Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation,Through Indicators

PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION,THROUGH INDICATORS

-THE CASE STUDY OF SMALL PEASANT-PASTORAL COMMUNITIES,

ETHBARPALLY VILLAGE,K6Dm4 AGROECOSUBREGION,DECCAN PLATEAU,INDIA.

S.K.BALACHANDER AND POYYAMOLI. G*,

READER IN BOTANY,LOYOLA ACADEMY,SECUNDERABAD 500010,AP,INDIA .

*SALIM ALI SCHOOL OF ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES,PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY,PONDICHERRY ,605Q14,INDIA.

The Ethbarpalle village,is a traditional semi-arid peasant-pastoral landscape,in the peri-urban fringes of Hyderabad metropolitan,located at Alt.612 SW,Lat.78.11.70,Long.17.17.40,in the K6Dm4 agroecosubregion and Production System 9,in the Deccan plateau.

The methodology,sought was eclectic,participatory,blueprint vs process approaches,Facilitatory in styles,and contexts,with fitness of function,as the norm,deciphered at the end! The exploratory,experiencial action research,was done with Naturalistic Inquiry,Multiple case study method,Focus group,Participatory Observation,as well as qualitative Human-Ecology methods.

The case study included,units of analysis,a design,purposeful sampling,the apriori mode of analysis,the nature of study questions,the study of propositions,the continuity of study propositions,the time boundary,the boundary problem.A Rival hypothesis was framed. The Focus groups were-

.the unni-sheep-fur carpet weavers

.small farmers in tomato trade

.herders and transpastoralists

.traditional/transitional farmers

The study,was done under residential uncertainity,such as market-trade,night transits,by chance encounters and breaking the ice sessions,in tandem with surveys,and traditional research.,juxtaposed with PRA/RRA,in the Human Ecology perspective.

The methodologies,were keeping in mind,the limits,of addressing to PRA,Pastoralism and Human Ecology,acknowledging extreme limitations of-

.rapport building processes

.mixed gauging of informal institutional issues,such as shared usage,strengthened vs weakened arguments,neighbourhood village/peri-urban farm house and city linkages,in terms of penning,fertility barter,managing out of conflict with locals,newer options,in their own dialectical tones,images,drawings,and relationships,as well as survival strategies,under water-land constraints,resource management,LKMS,and Herder’s mobility.

The objectives of PM &E,as discovered later,while demystifying the processes,were to-

-build institutional linkages (human)

-enpowerment of local stakeholders,in their own terms

-seek towards a process-oriented approach

-search for a first ever basis,to communicate with the marginalized,in terms of ground realities(without papers,pens,and tapes!)

-to reinforce local capacities to assess problems and possibilities.

-evaluate the local situation analysis,in time & space,informally

Parallel to this,we focusssed through the issues of break-down,in the case-study ,as-

-Food-Energy Nexus

-entitlement mapping and analysis

-Livelihood analysis

-Institutional analysis(macro,meso,micro)

-process type indicators of change

-consequence or unknown indicators of change

The capture of multiple voices was in terms of a messy matrix of transience,an analytical construct of the situation context-entitlement mapping processes,which indicates livelihoods and environmental changes.

GRASS-ROOT INDICATORS

-Farmer’s risk avertion strategies

-Seasonal calendars

-Peasant-pastoralist’s knowledge of Bioresouce flow mapping

-Farmer’s rationale for transitional shifts of crops (Cotton suicides to Tomato Trade)

SURROGATIVE INDICATORS

-Participatory Tree Inventory and LKMS

-Participatory selection of study area(the microdeterminants of NGO,insiders and outsiders)

-Oral testimony of herder’s dwindling herd size

EXPERIENTIAL INDICATORS

-Unni carpet weaving as a livelihood-pastoral communities

-community herding,with transpastoralism

-Tomato growing and trade of marginalized communities-indices of transience

PERI-URBAN VULNERABILITY AND WELL-BEING INDICES

-Individual level

-Household level

-Community level

(1.Tomato and mixed farming communities 2.pastoral-peasant and transpastoral communities)

The above methodological innovations,could reveal,dynamics of transitions,rural-urban linkages(in terms of flow of people,network of actors,goods,money,information),the farmer’s ground realities,the social functions of stock-farming,subsistence security,their traditional adaptive mechanisms of sustainability,complex issues of pastoral plannings,indices of resilience,and much more.

The array of methods,fine-tuned to contexts,processes,could now be argued to be a fair assessment of human-environmental relationalships,without scale confusions,on the pathways towards (ongoing),viabilities of linkages,and interactions in the dynamic microniche,under limitations and opportunities.In essence,it had been a learning experience,to redefine,several pitfalls too!

REFERENCES

1.Abbot Joanne & Irene Guijt 1998. Changing views on change :Participatory approaches to monitoring the environment.SARL Discussion paper no.2,IIED,London.96pp

2.Adamou Laoualy 1991.Functions and possibilities of developing Livestock farming in the Sahel.Animal Research and Development vol.34,Institute for scientific

cooperation,Tubingen,Federal republic of Germany,George Hauser,Metzingen.100-113pp

3.Baker Jonathan 1995.Survival and accumulation strategies at the rural-urban interface in the north-west Tanzania.Environmental and Urbanization,vol 7,no 1,IIED,London.117-132pp

4.Balachander S K 1999.Studies on Food-Energy Nexus, Non-equilibrium Human Ecology and Farming communities in the peri-urban fringes of Hyderabad,AP,India-A human Ecology perspective. PhD Dissertation,Pondicherry University,Pondicherry,India.200 pp

5.Caceres Daniel & Philip Woodhose 1995.Not all improvements make sense. ILEIA Newsletter,vol 11,no 2,Leusden,The Netherlands.20-21pp

6.Chambers Roberts 1995. Poverty & Livelihoods:whose reality counts? Environmental & Urbanisation,vol 10,no 1,IIED,London.173-204 pp

7.Gadgil Madhav & Ramachandra Guha 1995 Ecology & Equity-the use and abuse of nature in contemporary India.Penquin books,New Delhi.213pp

8.Gupta Anil K 1984.Socio-ecology of land use planning in semi-arid regions.Indian Institute of Management,Ahmedabad(IIMA Series),working paper no 525,IIM,Ahmedabad 380015.

9.Hambly Helen 1996.Grassroot indicators:Measuring & monitoring environmental change at the local level. ILEIA Newsletter vol 12,no 6,Leusen,The Netherlands 14-15 pp

10.Harnmeijer Joanne,Ann Waters-Bayer & Wolfgang Bayer 1999.Dimensions of participation in evaluation:Experiences fro Zimbabwe and the Sudan.Gatekeeper series no 83,IIED,London 30pp

11.Jodha N S 1995.Sustainable development in fragile environments –An operational framework for arid,semi-arid and mountainous areas. Centre for Environmental Education,

Ahmedabad, India 122pp

12.Leach.M, Mearns R & Scoones I 1997.Environmental entitlements:A Framework for under

understanding the institutional dynamics of environmental change.IDS Discussion paper 359:Brighton:IDS,London 39 pp

13.Lightfoot C, R P Noble & R Morales 1991 Training resource book on a participatory method for modeling bioresource flows.ICLARM Edu.Series 14,ICLARM,Manila,Philippines 30pp

14.Marten GG & Saltman D M 1986 .The human ecology perspective(ed.Marten GG)In Traditional Agriculture in South East Asia: A human Ecology perspective,Boulder,Colorado,USA,West-view Press.20-53pp

15.McLain Rebecca & Jones Eric 1997 Challenging ‘community’ defimitions in sustainable natural management:The case of wild mushroom harvesting in the USA.Gatekeeper series no 68,IIED,London,UK.16pp

16.Niamar Maryam 1990. Community forestry:Herder’ decision making in natural resource management in arid & semiarid Africa.FAO ,Rome 126pp

17.Prasad R P 1994 Pastoral nomadism in Arid zones of India-Socio-demographic and ecological aspects.Discovery Publishing House,New Delhi.326pp

18.Reckers Ute 1997 Nomadic pastoralists in Kenya:Human ecological aspects of East-Pokot.Issue paper no 73,IIED,Londin,UK,22pp

19.Salih Mohammed 1992.Pastoralists and Planners:Local knowledge and resource management in Gidan Magajia grazing reserve,Northern Nigeria.Dryland Networks Programme.Paper no 52,IIED,London,UK,37pp

20.Scholte Paul,Saidou k & Mark Moritz 1996 The involvement of nomadic & transhuman pastoralists in the rehabilitation & management of the Logoe Flood plain,North Cameroon,IIED Issue paper no 66,Dryland Programme,IIED,London,UK,21pp

22.Singh J S & Joshi MC 1979 Ecology of semi-arid regions of India with emphasis on land use in vol 34 Semi-arid ecosystemw,Springer-Verlag publications,Germany,243-275pp

23.Tacoli Cecilia 1998 Bridging the divide,rural-urban interactions and livelihood strategies.Gatekeeper series,no 77,IIED,London.17pp

24.Waters-Bayer.A,Wolfgang Bayer,Annette Von Lossou 1995.Participatory planning with Pastoralists:Some recent experiences,Dryland Programme . Issue paper no 58.,IIED,London,173pp