PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

WITH FOCUS ON HUMAN SECURITY

 

Discussion Paper

 

Prepared by:

 

NESTOR M. PESTELOS

 

UNDP-UNOPS Integrated Areas Development Project (IADP)

 

February 1994

 

 

 

PARTICIPATORY DEVELOMENT METHODOLOGIES

WITH FOCUS ON HUMAN SECURITY

FOR BROADER REPLICATION UNDER

EQUITABLE AND SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (ESHDP)

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1.0       The promotion of participatory development in the Pacific context with special focus on human security will have to contend with several paradoxes:

 

a.      pursuit of economic growth with its concomitant individualist and competitive ethic, and the underlying social orientation of collective work and egalitarian ethic;

 

b.      modern government system, and an indigenous way of governance embedded in traditional beliefs and practices still adhered to by many local communities;

 

c.      a subsistence economy providing for basic needs, and a parallel cash economy unable to meet new aspirations;

 

d.      church-influenced social behavior, and the renewed call towards cultural identity and integrity.

 

2.0       Methodologies designed to enhance participation will necessarily take these paradoxes into account.  The specific ways these paradoxes are played out in real life, and how they impinge on people’s perceptions of human security concerns, largely determine the mind-sets of targeted development participants.  Hence, a methodology which aims to generate or enhance participation need to be flexible enough t take in new tactics and/ or new emphases in messages for more effective forays into these mind-sets.

 

3.0       Finally, those methodologies will succeed only in so far as hey are in line with deeply-held values which underpin these paradoxes in the first place:

 

-          a deep regard for social cohesiveness despite diversities;

 

-          social obligation towards the family and clan, children and the elderly, as well as the disabled;

 

-          reverence for the past and close ties to tradition;

 

-          acceptance of change without loss of cultural integrity.

 

4.0       These values are taken into account in formulating the form and content of each participatory methodology.

 

A summary of IADP-developed methodologies due for broader replication under ESHDP is as follows:

 

 

PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGY

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

BENCHMARKS/

OUTPUTS

KEY ESHDP

INPUTS

 

Human Security Profiling and People-centered Development Planning

 

Notes:

 

- First tried in one island in the cook Islands under the atoll project.  Subsequently replicated in both atoll and non-atoll islands.

 

- Methodology field-tested and further refined in Kiribati and Tuvalu initially in 3 and 2 islands, respectively.  Assessed by planning authorities in both countries.  Kiribati and Tuvalu governments provided substantial funding for nationwide replication of the revised approach.

 

- Revised in North Ambrym to fully integrate HS.

 

 

Island Council/

Local government unit

 

 

Village chiefs,

elders

 

 

Religious leaders

 

 

Representatives of community groups,

i.e. women, youth, fishermen, subsistence food producers/ farmers, heads of households with malnourished children, etc.

 

Formal agreement by local government and the community on:

 

- human security concerns;

 

 

- local problems affecting most families;

 

 

- priority problems to be addressed;

 

- resources available from government, external agencies, community to solve each problem;

 

- project ideas from specific groups and disadvantaged families;

 

-  initial projects to be undertaken to help solve priority problems and/or forge closer government community partnership

 

Orientation of key officials of national agencies/NGOs

 

Training of national core team of trainers from selected agencies/NGOs

 

Collection and analysis of secondary data on the target community

 

Preparation of a draft development profile as basis of the workshop design

 

Identification of specific disadvantaged groups and families to be included as participants

 

Assessment of local experience with projects to guide project identification

 

Translation of training modules and support materials into local dialect

 

PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGY

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

BENCHMARKS/

OUTPUTS

KEY ESHDP

INPUTS

 

Credit programme for disadvantaged Groups and Households

 

Notes:

 

- First tried in the Cook islands under the atoll project.  Subsequently replicated in Kiribati and Tuvalu with funding support from Forum Secretariat.

 

-On account of initial experiences, approach will:

 

a.  sharpen focus on disadvantaged groups and households, rather than on entire village communities;

 

b.  strengthen linkage with formal banking institutions;

 

c.  work more with NGOs as intermediaries to targeted clients/ sectors

 

 

Community groups/

disadvantaged families with specific projects to implement

 

Island Council/

Village Development committee/ Youth and women’s coordinating body willing to start projects as vehicle for learning implementation and management skills

 

 

Funding facility administered jointly by the local government and the community

 

Specific projects carried out by community groups and/or disadvantaged families involved in local plan implementations

 

Initial impetus provided for local groups to proceed immediately to plan implementation rather than wait for external resources

 

Specific training needs identified jointly with project implementators and based on actual experience with individual projects

 

 

Technical assistance on:

 

- setting up the fund;

 

-  design and preparation of specific projects;

 

-  design of appropriate project reporting and monitoring system;

 

-  identification of specific training needs based on actual experience of project implementors

 

Hands-on training of project implementors

 

Training of relevant government/ NGO personnel involved in providing monitoring and other programme support to each individual project

PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGY

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

BENCHMARKS/

OUTPUTS

KEY ESHDP

INPUTS

 

Combined Social Preparation and Demonstration Approach for Adoption and Transfer of Sustainable Technologies

 

Notes:

 

- Field-tested and validated in Marshall Islands, Kiribati, FSM, Palau, Tuvalu, Tokelau

 

- Replicated by various projects funded by SPC, UNICEF, other agencies.

 

 

 

Subsistence/ commercial food producers, fishermen, handicraft workers, canoe and house builders, other representatives of the productive sectors

 

Traditional craftsmen, chiefs, elders with kastom knowledge of local production technologies

 

Actual demonstration and learning sites for sustainable technologies related to food production, environmental protection.

 

Improvements or need for innovative features of existing technologies identified by the people themselves.

 

Local knowledge on appropriate indigenous food production, environmental protection, craft-making technologies recognized and widely disseminated

 

 

Assessment of existing technologies to determine sustainability/ appropriateness

 

Mobilization of traditional craftsmen, chiefs, elders

 

Training of local trainers, resource persons, volunteers for the promotion of sustainable technologies

 

Technical assistance in setting up demonstration and learning sites

PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGY

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

BENCHMARKS/

OUTPUTS

KEY ESHDP

INPUTS

 

Integrating Indigenous Institutions

in

Sustainable Development Management System

 

- Standard social mobilization strategy in all IADP participating countries.

 

- In the process of being further refined in a Melanesian context, in Vanuatu.

 

 

Paramount and village chiefs, traditional leaders, community elders, kastom influentials (herbalist, tabu persons, etc.)

 

Island Council/ Local government unit

 

Ministry/ government responsible for local governance

 

Development roles, tasks clarified and accepted by traditional institutions and leaders

 

Values supportive of HD objectives identified and reaffirmed

 

Support to specific projects extended by indigenous institutions and traditional leaders

 

Immersion social preparation work with traditional institutions, leaders and community elders

 

Formulation of a development management framework defining respective tasks and functions acceptable to local government and the indigenous institutions

 

Training of government NGO fieldworkers on skills related to working with indigenous institutions

 

PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGY

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

BENCHMARKS/

OUTPUTS

KEY ESHDP

INPUTS

 

Mainstreaming of HD Concerns in Existing Policies, Plans and Programmes

 

Notes:

 

-Based on social preparation approaches applied by IADP to win policy and broad-based public support to project.

 

 

Policymakers/ Political leaders

 

Planners

 

Key programme/ project coordinators and implementors

 

Leaders/ representatives from indigenous and traditional institutions

 

Donors

Mass/folk

Media

practitioners

 

 

 

HD concerns fully integrated in existing policies, plans and programmes

 

National will and vision on HD articulated and widely disseminated

 

HD-related structures formed or revitalized with clear action programmes and funding support

 

HD-oriented prorammes and projects effectively monitored and coordinated

 

 

Conduct of advocacy activities

 

Assessment of existing capabilities for policy formulation, planning and programming in support of HD

 

Technical assistance and provision of relevant skills training

 

 

 

ANNEX

 

KEY REFERENCES ON THE PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

 

Human Security Profiling and People-Centered Development Planning

 

1. Sustainable Development and Environmental Management of Atolls

IADP Paper No. 1

(1988)

 

2. Development Strategies for Pacific Island Economies: with Special Reference to Atoll Countries

IADP Paper No. 2

(1989)

 

3. Outer Island Capability Enhancement Process (OICEP)- an Institutional Development Strategy for Small Islands

IADP Paper No. 6

(1990)

 

4.  Core Training Programme for Integrated Atoll Development

(1989)

 

5. Training Programme on Participatory Profiling and Planning in Mangaia, Cook Islands

(1990)

 

6. Mangaia Socio-Economic Profile

(1990)

 

7. Mangaia Integrated Development Framework Plan

(1990)

 

8. Penrhyn Socio-Economic Profile

(1991)

 

9. Penrhyn Integrated Development Framework Plan

(1991)

 

10. Participatory Island Profiling and Development Planning

 (1991)

 

11.Training Design on Participatory Island Profiling and Development Planning

(1991)

 

12. Participatory Island Profiling and Development Planning in Tuvalu

(1991)

 

13.  Participatory Island Profiling and Development Planning in Kiribati

(1991)

 

14.  Training Programme on Community Profiling and Area-based Human Development Planning

(1993)

 

Credit Programme for Disadvantaged Groups and Households

 

15.  Mangaia Visit – Some Observations

(1990)

 

16.  Initial Impact and Insights – reflections of the Rural Development Officer on IADP Operations in the Cook Islands

(1990)

 

17.              People’s Participation in Development Through the Island Development Coordinating Committee: the Cook Islands Experience

(1991)

 

18.  Kiribati Training Programme on Social Preparation and Island/Village Project Development and Implementation

 

19.  Tuvalu Training Programme on Island/Village Project Development and Implementation

(1992)

 

20. Practical Lessons from the Successes and Failures of Revolving Loan Fund Schemes

(1992)

 

21. Assessment Report on OIDPIMP (Outer Island Development Plan Implementation and Management Programme) - Kiribati

(1993)

 

22. Guidelines on the Micro Capital Fund for Catalytic Human Development Projects

(1993)

 

 

Combined Social Preparation and Demonstration Approach for Adoption and Transfer of Sustainable Technologies

 

23. Atoll Agriculture:  Some Experiences of the UNDP/OPE Integrated Atoll Development Project

(1989)

 

24. Promoting Food Production in Atolls

(1990)

 

25.  Training Design for Community-Based Food Production

(1991)

 

26. Report on Community-Based Food Production Training (North Tarawa, Kiribati; Yap, Pohnpei, FSM; Marshall Islands; Penrhyn atoll, Cook Islands)

(1991-1993)

 

27. The Integrated Atoll Development Project in Woleai Atoll, FSM

(1991)

 

 

Integrating Indigenous Institutions in Sustainable Development Management Systems

 

28.  Framework for Social Preparation/Mobilization for Development

(1989)

 

29.  Community Organizing in the Context of Social Mobilization

(1991)

 

30. Study of Indigenous Institutions in Kiribati

(1992)

 

 

Mainstreaming of HD Concerns in Existing Policies, Plans and Programmes

 

31.  Activities and Components for a National Advocacy Programme for Human Development

(1993)