaptive strategies which pertain to
eco-system health seem to be
vested more on the traditional,
rather than the statutory system of rule. Thus, the system of
local
government in Zimbabwe which allowed the local chiefs
and headmen to levy fines in their process of
adjudication
served to strengthen their ability to enforce those elements of
social cohesion which are
still under traditional rule.
The nomadic pastoral system has in particular been viewed as

a backward system and policies to
"modernize" countries
have tended to discourage these strategies for livelihood. At
the same time, the
settled agricultural production patterns
promoted by "modern agriculture" are associated with soil
salination in conditions of low precipitation (Ethiopia), and

increases food insecurity because they tend
to promote
monocultural cultivation and a dependence on cash and
markets. The promotion of corn
cultivation in Zimbabwe, as in
many other parts of Africa, has especially been blamed for
increased
food insecurity in arid and semi-arid lands because
of its poor tolerance to drought.
In many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural policies

have been criticized for pushing maize, at
the expense of
traditional crops, such as sorghum and millet which are more
drought resistant than
corn. The promotion of maize at the
expense of other crops constituted a threat to food security,
and
thus a threat to secure livelihoods. Over time, people's
tastes change such that maize becomes the
preferred staple,
despite the fact that it is so prone to failure in drought years. In
Makaha, it was noted
that maize was allocated 80% of the
land cropped to cereals. This is significant because as the
traditional crops are grown less and less, knowledge about

their cultivation is passed on less and less
to future
generations. Eventually, the possibility for learning from
traditional practices and crop species
may be lost, and the
added security to livelihoods which these crop varieties
represent will also be
lost.
Research and agricultural extension policies have also been

found to be biased against the crops
grown traditionally,
discouraging such adaptive strategies as multi-variety
cropping of starch staples,
and even inter-cropping.
Policies which are designed to increase the productivity and

off-take of livestock for sale in the
domestic and external
markets, such as the ones attempted in Ethiopia in the mid-
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eighties (a hint of
structural adjustment), may seem at first to
be supportive of the adaptive strategies which place a lot
of
emphasis on the well-being of livestock. However, there is an
important detail which needed to also
be addressed: how to
handle the sale of livestock over which an entire community
has some say. The
mere promotion of sales by individuals
would be likely to result in conflict, as well as the disruption of
some of the other aspects of the community's survival,

including the community's responsibility to
those who are
faced with destitution.
Clearly, policy-makers need to become more receptive to

ideas which originate from the local
communities themselves.
It is likely that effective interfaces between the "modern"
livestock marketing
needs of the national economy and the
"traditional" communal system of decision-making will only be
found by listening to what the Boran and Afar, and other

similar communities suggest are the best
ways for them to
participate without their livelihoods being threatened. Indeed,
the same holds true for
other possible policy interventions.
Policies in support of livestock production include the

provision of veterinary extension services, and
the control of
herd movement across district boundaries to prevent the
spread of disease. These are
supportive of people's adaptive
strategies.
ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Key stresses
Adaptive strategies
strategies
Significance
Bibliography
At the macro-economic level, Zimbabwe, like many other

developing countries, has been
implementing stabilization and
structural adjustment programs. The resultant government
reductions on
social expenditures and the civil service wage
bill may perhaps have more of an impact on urban
rather than
rural dwellers. However, the inhabitants of rural Zimbabwe
such as those of Mudzi and
Gwanda, have been affected to
the extent that they use government health and education
facilities.
Other impacts may come indirectly as a result of
reduced remittances from urban relatives, as the
latter's own
real incomes decline. Urban remittances are a common part of
the ensemble of adaptive
strategies for rural Africans. Often, a
rural family will invest in the education of one or more
members
of the family (including extended family), who will in
the future provided added security to the survival
system of
the family. On the other hand, however, the removal of
centralized agricultural marketing in
Zimbabwe have resulted
in increased cash incomes to rural farmers off-setting the
dependence on
urban remittances.
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Significance of the IISD project
Our focus was to find examples of synergies among the local

adaptive
strategies, policy and technology. Such synergy we
argued would
encourage ample conditions to lead to
In order to test this hypothesis we
have had to identify with
local communities potential indicators
of sustainable livelihoods.
The added value to traditional
community development work is the
inclusion of the ecological
and social dimensions to the traditional
economic focus.
Our work is grounded in systems ecology and the principles of
co-adaptation between nature and society. It is significant

because
it provides an operational handle to help design
policy and technological
interventions which can help
household and communities achieve
sustainable livelihoods or
at least reduce the obstacles which
prevent them from so
doing. In other words, the work provides
a way to
operationalize the common rhetoric of "bottom-up
designs of
project and policies", but goes further in seeking
to integrate
bottom-up and top down approaches.
Policy design which took into account the local strategy would
not only prevent such perverse impact but should have the
potential
to augment local livelihoods. Take the case in
Zimbabwe of the
deregulation of central agricultural marketing
at the urging of
local groups. When the system of central
purchasing of farmer's
grain by Government was removed
and local storage was improved,
more grain became available
for local consumption and cash incomes
improved
simultaneously from local sale of surplus. On the other
hand,
sudden marketing deregulation led to chaos in Zambia where
local groups were not as involved and where adequate local

storage
and other mechanisms were not in place. Our work is
replete with
similar examples from the different communities
and countries.
Another significant contribution of this work is that it turns
traditional approaches to poverty reduction upside down. It

begins
with local people's strengths and gifts not with their
weaknesses
and needs. It does not seek to give them what
others perceive
as their needs but rather to build on what
they, the local people,
see as their strengths. And it has the
potential to bring together
the powerful forces of policy and
technology to help this process.
The concepts and methodology we have used are not new.

Our major
contribution has been to bring them together in a
way that made
operational sense. Of course, it will be naive to
claim that
any single approach leads to sustainable
livelihoods, but we have
demonstrated an important first step
in an alternative approach
to helping the transition to poverty
elimination and the achievement
of sustainable livelihoods.
The concepts and methodology are
not context specific and
this gives the work potential application
to households and
communities in other ecozones and economies,
as well as
provides tools for bottom-up approaches to work on
issues
such as land restoration and biodiversity conservation.
The
application of the approach to the Great Plains to promoting
public and private sector policy changes which can enhance
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livelihoods
sustainability is an attractive option for further work
by IISD
because of the natural linkages with current Great
Plains initiatives
such as the Adaptation Council of Manitoba.

ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
The response to the potential of our work from the people

involved
in it has been extremely positive. CIDA participated in
the project
as a member of the International Advisory Group.
They have invited
us to submit a proposal which applies the
adaptive strategies
approach to community-based drought
mitigation work in countries
in Southern Africa. UNDP funded
a significant part of the field
work. They have already reviewed
the preliminary findings. As
a result they have invited us to
participate in their in-house
training workshop with 25 program
managers to examine innovative
ways of poverty reduction.
The UN Capital Development Fund has
invited us to discuss
ways in which they might benefit from this
approach. The
World Bank has invited us to do an in-house briefing
seminar
on our findings. The G.E.F. has indicated interest in
the
application of our approach to work on land and biodiversity
conservation in dry areas.
The recently approved U.N. System Special Initiative for Africa
has drawn directly from our work in its proposal on

employment
and sustainable livelihoods as a priority area.
The implication
of this, apart from the central recognition that it
confers on
our work, is that the door is now open for us to
develop a concrete
proposal for further work in Africa to be
supported by the international
community.
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Cumming, D.H.M. and Murphree. Savanna land use: Policy

practice
in Zimbabwe CASS/WWF Paper No. 1. 1991.
Derman, I.N. The unsettling of the Zambezi Valley: An
examination
of the Mid-Zambezi Rural Development Project.
Harare: Centre
for Applied Social Science Working Paper,
University of Zimbabwe,
1990.
Grant, P. "The fertilization of sandy soils in peasant

agriculture."
Zimbabwe Agriculture Journal, No. 78 (1981).
Harris, P.S. Black industrial workers in Rhodesia. Gwelo:
Mambo Press, 1974.
Hughes, J. Development in Rhodesia tribal areas: An

overview.
Salisbury: Tribal Areas of Rhodesia Research
Foundation, 1974.
Jansen, D.J. Agricultural prices and subsidies in Zimbabwe:
Benefits, costs, and trade-offs. Unpublished Consultancy
Report. 1982.
Kay, G. Rhodesia: A human geography. London: University

of
London Press, 1970.
Kinsey, B. The strategy and tactics of agrarian reform:

Resettlement
and land use policy in Zimbabwe. Schools of
Development Studies
Discussion Paper No. 136. Norwich:
University of East Anglia,
1984.
Martin, R.B. Communal Areas Management Programme for

Indigenous
Resources (CAPMFIRE). Harare: Department of
National Parks
and Wildlife Management, 1986.
Murombedzi, J. An outline of the historical trajectory of local
government institutions and community development. Harare:
Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS), University of

Zimbabwe,
1987.
Palmer, R.H. Aspects of Rhodesian land policy 1890-1936,
The Central African Historical Association, Local Services, No.
22, Salisbury. 1986.
Phimister, I., "Discourse and the discipline of historical
contest: Conservationism and ideas about development in

Southern
Rhodesia." Journal of Southern African Studies No.
12 (1986).
Schoffeleers, J.M. Guardians of the land. Gwelo: Mambo
Press, 1978.
Silverthone, J. "The effects of the economic structural

adjustment
programme on women in Zimbabwe." Zimbabwe
Women's Resource
Centre and Network, Vol, 2 No. 3 (1993).
Stocking, M.A. and H.A. Elwell. "Soil erosion hazard in

Rhodesia."
Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, No. 70 (1973).

ASAL Project
ASALs
Description
Outputs
Findings
Significance
Bibliography
Vincent, V. and R.G. Thomas. An agricultural survey of

Southern
Rhodesia, Part I: Agro-ecological survey. Salisbury:
Government
Printers, 1961.
Whitlow, R. Deforestation in Zimbabwe: Problems and

prospects.
Harare: University of Zimbabwe, 1988.
Zimbabwe. Republic of Zimbabwe. Transitional national

development
plan. Harare: Government Printers, 1982.
Zimbabwe. Republic of Zimbabwe. First Five-Year National

Development
Plan, 1986 - 1990. Harare: Government Printer,
1986.
Participatory approach to research
The development paradigms of the 1960s and 1970s derived

from
the legacy of colonial rule, especially the planning
systems of
the late 1930s and post-WW2 period. The
conception was top down
(development was something
governments did for or to people),
and the language militarybureaucratic - by WW2 out of US management
literature:
"objectives", "targets", "strategies",
"capability". The formal
social science methods of the
late 1950s, combined with
digital processing, produced much spurious
(and some
credible) quantification, usually at great cost. There
was little
stakeholder involvement of those undergoing "development",
a fact which must rank high among the causes of the failures
of
development to improve the lives of the majority poor of the
"developing"
world. Participatory development arose as a
reaction to this realization
of failure, popularized particularly by
Gordon Conway and Robert
Chambers (1992), and more
recently by David Korten (1996).
Another guiding principle therefore is that research is

participatory,
a much abused word that encompasses several
virtues and vices.
As with all methods, its merits vary with the
research situation
and the practitioner. At its best, the process
can be liberating,
empowering and educative, a collegial
relationship that brings
local communities into the policy
debate, validating their knowledge.
At its worst, it can
degenerate into a process of co-option of
local communities
into an external agenda, or an exploitative
series of empty
rituals imposing fresh burdens on the community's
time and
energy and serving primarily to legitimize the credentials
of
the implementing agency as "grassroots oriented".
While
participation must be integral to the research process,
it must
be understood and practiced as a genuine process.
Purpose
methodologies
Participant Observer
Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
Participatory Rural Appraisal
(PRA)
Participatory Action Research
(PAR)
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
More resources about

participatory approaches to
development:
Toolkits for community
sustainable
development initiatives
IDRC:Participatory
Together, the many methods of participatory work are now

often referred to as
Participatory Learning and Action (PLA).
Jules Pretty (1995) provides an excellent
overview in his
Trainers Manual for Participatory Learning and Action,
available from IIED. Despite a wealth of alternative and often

confusing names, participatory research methods can be
conveniently classified into four main
types, each with a
distinctive style and ethos.
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
Participatory Action Research (PAR)
National country implementing agencies and participants
should
have some, preferably extensive, experience of
participatory research
techniques and processes, so that they
can make a creative contribution
to the development of project
methodology.
It is therefore up to each team to select the best mix of

methods
to suit their chosen research site. This guidebook
cannot make
that choice, but can offer some guiding
observations. Not every
single method or technique to be
used must be participatory; but
the overall ethos of the
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development
communication
research must be so, and the question

of the ultimate
ownership of the knowledge is an important consideration.
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Participant observation and individual interviews
Participant observation and individual

interviews
The "participant observer"

field technique is well established
in anthropology and has been
adopted by other disciplines.
The method derives from the insight
that you derive from a
community's values, dynamics, internal
relationships,
structures and conflicts best from their observed
actions,
rather than from their (normative) statements of what
"is".
The participant observer attempts immersion, to
the extent
permitted, in local life in order to understand and
document
how things work.
Dangers and drawbacks
Purpose
methodologies
(PRA)
(PAR)
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
In the IISD project all teams used a mix of methods, but one
team-
the South African one - was quite explicit that, for
them, participant
observation and individual interviews were
far more productive
of learning about adaptive strategies
than PRA survey methods.
But the participant observation
and involvement with the community
as a whole had been
on-going for some years, an involvement that
provided much
of the fundamental data for the project report.
Participant
observation is an excellent method if there is the
time, and it
can be justified particularly where individual researchers
already have prior exposure in the selected community.

Three main
dangers of this method that must be guarded
against are:
Subjectivism and even solipsism: it is the least
objective
of all methods, and relies most heavily on
the integrity and intellectual
honesty of the
researcher, whose experiences cannot be replicated,
by the very nature of the research;

Documentation can be tricky: field notes often
contain
too much confidential information for wider
circulation: much
has to be taken on trust;
The method is less suited to "project" situations
where the team are outsiders, not so familiar with the

area, and
where there are time constraints.
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Rapid Rural Appraisal consists of a series of techniques for

"quick
and dirty" research that are claimed to generate results
of less apparent precision, but greater evidential value, than
classic quantitative survey techniques. The method does not

need
to be exclusively rural nor rapid, but it is economical of
the
researcher's time. It is essentially extractive as a process:
the agenda is still that of the outside researcher.
RRA (and analogs) emerged in the 1970s as a more efficient

and
cost-effective way of learning by outsiders, particularly
about
agricultural systems, than was possible by large-scale
social
surveys or brief rural visits by urban professionals. It
drew
on many of the insights of field social anthropology of
the 1930s-1950s,
emphasized the importance and relevance
of situational local knowledge,
and the importance of getting
the big things broadly right rather
than achieving spurious
statistical accuracy. It developed a style
of listening research,
and a creative combination of iterative
methods and
verification, including "triangulation"
of data from different
sources - using two different methods to
view the same
information. It was usually conducted by a multi-disciplinary
team, and its chief techniques included:
Purpose
methodologies
(PRA)
(PAR)
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
Review of secondary sources, including aerial photos,

even
brief aerial observation
Direct observation, foot transects, familiarization,
participation
in activities
Interviews with key informants, group interviews,
workshops
Mapping, diagramming
Biographies, local histories, case studies
Ranking and scoring
Time lines
Short simple questionnaires, towards end of process
Rapid report writing in the field.
The range of techniques can be effective, but it remains

fundamentally
an extractive, externally-driven process. Many
researchers who
use standard RRA methods claim that they
are using PRA, when the
"participation" is restricted to
provision of information
to the researcher by the community.
The simple test is what is
the value added and who owns the
product. If the community draws
a map because you ask
them to, it's RRA. If they realize that
the map belongs to
them, and want to keep it for their own use,
then it's PRA.
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More an eclectic situational style (the humble, learning

outsider) than a method, the Participatory
Rural Appraisal is
distinguished at its best by the use of local graphic
representations created by the
community that legitimize local
knowledge and promote empowerment.
Emerging in the 1980s, PRA "proper" builds on RRA but goes

much further. To RRA it adds some
more radical activist
perspectives, deriving principally from South Asia. Its five
central additional
concepts are:
Empowerment. Knowledge is power. Knowledge arises
from the process and results of the
research that,
through participation, come to be shared with and
owned by local people. Thus the
professional
monopoly of information, used for planning and
management decisions, is broken.
New local
confidence is generated, or reinforced, regarding the
validity of their knowledge.
"External" knowledge can
be locally assimilated.
Respect. The PRA process transforms the researchers
into learners and listeners, respecting local
intellectual
and analytical capabilities. Researchers have to learn a
new "style". Researchers must
avoid at all costs an
attitude of patronizing surprise that local people are so
clever they can make
their own bar charts etc. The
"ooh-aah" school of PRA works against its own
principles of
empowerment and indicates shallow
naivete on the part of the researcher. A good rule of
thumb is
that when you can really understand the local
jokes, poetry and songs, then you may feel you are
starting to understand the people's culture.

Localization. The extensive and creative use of local
materials and representations encourages visual
sharing and avoids imposing external representational

conventions.
Enjoyment. PRA, well done, is, and should be, fun. The
emphasis is no longer on "rapid" but on the
process.
Inclusiveness. Enhanced sensitivity, through attention
to process; include marginal and vulnerable
groups,
women, children, aged, and destitute.
Purpose
methodologies
Because of the diversity of research questions which can

possibly be posed in this project, there are
few prescriptions
other than that PRA, well done, is a promising way in. The
term PRA itself can
cause difficulties: PRA need not be rural,
and sometimes is not even participatory, and is frequently
used as a trendy label for standard RRA techniques. Despite

its limitations, the concentrated power
of formalization of
community knowledge through participatory techniques can
generate an
impressive amount of information in a relatively
short space of time, leaving time for more selective
structured
formal surveys where they are necessary and of value. If PRA
becomes part of the global development agenda, there are
risks of:
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(PRA)
(PAR)
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
IDS: PRA resources
IDS: The power of
participation
"Hijacking". When this occurs, the PRA agenda is

externally driven, and used to create legitimacy
for
projects, agencies and NGOs.
Formalism. The "PRA hit team" arrives in a local
community to "do a PRA". This abrupt and
exploitative
approach is all too common in project-based PRAs
where there is a deadline to meet,
or in scheduled
training courses.
Disappointment. Local expectations can easily be
raised. If nothing tangible emerges, local
communities
may come to see the process as a transient external
development phenomenon. Threats. The
empowerment implications of PRA, and the power of its
social analysis, can create
threats to local vested
interests, although less so than with PAR.
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Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a more activist

approach, working to empower the local
community, or its
representatives, to manipulate the higher level power
structures. Claimed for a
variety of interventions - World Banksupported credit unions for the relatively privileged,
Grameentype banks for the very poor, community based paralegal
training and litigation, voter
education drives among the
marginalized - PAR can empower a community, entrench a
local elite,
right a wrong or totally mess things up. It depends
on the extent of awareness and political savoir
faire of the
supporting outside organization.
Purpose
methodologies
(PRA)
(PAR)
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
Cornell: PARnet
PAR, which owes more to a radical activist tradition from the

work of Paulo Freire and others in
Latin America, derives
some of its rationale from an awareness that PRA, for all its
emphasis on
participation, capability building, ownership of
knowledge and empowerment, is still fundamentally
an
extractive and intellectual exercise. The benefits PRA brings
to local communities can be
intangible and even
disappointing. PAR, by contrast, works directly with local
political/development
capacities to bring real, visible
organizational structures, effective local advocacy, and a
durable
change in power relations with the center. If it can
avoid the danger of entrenching a self-interested
local elite,
and address honestly the long-term choices that must be
made on resource utilization, it
perhaps has the most potential
of all the methods described to secure the resources for
sustainable
livelihoods. The IISD project demonstrated more
than one example of country project teams
moving beyond a
PRA approach to see that a PAR-type approach was
desirable, seeking to
mobilize actual resources in a follow-up
exercise to produce durable change.
Participatory Action Research is fine if you understand the

local power structure and the issues. It is
best reserved for
situations where the external agent is aware of the potential
for damage, both to
themselves and, more importantly, to the
disempowered in the community. It also works best where
the
external agency has a clear status and relationship with the
community and can command
resources for a long-term
commitment.
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Project stages
Project stages
The general research schema can be seen as a seven-stage

progression
from common problem definition, to local studies
by implementing
agencies (IAs), back to a linked set of
outputs.
Stage 1: Project scope and initial preparations

Stage 2: Country, site, and implementing agency
selection
Stage 3: First international workshop
Stage 4: Field and policy research
Stage 5: Backcasting and production of draft outputs
Stage 6: Second international workshop
Stage 7: Dissemination of outputs and participatory
evaluation of sustainable livelihood outcomes
Like the concepts, the overall design of the project is

suggestive,
and any agency will want to mold it to its own
specific concerns.
Any project design and management
structure has to ensure quality
and timeliness of outputs, but
the design discussed here focuses
on certain key concerns
arising from the specific nature of this
project. These are:
CASL Home Page

CASL Guidebook
ensuring that the project proceeds with sufficient

commonality
of purpose and understanding of key
concepts that meaningful dialogs
between country
teams can inform the final outputs;
ensuring consistency and synergy between the
country field
studies and the policy recommendations;
ensuring the genuinely participatory nature of the
project;
balancing the participatory nature of the project,
implying
a certain flexibility in the timing of fieldwork,
with the need
to coordinate activities to focus on
certain key integrating workshops.
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
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Project stages
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
This guide draws on the experience of many individuals and

institutions both directly and indirectly.
In 1994-95 the International Institute for Sustainable

Development (IISD) sponsored a series of pilot research
projects in five African countries, focusing on agropastoralists
in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). The outcome of this
project was sufficiently encouraging to lead to the hope and
expectation that other, similar projects could be undertaken, in
order to widen the basis of understanding and policy
recommendations. Accordingly this document on participatory
research for sustainable livelihoods, prepared for local project
coordinators, has been revised and expanded for publication,
with a view to assisting those who might wish to undertake
similar projects, either in ASALs or other ecosystems, and not
necessarily within Africa.
Although each organization will have its own style of

operations, and each research situation is different, there are
certain common features to projects of this type. The overall
design is comparative: countries and sites are selected within
an ecosystem family, in order to control one major variable;
but within that they should be broadly representative of the

range of variance within that family. The implementing
agencies for the country projects are envisaged as being, by
preference, competent national NGOs with a track record of
implementing community-based projects and policy analysis.
The concept is that NGOs will, on the basis of a project,
document or prospectus (prepared by local communities.)
These local communities have collectively devoted many days
of their time to communication with outsiders, through
"participatory" research. These outsiders have gained credit

for their discoveries, such as Livingstone gained credit for
"discovering" the Victoria Falls. Some are aware of their
indebtedness. The authors of this guide share an
indebtedness to the people with whom they have worked, and
wish to acknowledge it publicly. We hope to contribute to the
correction of the unequal exchange in the field of knowledge
through this project.
The process of mutual learning which generated this guide,

drew heavily on the work of the six institutions contributing to
the IISD project. Collectively they have documented a wealth
of practical experience, research, analysis and reflection.
These are:
ENDA - Zimbabwe Environment and Development Agency,
Zimbabwe
(Harare, Zimbabwe)
GREFCO - Groupe de Recherches de Formation et de
Conseils
(Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)

IISD - The International Institute for Sustainable Development
(Winnipeg, Canada)
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Acknowledgements
KENGO - The Kenya Energy and Environment Organisation
(Nairobi, Kenya)
LEM - Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia
["Lem" is the Amharic word for "green"]
(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

WRF - The University of the Witwatersrand Rural Facility
(Johannesburg, South Africa)
Prior to a workshop with the participating institutions, the

project's International Advisory Group (IAG) contributed
valuable inputs, suggestions, and advice, reflected in the
revised research protocol. Their substantive contributions,
thoughtful observations and occasionally vigorous arguments,

are reflected throughout. This guide was the result of a
collective process of discussion and debate; some key
sources:
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
Workshop participants
Advisory group members
Outcomes evaluation framework
contributors
African partner organizations
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
Daniel Thieba's co-authored manual on PRA methods

based on two years of conducting PRA training and
exercises in several francophone West African
countries;
the Eastern Transvaal PRA workshop report; and
the many conceptual papers and project documents by
Naresh Singh and Vangile Titi of IISD.
We have also drawn extensively on Keith Rennie's varied

experiences over many years in several anglophone African
countries. The IISD has played a catalytic role in formulating
the project idea and providing the resources and management
required to bring it to fruition.
The framework for evalutating sustainable livelihood outcomes

was the result of diligent effort by IISD staff - Laurie Ham,
Marion Meyer, John Sinclair, and Naresh Singh in consultation
with a wide variety of academics and evaluation practicioners.
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The following individuals attended the first and second

international
workshops of the Adaptive Strategies for
in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands
Project undertaken by the International
Institute for
Sustainable Development. These workshops were held
in
Nairobi, September 1994 and at the Wits Rural Facility,
South
Africa, March 1995. The Guidebook for Field
Projects on Adaptive
Strategies was one of the outputs of
these workshops.
(Participants marked + attended both workshops.

Participants marked
* attended the Nairobi workshop only.)
Alexander Amuah
5458 85th Avenue #102
New Carrolton, MD 20784 USA
Kassahun Berhanu
Department of Political Science
Addis Ababa University
P O Box 1176
LEM Environment and Development Society
P O Box 8632
John Gear
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Chris George
First Secretary
Harare, Zimbabwe
David Gylywoychuk
IISD
Winnipeg, MB R3B 0Y4 Canada
Ken Jeenes
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Peter Karinge*
KENGO
P O Box 48197
Nairobi, Kenya
Bowdin King
ENDA-Zimbabwe
P O Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
UNEP, DC/PAC
P O Box 30552
Nairobi, Kenya
Nigel Motts
P O Box 477
Samuel K Mutiso
Department of Geography, Faculty of Social
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Sciences
University of Nairobi
P O Box 30197
Nairobi, Kenya
Fanuel Nangati
7 Queensgate
Mount Pleasant
Harare, Zimbabwe
Sharon Pollard
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
J. Keith Rennie+
3047 Meeting Street
Falls Church, VA 22044, USA
John Reynolds*
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Charlie Shackleton
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Sheona Shackleton
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Naresh Singh+
IISD
Phosiso Sola
ENDA-Zimbabwe
P O Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
Jonathan Stadler
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
Dumisayi Takavarasha*
ENDA-Zimbabwe
P O Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
Shibru Tedla+
ECO-Consult
P O Box 5998
Daniel Thieba+
GREFCO
01 BP 1895
Vangile Titi+
IISD
Christophe Zaongo
GREFCO
01 BP 1895
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International Advisory Group (IAG)

members
The International Advisory Group draws together persons who

combine a very wide range of rich experiences relevant to the
Project and its goals, with extensive knowledge of the issues.
They also bring to the project a wide range of institutional links
and network affiliations.
Eugenie Aw (Senegal)
Africa 2000 Network
United Nations Avenue
Gigiri, Block B
Nairobi, Kenya
UNEP, DC/PAC
P O Box 30552
Nairobi, Kenya
Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia
P O Box 8632, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Steve Blais
CIDA
200 Promenade du Portage
Hull, Quebec, Canada
K1G 3H9
Anil Gupta
Indian Institute of Management
Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380 015, India
Walter Lusigi (Kenya)
World Bank
1818 F Street, NW
Washington DC, USA
Charlie Shackleton
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Joachim Voss
IDRC
250 Albert St.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1G 3H9
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
Helen Hambly
IDRC
State House Avenue
P O Box 62084
Nairobi, Kenya
Alioun Sall
UNDP
One United Nations Paza
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New York, NY 10017 USA

contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
Alternates at second meeting:

Chris George (for Steve Blais)
First Secretary
Harare, Zimbabwe
Nigel Motts (for Joachim Voss)
P O Box 477
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Experts consulted in the development of the evaluation framework
Experts consulted in the development of

the evaluation framework
Many thanks to all who were interviewed and who participated

in
a workshop on the applicability and utility of the framework
for
evaluating sustainable livelihood outcomes of participatory
projects:
Ron Bietz
Mennonite Central Committee
Val Carter
Mennonite Central Committee
Robert Chamber's secretary
Director
The Institute of Development Studies
The University of Sussex
Archana Dwivedi
Project Coordinator, Corporate Affairs and Initiatives Division
International Development Research Centre
Sam Joseph
Action Aid
Marc Laport
Executive Director
Partnerships Africa
Dr. Lance Roberts
Professor of Sociology
University of Manitoba
Nola-Kate Seymoar
Deputy to the President
International Institute for Sustainable Development
Dr John Sinclair
Professor of Natural Resource Management
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
Ravin Singh
Performance Review Division
Canadian International Development Agency
Bernard Taylor
Evaluation Officer
Partnerships Africa - Canada
Dr. Paul Thomas
Professor of Political Science
Dr. Ray Weist
Professor of Anthropology
Mohammad Zaman
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
St. Thomas University, Fredricton, NB
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/EvalAck.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:18:39 AM]
Experts consulted in the development of the evaluation framework
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/EvalAck.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:18:39 AM]
ENDA profile
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
ENDA profile
ENDA-Zimbabwe (Environment and Development Activities Zimbabwe) is a not-for-profit NGO

engaging in environment and
development activities through projects, consultancies and
human
resource capacity building. Its main concerns and key
activities have been in long-term food security
and poverty
alleviation through appropriate technology dissemination and
empowerment, sustainable
natural resources management and
small enterprise development.
PO Box 3492
Harare, Zimbabwe
Fax: 263-4-301156
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/ENDA.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:18:56 AM]
GREFCO profile
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
GREFCO profile
GREFCO (Groupe de Recherches de Formation et de

Conseils) conducts research about the key
constraints to
development assistance to NGOs, and multi- and bi-lateral cooperation through
monitoring, evaluation, and training. The
organization has published a useful training manual on PRA (in
French) based on its extensive training experience.
01 BP 1895
Ouagadougou 01
Burkina Faso
Fax: 226-34-21-15
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/GREFCO.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:19:03 AM]
KENGO profile
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
KENGO profile
KENGO (the Kenya Energy and Environment Organization) is

an indigenous NGO membership
organization established in
1982 to promote grassroots organizational involvement in
renewable
energy, environmental management and community
development. It responds to the needs of its
members through
advocacy for policies and programs in land use and natural
resources management,
business,energy, technology
development, information networking and environmental
quality.
PO Box 48197
Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: 254-2-749-382
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/KENGO.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:19:10 AM]
LEM profile
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
LEM profile
LEM (The Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia)

was set up in 1992. It is a
membership organization, registered
as a NGO with the Ethiopian government. Its main objective is
to influence policy decision through advocacy in favor of

sustainable livelihoods. It is involved in
creating more habitable
environments, e.g. clean-up activities, programs implemented
by communities
and publication of awareness creating
information bulletins.
PO Box 8632
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Fax: 251-1-513851
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/LEM.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:19:16 AM]
Witwatersrand Rural Facility profile
Witwatersrand Rural Facility profile
CASL Guidebook
Purpose
Project Stages
Acknowledgments
contributors
ENDA
GREFCO
KENGO
LEM
WRF
Wits Rural Facility, established in 1989, is situated in the

central lowveld of South Africa not far from
the Kruger
National Park. Originally seen primarily as a facility for the
University of the
Witwatersrand - a permanent rural base for
students, staff, and researchers - it has merged these with
the
NGO functions of community service, including training, legal
support and organization. Its service,
research, and teaching
activities are aimed at improving the lives of people in the
Bushbuckridge are of
the central lowveld and at putting the
issues pertinent to the lives of rural people on research and
teaching agendas of South African Universities. Its

established programs include natural resources
management,
income generation support, water information, rural
engineering, education, community
resource centre,
community liaison and architectural projects. It sees in the
next few years a need to
offset the predominant urban
development imperative with rural advocacy.
Wits Rural Facility
Private Bag X420
Acornhoek 1360
South Africa
Fax: 27-1528-33992
http://www.iisd.org/casl/CASLGuide/Wits.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:19:23 AM]
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A Guide For Participatory Communication Research Methods (RRA, PRA & PAR)

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A Guide For Participatory Communication Research Methods (RRA, PRA & PAR)

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A guide for field projects on adaptive strategies

The first version of this guide was drafted on the basis of

discussions at a workshop in Nairobi (September 1994)

CASL Home Page

By the time a second workshop was

This revised version has benefited from the submission of

August 31, 1995

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/guidebook-home.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:09:48 AM]

Purpose of this guide

Purpose of this guide

It was the guiding hypothesis of the studies on which this

Participatory field research projects to identify, describe and

understand adaptive strategies, and to make policy

As the project developed, it became clear that this guide

assistance community in promoting the understanding that, in

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/Guide-Purpose.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:10:39 AM]

Purpose of this guide

It is also worth stating what the guide is not intended to

quantitative surveys. The central concern is to ensure that

experience to assist local project teams to make informed

CASL Home Page

The guide also does not dictate project design or detailed

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/Guide-Purpose.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:10:39 AM]

Underlying principles guiding project design

Underlying principles guiding project

Two principles of project design must first be dealt with, as

they form the basis of the entire approach which follows. A

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/Guide-Principles.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:11:04 AM]

The ecosystem-based approach

The ecosystem-based approach

The overall purpose of the project is to promote sustainable

type" here refers to a set of ecosystems which share certain

key defining criteria. This guidebook concentrates on the

We can gain much by studying adaptive strategies of people

ASALs provide an example of an ecosystem family. The term

distant on the agro-pastoralist continuum. In some areas,

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/Ecosystemapproach.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:11:21 AM]

The ecosystem-based approach

ASALs constitute an important set of ecosystems globally,

arising from increases in human and animal populations, from

However, over time the peoples themselves who live in

Compounding this underlying threat to the balance between

In Africa, ASALs frequently have been regarded as peripheral

unusual to find that development objectives, which sometimes

In the case of the IISD project, selection of different country

sites illustrating typical points along the range of variation,

resulted in a broad typology with South Africa at one end and

Afars at the other. The South African example illustrated

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/Ecosystemapproach.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:11:21 AM]

The ecosystem-based approach

for household incomes (about

indicate possible paths of future historical progression from

one end of the scale to the other.

This approach could be applied to other sets of ecosystems

Whatever ecosystem family is selected, it will be useful as a

preliminary step to compile a brief, non-technical and insightful

summary review of the "state of the art" of knowledge

they not only depend on ecosystems, but through their

http://www.iisd.org/casl/caslguide/Ecosystemapproach.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:11:21 AM]

Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics and importance

Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics

The notion of desertification has been a contentious subject.

http://www.iisd.org/casl/ASALProjectDetails/ASAL.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:11:35 AM]

Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics and importance

Another notion linked to desertification is that of desert

rainfall patterns that are inherently erratic;

http://www.iisd.org/casl/ASALProjectDetails/ASAL.htm[08-09-2015 , Tuesday 01:11:35 AM]

Adaptive Strategies for Sustainable

Under existing conditions (of externally driven development

These responses generally have not provided long-term

conditions and processes which produced and reinforced

Community Sustainability - Home