The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has always been searching for ways to integrate participatory approaches in various phases of its project cycle. In 1998, IFAD defined its two most important objectives for its work programme as (a) emphasis on beneficiary-driven projects; and (b) development of systems for periodic impact assessments. It is within this context that IFAD provided a grant to Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) and Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) to carry out a project on “Participatory Processes: Learning from NGO Experiences in Asia and the Pacific”, to document the experiences of NGOs in promoting participation at various stages of the project cycle. As a complementary activity to this initiative, IFAD asked ANGOC and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) to organise an effort to compile a sourcebook of ideas, drawing upon field-tested experiences in a few Asian countries: Philippines, India, Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh.
