PRA-Manual Embracing Participitation tools-only.pdf - PACA

3.56 EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT: Wisdom from the Field
2.12 Participatory sex census
This is a methodological innovation. During group discussions with boys and
girls in Zambia it became increasingly evident that while boys may talk about
their sexual behavior and experiences in an exaggerated manner, mainly to
impress their peers, the girls tended to be secretive about their experiences. The
girls would usually express themselves in third person or talk about a subject
saying: "I have a friend, who ...", "I know a girl, ...", "There are many girls, who
...", or "Girls don’t mind…."
Given the sensitive nature of the subject being discussed we did not want to
impose upon the participants to disclose what they did not want discussed in
front of their peers. Hence the participatory sex census was designed, in order
to understand, empirically, the sexual behavior of the adolescents. This was also
necessitated because of several doubts being expressed by some ‘experts’ and
critics about PLAs providing only an understanding of adolescent’s perceptions
of their sexual behavior, which, it was felt, could deviate significantly from their
actual practice. It was, therefore, important to generate quantitative data
during a qualitative process in order to dispel the myth that quantitative analysis
is not possible during a participatory appraisal and to test how close the
adolescent’s perceptions are to their actual behavior patterns.
There are two ways in which this method was used:
the paper slips method, and
the ‘open’ method
Part 3
Participatory sex census - the paper slips method:
This variation of the method was mainly used with groups of girls and boys at
their schools. It was used, with similar results, in both gender-segregated and
mixed groups.