Participatory Rural Appraisal in developing countries

ObjectivesLearn about useful tools for working

with low literacy populations in rural areas (developing countries) - Participatory Rural Appraisal tools

Stimulate your thinking and creativity for engaging community members in doing participatory needs assessment

“The best item to pack for any trip to the developing world or not – is an open mind”

Challenges for “outside experts” & studentsExpect the unexpected (rodents, mosquitoes, street

hawking, open markets)Expect poor road conditionsNo electricity or power failures (your computer loses

power…)Lots of people may follow you around (no

confidentiality!)Time feels different

So how are you going to get your work done?

Participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA)

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) An approach (and family of methodologies) for shared learning between local people and outsiders to enable development practitioners, government officials, and local people to plan together appropriate interventions

Also known as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

Key PrinciplesParticipation – local people serve as partners in data collection and

analysis

Flexibility- not a standardized methodology

Off-setting biases – anti poverty biases are consciously avoided, more listening less lecturing

Teamwork – everyone is involved

Diversity – attempts made to identify and analyse contradictions and exceptions

“Optimal Ignorance” – leave out unessential details

Systematic – to get correct details and conclusions, it is best to cross check

Local materials - dirt, stones, sticks (or paper), not computers/electronic devices

PRA TechniquesInterviewing – Not based on questionnaires but issues

(households, individuals, focus groups)

VisualizationRanking – a means by which they can rank preferences,

problems, wealth

Mapping - Community members depicting the physical or social characteristics of their community

Social mappingTime linesImpact diagrams

Social mapping with rural, low literacy participantsSocial Mapping A space-related PRA Used to depict the habitation pattern of a particular regionDrawn by local peopleNot drawn to scale but reveals what is believed to be

relevant and important to them

Time lines with rural, low literacy participants

This is a time-related PRA methodAllows people use their concept of timeCaptures the chronology of events as

recalled by local peopleFlexible in terms of the time scale

One day, or a lifetime, or history of the community

Time line

Impact diagrams with rural, low literacy participantsA flow diagram , commonly used to identify

and depict the image of an activity, intervention or event

Takes into account types of changes as perceived by the local people

Helps to identify impacts of certain events - planned, unplanned, negative or positive

Impact diagram

Referenceshttp://www.eldis.org/manuals/

participation.htmhttp://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/

library/238582/toolkit.pdfKumar Somesh. Methods For Community

Participation: A Complete Guide for Practitioners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MVTCYDQRI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEZpsYLqL6M&feature=related

Participatory mapping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqnm1vkb

gx0&feature=related (36 sec.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PW9TLDxWzM&feature=related (31 sec.)