23431 (/) Participatory Management and Local Culture : Proverbs and Paradigms Evaluation is often considered an ac- accountability, performance assess tivity required by donors but funda- ment and data-based decision mak- mentally foreign to local culture - ing outside impositions or do they an experience and a way of thinking bear analogies to "indigenous" con- that are largely alien, if not down- cerns? And, if so, what are the rela- right threatening, to program benefi- tionships and how are they best ciaries and staff alike. tapped to make evaluation a local Much has been done in recent tool, an appropriate technology? The years to develop participatory and question is of no small significance empowering modes of program in an era of increasing "decentraliza- evaluation that give local staff and tion" in administration and educa- stakeholders an active role and a tion, where successful approaches to definite say in how evaluation is car- genuine self-management are at a ried out and in how its results are in- premium. terpreted. Creative ways have been In fact, one of the unanticipated re- found to reconcile this popular par- sults of participatory evaluation ticipation with reasonable rigor in re- practice in West Africa has been to sults and even to increase the reli- bring to light local attitudes and ap- ability, validity and the representa- proaches to evaluation, thus creating tive nature of findings through more a basis for the development of appro- substantial stakeholder input. In ad- priate evaluation methodology. And dition, there has been increased rec- one of the means for that discovery ognition that high caliber evaluations has been the use of proverbs that en- of program impact are necessarily capsulate local attitudes and insight built on careful day-by-day monitor- with regard to evaluation-related is- ing and description of actual pro- sues like accountability, perfor- No. 1 8 cesses by those involved, and that mance and social responsibility. March 2000 the meaning of quantitative results is equivocal at best until they are inter- preted - sometimes contradictorily IK Notes reports periodically on Indig- enous Knowledge (IK) initiatives in -by the different stakeholder Sub-Saharan Africa. It is published by groups concerned. the Africa Region's Knowledge and Learning Center as part of an evolving EIK partnership between the World Evaluation: Outside mandate Bank, communities, NGOs, develop- or local reflex? * ment institutions and multilateral orga- nizations. The views expressed in this All these trends give enhanced im- article are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World portance to local participation in and Bank Group or its partners in this ini- "ownership" of evaluation efforts. Yet tiative. A webpage on IK is available at ('tION ASD9'> they may leave the heart of the mnat- http://www.worldbank.org/aftdr/ik/ ter largely untouched. Are notions of default.htm 2 Proverbs: Tradition in motion ativity." At the same time, they are not oracles: for every proverb, it is said, there is another asserting the opposite Throughout the region, proverbs provide a highly con- point of view. Proverbs are more like a language of densed, often poetic window on human experience and thought. But they afford a capital means for linking cur- on local understandings of the world. The word for "prov- rent concerns with the historical experience of the group erb" itself is illustrative of the point in many cultural tradi- and helping to ensure continuity and coherence in the tions. In the Hausa language, for example, the term is value systems and motivations that underlie new initia- "karin magana," which literally means "folded speech." tives. As an Ewe saying from eastern Ghana makes clear, African proverbs are in fact a finely-wrought form of ex- Ka xoxoa nu wogbia yeyea do -'A new rope is plaited at pression where meanings are tightly interleaved, creating the end of the old." associations between apparently disparate realms of ex- perience that throw new light on events and order percep- Evaluation and performance tion. No wonder these expressions so often require, for the uninitiated, what modern criticism would call careful To imagine that there was no accountability for resources "unpacking." They can be spare and evocative as a poem, at the local level prior to the intervention of official devel- and as central to establishing shared understandings of opment programs is like presuming that no one learned collective phenomena as any political assembly. anything before formal schools were established or that African proverbs are both new and old. They scarcely agriculture was non-existent prior to the arrival of the ex- constitute a fixed canon of wisdom. New ones are being tension agent. As a Nigerien proverb reminds us: invented all the time and old ones are falling into disuse, a Kunkuru ya san makamar matarshi: "The tortoise constant process of what linguists would call "lexical cre- knows how to embrace his wife." In short, certain things may seem incomprehensible to the outside observer, but insofar as they concern people's essential health and welfare, you can be sure that those I K N otes involved worked out solutions to their at least interim sat- would be of interest to: isfaction long ago. Flash back to an evaluation of functional literacy in the Name Republic of Mali over two decades ago. In frustration over the difficulties of tracking a program where advertised re- Institution sults sometimes seemed leagues away from field-level re- ality, one of the members of the team dredged up a prov- Add ress erb from neighboring Niger that seemed to sum up the situation with trenchant good humor: Da an ce da kare tuwo ya yi yawa a gidan biki, ya ce 'Ma gani a kas!: "When the dog was told that there was food for everyone at the wedding feast, he replied, 'We'll check that out at the ground level!"' _ - . -. . . . . In truth, there can be all kinds of nourishment on the * _table at a feast, but unless and until it gets down to the _ _ _ ground the dog has no part in it. So it is with many a de- | *1: 8 . ''. -] ! _.i 11'* !-1u. - velopment program: the inflated rhetoric does not much I * -. * i * L " a 6 S J S S 1 i |match the benefits for local participants, and it is just this 3 , 89_ reality and disparity that evaluation should help examine. The interesting point here is not just the pertinence of the proverb when applied to evaluation concerns, but 3 equally the fact that its relevance and poignancy were so avemexevie ame deka me len o. "Knowledge is like the immediately understood and appreciated by people of a bird of the forest: one person alone can never catch it." neighboring ethnic group. The expression became a sort At the same time, proverbs frequently make it clear that of motto for the evaluation. differing points of view are an essential component of decision-making and that nothing is subject to one single interpretation. Sira kelen sira te. the Malinke people say: "One way is no way at all." Accountability may appear to be another imported no- Ane Hausa angag t vo y ~~~~~~~~~~And the Hausa language has two marvelous ways to tion. But a Hausa expression of long vintage sums up per- illustrate the diplomacy and gentleness with which spectives familiar in most West African cultures: In ba k'ira, me ya ci gawai?: "If nothing has been cn nss-bidn st be apached: rmand arziki kan sa jan sa da abawa: "It's respect and forged, then what happened to the charcoal?" kindness that allow one to lead a bull with a tiny piece of Blacksmithing is still carried on in many areas of West thread." Africa over charcoal fires. But if that valuable resource is Makiyayen kwadi ya yi hankali da sandarshi! "The consumed and nothing is produced, there is real cause shepherd of a herd of toads must be very patient with his for concern. rod!" Toads do not move very quickly or all in the same Effectiveness is likewise a frequent focus. The Beti of direction, but they also are soft-skinned and vulnerable Cameroun pot the matter quite simply: Fa e~ telb nebai e creatures - and if the one responsible for herding them a'uigan a aibam. "If the machete doesn't want to cut dbrush it hbad besIfthnea backo hete sheath." wanttocut gets angry and starts laying about with his staff, he is sure brush, it had best sneak back to the sheath. tocuhafw to crush a few. "Efficiency" itself is scarcely a foreign notion. Numerous local expressions highlight the problem of social Empiricism and causal analysis processes that give poor or no results, the downside of operations where the ratio of inputs to outputs is Evidence is scarcely less important in the local cultures of < to use the dialect of planners. One of the West Africa than it is in the Western scientific tradition, most colorful comes from the Wolof language of Senegal. though it may not always be marshaled in the same ways. 'Ten digging, ten filling - lots of dust, no hole." A "Te digging, ten filling - lots of dust, nohole."A In fact, as Levi Strauss maintained in his classic La commentary is scarcely needed! Science du concret, "traditional" culture is, if anything, Collective decision-makig .more tied to the "hard data" of experience than is the academic one. Local practices are typically the results of generations of observation, trial and experiment. Arguably, evaluation is at its best a form of collective Tesereflexs ar obviously importnin ti decison-maing aout te useof reource and These reflexes are obviously important in evaluation decison-mkingabou the se o resurce and and are expressed in a variety of proverbs and sayings appropriate goals for community life. Participatory adaeepesdi ait fpoeb n aig approriat goas fo comunitylife Pariciptory throughout the region. To test, among other things, policy evaluation makes this goal a leitmotif. And West African otiounsoan the ofTe extraagan tcimsm by culture is extremely rich in wisdom and insight regarding opticians theH polen comment quite smpy a both the necessity of cooperation in decision-making and p gardamar noma ga damana:. "There's no point the ways to obtain it. The Hausa language puts the case in datariclua sl inain [growing son! few words: ~~~~~~~~~~~debating agricultural skills in the rainy [growing] season!" few words: In short, let each one use his or her own methods to Suttingthaearaofon awk d'ai." 'Makin a, decone iust [ke] cultivate their field, and we will see soon enough what the putting the roof on a hut." In short, everyone must bend real results are. dlown and lift together! A popular Ewe saying stresses the importance of An Ewe expression puts another critical spin on the comparing information across contexts: "The farmer who issue, and one particularly relevant to evaluation: <, individual and collective behavior. Still more important, however, the proverbs and Self-governance and self-assessment sayings provide a means of demonstrating that evaluation and accountability and a host of similar notions of Self-assessment is arguably a key component skill in increasing importance in movements for decentralization genuine self-governance, and African proverbs offer and local development are not unfamiliar activities but numerous related insights. A More saying from Burkina simply ramifications of concerns as old as the culture Faso uses a striking image to remind us that we are never itself. And this attitude creates the basis for helping independent without our own tools and resources: "The beneficiaries develop a culturally-appropriate technology one who sleeps on a borrowed mat should realize he is of democratic self-governance and - more important still sleeping on the cold, cold ground." - authoring it themselves. The Wolof put the same idea a little differently, but with Gyorgy Szell has pointed out that a common no less effect: Ku la abal i tank, nga dem fa ko neex: denominator credo in the participatory managemcnt 'Borrow a man's legs and you go where he wants you to movements of modern industry has been the notion that go." "the expert in regard to a worker's work is finally the But to take charge of one's destiny requires worker him or herself." A Hausa proverb puts it a bit competence: Barawon kakaki ba ya da iko ya busa shi, differently. but with much the same import: Kome ya ke they say in Hausa: "The one who steals the chief's cikin aikin d'an tsako, shaho ya dade da saninsh:. trumpet doesn't have the strength to blow it." And it "Whatever concerns the habits of little chicks, [you can be requires an ability and willingness to measure and quite sure that] the hawk started learning it long ago." correct one's faults. Sa kogolen be dogo, in the Bambara language: "The hidden serpent grows large." That is, the failings and weaknesses we don't correct only get worse. This article is based on research conducted by local researchers with the support and technical supervision of Peter Easton, Associate professor, Graduate Studies in Adult Education., Florida State University, with the active collaboration of the concerned African communities. The research was carried out under thejoint aegis of the Club du Sahel/OECD, the Interstate Committee for Combating Drought in the Sahel/Comite Inter-etat Contre la Secheresse (CILSS) and the Associa- tion for the Development of Education in Africa.