Community participation in research: Proceedings of a workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This publication is based on a workshop, coorganized and cosponsored by the Unit of Applied Nutrition, University of Nairobi, and the Health Sciences Division of the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC), held in Nairobi, Kenya, during September 1991. The workshop's aim was to expose the staff of the Applied Nutrition Unit to the concepts of participatory development as well as explore issues arising from their use. Papers included in the volume are as follows: tools for community participation - learning from the PROWESS (Promotion of the Role of Women in Water and Environment Sanitation Services, Nairobi, Kenya); participatory research: an alternative approach; rapid assessment procedures - the East African experience; participatory rural appraisal for sustainable resource management in rural Kenya; Sudan reforestation: an anti-desertification project; assessment of decentralized health services using LQAS (Lot Quality Assurance Sampling); participatory village development planning in Morogoro, Tanzania; participatory research in an academic setting; and problem areas in PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) and related methodologies. The emergent consensus of those taking part in the workshop pointed toward a need for increased knowledge about participatory approaches for researchers and development agents.