Message-ID: <199606010530.KAA09547@sdnpk.undp.org> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 1996 05:05:04 -0400 From: mailto:RIAZKHAN@NLDP.SDNPK.UNDP.ORG> Subject: STANDARD DEVELOPMENT TOOLS To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Dear List members, Response that I have received on the above subject (I hope they do not mind my putting thier response on the list):From: Christina Hinshaw <mailto:christina.hinshaw@st-peters.oxford.ac.uk> If you find anything out about any work that has been done regarding this type of tool, I'd love to know about it. I have to admit that I'd be a bit afraid of the implications on research efforts from the standardization such a form would imply, but the possibility of sharing information would certainly be enhanced by such a tool.
There have already been such attempts. The World Bank did most of them. They are useless except to give people designing new surveys ideas because my villages are too different from your villages (large/small, reed huts or solid brick, 10 hours or 20 minutes from a telephone, cattle a focus of life or tabu..), and my needs differ from yours (concentration on agronomy or health, eg). Only in India have I seen 6-hour questionnaires, and a survey suitable for all of us would be worse than that. :-)
In response to your request for standard development tools, I have read much information on 'participatory rural appraisal'. It is a model used to carry out socio-economic studies, needs assessment, project or program planning, implementation strategies, etc. at the local, community level. It is generally done without the use of advanced technology, usually using resources available to the community. Clark University in Worcester, MA USA has used this form of analysis extensively in Africa and read a natural resource analysis they carried out in Nepal.
Your suggestion that we seek to develop a common survey instrument for village analysis would be very helpful. We at the CHOICE organization are presently working in ten countries and in at least 200 villages. I would love to work with you in field testing and helping to coordinate your efforts. James B. Mayfield, PhD CHOICE
John Kretzmann's "Building Communities from the Inside Out", publ. Acta Publications, Chicago, 1994, has such a survey, and a very nicely grounded theoretical context for such surveys. It is very popular in the Community Development field here.
From: "Gordon Mullenix (US-ChiMin)" <mailto:GMullenix@us.ci.org> Cc: "Dan Brewster (US-ChiMin)" <mailto:DBrewster@us.ci.org> I would like to join the discussion. Compassion International works in 20 countries with about 2000 total projects. I have recently been asked to coordinate impact studies. We have to date no standardized baseline survey. Some of our country offices have their own survey's. conducted to support project selection. I can be reached privately at: mailto:gordon@ci.org
******************************************************************* Based on the above and in collaboration with the list members I am willing to initiate and undertake the development of a standard village survey form (SVSF) and the acccompanying software.
I propose the following sequence of activities to develop SVSF:
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARD VILLAGE SURVEY FORM (SVSF) THROUGH E-MAIL PROPOSED PROJECT PLAN
PROJECT OBJECTIVES: ------------------- -To see if standardization is possible in the Development Field -To see what are the areas where differences/bottleneck would occurr -To learn more about the systems, structures and activities in a village -To improve efficiency and reduce costs of conducting Village surveys through Standardization - To develop country wide and International Village databases accessible through the internet. -To see if such a project could be undertaken through E-MAIL. If possible then such a model could be used for developing other projects. (I do not know if such projects have already been done before through E-MAIL.) -To investigate the role of IT in development.
TOTAL PROJECT TIME FRAME ------------------------ Start June 1 1996 - End October 1, 1997. ) 16 MONTHS
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ------------------- 1. Develop a list of persons on this list interested in developing/Participating in the SVSF. Review project in light of response. (The project may end right here.) Investigate other area using the same model in which more users are interetested. Start June 1 - End date June 15.
2. Develop Project E-MAIL Coordination Procedure ie. for exchange of messages. Start June 16 - End July 1
3. Determine/Finalize the Sequence of Activities/Completetion Dates that will take place in this project ie. SVSF eg: start July 2- End July 15 (ONLY OUTLINE)
3.1- Collect all avialable Village Survey Forms (VSF) currently being used by the list members through e-mail. ie. Users may have to retype some of the survey forms.
3.2- Analyze the survey forms through e-mail.
3.3-Develop the outline of the SVSF including the required Output Reports
3.4-Develop the SSVF
3.5-Decide on the software package
3.6-Members to review the SSVF
3.7-Revise and finalize
3.8-Field testing
3.9-Distribute SVSF to interested Organizations through e-mail mailing lists, WEB Page, normal mail.
3.10-Develop the software
3.11-Test the software
3.12-Distribute the software
3.13-Evaluate the project
3.14-Future plans/actions.
4. Assign responsibilities or form subgroups/committees etc. Start July 16 - End August 1.
5. Commence the project by implementing ITEM 3 above.
5.1- Collect all avialable Village Survey Forms (VSF) currently being used by the list members through e-mail. ie. Users may have to retype some of the survey forms. Start August 2 - End August 20.
5.2- Analyze the survey forms through e-mail. Start August 20 - End September 20.
5.3-Develop the outline of the SVSF including the required Output Reports Start Septemebr 1 - End September 20.
5.4-Develop the SSVF Start Septembet 20 end November 1.
5.5-Decide on the software package Start september 1 - End November 1.
5.6-Members to review the SSVF Start november 2 - End November 21.
5.7-Revise and finalize Start November 21 - End December 15.
5.8-Field testing/Revision/Finalization Start January 1, 1997 - End March 1.
5.9-Distribute SVSF to interested Organizations through e-mail mailing lists, WEB Page, normal mail. Start March 2 -
5.10-Develop the software Start March 1 - End May 1
5.11-Test the software Start May 2 - End July 2
5.12-Distribute the software Start July 3 -
5.13-Evaluate the project Start August - End October 1.
5.14-Future plans/actions. Start October 2 -
PROJECT COST: NIL AS VOLUNTARY EFFORT. ------------- ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Some immediate questions:
-Can we use this List for the SVSF project. -If not then can we use it till such time that we have our own E-MAIL coordination system in place. Which should be by July 1, 1996. -With this message I guess the project has already commenced. And all of you who are interested in it please let me know. For the time being I can do the coordination work till we finalize the names/Coordination procedure. I will post the names of all those interested on JUNE 15. By thi stime we will also take a decision wheteher to go ahead with the project or not. -Even if you are not interested in the project. Please let us have your ideas in this regards.