Application of SEAGA as an analytical tool

5.2 Application of SEAGA as an analytical tool

SEAGA as an analytical approach recognized that there are no simple answers towards any development interventions. Hence, it helps development planners to take a realistic look at the development challenge- looking at socio-economic patterns at different levels and for different people.

In general SEAGA shows the need to understand how development policies and programs are likely to affect the economic activities and social relationships among different groups of people in local communities. Hence it promotes the process of communication between local people and development agents, during which local people take the leading role to analyse the current situation, to plan, implement and evaluate development activities. It also reveals the different roles of men and women to understand what they do, what resources they have and control, what their needs and priorities are. Therefore, SEAGA helps us to learn about community dynamic, including the linkages among social, economic and environmental patterns. It also provides an overall framework for analysing a variety of socio-economic patterns at different levels and their impact on the livelihood strategies of women and men. These analyses are based on the following three toolkits:

I. The Development Context Toolkit: Learning about the economic, environmental, social and institutional patterns that pose support or constraints for development.

II. Livelihood Analysis Toolkit: Learning about the flow of activities and resources through which different people make their living. It shows how people meet their basic needs, what are women’s and men’s activities for subsistence and income and their relatives access to resources.

III. Stakeholders Priorities for Development Toolkit: Essential for planning development activities, it focuses on learning about the current situation (what is) how to plan (what should be) for future interventions, hence, all SEAGA toolkits are designed to answer important questions.

Session design and agenda

Most of SEAGA tools are time consuming and therefore they have to be administered carefully to avoid boredom among participants. As a result, only two of the four analytical tools selected could be applied at Tukondjeni project about 20km from Oshakati due to time limitations. The two tools that were used are the Daily Activity Clock (from the Livelihood Analysis Toolkit) and the Problem Analysis Chart (from the Stakeholders Priorities for Development Toolkit). The other two tools that were not used are the Income and Expenditure Matrix (Livelihood Analysis Toolkit) and the Village social maps (Development Context toolkit).

At the planning stage, the facilitators visited the Tukondjeni project and agreed on the day, venue and time for the session to take place. On the appointed day, the two tools selected for the session were administered to the members of the project. The interviews and discussions were conducted in the local language (Oshiwambo) to make it easy for participants to take part freely. The sessions started with a general understanding of development as a concept, through brainstorming techniques. Participants were then introduced to the purpose and process of a Daily Activity Clock and Problem Analysis Chart, before group work and discussion on each tool. A questionnaire was also administered to participants as a focus group (see Appendix).