A number of pilot interviews were conducted in order to test the questions and the structured interviews. Piloting aimed to find out if the interview questions were clear a nd easy and whether the length of the interviews a nd their findings could generate too much or irrelevant information (Wadsworth, 1 997:52). Three volunteers from Forests National Corpora tion with previous experience of participatory development projects completed the questionna ire. Two other development specialists from the Institute of Research and Development Studies, University of Khartoum also volunteered to participate in semi-structured interviews. Through these pilot studies the volunteers were able to represent the real projects' staff, development planners a nd specialists. This piloting aimed to find out if the questions were clear and were able to produce the required information. The participants were encouraged to
criticise and comment on the questions and their discussions were recorded a nd used to decide the correct choice and arra ngement of words in the questionna ire.
Through the pilot an interview timeframe was estimated and a quick analysis of the pilot results was carried out in order to assess the outcomes and to discover a ny idea s that may be worth incorporating into the main research (Schofield, 1 969). Some issues that turned out to be critical in dealing with people' s participation had not been a ddressed in any depth or even referred to in the designed questions. The first issue was related to the projects' communication channels when approaching rural communities; the pilot participants showed concern about projects' initia l approach when communicating with local communities. It appears tha t to ensure local community participation we must be sure about approaching the community through the correct channels otherwise we may end up creating conflicts and/or excluding some people, while further empowering those who a lready have power. Another issue is the need for in-depth exploration of loca l participatory organisations and practices. It seems that these orga nisations have a crucia l role in sustaining local livelihoods and may influence the externa lly imposed development interventions. The participants of the pilot studies proposed more emphasis and in-depth analysis of these issues.
After two weeks in Khartoum, I accompanied the NKRDP staff to North Kordofan State where the NKRDP is implemented. The project is loca ted in the centre of Sudan on the way to the Western region. It was an eight hour drive from Khartoum, passing along the White Nile towards the south before crossing the Nile and heading west to EI-Obeid, the capita l of NKS . During the trip a comprehensive discussion with the project staff provided useful information about the project's participants and nature of the work, which saved much time and introduced some thoughts about my fieldwork plans. Being at the projects' sites from July to November was a perfect time for conducting the fieldwork in North Kordofan and the White Nile States. This period of the year offered an opportunity to meet the sea sonal migrants (almost all young men) who return to their villages during the rainy season to do the farming work and join their fa milies which concludes by harvesting and selling the products during NovemberlDecember. Those migrants normally leave the villages and go to the cities to work during the dry sea son from January to June in order to support their fa milies. Cha mbers ( 1 983: 1 3/20-2 1 ) points out that rura l poverty cannot be observed if fieldwork or visits are conducted during a time, for example the dry sea son, when social problems a re less
common. Chambers ( 1 983:20) refers to researchers who avoid the wet season in order to escape related difficulties. For this rea son, the Oversea s Development Administration (ODA, 1 995) prefers to reduce the seasonal bia s by insisting that visits to rura l areas should be made during the wet sea son. My field experience showed that avoiding or choosing particular times of the year for visits should also consider the accessibility of information and the objectives of fieldwork and field visits, a s opposed to insisting on a particular time to avoid personal difficulties or sea sonal bias. The question is when is the most suitable time to get access to information and its sources? Is it the dry or wet season? This requires obta ining suitable information before starting the fieldwork, so the most suitable time may be when there are fewer or no difficulties.
In January 2005 the government signed a peace agreement with the Southern military movement ending the longest civil war in Africa , which had lasted for fifty years. As a result of this agreement all major development agencies, such as the World Bank and other international NGOs resumed their activities in Sudan. These changes also offered some opportunities to attend workshops and meetings that were organised by different internationa l and national institutions i n order to review the current development cha llenges and to a ssess the experience of previous development programmes and projects. During the last two yea rs, Sudan has witnessed a great revolution in mobile telephone technology covering most of the rural areas. Surprisingly even illiterate people in remote rura l areas were fully aware of this technology and have learnt how to use it, which challenged me a s I was a lways seeking help, having never used a mobile phone before. In Sudan people in general a re not very punctual and need to be reminded of their appointments, therefore hav ing this new technology a ssisted in confirming and reminding participants of our appointments. In Suda n where public transport between villages could be problematic, setting times for interviews and finding people where they are supposed to be could be quite difficult. The mobile phone was a timesaver in these circumstances.