THE CGIAR GENDER AND DIVERSITY PROGRAM OFFERS its series of working papers and reports about working with diversity in international organizations. Many papers in this series are based on G&D's own research within the CGIAR, while others draw on the experience of organizations and diversity experts worldwide.

Holloway, R. 2001. Towards Financial Self-Reliance: A handbook on Resource Mobilization for Civil Society Organizations in the South. Earthscan.A clear and practical guide aimed at the managers of civil society organizations, including non-governmental organizations, citizens' movements, cooperatives, trade unions and other grass-roots organizations primarily in developing countries, on how to mobilize funds and other resources and in doing so become financially self-reliant. The manual is available on the Aga Khan Foundation website

Thinking it Through: Using Diagrams in Impact Assessment. An overview and set of six diagram tools for use at all stages of impact assessment.Diagrams provide a universal language based on logical structures and relationships. Diagram tools have a key role to play at many different stages and levels of impact assessment. They have the potential to considerably increase the usefulness and reliability of information and contribution to empowerment and capacity-building. The six diagram tools can be applied at all levels of impact assessment:Grassroots learning - diagrams allow people with low levels of literacy to contribute to discussions and have their ideas documented in a way which they can also understand. Program level and researchers - diagrams provide a useful shorthand for thinking through and documenting complex ideas which are difficult to capture in conventional note taking.Policy makers - diagrams provide an effective means of representing and communicating findings of research and assessment and focus for discussion of policy responses.Each tool describes, with illustrations, the particular diagram, appropriate applications of that diagram, and how to use in practice.Guide to tools:Overview of diagram types and general guidelines for addressing issues of analysis, quantification, participation and documentation. Practical suggestions on ways of using the different diagram tools for enterprise development impact assessment at different levels.Diagram Tool 1: Webs, Networks and Flow Diagrams - variants of diagrams which examine interrelationships elements.Diagram Tool 2: Trees - a simplified type of network useful for bringing together information about peoples’ visions, problems and livelihoods and different possible solutions.Diagram Tool 3: Road Journeys - very useful for bringing together information about peoples’ perceptions or actual experience of change and development interventions.Diagram Tool 4: Diamonds - to investigate extent and criteria of social differentiation within communities and/or groups.Diagram Tool 5: Venn Diagrams - show the relationships between different elements or institutions represented as overlapping circles of different sizes and forms.Diagram Tool 6: Maps - show the geographical locations, topographical or conceptual relationships between things like households, resources, markets.These tools have been developed by Linda Mayoux, a consultant at WISE Development Ltd, for the Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service Tool Box.

López, M.R. 2004. The mapping of the agricultural innovation system in Nicaragua. National Autonomous University of Nicaragua. SUDESCA/CINET. Presented at DRUID Summer Conference on Industrial Dynamics, Innovation and Development. Elsinore, Denmark, June 14-16.The paper report an innovation study done by CATIE/CINET joint research collaboration about the agricultural innovations system in Nicaragua. By utilizing the notion of knowledge and information management among the actors and sector involved it was generated learning capability analysis that allows mapping the actual configuration of the agricultural innovation system. The mapping and discussion about the features of the strategic alliances need to conform an agricultural innovation systems are underlined and policy recommendations are established.

Wheatley, C. 2002. Sustaining development oriented civil society organizations in the rural South: resource mobilization options, strategies, success factors and research issues. Working Document prepared for the Participatory Research Project, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia.This paper considers the options for Civil Society Organisations in the South to develop a more sustainable source of financial and other resources than is currently provided through short-term donor funded projects. In the North, and especially in the USA, the term “non-profits” is used to refer to similar organizations involved in welfare and service delivery. While NGOs are seen in the South as one type of actor amongst many (including the state, private sector and foreign donors etc), non-profits in the North are usually studied in relative isolation as a distinct sector. Two parallel but very separate literatures have developed that separate South and North, and which create a barrier to learning between the two. This paper uses relevant concepts, ideas and examples from both worlds in an attempt to bridge this gap in the area of organizational self-reliance, resource mobilization and self-finance.

Sustainable Livlihoods ToolboxContents:Policy, Institutions and ProcessesPower Tools for Policies and InstitutionsProgramme Identification and DesignGender AnalysisPlanning New ProjectsReviewing Existing ActivitiesMonitoring and EvaluationWays of WorkingSharing the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach

This purpose of this website is to promote understanding of social network analysis by supporting the teaching of network analysis. It contains handouts that explain the concepts and techniques of network analysis. Software packages that can analyze social network data include UCINET (www.analytictech.com) and PAJEK (vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/pajek/).

Evers, B and J. Harrigan. 2003. SEAGA Macro Level Handbook. Gender analysis in macroeconomic and agricultural sector policies and programmes. Socioeconomic and Gender Analysis Programme, FAO.This Handbook is part of FAO’s renewed emphasis on policy assistance and on building a policy capacity in developing countries towards the ultimate aim of contributing to greater food security and to poverty reduction. It is also part of the Organization’s work of mainstreaming gender in all aspects of policy-making, including economic policies. While it is acknowledged that food security and poverty are to be addressed from a multisectoral perspective, it is also widely recognised that it is the growth of the agriculture and rural sector that has the most linkages with the growth of the rural economy as a whole. The role of women in agriculture is well known and documented by now as well as their pivotal role in ensuring food security, both through production and through other rural activities enabling access to food. The purpose of this Handbook is to show that both men’s and women’s productive capacity and their capacity to participate in the economy is shaped by their gender roles and that, therefore, gender relations impact agricultural outcomes and affect economic efficiency. There is evidence that gender equity is shown to be linked to increased efficiency and increased prospects for rural growth and the development of the rural economy. It follows that gender ought not to be considered as a purely social issue or an add-on category to decision-making but rather, as an integral part of policy-making and implementation, thus deserving explicit analytical attention.

Norem, R. 2001. SEAGA Intermediate Level Handbook. Socioeconomic and Gender Analysis Programme, FAO.The purpose of the Intermediate Handbook is to support participatory development for those who play an intermediary role between government policy makers and individuals and households at the community level. Intermediaries can be governmental or United Nations development institutions, organisations, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which contain groups of people, bound by some common purpose. In some instances those who play an intermediary role may be part of a centralised government structure, but in other instances, they are part of a decentralised governmental structure, NGOs or belong to community-based organisation. Decentralisation of government responsibilities and resources is taking place in many parts of the world. The changing roles of various organisations and their ability to adapt to decentralisation are key to decentralisation work. Intermediaries are often responsible for linking communities to the policy-making process. They are therefore in a position to help develop processes that involve local people in making decisions about the kind of change they want in their communities and the allocation of resources to achieve that change. In essence, the SEAGA Intermediate Handbook is written for development planners in all types of public and private sector groups, from government ministries to community groups. It is also designed to assist small and medium size organisations such as community based groups. Some small government offices or ministries may also find the ideas useful. The analysis concepts and tools included in the Handbook focus on planning and implementing participatory change that takes into account differences in gender roles and relationships and other socio-economic characteristics of various stakeholder groups. The Handbook encourages practical application of the SEAGA concepts and tools. This Handbook includes concepts, guidelines, tools, and examples from organisational planning and process models that are widely used around the world. Other tools have been developed specifically for the SEAGA Handbook.

Davies, R.J. 1998. Order and Diversity: Representing and Assisting Organizational Learning in Non Government Aid Organizations". Ph. D thesis. Centre for Development Studies, University of WalesThe aim of this thesis is to develop a coherent theory of organisational learning which can generate practical means of assisting organisational learning. The thesis develops and applies this theory to one class of organisations known as non-government organisations (NGOs), and more specifically to those NGOs who receive funds from high income countries but who work for the benefit of the poor in low income countries. Of central concern are the processes whereby these NGOs learn from the rural and urban poor with whom they work. The basis of the theory of organisational learning used in this thesis is modern evolutionary theory, and more particularly, evolutionary epistemology. It is argued that this theory provides a means of both representing and assisting organisational learning. Firstly, it provides a simple definition of learning that can be operationalised at multiple levels of analysis: that of individuals, organisations, and populations of organisations. Differences in the forms of organisational learning that do take place can be represented using a number of observable attributes of learning which are derived from an interpretation of evolutionary theory. The same evolutionary theory can also provide useful explanations of processes thus defined and represented. Secondly, an analysis of organisational learning using these observable attributes and background theory also suggest two ways in which organisational learning can be assisted. One is the use of specific methods within NGOs: a type of participatory monitoring. The second is the use of particular interventions by their donors: demands for particular types of information which are indicative of how and where the NGO is learning In addition to these practical implications, it is argued that a specific concern with organisational learning can be related to a wider problematic which should be of concern to Development Studies: one which is described as "the management of diversity". Theories, organisations and larger social structures must all manage diversity. They must sustain a degree of order and coherence, while being responsive to important differences in their environment. In managing to do so they may constrain or enable others, effecting the scale of diversity possible thereafter. The management of diversity can be analysed descriptively in retrospect, and prescriptively in anticipation, at multiple levels of aggregation.

Anon. 2001. Quantitative Analysis of Data from Participatory Methods in Plant Breeding. Technical Report to the CGIAR Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis regarding the Workshop: Quantitative Analysis of Data from Participatory methods in Plant Breeding held from August 23-25, 2001 in the Justus Liebig University. Prepared by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). November 28, 2001.

Firehock, K. 2003. Protocol and Guidelines for Ethical and Effective Research of Community Based Collaborative Processes. Community Based Collaboratives Research Consortium.This guide deals with ethics and a protocol for researching community-based collaborative processes, including factors to address in developing a research agreement with the group(s) to be researched. How those items are addressed is up to the researcher and the community. This guide provides an ethical standard for information sharing, open processes and information dissemination. The guide draws on ideas from three Consortium workshops. The first section of this guide describes the philosophy of the guide and provides a checklist for developing a research agreement between the researcher and the community. The sections following provide suggestions about how to implement items suggested in the checklist. Those who have a clear understanding of how to achieve items in the research agreement checklist need not read sections II through IV, or they can read only those sections that relate to a point for which greater clarification is needed. This guide is intended to help ensure that productive, ethical and accurate research can occur while providing for research that is useful to both researchers and community groups. The recommendations for conducting ethical and effective research found in this guide are derived from ideas provided at the CBCRC’s October 1999 Tucson workshop and the March 2002 workshop in Albuquerque New Mexico. Ideas found in this guide were further reviewed at the CBCRC conference in Salt Lake City Utah in September 2003 and incorporated into this final version. Appropriate protocols from other related fields such as such as Anthropology or Sociology also were reviewed and incorporated as appropriate.

Power Tools for working on policies and institutions. The aim of the Power Tools series is to provide some practical help to those working to improve the policies and institutions that affect the lives of poor people. The series is being developed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) from experience in working on policies and institutions in various fields of environment and development.

Freudenberger, K. Participatory Rural Appraisal Case Studies. Catholic Relief Services.

Lusthaus, C. M.H. Adrien, G. Anderson, F. Carden, and G.P. Montalván. 2002. Organizational Assessment: A Framework for Improving Performance. IDRC/IDB. ISBN 0-88936-998-4. 210 pp.The inability of development agencies to understand and improve the performance of the organizations they support continues to impede progress in the developing world, even after a decade of reforms. Strengthening the institutions that receive those grants and loans — including government ministries and executing agencies as well as nongovernmental organizations — has become the key to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of development assistance. This book offers a clear-cut methodology to diagnose institutional strengths and weakness at the onset of development activities. In this way, beneficiaries can respond to growing pressures from donor governments and organizations for accountable and sustainable use of development funding. The authors examine all aspects of organizational performance, including the enabling environment, institutional capacity, management, financial viability, and staff motivation. They also review the methodological issues involved in carrying out an assessment, ranging from the choice and framing of questions to data collection and analysis, the question of who “owns” the assessment, and the reporting of results. Designed for practitioners interested in organizational diagnosis and social change, this book includes a quick guide for organizational assessment, a sample report outline and questions, and a comprehensive assessment glossary.

Nutrient Monitoring for Tropical Farming Systems (NUTMON) NUTMON is an integrated, multi-disciplinary methodology which targets different actors in the process of managing natural resources in general and soil nutrients in particular. With the NUTMON methodology farmers and researchers jointly analyse the environmental and financial sustainability of tropical farming systems.Participatory research techniques such as resource flow mapping, matrix ranking and trend analysis are used to obtain the farmers perspective. Next to this a quantitative analysis is carried out which generates import indicators such as nutrient flows, nutrient balances, cash flows, gross margins and farm income. Both the qualitative and quantitative analysis are then used to improve or design new technologies which tackle soil fertility management problems and which can help to increase the financial performance of the farm.The NUTMON approach has been and is being implemented in research and development projects addressing soil fertility management in situations of both nutrient depletion and nutrient accumulation. Currently we backstop the use of the NUTMON Toolbox in the following countries: Several sites in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Uganda.

Mind Tools: Tools for Understanding ComplexityThe tools in this section help you understand complicated, difficult situations. By using these techniques you can start to tackle problems which might otherwise seem huge, overwhelming and excessively complex. The section starts with some simple complexity skills and then moves on to more powerful techniques like Systems Diagrams, SWOT Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting and Risk Analysis. This is a complex and well-developed area - we can only go 'so far' in these articles, introducing you to relatively simple techniques. The books on the right hand side bar will help you to take your skills much further. Alternatively, complexity and decision making skills are core components of most good MBA courses - some of the resources on the left will introduce you to these.

Mind Tools: Creativity ToolsThis section of Mind Tools explains a wide range of techniques you can use to come up with creative and imaginative solutions to the challenges you face. The section starts by showing you how to use three systematic approaches to creativity. It then discusses some important lateral-thinking based approaches, which can be used to come up with startling and original solutions to problems. Finally it explains how to use two powerful and important problem-solving processes. While you are reading these articles, have a look at the creativity book reviews, resources and stores on the sidebars - these can help you to develop your creativity skills further.

Markkula Center for Applied EthicsThe Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University is a nationally recognized resource for people and organizations wanting to study and apply an ethical approach to the crucial issues facing our world. The Center supports research, assists faculty in integrating ethics into their courses, and helps businesses, schools, hospitals, and other organizations put ethics to work. Our targeted programs include Biotechnology and Health Care Ethics, Business Ethics, K-12 Character Education, Philosophical Questions in Applied Ethics, Public Policy and Government Ethics, and Emerging Issues in Ethics.

Resources on ethical decision-making. Articles include:A Framework for Ethical Decision MakingApproaching EthicsCalculating ConsequencesCan Ethics Be Taught?Common GoodConscience and AuthorityConsistency and EthicsEthical RelativismEthics and VirtueEveryday EthicsHow Did I Live Today?Justice and FairnessRightsThinking EthicallyWhat is Ethics?Who Counts?

Grootaert, C. D. Narayan, M. Woolcock, and V. Nyhan-Jones 2003. Integrated Questionnaire for the Measurement of Social Capital (SC-IQ). World Bank. Social Capital Thematic Group.This survey attempts to identify a set of questions to capture the essence of social capital as related to development. This draft questionnaire is the result of a wide range of experiences with collecting and analyzing data on social capital including (a)the Tanzania Social Capital Survey that collected data on associational memberships and trust, and related this to access to services and agricultural technology; (b) the Local Level Institutions Study that collected comparable data structural social capital in Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Indonesia; (c) the Social Capital Initiative that sponsored 12 studies on the role of social capital in sectoral projects and on the process of creation and destruction of social capital; and finally (d) the Social Capital Survey in Ghana and Uganda that collected data on groups and networks, subjetive well-being, political engagement, sociability, community activities, violence and crime, and communications. The two principles which guided the design of this survey were (a) a conceptual approach in selecting and retaining questions and (b) the integration of the social capital questionnaire into the Living Standards Measurement Surveys system, a standard household survey used by the World Bank and others.

Improving Policy-Livelihood Relationships in South Asia . School of Geography at Leeds University. Working Papers series.

Davies, R. 2002. Improved Representations Of Change Processes: Improved Theories Of Change. Seville 2002: 5th Biennial Conference of the European Evaluation Society. Three Movements in Contemporary Evaluation: Learning, Theory and Evidence.International aid agencies face major problems when attempting to evaluate their achievements. Because of the global scale of their work the diversity of activities, intended beneficiaries, partner institutions and social contexts is enormous when compared to many social programmes found within individual developed countries. This diversity causes problems with representation. How can theories of change be adequately represented in summary forms that respect the complexity and diversity involved, but which also retain some economy and simplicity, and thus be usable by those in more senior positions? This paper identifies a range of types of change processes and the extent to which they can be represented within a conventional Logical Framework. It then outlines some alternative means of representing and monitoring those processes, both within the structure of the Logical Framework and by using other representational devices, along with some examples. In the process the solutions proposed show the relevance of evolutionary and complex adaptive systems perspectives to thinking about types of change processes.

PRGA Program/Participatory Plant Breeding Working Group. April 2000. Guidelines for Developing Participatory Plant Breeding Programs. Working Document No. 1. Version 3. PRGA Program, Cali, Colombia.These are extended guidelines, compiled for all those interested in supporting Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) work, whether from a research or development perspective. These guidelines are not meant to serve as a ''how to'' manual. Rather, the document discusses options-- and shares insights (strengths/weaknesses and trade-offs) of those experimenting with diverse PPB approaches, drawn from consultative meetings, email exchanges and select literature in this newly developing field. By implication, PPB means partnership, or inter-partner collaboration. PPB is more than a documentation of what farmers do alone or what formal breeding institutions do alone --- as interesting as these perspectives may be. These guidelines are organised in two sections: one providing and an overview of the field and the other offering guidelines for developing PPB programs. The latter in turn is divided between formal-led and farmer-led PPB.

On this page you will find Gervase Bushe's thoughts on...    * Consulting and Training in Appreciative Inquiry    * What is Appreciative Inquiry?    * How has it been used?    * What is Appreciative Process?    * Where can I read more about it?

Kabeer, N. 2003. Gender mainstreaming in poverty eradication and the millenium development goals: A Handbook for Policy-makers and Other Stakeholders . Commonwealth Secretariat/IDRC/CIDA. ISBN 1-55250-067-5. 240 pp.In this book, Naila Kabeer brings together a diverse set of arguments, findings, and lessons from the development literature that help to explain why gender equality merits specific attention from policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders committed to the pursuit of pro-poor and human-centred development. All over the world, women from poor households play a more critical role in income-earning and expenditure-saving activities that do women from better-off households, and these activities are concentrated in the informal economy. In the past decades, the relationship between household poverty and women’s paid activity has become stronger, partly in response to economic crises and the “push” into the labour market and partly in response to new opportunities generated by globalization. Improving women’s access to economic opportunities and enhancing returns on their efforts, therefore, will be central to the goal of poverty eradication and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This book explores the issue of gender inequality through the lens of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the first one of halving world poverty by 2015.

Schulz, S. 2002. Farmer participation in research and development: the problem census and solving technique. Research Guide 57. International Institute for Tropical Agriculture. Ibadan, Nigeria. ISBN 978-131-172-X.This guide is intended to enable you to:    * Understand the differences between traditional and participatory approaches to research    * Explain different modes of farmer participation in research    * Describe the problem census and problem solving technique    * Organize problem census and problem solving meetings    * Develop and implement an action plan

The Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation group is part of the American Evaluation Association. This is a page of resources for our colleagues, ranging from online survey software to self-help manuals.

McVicar, T.R., Li, L.T., Van Niel, T.G., Zhang, L., Li R., Yang, Q.K., Zhang X.P., Mu, X.M., Wen, Z.M., Liu, W.Z., Zhao. Y.A., Liu, Z.H. and Gao, P. (2007) Developing a decision support tool for China’s re-vegetation program: Simulating regional impacts of afforestation on average annual streamflow in the Loess Plateau. Forest Ecology and Management. 251, 65-81.

Duclos, J-Y., A. Araar and C. Fortin. DAD: Software for Distributive Analysis / Analyse Distributive. MIMAP Programme, International Development Research Centre, Government of Canada, and CRÉFA, Université Laval.

CIP-UPWARD. 2003. Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity. Published in collaboration with GTZ, IDRC, IPGRI and SEARICE.The appreciation for agricultural biodiversity has grown and matured, resulting in an increasing awareness that its valuation and use could contribute to long-term conservation and use. This sourcebook encourages action aimed at managing agricultural biodiversity resources within existing landscapes and ecosystems, in support of the livelihoods of farmers, fishers and livestock keepers. The publication is a compilation of field-based experiences by scientists, development specialists, academics, policy-makers and donors around the world; it consists of three volumes: 1) understanding agricultural biodiverity, 2) strengthening local management of agricultural biodiversity, and 3) ensuring an enabling environment for agricultural biodiversity. It is designed for use by rural development practitioners and local administrators, as well as trainors and educationalists.

Codes of conduct/practice/ethics from around the world: This list started as a collection of codes of conduct, codes of practice, or codes of ethics from around the world, as part of an IFIP study of codes led by Dr. Jacques Berleur, Univ. Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium. Since then codes from many different sources have been added, and continue to be added. If you do locate a code, please send e-mail to J.A.N. Lee at Virginia Tech, so that we can add it to this page.

IDRC. 2002. CBNRM Social Science Resource Kit. A Guide for Researchers. Volume 8: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation.This kit is a reference tool to assist researchers funded through IDRC's Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) program in Asia to apply concepts, analytical approaches and research methods from the social sciences in their research. While the kit was originally delivered as a set of resource books each dealing with a different key issue area related to CBNRM research, CBNRM is now trying to make as much of the Resource Kit available as possible through the IDRC website. Because of copyright laws, we cannot publish electronic versions of the readings in the Resource Kit. However, we are including the citations for each reading, and an order form for obtaining documents through the IDRC library. The topics/issue areascovered in the Resource Kit include: Gender; Community-Based Natural Resource Management; Participatory Research; Indigenous Knowledge; Institutional Analysis; Common Property; Stakeholder Analysis; Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation; and Resource Tenure. Depending on feedback received from these materials, other topics or issues may be considered for coverage in future.

Mathie, A., G. Cunningham. 2002 . From Clients to Citizens: Asset-Based Community Development as a Strategy For Community-Driven Development. Ocasional Paper. The Coady International Institute, St. Francis Xavier University.Asset-based community development (ABCD) is presented as an alternative to needs-based approaches to development. Following an overview of the principles and practice of ABCD, five major elements of ABCD are examined in the light of current literature on relevant research and practice. This involves exploring: the theory and practice of appreciative inquiry; the concept of social capital as an asset for community development; the theory of community economic development, such as the sustainable livelihoods approach; lessons learned from two decades of international development in the participatory paradigm; and the theory and practice of building active citizenship engagement and a stronger civil society. How ABCD both reflects recent trends in these areas and stands to benefit from the insights generated from this work is outlined.

Cooperrider, D., Srivastva, S. 2000. Appreciative Inquiry in Organizational Life. IN: Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change. Stipes Publishing. ISBN: 87563-931-3This chapter presents a conceptual refiguration of action-research based on a "sociorationalist" view of science. The position that is developed can be summarized as follows: For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to begin advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best means human beings have for affecting change in a postindustrial world; that the discipline's steadfast commitment to a problem solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.

Appreciative Inquiry and Community Development A website on Appreciative Inquiry in Action.Featuring the electronic book (PDF) by Charles Elliot: Locating the energy for change: An introduction to appreciative inquiry. International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Wollenberg, L. with D. Edmunds and L. Buck. 2000. Anticipating Change: Scenarios as a Tool for Adaptive Forest Management: A Guide. CIFOR.No one can ever know the future, but we can often better prepare for it. This manual is about how people can use future scenarios to better prepare for change and uncertainty. In the following pages we introduce scenarios as a tool to plan creatively about the future. We describe several types of future scenario-based methods and provide principles to guide the reader in their use. We show how scenarios can be used as tools to tap the imagination to anticipate the future.

Falvey, L. 1996. Agricultural Education in Natural Resource Management. The Crawford Fund for International Development, Melbourne Australia and Institute for International Development Limited, Adelaide Australia. ISBN 0 646 29363 X.

Bushe, G.R. 1995. Advances in Appreciative Inquiry as an Organization Development Intervention. Organization Development Journal, .13(3):14-22.Since Cooperrider & Srivastva's (1987) original article on appreciative inquiry there has been a lot of excitement and experimentation with this new form of action research. The technology of appreciative inquiry as a social research method and as an organization development (OD) intervention are evolving differently. Here I will mainly focus on it as an OD intervention. Currently there is no universally accepted method for doing an appreciative inquiry and it is premature to offer a "recipe" for how to do it. There is, however, a fairly well accepted set of parameters for distinguishing between what is and is not a legitimate appreciative inquiry. In this paper I will describe the basics of this technique and report on some innovations I and colleagues have experimented with to extend the appreciative approach. Appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987), a theory of organizing and method for changing social systems, is one of the more significant innovations in action research in the past decade. Those who created action research in the 1950s were concerned with creating a research method that would lead to practical results as well as the development of new social theory. It was hoped that action research would be an important tool in social change. A key emphasis of action researchers has been on involving their "subjects" as co-researchers. Action research was and still is a cornerstone of organization development practice. While always controversial as a scientific method of inquiry, action research has recently come under criticism as a method of organizational change and as a process for developing new theory. In their seminal paper Cooperrider & Srivastva criticize the lack of useful theory generated by traditional action research studies and contend that both the method of action research and implicit theory of social organization are to blame. The problem is that most action research projects use logical positivistic assumptions (Sussman & Evered, 1978) ,which treats social and psychological reality as something fundamentally stable, enduring, and "out there". Appreciative inquiry, however, is a product of the socio-rationalist paradigm (Gergen, 1982, 1990) which treats social and psychological reality as a product of the moment, open to continuous reconstruction. Cooperrider and Srivastva argue that there is nothing inherently real about any particular social form, no transcultural, everlasting, valid principles of social organization to be uncovered. While logical positivism assumes that social phenomena are sufficiently enduring, stable and replicable to allow for generalizations, socio-rationalism contends that social order is fundamentally unstable. "Social phenomena are guided by cognitive heuristics, limited only by the human imagination: the social order is a subject matter capable of infinite variation through the linkage of ideas and action". (Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987, p.139). Socio-rationalists argue that the theories we hold, our beliefs about social systems, have a powerful effect on the nature of social "reality". Not only do we see what we believe, but the very act of believing it creates it. From this point of view, the creation of new and evocative theories of groups, organizations, and societies, are a powerful way to aid in their change and development. Like most post-modernists, Cooperrider & Srivastva argue that logical positivistic assumptions trap us in a rear-view world and methods based on these assumptions tend to (re)create the social realities they purport to be studying. Further, they argue that action researchers tend to assume that their purpose is to solve a problem. Groups and organizationsare treated not only as if they have problems, but as if they are problems to be "solved". Cooperrider and Srivastva contend that this "problem-oriented" view of organizing and inquiry reduces the possibility of generating new theory, and new images of social reality, that might help us transcend current social forms. What if, instead of seeing organizations as problems to be solved, we saw them as miracles to be appreciated? How would our methods of inquiry and our theories of organizing be different?

Springate-Baginski, O.and J. Soussan. 2002. A Methodology for Policy Process Analysis. Improving Livelihood-Policy Relationships in South Asia. Working Paper 9. School of Geography at the University of Leeds and partners.This paper presents an overview of a method developed for policy analysis as part of the DFID-funded project on Livelihood-Policy Relationships in South Asia. This method has been developed and tested in an initial phase of policy analysis in four countries across the region, but is still under development as new experiences provide fresh insights.The approach presented here is nevertheless robust enough for circulation, with the hope that it will be reviewed critically and stimulate discussion on what is a challenging and critically important area of research This paper is intended as an introductory guide to analysis of the policy process. It describes the key elements of an approach which embraces both the structural and the contingent aspects of the process, using a dynamic policy process model, developed earlier in this research project in order to achieve this.

Chadwick, M. A.Clemett and O. Springate-Baginski. 2002. A Field Methodology for Assessing the Impact of Policy on Rural Livelihood Systems. Livelihood-Policy Relationships in South Asia. Improving Policy-Livelihood Relationships in South Asia. Working Paper 10. School of Geography at the University of Leeds and partners.

Montgomery, R. 1996. Short Guidance Note on How to do Stakeholder Analysis of Aid Projects and Programmes Centre for Development Studies, University of Wales Swansea. ISBN: 0 906250 52 8

Riddell, R.C., Kruse, S-E., Kyollen, T., Ojanpera, S., Vielajus, J-L. 1997. Searching for Impact and Methods: NGO Evaluation Synthesis Study. A Report produced for the OECD/DAC Expert group on Evaluation. Department for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Helsinki.

Riley, J. 1996. Impact Assessment for Participatory Research. Integrated Farming in Human Development. Proceedings of a Workshop March 25-29, 1996, Tune Landboskole, Denmark.The author proposes approaches to the assessment of impact of participatory studies in natural resources research but argues that, for them to be successful, they must be designed into the study from its beginning. The project-implementation-impact spectrum is emphasised as an essential structure for the maintenance of efficient design, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment. Good design and analysis techniques need to be used to correspond to clearly defined objectives. A summary is given of essential features of statistical design for participatory studies. The types of data which will be generated are discussed and indicators of relevance to impact assessment are highlighted. Further issues for impact assessment programmes are discussed.

Ostertag, C.F. 1999. Identifying and Assessing Market Opportunities for Small Rural Producers. Tools for Decision-making in Natural Resource Mangement. No. 7. International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia.

Omamo, S.W., D W. Kilambya, and S. Nandwa. 1999. Evaluating Research on Natural Resource Management: The Case of Soil Fertility Management in Kenya. ISNAR Briefing Paper No. 41.A fundamental challenge facing Kenya’s agricultural research establishment is how to demonstrate that new initiatives in research on soil fertility management can contribute to national growth and equity objectives. A simplified method for quantifying the value of research in soil fertility management has been developed through a recent collaborative effort between ISNAR and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). This method estimates the possible economic benefits that could ultimately result from research-induced increases in commodity yields. A modeling exercise was carried out, focusing on the potential impact on commodity yields of the research activities of KARI’s Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Research Programme. Some of the factors considered include the distribution of commodities over different production systems, and the distribution of these systems over different geographical zones. The results reveal that different farm-level interventions have the potential to make a significant impact in different zones and across research themes that are important to farmers. The combined estimated gains could add over 60 billion Kenyan shillings (almost 1 billion U.S. dollars) in economic value to Kenya’s rural sector over 30 years. These results suggest that efforts to integrate applied commodity-focused research with farming-systems-oriented adaptive research initiatives are important. They also indicate that, while high rainfall areas will experience the largest gains on aggregate, significant benefits also accrue to Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas. The method remains unsatisfactory for several reasons. Due to certain limits on data and resources, the procedure could not allow for variations due to differences in estimated net yield gains. Differences in impact were instead attributed to variations in the quantities of specific commodities produced per zone. Potential benefits that are unrelated to commodity yields are also ignored.