SECTION 4 121 28 by DEE JUPP with MALIN ARVIDSON, ENAMUL HUDA, SYED RUKONUDDIN, NASRIN JAHAN, MD AMIR HOSSAIN, DIL AFROZE, FATIMA JAHAN SEEMA, MD MOMINUR RAHMAN, SOHEL IBN ALI, RABIUL HASAN ARIF, SOMITA, DAVID LEWIS, and HANS HEDLUND Reality Checks: first reflections In this article, Dee Jupp and colleagues describe how the Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) team in Bangladesh is carrying out a 5-year study to track the progress of two Sida-supported programmes in primary healthcare and primary education. Their ‘Reality Checks’ combine immersions and conventional participatory approaches, and involve visiting the same host families and communities each year, at the same time of year, to see first hand how policies are playing out at local level. Although in its early stages, the approach is already providing many new insights with important policy implications. Introduction Sweden’s current Policy for Global Development (2003) emphasises two key perspectives: • poor people’s perspectives on development; and • the rights perspective. 1 Sida has published a Working Paper (2006) which sets out specific measures to ensure that these perspectives, as well as its principles of participation, non-discrimination, transparency, and accountability, influence both processes and results in all its work. The paper states that: The approach makes people living in poverty into important and active participants in developing their society and utilises their voice, abilities, and knowledge at all levels... the dy- namic direction is from the bottom up. This is also the level where we can clearly understand how poor people’s living conditions are affected by participation or exclusion and the extent to which they are able to, or allowed to, benefit from the gains of processes of change (p13). It concludes that: Sida has a unique role to play in the international arena by showing the importance of the two perspectives in achiev- ing our shared international commitments against poverty and for more effective development cooperation (p18). Sida has thus been actively encouraging all its depart- 1 ‘Shared Responsibility: Sweden’s Policy for Global Development’, Government Bill 2002/03:122.