PARTICIPATIVE RURAL APPRAISAL

BR.SARATH THOMAS BAPH, BPH, MSWsarathcthomas@gmail.com,9539890560

INTRODUCTION“What a man hears, he may doubt. What he sees he may

possible doubt. But what he does himself he cannot doubt.”Through participation, we lost ‚control‘ of the project and in

so doing gained ownership and sustainability.“Participation is a process through which stakeholders

influence and share control over development initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them.”

Objectives• Learn 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” & students• Expect the unexpected (rodents, mosquitoes, street hawking,

open markets)• Expect poor road conditions• No 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?

• Why participation?• People know what works for them and

professionals need to learn from people.• People make contributions of resources (money, materials,

labour) for these programmes.• People become committed to activities that they have

helped develop.• People can develop skills, knowledge and experience that

will aid them in their future work.

Outlining the Terms – Participation

5

PARTICIPATION

Outlining the Terms – Monitoring •What is monitoring?Monitoring is a continuous process of collecting and analysing information to compare how well a project, programme or policy is being implemented against expected results.

6

MONITORING

Outlining the Terms – Monitoring

7

Actual state of a project / programme /

policy Expected Results

What is monitoring?

Compare

Outlining the Terms – Monitoring

8

MONITORING

Outlining the Terms – Evaluation •What is evaluation?•Evaluation is the systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and results. Evaluation determines the relevance and fulfilment of objectives, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability.

9

EVALUATION

Fulfillment of

objectives

Efficiency

Impact

Sustainability

Outlining the Terms – Evaluation Why evaluation?•An evaluation should provide information that is credible and useful, so that lessons learnt can be includedinto the decision-making process.

10

EVALUATION

11

PARTICIPATORY

MONITORING

AND EVALUATION

Putting the Pieces Together

Participation, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Project Cycle

12

EVALUATIONDecision Making

Planning

Implementation

and Monitori

ng

Evaluation

STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

PRA: ORIGIN• PRA has been evolved from RRA (Rapid Rural Appraisal) • In mid 80’s the necessity of participation in rural development became evident

and the term PRA was born Originally evolved from Rapid Rural Appraisal and spread fast in the 1990s. Shift in rhetoric: “from top-down to bottom up, from centralized to local

diversity, from blue prints to learning process”. (Chambers 1994) Learning is two way system and respondents know better his/her daily

encounter. Emphasis on the power relation between the researcher and ‘researched’.

• The understanding of PRA came mostly from field rather than academia

Practicing participatory research started since 1983 in Bangladesh. • PRA mostly focuses on the empowerment of people through

participation • The sustainability rate of PRA is high due to the participation of

the local people • The sense of ownership and belongingness helps to the success

of 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)• Five streams which stand out as sources and parallels to PRA

are, in alphabetical order:– Activist participatory research;– Agro-ecosystem analysis; – Applied anthropology;– Field research on farming systems; – Rapid rural appraisal. (Chambers 1994)

Activist Participatory Research

• The contributions of APR to PRA are more through concepts than methods:– Common ideas:• Poor people are creative and capable;• Can and should do their own investigation, analysis and

planning;• Outsiders have roles as a convenors, catalysts and

facilitators.• The weak and marginalized can and should be

improved.

Agro-ecosystem Analysis Gordon Conway developed this approach in Thailand

at the University of Chiang Mai around the year 1978.

It contributed much in current RRA and PRA through: Transects (Systematic walks and observation); Informal mapping (Sketch maps drawn on site); Diagramming (Seasonal Calendars, flow and causal

diagrams, bar charts, van or chapati diagrams ) Innovation assessment (scoring and ranking different

actions)

Agro-ecosystem Analysis Gordon Conway developed this approach in Thailand

at the University of Chiang Mai around the year 1978.

It contributed much in current RRA and PRA through: Transects (Systematic walks and observation); Informal mapping (Sketch maps drawn on site); Diagramming (Seasonal Calendars, flow and causal

diagrams, bar charts, van or chapati diagrams ) Innovation assessment (scoring and ranking different

actions)

From RRA to PRA

DEFINITIONS OF PRA

• “organized common sense”• “ An approach and methods for learning about rural

life and conditions from, with and by rural people”. (Chambers 1994

• PRA (Participatory rural appraisal)It is a methodology to involve rural community by interacting with them and understanding them along with their locality.

• PLA (Participatory learning and action) PLA is a one of the recent terminology in the field of participatory technique . It is a learning from community , collection of data and carrying actions.

• a family of approaches and methods to enable rural people to share, enhance and analyze their knowledge of life and conditions to plan and to act

• defined as “semi-structured process of learning from, with an by rural people about rural conditions”

Where it is applied? PRA applications include:

Natural Resource Management; Agriculture Poverty and Social Programs Health and Food Security Analysis.

Project Cycle From inception to end. Participatory projects pull methods, attitudes and values from PRA. ‘Micro projects’

Principle Components of PRA

PRA

Behavior and Attitudes

MethodsSharing

Principles of good practice in PR

Farmers are involved in decision-making at every stage

Site selection Diagnosis Planning Experimentation Evaluation Analysis Feedback Monitoring and

evaluation Socialise lessons learned

Principles of good practice in PR

The research is based on a clear common agenda or set of priorities defined jointly by farmers and researchers and based on principles of social equity

Principles of good practice in PR

The research draws on multiple sources of information and methods and links together various knowledge worlds

Principles of good practice in PR

The research process is based on cyclical learning and feedback loops and there is two-way sharing of information among farmers and researchers

FLSP

Selecting villages

Agreeing on issuesSelect a focus-group

Searching for options to test

Focus group MeetingVillage Planning

Integrating solutions on farms

Reaching other farmers in the village

Sharing with other villages

Testing and evaluating options

Principles of good practice in PR

The research process is based on cyclical learning and feedback loops and there is two-way sharing of information among farmers and researchers

CIAL

Train facilitators

Select region

MotivationElection

Planning

Diagnosis

Experimenting Evaluation

Analysis

Feedback

Principles of good practice in PR

The research process is based on cyclical learning and feedback loops and there is two-way sharing of information among farmers and researchers

Integral elements of PR Processes

FacilitationM & E

Social equity

Capacity-building

Exclusive Principles of PRA• Empowerment

– The authority to local people through decentralization and confidence building• Self critical awareness

– Mistakes are lessons to learn and to do better next time• Personal responsibility

– The belongingness and ownership to the participants • Sharing

– To discuss and argue about ideas in open forum with all stakeholders

WHY PRA????1. PRA is a means to people’s participation 2. To understand the social aspects of the village3. To develop common understanding on the village conditions and natural

resource situation4. To learn the criteria of farmers which influence their decision making process5. To select appropriate technology available to encounter a problem (i.e. exotic

or indigenous technologies) 6. To observe the facts directly on the field, to discuss problems and solutions with

farmers 7. To encourage resource poor and women to share their grievances 8. To identify and prioritize the needs

What’s in it? Secondary sources Semi-structured

interviews Key informants Groups of various

kinds Do-it-yourself They do it Participatory

analysis of secondary sources- aerial photographs

Participatory mapping and modeling

Transect walks Time line and trend

and change analysis Oral histories and

ethno-biographies Seasonal Calendars Daily time use

analysis Livelihood analysis Participatory linkage

diagramming Institutional or Venn

Diagramming Well being and

wealth grouping and ranking

Analysis of difference

Matrix scoring and

ranking Estimates and

quantification Stories, portraits and

case studies Team contracts and

Interactions Presentation and

analysis Participatory

planning, budgeting, monitoring

Group discussions

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

• VGDUP- Vulnerable Group Development for Ultra-poor– What are the indicators?

• Owning less than 10 decimals of land(0.04 ha)• No ownership of production assets• There are no active adult male house hold members• Employment, if any is limited to day-laboring or domestic help• The household is de facto headed by a women (divorced, abandoned,

widow, unmarried)

– PRA in this project• Wealth ranking among the candidates

PRA/PLA CAN BE USED FOR:

• General analysis of a specific topic ,question, or problem;

• Needs assessment• Identification and establishment of priorities for

development or research activities• Monitoring and evaluation of development or

research activities• Identification of conflicting interests between

groups.

BENEFITS OF PRA METHODS

• Empowerment of the local people• Securing active involvement of the community• Creating a culture of open learning with each

other and with community members• Setting research priorities• Setting participatory extension programPolicy

review

Key Features of PRA

• Participatory process, Provides vast scope and space for the community/participants

• No preset questionnaires; rather semi structured/open-ended interview technique followed

• Interactive process: exchange of ideas• Enables people and outsiders to learn through sharing

of information• Flexibility in using methods , Innovate adaptable

methods to suit local conditions

Key Principles of PRA

• Reversal of learning• Learning rapidly and progressively• Offsetting biases• Triangulating• Seeking complexity and

diversity• Facilitating- they do it• Self critical awareness and analysis

Important tools of PRA

•PRA uses a large variety of techniques, including:• 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)• Visualisation (e.g. Venn diagrams, matrix

scoring, timelines)

IMPORTANT TOOLS OF PRA

1. SOCIAL MAPPING• A space-related PRA • Used to depict the habitation pattern of a particular region• Drawn by local people• Not drawn to scale but reveals what is believed to be relevant and

important to them Number of families living in the village and their population data • No.of farm families • Economic status • Educational status • Infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity, transport, storage and

other public amenities • Interdependence of families on each other Informal/local leaders

2. Impact diagrams

• A 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

3. Natural Resources Map

• Land types (class 1 to 8 ) • Land use patterns, area and percentage • Cropping pattern and main crops • Ridges and valleys, erosion / extent of land degradation • Irrigation sources • Water bodies • Forest area • Type of trees in the forest • Existing farming systems

4.TRANSECT WALK• Transect walk taken along with farmers • helps to observe the facts directly on the field.• The Land utilization pattern, the soil gradient,

percentage of slope, the amount of soil erosion, water erosion and other problems associated with soil and water and opportunities to mend them and the potentialities to further develop the resources can be understood by farmers and the PRA practitioners.

• Problems associated with input management pests, practices, low productivity can be observed and analyzed.

5. SEASONALITY DIAGRAM:

Seasonal Variations in amount of rainfall, availability of residual moisture, fodder, employment opportunities, migration pattern.

expenditure pattern, income flows and availability of minor forest products can be understood by making seasonal diagrams.

Venn chappati diagramming

6. TIMELINE EXERCISE• Over a period of time what changes are taking place in the status of land,

water, vegetation and their effect on Socio-Economic pattern of the villagers can be known by using this technique.

• Trends in the amount of top soil and their losses • Trends in land utilization pattern• Amount of rainfall • Water retention• Vegetation• Usage of timber• Transport facilities• Migration pattern• Influence of outside forces• Cattle production • Changes in predominant occupations• Captures the chronology of events as recalled by local people• Flexible in terms of the time scale

Time line

7.MATRIX RANKING Preferences for various items and factors influencing

and contributing for decision making process can be understood through this technique

Selection of crop in a particular piece of land Variety preference of a crop Watershed treatment works Trees ranking for social forestry in common lands Trees ranking for horticultural crops either in private

or common lands Seeds, fertilizers, pesticides brands Markets

Agricultural credit Agro-processing facilities

8. PROBLEM TREE

Fig. 2. `Free flow' diagram of women's risk of HIV infection: Birchenough Bridge(busy service center on tarmac road) group. Kesby 2000

9.SOLUTION TREE

10.Focused Group Discussions (FGD)FGDs help in understanding an issue thoroughly

those who are either positively or negatively affected by an action / work in the village.

11. VENN DIAGRAM Helps us to understand the network of

relationships of various institutions working for the village.

12.WEALTH RANKING

13. BODY MAPPING To explore people’s perceptions of a range of bodily

processes and the effects of medical interventions in the body

14.Beneficiary Assessment•Beneficiary assessment is a qualitative research tool used to improve the impact of development operations by gaining the views of intended beneficiaries regarding a planned or ongoing intervention. (

•The tools usually used are conversational interviewing and focus group discussions on changes and impacts.

78

PRECAUTIONS IN THE USE OF PRA TOOLS• A tool (any tool) is only as good as its user. Much on

the validity of PRA outputs depends on its users creativity, integrity and the situational appropriateness of the method selected

• The user must clearly distinguish between perceptions, opinions and hearsay in analysis and planning

• The selection of informants has to be done with care. Every body does not know everything neither does every body hold a view on all subjects

The views expressed by a few members cannot be taken as a general view held by all

• Cross-verification of data is a necessary part of a complete PRA exercise

• Documentation poses several difficulties due to the wealth of information generated and the need to keep track of both process and output in ways understandable to all parties involved.

• PRA exercises may raise the expectations of participants, therefore, have to be carefully initiated with proper explanations.

Risks involved and key success factors

Any failure in the implementation of a project results in disinterest among the community which in turn shuts down any possibility of further participatory planning process with the community.

The participatory planning process should try to focus on those issues which can be solved with the available resources and gain the confidence of the community.

The key factor for successful participatory planning is to build a relationship of mutual trust and then start the planning process

Discoveries of PRA• villagers knowledge & capabilities– villagers have greater capacity to map, model, quantify and estimate,

rank, score and diagram than outsiders have generally supposed them capable of

• relaxed rapport established early in the process• participatory diagramming and visual sharing is popular and

powerful

Discoveries of PRA• sequences are powerful and popular• several maps can be drawn, each more detailed• social maps can generate household listings,

indicating many characteristics• transects can lead to identifying problems &

opportunities…• Accuracy of information obtained is very high– high correlation with 'scientific' information

DANGERS AND LIMITATIONS OF PRA/PLAOverlooking opinions and demands of women, particularly by male team

membersLack of institutional support and an open learning environment within

organizations (centers, departments)PRA becoming a fashionable label to satisfy public, institutional, or donor

expectations for ‘participatory’ approaches.Villagers are occupied with farm work.Villagers give unrealistic answers to receive more support (sometimes be the

village headman)Actors involved in PRA research for action activities are not neutral

CONCLUSION

social workers are really the shock absorbers of the societyThey are absorbing the people’s sufferings, pains, wounds as part of themselves.

Remember ….

we are not come to be served but to serve and to give life to redeem many people.