Pastoralists in Niger are mobilising in an attempt to affirm their rights to home grazing territories. Their associations will be involved in consultations about the draft Pastoral Code, which should be written over the next three years, and it is their hope that this opportunity to re-examine weak or contradictory points in the legislation will improve the status of grazing lands. This paper describes the strategies used by pastoralists over the last ten years to make their tenure to land and other resources more secure and, by reviewing the law as it stands, asks how best such rights can be reinforced by legislation.

The reduction of world poverty is a major challenge for the international community over the next decade. It is increasingly clear that the our capacity to successfully achieve this objective will be undermined if the natural resource base for development is threatened. ~Biodiversity is a fundamental characteristic of that resource base, defining many of its immediate and future potentials and vulnerabilities. The purpose of this document is to explore how biodiversity and people’s interactions with it might either support or restrict poverty reduction processes. It does so by aiming to develop a better understanding of biodiversity, the values it holds, and how people respond to it. It attempts to shed light on the differing impacts of these values – and their associated management systems on people’s livelihoods, especially those of the poorest groups. It ends with a presentation of possible future actions.

Malians continue to depend on forests and trees, using them in different but overlapping ways: as a source of household fuel and food, as fodder, bedding and fertiliser in agricultural production, and as a source of revenue and employment. Nationwide, wood is the main source of energy, but it is under increasing pressure as forest reserves dwindle and the population expands. Tradional natural resource management systems can no longer cope with the effects of the intensive commercial exploitation of firewood and other forest products, which is prevalent around urban areas. There is an urgent need to consider how best to satisfy the requirements of the growing population while maintaining the quality and quantity of the country's woodlands. This paper looks at a new approach to managing community forests.

This article is a reflection on nearly a decade of practical work by an alliance of two South African organisations, People’s Dialogue on Land and Shelter and the South African Homeless People’s Federation.The South African Homeless People Federation was established in 1994 to represent autonomous local organizations that had developed savings and credit schemes and were developing their own housing schemes. Its national character, active membership, autonomy and high level of participation make it one of the most significant housing movements in Africa. With over 80,000 households within its member groups, power and decision-making are highly decentralized with individual organizations responsible for their own development activity and direction. The local organizations are based around savings and credit schemes and all federation members are encouraged to save daily.

This paper describes the work of the Local Development Programme (PRODEL) in eight cities in Nicaragua where it provided small grants for infrastructure and community works projects, and loans for housing improvement and micro-enterprises, targeted at low-income groups. The external funds provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) were matched by municipal, community and household contributions. Between 1994 and 1998, more than 38,000 households benefited and both loan programmes achieved good levels of cost recovery. The paper describes the micro-planning workshops and other methodologies through which households and communities were given more scope for participation. It explains how local governments and the bank responsible for managing the loans learned to work in a more participatory way, and it outlines the measures taken to ensure that the needs and priorities of women and children were addressed. The paper ends by considering some of the lessons learned in terms of sustaining the initiatives after projects are completed, and institutionalizing citizen participation in social programmes. It also describes how PRODEL’s methods have come to be used by central and local governments in other programmes.