Johnson, N., N. Lilja and J.A. Ashby. Data Collection: M. McKee, PRGA consultant; Statistical Analysis: J. Garcia, CIAT statistician. 2001. Using Participatory Research and Gender Analysis in Natural Resource Management. Working Document No. 10. PRGA Program, Cali, Colombia.

Twomlow S; Lilja N. 4th International Crop Science Congress “New Directions for a Diverse Planet,” 26 September to 1 October 2004, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.Evaluating the impacts of NRM research is essential to understand its contribution to increasing agricultural productivity and sustainability, reducing vulnerability, and ultimately alleviating poverty. A proper evaluation helps judge merit or worth, improve programs and generate knowledge. One indicator of a constructive evaluation is that it promotes learning and that the results are used to guide change. This paper suggests that a key to successful evaluation in NRM is in the mindset of the researcher. We discuss the contribution of four factors to a reflective learning process that is necessary in integrated NRM. They are: stakeholder participation, systems approach to evaluation, timing of the evaluation and an iterative approach to investigation.

Milne, M, C. McDougall, Y. Siagian, L. Uprety, and L.Yuliani. 2002. The Local People, Devolution and Adaptive and Collaborative Management of Forests Research Program: A Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Impact Assessment. Report of PRGA Small Grant for January 1999 - December 2001.

Ashby J; Lilja N. 4th International Crop Science Congress “New Directions for a Diverse Planet,” 26 September to 1 October 2004, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.Participatory research approaches that involve clients in the process of enquiry are widely practised today in many different branches of agriculture ranging from integrated pest management to applied biotechnology. This paper focuses on participatory plant breeding to show how participatory research increases benefits and is more effective at reaching women and the poor. Used in plant breeding, PR is seen to improve research efficiency and leads to more acceptable varieties thus accelerating adoption. This is probably the most compelling incentive for researchers to use this approach. Although often charaterized as expensive, PR also leads to changes in costs that do not lower breeding program cost benefit ratios and may improve these. The paper shows that a careful choice of research goals, targeting of environments and selection of user communities is required in order for PR to have an impact. Also a systematic understanding of different types of participation is needed to select appropriate PR techniques and tools. The paper concludes that PR or client-driven research when used appropriately and expertly, is a proven complement to conventional non-participatory research approaches.

Fukuda, W. M. G; N. Saad; Lilja, N. 2005. Participatory Cassava Breeding in Northeast Brazil: Who Adopts and Why?. PRGA Program Working Document No. 24.

Lilja, N. and O. Erenstein. 2002. Institutional Process Impacts of Participatory Rice Improvement Research and Gender Analysis in West Africa. Working Document No. 20. PRGA Program. Cali, Colombia.The participatory rice breeding and gender analysis approach used by the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) since 1996, and subsequently adopted by its national partners, can be characterized as functionally motivated participation, that is, trying to understand better what farmers want or need, and to feed back insights to formal research for improving future on-farm productivity. The expected impacts of incorporating participatory research approaches at different stages of the varietal development process can be argued to go beyond the economic benefits associated with the better crop type. “Process impacts” occur as a result of the participation itself rather than as a result of the technologies developed via participatory research methods. Some of these expected “institutional process impacts” include internal institutional changes (such as changes in breeding goals/objectives), breeding methods, and spillover effects to varietal development in other crops, as well as external institutional changes such as relations with other institutions (i.e., seed systems, and varietal release mechanisms). In an attempt to study whether some of these institutional changes are taking place in the national programs in West Africa, breeders and social scientists from 16 of the 17 national programs were interviewed during the annual Participatory Rice Improvement and Gender Analysis (PRIGA) Workshop in Côte d’Ivoire in May 2001. The results show that the national program scientists were unanimous about their reasons for incorporating participatory research /gender analysis approach into their rice breeding program. They believe that the participatory varietal selection (PVS) approach takes into account the biophysical and socioeconomic environment in which farmers operate, and hence seems to increase adoption rates better than the conventional breeding approach. National programs have received continuous, but very modest, financial support to their PVS work from WARDA. However, it has still required an additional financial and human commitment from the national programs, and it is doubtful that they would have continued investing resources into participatory research over the past 6 years were they not convinced of its benefits through a process of “learning by doing.” This is also supported by the fact that 60% of the national programs have expanded or planned to expand participatory research to research in other crops than rice.

Calkins, P. Thi Thao, V. Institutional Impacts of the Cassava Farmer Participatory Research and Extension Project in Thailand and Vietnam, 1993 - 2004, CGIAR Systemwide Program on Paticipatory Research and Gender Analysis for Technological and Institutional Innovation (PRGA Program), International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, CO, 2005.

Dalton, T; Lilja, N; Johnson, N and Howeler,R. Sept. 14, 2005. Impact of Participatory Natural Resource Management Research in Cassava-Based Cropping Systems in Vietnam and Thailand.

Knox A; Lilja N, 2004. Farmer Research and Extension. 20-20 Vision. International Food Policy Research Institute. Focus 11, Brief 14. In: Collective Action and Property Rights for Sustainable Development (Meinzen-Dick R; DiGregorio M, ed.).

Johnson, N., N. Lilja and J. A. Ashby. 2000. Characterizing and measuring the effects of incorporating stakeholder participation in natural resource management research: Analysis of research benefits and costs in three case studies. Working Document No. 17. PRGA Program. Cali, Colombia. 132 pp.This study assesses the impacts of incorporating user participation and gender analysis in natural resource management research. Four types of benefits and/or costs are considered: (1) impact on the technology developed and its adoption, (2) strengthening of human and social capital among participating individuals and communities, (3) establishment or strengthening of feedback links to formal research, and (4) costs of research. A typology of participation at different stages of the research process is used to develop type- and stage- based hypothesis for each of these four impacts. The hypotheses are evaluated in the context of three participatory NRM research/development projects. The three projects are: the design and development of integrated crop management (ICM) sweetpotato technologies by the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) and partners in Indonesia (1994-97); participatory testing of legume based soil fertility technologies by the International Center for Research in the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Malawi (1997-2000); and World Neighbors’ (WN) use of farmer experimentation to adapt and diffuse soil conservation practices in Honduras (1981-1989).

Sanginga, P, N. Lilja and J. Tumwine. 2001. Assessing the Quality of Participation in Farmers’ Research Groups in the Highlands of Southwestern Uganda. Working Document No. 19. PRGA Program, Cali, Colombia.

Sanginga, P, N. Lilja and J. Tumwine. 2001. Assessing the Quality of Participation in Farmers’ Research Groups in the Highlands of Southwestern Uganda. Working Document No. 19. PRGA Program, Cali, Colombia.

CGIAR Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA Program). 2002. Final Report. Assessing the Benefits of Rural Women''s Participation in Natural Resource Management Research and Capacity Building. Cali, Colombia.

CGIAR Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA Program). 2002. Final Report. Assessing the Benefits of Rural Women''s Participation in Natural Resource Management Research and Capacity Building. Cali, Colombia.