Participatory rural appraisal

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PRA ranking exercise being carried out by members of a Farmer Field School in Bangladesh, 2004

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) is an approach used by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other agencies involved in international development. The approach aims to incorporate the knowledge and opinions of rural people in the planning and management of development projects and programmes.

1 Origins of participatory rural appraisal
2 Overview of PRA techniques
3 A 'new professionalism' for development
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Origins of participatory rural appraisal

In the early 1980’s, a number of development experts were seeking ways of collecting information from rural people that overcame both the reductionism of formal surveys, and the biases of typical field visits. In 1983, Robert Chambers, a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (UK), used the term Rapid Rural Appraisal to describe techniques that could bring about a 'reversal of learning' ^[1]. Two years later, the first international conference to share experiences relating to RRA was held in Thailand ^[2]. This was followed by a rapid growth in the development of methods that involved rural people in examining their own problems, setting their own goals, and monitoring their own achievements. By the mid 1990’s, the term RRA had been replaced by a number of other terms including ‘Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)’ and ‘Participatory Learning and Action’ (PLA).

[edit] Overview of PRA techniques

Hundreds of participatory techniques and tools have been described in a variety of books and newsletters, or taught at training courses around the world. These techniques can be divides into four categories:

Group dynamics, e.g. learning contracts, role reversals, feedback sessions
Sampling, e.g. transect walks, wealth ranking, social mapping
Interviewing, e.g. focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, triangulation
Visualization e.g. venn diagrams, matrix scoring, timelines

[edit] A 'new professionalism' for development

A key idea that has accompanied the development of PRA techniques is that of a new professionalism. Robert Chambers has explained this as follows:

“The central thrusts of the [new] paradigm … are decentralization and empowerment. Decentralization means that resources and discretion are devolved, turning back the inward and upward flows of resources and people. Empowerment means that people, especially poorer people, are enabled to take more control over their lives, and secure a better livelihood with ownership and control of productive assets as one key element. Decentralization and empowerment enable local people to exploit the diverse complexities of their own conditions, and to adapt to rapid change”.^[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Rural Development: Putting the Last First, Robert Chambers, 1983, Longmans
^ Proceedings of the 1985 International Conference on Rapid Rural Appraisal, Khon Kaen University (Eds.), 1987, Rural Systems Research Project and Farming Systems Research Project, KKU, Thailand
^ Challenging the Professions: Frontiers for Rural Development, Robert Chambers, 1993, ITDG London