ASSIGNMENT

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. In 1983, Robert Chambers, a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (UK),
used the term rapid rural appraisal (RRA) to describe techniques that could bring about a "reversal
of learning", to learn from rural people directly. Chambers acknowledged that the significant
breakthroughs and innovations that informed the methodology came from community development
practitioners in Africa, India and elsewhere. Since the early 21st century, some practitioners have
replaced PRA with the standardized model of community-based participatory research (CBPR) or
with participatory learning and action research (PLA).

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), now more commonly known as Participatory Learning and
Action (PLA), is a set of tools and techniques for gathering, sharing and analysing formation and for
planning and action. They are ‘participatory’ as they involve a number of people rather than the
researcher himself/herself in the research process (Robert Chambers, 1994, 1997).

Participatory learning and action research (PLA) is an approach for learning about and engaging
with communities. It combines an ever-growing toolkit of participatory and visual methods with
natural interviewing techniques and is intended to facilitate a process of collective analysis and
learning. The approach can be used in identifying needs, planning, monitoring or evaluating
projects and programmes. Whilst a powerful consultation tool, it offers the opportunity to go
beyond mere consultation and promote the active participation of communities in the issues and
interventions that shape their lives (Sarah Thomas).

PLA is used with rural communities where it talks about nature and causes of the issues and aims at
providing realistic solutions. For Example, In UK, PLA is increasingly used in a range of community
based poverty and regeneration projects.PLA enables members to participate, regardless of their
age, ethnicity or literacy capabilities.

There are various tools and techniques which are used for Participatory Data Collection, Data
Analyses and Communication, such as, direct observations; review of secondary sources; semi-
structured interviews; ranking and scoring; diagramming; construction and analysis of maps; models
and diagrams like social and resource maps, topic and theme maps, etc; workshops; triangulation,
etc. The various PRA methods can be classified into three different categories- space, time and
relational PRA methods (Kumar, 2002). These are:

1. Time-related PRA Methods: Time-related PRA methods are used to explore temporal
dimensions of people’s realities. What is unique about these PRA methods is that they allow
people to use their own concept of time. The commonly used time-related methods include
time-line, trend analysis, historical transect, seasonal diagram, daily activity schedule,
participatory genealogy and dream map.
2. Relational Methods: This category of PRA methods includes flow diagrams like cause-effect
diagrams, impact diagrams, system diagrams, network diagrams, and process maps: Venn
diagrams, pie charts, etc. These methods are related to the relationships between different
variables.
3. Space-related PRA Methods: Space-related PRA methods are useful for exploring the spatial
dimensions of people’s reality. These methods deal with mapping and the focus is on how
people perceive and relate to space rather than just to the physical aspects, as they exists.
Space-related methods are used to generate a picture of a space in a given point in time. The
commonly used space-related methods are the social maps, resource map, participatory
modelling techniques, mobility map, services and opportunities map and transect.

Social mapping is one of the Space-related PRA method which is used to collect data. It is a
visual method of showing the relative location of households and the distribution of different
types of people (such as male, female, adult, child, landed, landless, literate, and illiterate)
together with the social structure and institutions of an area. Social mapping is perhaps the most
popular method in PRA. For many, in fact, it is synonymous with PRA itself. The focus here is on
the depiction of habitation patterns and the nature of housing and social infrastructure: roads,
drainage systems, schools, drinking water facilities, etc. Social map is different from other
regular maps in significant ways. For one, it is made by local people and not by experts. For
another, it is not drawn to scale. It depicts what the local people believe to be relevant and
important for them. It shows how the participants (local people) view something, such as an
organisation, place, etc. Thus it reflects their perceptions of the social dimensions with their
reality with the high degree of authenticity. This method is an authentic way of determining
what the social reality looks like for locals through social stratification, demographics, settlement
patterns, social infrastructure, etc. In spite of there being many overlaps, a social map is
different from a resource map. The social map is used to depict the habitation pattern while the
resource map is focused on natural resources. The latter depicts the natural resources – land,
water sources, flora and fauna, etc. In certain cases, though, a map could be a rich combination
of the two. This is a quite often so in the case of areas having a dispersed settlement pattern.
Social mapping is an option to identify households based on predefined indicators relating to
socio-economic conditions (e.g. status, skills, property, education, income, etc.). The
population’s wellbeing is then ranked (by those living there) according to which household is
better or worse off in terms of the selected indicators. This option therefore results in
information about households’ relative wellbeing, rather than an absolute assessment. A social
map of the village is a map that is drawn by the residents and which shows the social structures
and institutions found in an area. It also helps us to learn about social and economic differences
between the households. Social Maps are used when:

 The aim is to learn about the social structures in the village and the differences among
the households by ethnicity, religion and wealth.
 To learn about who is living where.
 To learn about the social institutions and the different views local people might have
regarding those institutions.

Social Mapping is a visual method conducted with a group. For smaller communities, a map of
the community is drawn, identifying each household. For larger communities, example, in urban
areas, the ranking unit may be residential areas and neighbourhoods. A group discussion follows
on what constitutes wealth and well-being and the main criteria are agreed upon. Next, each
household is assessed using the well-being criteria, for which symbols are placed on the map.
The group ‘holds the stick’ to draw the map- possibly by participants taking turns and adding on
to the map. Symbols are inserted and a visual map of socio-economic differences is created with
group consensus. For Example, Social mapping was carried out in two Indian villages (Mukherjee,
1992). According to him, the purpose, among others, was to identify poor households through
villagers perceptions, and to know why and how the villagers consider them to be poor.

Steps: The process for social mapping should include the following steps:

1. Consultation with the local community to identify an appropriate time and place for the
exercise. Ensure that the time and location is suitable (good size, convenient, comfortable
for all members of society) for as many people as possible.
2. Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants. Ask them to begin by drawing the
main physical features of their locality. Let them use whatever materials they choose (local
or other materials) as creatively as possible. This may mean using twigs and rocks or yarn on
canvas on the ground, or it may mean markers, depending on the community.
3. Watch the process carefully and take detailed notes.
4. Keep track of who is actively involved – to which section of society do they belong? Who is
being left out? Take steps to involve them.
5. You are just a facilitator — intervene only when necessary, like when participants are going
through a rough patch.
6. It is important not to disrupt this process – wait for a good time in the process if you must
add or clarify anything. Ask them: “What about …”, “What does this symbol represent?” etc.
7. When they have finished mapping, ask some people to identify their houses in the map.
8. Identify and number the household details you need according to the goal of the exercise,
like caste composition, school age children, etc.
9. Take a look at the map and clarify: ask specific questions on parts that are unclear to you.
Copy the map made by participants onto a large sheet of paper immediately, with all details.
10. Triangulate the information generated with others in the locality.

Applications: The chief feature of a social map is that it is a big help in developing a broad
understanding for the various facets of social reality, viz., social stratification, demographics,
settlements patterns, social infrastructure, etc. The diverse applications of social maps include:

 Developing a comprehensive understanding of the physical and social aspects of village

life.
 Collecting demographic and other required information household-wise.
 Providing a forum of discussion in high to unravel the various aspects of social life.
 Serving as a monitoring and evaluating tool.