DEPARTMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION

S.K.N COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE,JOBNER

ASSIGNMENT
(Course No. EXT-524)

Topic:- To Study the Time Related Tool and Techniques of

Participatory Rural Appraisal
Submitted To-
Dr. J. P. Yadav
(Professor)
Extension Education
Submitted
By-
Nitesh Kumar Tanwar
M.Sc (Ag.) Previous
Extension
TIME RELATED education
PRA METHODS
2016
 PRA methods which help in exploring the temporal dimensions
of people's realities. There various methods of PRA as follows

1. Time line
2. Trend analysis
3. Seasonal diagram
4. Daily activity schedule
5. Dream map

1. TIME LINE

The time line provides an aggregate of the various landmark

events as perceived by the local people.

Applications of time line :-

 To learn from the community what they consider to be important

past events.
 To understand from the community the historical perspective on
current issues.
 To generate discussion on changes with respect to issue you
interested in, e.g. education, health, food security, gender
relations, economic conditions, etc.
  To develop a rapport with the villagers, since a discussion about
the past of village can be a good non-threatening and enjoyable
starting point.

PROCESS Of TIME LINE :-

 Identify some elderly persons in the village willing to talk about

the history of the village. Invite them for a meeting.
 Explain to them the purpose of the exercise. Initiate a discussion
on the history of the village. The key questions you can ask may be
includes.
1. When was village established ?
2. What are the important events in the history of the village.?
3. What major changes took place.?
4. What are the reasons for these changes.?
 Ask one of the participants to not down the major events in brief
on cards in bold letters. If the participants are unable to do so,
ensure that one of the facilitators takes this role.
 Ask them for more such events that they would like to add. Once
you feel that the list is more or less complete, ask them to keep
the cards in a chronological orders - the earlier events on the top
and the later events lower down.

 Add year to the left side of the list of events. Failure of memory,
use of different time frames and calendar systems may present a
big obstacle for the participants in arriving at the exact years. you
 may have to use your own improvisation or your best judgment to
arrive at the years.

 You can focus on those aspects that are your area interest.

 Initiate a discussion on the time line to help the participants

analyse and reflect on it. Some key questions which can be helpful
in this regard may include:

1. What was the situation in the past.?

2. What were the major events.?
3. What changes have taken place.?
4. What were the reasons for change.

 Interview the time line by asking questions to clarify your doubts

or to get an in- depth understanding.

 Copy to details into proper. Note down the names of participants,

facilitators, location details, dates, etc.

TREND ANALYSIS
Trend analysis is a popular PRA method used to explore
temporal dimensions with a focus on change. It captures changes and
trends related to certain variables over different spans of time. It is,
thus, people's account of the past and of how things have changed and
hence also provides a historical perspective.
 The local people have a good understanding of the present
situation and the changes that have taken place over the years. Trends
analysis can provide a good idea of the quantitative changes over time
in different aspects of village life, such as yields, population, livestock
population, the number of trees, area under cultivation, rainfall, etc. It
helps to understand increase or decrease in variables under study over
a period of time.

APPLICATIONS :-

Trends analysis is useful to :-

 Learn from the community as to how they perceived change over

time in various areas of their lives.
 Integrate significant change in the village profile.
 Discuss village problems and any increase or decrease in the
severity of the problems over the years rather than asking direct
questions.
 Discuss intervention and measures which had worked out or failed
in the past and the reasons thereof.
 Understand people's perception of not only the past and present
but also of the shape of things to come in the near or distant
future with or without intervention.
 Produce a conducive environment, after discussion on reasons for
present state of affairs,to plan the possible interventions.

PROCESS :-

 Select a group of local people who are interested in the exercise.

Explain to them the purpose of the exercise.
 Initiate a discussion on the present situation and then move on
the aspects you are interested in Persuing. This sets the climate
for trend analysis.
 You may be interested in the trend analysis related to forest with
respect to its different aspects; density of trees, grass, wild
animals, collection of minor forest produce, income from forest,
moisture content, etc.
 Facilitate the discussion further to arrive at the aspects of trend
analysis. Explain the objective and make the group participants
brainstorm and come out with a list of aspects related to the
forest they would like to study and then select the most important
ones.
 Also facilitate the selection of landmarks across which the trends
could be studied. Encourage the participants to depict the
selected landmark years on cards preferably by symbols or visuals.
 Ask participants to make the matrix on the ground, using chalk.
ask them to represent from top to bottom the landmark years and
from left to right various aspects like density of trees, grasses, wild
animals, etc.
 Take up one of the aspects, say, density of trees. Ask the
participants to depict the situation today in the relevant cell using
symbols, visuals, seeds, sticks, sand etc.
 Once the diagram is ready, ask them whether they are satisfied
with it or whether they would like to make any changes.
 Also find out whether they would like to add new aspects coming
up during the process. This is the time to ask them depict certain
aspects which did not figure in their list but which you are
interested in studying.
  Ask the participants to explain the diagram. Encourage them to
discuss their finding and reflect on them. Some key questions for
the discussion could include.
 Major trends and findings.
 Causes of the trends
 What can be done?
 Who can play a role in it.?
 What can the participants and local people do themselves.?
 What can they do with a little assistance from outside.?
 Interview the diagram. Ask questions to clarify your doubts and
gain an in-depth understanding of the trend.
 Copy the diagram into a sheet of paper with details of the legend,

the scoring system, the participants and facilitators, and the

location and date.
 Thank the participants for their active involvement and for their

time.

SEASONAL DIAGRAM :-
Seasonal diagram is also called seasonal calendar, seasonal
activity profile and seasonal analysis. It is one of the popular method of
PRA that has been used for temporal analysis across annual cycles, with
months or season as the besic unit of analysis.

Season are an integral part of people's lives and exert an

important impact upon the livelihood of the local people, particularly in
rural areas.

APPLICATIONS :-
 Seasonal diagram helps to identify heavy workload periods,
periods of relative ease, credit crunch, diseases, food security, wage
availability etc. It has to be proved to be useful in project planning, I.e.,
when to implement various activities. It has been used to identify
periods of stress and to plan for when intervention is most required.
with a seasonal diagram it is possible to identify and amalyse the
livelihoods patterns across the years. The major strength of seasonal
analysis is that it depicts a range of items and their magnitudes, which
helps in understanding how this items are related to and influence one
another.

PROCESS :-
 Explain the objective of the exercise to the participants.
 Start a discussion on the present season and the work they

have been doing during the season.

 Ask them to identify a unique characteristics of each months,

one by one that would remind them of the month. It can be a

symbol or drawing. Encourage them to do it themselves.
 Draw a gird with chalk on the floor. In the gird have at least 13

columns and as many rows as the items you want to study.

Keep the cards with names of the months and visuals or
symbols in the top boxes in order, horizontally.
 Now on the vertical axis, take the aspects whose seasonal

variations you are interested in exploring. Ask the participants

to show the months the when the aspect or activity is on. Ask
them to represent the magnitude of the activity using different
number of seeds or sticks of different sizes.
  Interview the diagram, I.e., ask them questions on aspects
about which you are not clear.
 Facilitate a discussion and analysis among the participants and

others present. The point of discussion could include.

 Major findings and learning
 Implications of the finding
 Recommendations and action points.
 Please keep track of the points arising out of discussion among the
participants right from the beginning. These provided equally
valuable insights, if not more important ones, than the output
itself.
 Copy the diagram on a piece of paper with legends and details of
the participants, facilitators locality and date.
 Thank the participants for their active participation and valuable
time.

DAILY ACTIVITY SCHEDULE :-

Daily activity schedule, also referred to as daily schedule, daily
activity schedule profile, daily routine and 24-hour method, is a popular
PRA method used to explore the activities of an individual, group or
community, on a daily basis. This method forms part of the family of
temporal PRA methods. In seasonal diagrams the temporal analysis is
done on a seasonal or monthly basis, while in daily activity schedule the
bes is of temporal analysis is hours or periods of the day. It depicts not
only the various activities but also the duration of those activities. Its
visual nature makes it an attractive method.
APPLICATIONS :-

 Enhance an understanding of who does what, when and for how

how long, in the community
 Increase gender sensitisation, and create an awareness about
who is responsible for what activities in the community and why.
 Finalise timings of interventions, e.g., training classes, literacy
classes, non- formal education, etc., for the target group, based on
their convenience and availability of leisure.

PROCESS :-

 Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants- Keep the

group homogeneous and the number of participants relatively
small.
 Initiate a discussion on what they do on a normal day. Ask them

to list the tasks or activities they perform from the time of getting
up until they go to bed.

 Make arrangements to see that the activities are listed down by

one of the participants. If the participants are not able to write,
ask them to depict the activities by visuals or symbols.

 Ask the participants to depict the duration of the activities.

 Interview the output by asking questions to clarify your doubts

and to gain in depth understanding.
  Discuss the daily activity schedule with the participants. The key
points for discussion can include: their free time, period of strain,
workload, liking for the activity, what they feel about the way they
utilise time etc.

 Keep the record of the proceedings and make a note of points

emerging during the discussion.

 Copy the diagram on paper noting details of participants,

facilitators, location and date.

 Thanks the participants for their time and cooperation.

DREAM MAP
Dream map, though not yet very common in PRA, is used to
depict the future in line with the aspirations of local people. What
distinguishes a dream map from other types of maps is that it is
futuristic. Generally two maps are made -- one representing the
presenting situation and the other projecting the desired future. Dream
map can be made for virtually anything, e.g., watershed, natural
resources, village, farm, and so on. The participants are initially asked to
draw a map representing the present situation.
 APPLICATIONS :-
 Arriving at the dreams, aspirations, feelings of deprivation and the
perspective of the local people about their own development.
 Understanding the risks, vulnerabilities, strengths, etc., of the local
people.
 Arriving at the areas where people want change.
 Planning interventions to arrive at the dream state.
 Monitoring the progress made against the standards or goal set.
 A dream map of a village drawn by men, women and children
separately.
 A dream map of a school drawn by children, parents and teachers
separately.
 A dream map of, a house by various family members.
 A dream resources map of a village by the landless and land-
owning household.

PROCESS :-

 Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants and ask

them to draw a map depicting the present situation.
 Later ask them to discuss amongst themselves how they would
like it to be, if they had a choice and then to draw what they can
call their dream map.
 Once the dream map is made, keep the two maps in front and
initiate a discussion among the participants. The main points for
discussion can include:
 Present situation-problem and their cause.
 The aspired state and the ways of realising it; the actors who
could help or its realisation.
 Factos effecting realisation of their dream.
 Their own role in the realisation of their dreams.
 Ask them to list indicators against which the realisation of their
dream can be monitored. Similarly, help them establish time
intervals for monitoring the progress.
 Interview the dream map by asking clarification and questions ,

which can help to sharpen your understanding.

 Note down the points of discussion. In the end copy the map on a

paper with relevant details.

 Thank the participants for their active participation and time.