This article reports on the findings of the International Study of Spontaneous Voluntary Repatriation, begun by the authors in 1986, and involving case studies on return to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It discusses the lack of recognition in both policy and practice of the pervasiveness of refugee-induced repatriation, and of repatriation during conflict; and offers new assumptions regarding the pattern and process of contemporary repatriation and of refugee decision-making. Lastly, it examines some repatriation issues for the 1990s: fragile peace and tenuous security; protection of the voluntary nature of return; dealing with non-recognised entities; and post-return assistance, particularly the need to focus on rehabilitation before development and to provide refugee-centred aid.

Political armed conflict has important ramifications in the lives of children as individuals and on social development more generally. However, the emotional problems faced by children during and after war or political violence are rarely considered in development literature and practice. This article recounts the experience of working with severely traumatised children in the Philippines, using the methods of Creative Process Therapy. The report shows how a Western therapeutic model was successfully modified for application in a Filipino children's rehabilitation centre, and suggests that this experience offers possibilities for appropriate replication in other settings.

This article develops issues raised in H`ans Buwalda's article, ‘Children of war in the Philippines˚s. It considers the training of indigenous workers in mental-health care in areas of recent or continuing armed conflict. It explores the possibilities of combining Western therapeutic techniques with local and culturally appropriate ways of working. It stresses the need to acknowledge and address the emotional impact of the work and participants' own concerns, and discusses the kind of support which workers need. It looks at teaching methods and course content, with a view to creating a safe atmosphere and an interesting programme, taking into account cultural considerations. Finally it suggests ways of developing models of training for the future.

In Southern Africa, a major drought during 1992–93 threatened devastating consequences for poor rural populations in the region. The article describes the unconventional approach to disaster mitigation undertaken by Oxfam (UK and Ireland) in Zambia. This enabled people at the local level, with little prior organisational experience, to establish effective dialogue with government officials in the country; it also laid the foundations for longer-term development activities. The role of local-level lobbying, as well as campaigning on an international level, was crucial.

The last few years have seen a major rethinking of some of the hallowed assumptions of range ecology and range-management practice. The usefulness of terms such as ‘vegetation succession˚s, ‘carrying capacity˚s, and ‘desertification˚s is being reassessed, particularly for the dry rangelands which are dominated by highly variable rainfall and episodic, chance events such as drought. This article examines the management and policy implications of this thinking for pastoral development in dryland areas. It briefly examines the consequences of environmental variability for pastoral development planning, range and fodder management, drought responses, livestock marketing, resource tenure, institutional development, and pastoral administration. By offering new directions for development workers, researchers, and policy planners, the article illustrates, in practical terms, a future for pastoral development in dryland Africa that recognises both the importance of pastoral livelihoods and the significance of environmental variability.

This article examines the challenge facing the rehabilitation of disabled people, particularly children, as we approach the end of the twentieth century. The potential of a community-based model of rehabilitation is considered in the light of experience gained in five districts of Guyana. Rehabilitation is conceived as part of a wider perspective on community development, in which rural people take on key roles in the process.