Listen to the People: Participant-observer Evaluation of Development ProjectsThis is an account of the author's experience living among the poor inhabitants of the World Bank urban development projects in La Paz, Bolivia, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. By viewing slum upgrading and new housing through the eyes of the people who lived there, the author is able to explain some of the projects' failings and to identify some of their unexpected benefits. By sharing the lives of slum dwellers he came to understand the frustrations and hard economic reality of their existence and gained insight into needs that were not apparent to an outsider. The book testifies to the effectiveness with which anthropological techniques of participant observation can be applied in the context of economic development. It demonstrates how the evaluations of participant observers have enabled project managers to solve some problems they encountered and to adapt projects to the values and needs of the poor. The people thus become a guiding force in their own development - as they must for lasting change to occur. In addition, the book describes the application of the methodology elsewhere - housing projects in Thailand, fishing and artisanal ccoperatives in Brazil, and agricultural endeavors in Bolivia - using observers from the developing countries themselves. It also reports on the participant-observer evaluation method, its advantages and pitfalls, and its uses in the design and management of development projects. |
Contents
Of Course We Communicate | 33 |
Catalytic Effects of Development | 55 |
When Where Who | 72 |
Copyright | |
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Altiplano approach artisans average bamboo Banco del Pacífico barrio Bolivia borrowers Brazil chapter community leaders cost credit program development projects Diciembre discussions Ecuador executing agency executing unit experience families fishermen fishing cooperatives Floresta groups Guasmo Fertisa Guasmo Norte HAM-BIRF home improvement homeowners household Housing Bank housing project implementation unit important income increased infrastructure issues Jinchupalla La Paz land landlords listening lived loan major meetings ment methods months municipality Neighborhood Committee neighbors observer evaluation participant observation participant-observer evaluation Paz and Guayaquil people's percent pesos piped planned poor population problems professionals project area project beneficiaries project components project execution project managers Qualitative interviews quantitative Recife rent rental renters residents river Roldos roughly sample settlements slum slum upgrading social squatter staff street Street Corner Society sucres survey Thailand tion understanding upgrading project urban projects Vivienda wanted water and sewerage World Bank