PARTICIPATORY RURAL

APPRAISAL (PRA)

INTRODUCTION
Participation, empowerment and inclusion have become the new development buzzword. There has

Been a range of interpretations of the meaning of participation in development. Participation can be

defined in several ways.

During the 1980s, PRA was firstly developed in India and Kenya, mainly supported by NGOs

Operating at grass-roots level. Until today PRA evolved so fast in terms of the methodology,

The creation of new tools and specifically in the different ways it is applied.

Compared to RRA which mainly aims at extracting information, PRA places emphasis on empowering
local people to assume an active role in analyzing their own living conditions, problems and potentials in
order to seek for a change of their situation. These changes are supposed to be achieved by collective
action and the local communities are invited to assume responsibilities for implementing respective
activities. The members of the PRA team act as facilitators. Here it is no longer the external experts but
rather the local people themselves who “own” the results of a PRA Workshop.

Consequently an important principle of PRA is to share the results of the analysis between the PRA team
and the community members by visualization, public presentations and discussions during meetings.

Most PRA workshops last from 3 to 5 days and the planning of the workshop and the facilitation of tools
is done in a multidisciplinary team of insiders and outsiders which is gender balanced.

There has been a range of interpretations of the meaning of participation in development. Participation
can be defined in several ways i.e. 'With regard to rural development . . . participation includes people's
involvement in decision-making processes, in implementing programmes, their sharing in the benefits of
development programmes and their involvement in efforts to evaluate such programmes.' (Cohen and
Uphoff, 1977. adapted from UNDP Empowering people – a guide to participation)
o 'Participation is a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development
initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them.' (World Bank, 1994)
o 'Participation can be seen as a process of empowerment of the deprived and the excluded. This view
is based on the recognition of differences in political and economic power among different social
groups and classes. Participation in this sense necessitates the creation of organizations of the poor
which are democratic, independent and self- reliant!' (Ghai, 1990)
The essence of participation is exercising voice and choice and developing the human, organizational and
management capacity to solve problems as they arise in order to sustain the improvements (Saxena
1998).

Participatory approaches have been widely incorporated into the policies of non –governmental and state
organisations involved in the development activities (Blackburn and Holland 1998). Participatory
development starts from the premise that it is important to identify and build upon strengths already
present in communities. Numerous research studies and practical projects have documented that the
involvement of people helping themselves is critical to the success of development strategies (Alamgir,
1988; Nelson and Wright, 1995; Mathur, 1997; Chambers, 1997; Ngunjiri, 1998). The advantages are
extensive: inclusion of the innate wisdom and knowledge of those affected in decision-making can result
in projects that are manageable, there is less reliance on imported technologies, the project expenses are
usually lower, and the project often can be maintained by the participants after the project funding has
ended (Alamgir, 1988). Participatory approaches facilitate training and skill diffusion, and contribute to
the socio-economic development and strengthening of confidence of vulnerable groups such as poor
women. Participatory processes are built on the idea of a multiplicity of world views about any given
problem, as problem-situations are a matter of perspective and interpretation i.e. different actors within a
given context, for example, women and men, make different evaluations of a situation, which lead to
different actions. By seeking out and making divergent views on problem explicit, they become subject to
dialogue, which in turn forms the basis for better informed negotiation that can lead to reaching
consensus about what collective actions should be taken (Jiggins, 1997). But despite the claims of
inclusiveness that come with the advocacy of participation in development, the language and practice of
participation often obscures woman worlds, needs and contribution to development, making equitable
participatory development an elusive goal (Gujit & kaul shah, 1998).

PARTICIPATION WITH REGARD TO RURAL

DEVELOPMENT

 Participation includes people's involvement in decision-making processes, in implementing

programmes, their sharing in the benefits of development programmes and their involvement in

efforts to evaluate such programmes.' (Cohen and Uphoff, 1977. adapted from UNDP

Empowering people – a guide to participation)

 Participation is a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development

initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them.' (World Bank, 1994)

 'Participation can be seen as a process of empowerment of the deprived and the excluded. This view

is based on the recognition of differences in political and economic power among different social

groups and classes.

 Participation in this sense necessitates the creation of organisations of the poor which are

democratic, independent and self- reliant!' (Ghai, 1990)

 The essence of participation is exercising voice and choice and developing the human, organizational

and management capacity to solve problems as they arise in order to sustain the improvements

(Saxena 1998).

 The 1990s saw the concept of participation enjoying greater official legitimacy in the international

development community than even before (Stiefel and Wolfe1994).

 Participatory approaches have been widely incorporated into the policies of non –

governmental and state organisations involved in the development activities (Blackburn and Holland

1998).

 Participatory development starts from the premise that it is important to identify and build upon

strengths already present in communities. Numerous research studies and practical projects have

documented that the involvement of people helping themselves is critical to the success of

development strategies (Alamgir, 1988; Nelson and Wright, 1995; Mathur, 1997; Chambers, 1997;

Ngunjiri, 1998).

ADVANTAGES OF PARTICIPATION
 The innate wisdom and knowledge of those affected in decision-

Making can result in projects that are manageable.

 There is less reliance on imported technologies, the project expenses are usually lower, and the

project often can be maintained by the participants after the project funding has ended

(Alamgir, 1988).

 Participatory approaches facilitate training and skill diffusion, and contribute to the socio-economic

development and strengthening of confidence of vulnerable groups such as poor women.

 Participatory processes are built on the idea of a multiplicity of world views about any given

problem, as problem-situations are a matter of perspective and interpretation i.e. different actors

within a given context, for example, women and men, make different evaluations of a situation, which

lead to different actions.

 By seeking out and making divergent views on problem explicit, they become subject to dialogue,

which in turn forms the basis for better informed negotiation that can lead to reaching consensus about

what collective actions should be taken (Jiggins, 1997).

 Participation in development, the language and practice of participation often obscures women

worlds, needs and contribution to development, making equitable participatory development &

exclusive goal (Gujit & kaul shah, 1998).

 Perhaps the most widespread appearance of participation in mainstream development has been seen in

the form of participatory methodologies of research, intended to gather a wide range of information

from local people at their livelihoods, needs, and strengths, at the same time as 'empowering' them

through a process of collaborative analysis and learning.

 There is a profusion of acronyms and approaches.

 The principal approaches include:-

 Training for Transformation .

 Participatory Research and Participatory Action Research .

 Participatory Rural appraisal ( Chambers 1992, 1997 and 2004) and Participatory Theatre .

One of the most popular of these methodologies is Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), a form of

participatory research used for planning, initiating, and evaluating development interventions. PRA

draws on number of reversals in development practice, PRA has the potential to privilege local

knowledge over that of outsiders by overcoming urban and technological biases, and inverting power

relations in development interventions.

Freire’s legacy of critical reflection and other, earlier participatory research methods to develop a set
of practices, tools and methodologies which facilitate critical reflection, analysis and action by

marginalised groups. The aim is for local people to be able to represent and analyse information about

their livelihoods or other issues, and make the own plans. This learning process is enhanced by the use

of visual graphics and motivate those involved – researchers, development practitioners, local people

and policy makers, to behave differently and to undertake different kinds of action (Guijt and

Cornwall, 1995:3). PRA represents a fusion and evolution of several different traditions, including

agricultural and anthropological research, and PAR. Intended to effect a

PRA focuses on facilitating changes in attitudes and behaviours which will enable the 'empowerment'

of local people (IDS, 1996:1).

ORIGIN OF PRA
By the late 1940s, the early initiatives of development assistance and of planned interventions in

underdeveloped countries to promote development and change had commenced. However, it was in

the 1950s, and particularly in the 1960s, that these initiatives, via the actions of processes of

Community Development, sought to involve local people in efforts to improve their communities.

Community development in the 1960s built the infrastructure of rural and urban communities; it also

developed local skills and abilities and encouraged local people to play a part in and to take

some responsibility for supporting and implementing a range of physical infrastructure works.

Community development at this time also sought to build community-based organizations to serve as

vehicles through which local people could get actively involved. It promoted literacy campaigns to

enable people to better understand and relate to existing administrative bodies and it sought to

generate a sense of cohesiveness and solidarity among community members.

The 1950s and 1960s saw the community development movement flourish and, particularly in

Africa and Asia, national programmes sought to build community infrastructure and to break down

communities' exclusion from development activities. Community development did promote

communities' involvement but it was for an already agreed purpose. Control was usually exercised

externally and communities were seen as contributing to and supporting the national development

agenda and not necessarily as being instrumental in determining its content or direction.

While community development as a basic strategy of community involvement persisted into the 1970s, it

has largely lost its predominance. Changing analyses and examinations of underdevelopment in the late

1970s and 1980s began to offer different explanations of the causes of people's poverty and to suggest

different forms of project design. Poor people were seen as excluded and marginalised both from

broader societal participation and also from direct involvement in development initiatives.

Simultaneously, development policy makers and planners began to argue for societal level

political participation and also to devise strategies whereby poor people could become more

directly involved in development efforts.

Some of the methods of participatory approach come from social anthropology, some especially

diagramming, were developed and spread in Southeast Asia, as part of agro ecosystem analysis

originated in the University of Chiang Mai in 1978 with the work of Gordon Conway and colleagues. For

RRA, the university of Khon kaen in Thailand was a major source of innovation and inspiration in 1980s.

Other methods like matrix scoring seem to have been new in early 1990s. The term PRA was used early

on in Kenya and India around 1988 and 1989. In India and Nepal from 1989 onwards there was
 an accelerated development and spread of PRA with many innovations and applications. Parallel

developments took place in other countries around the world, with lateral sharing and an explosion in

creativity and diversity (Chambers 2004). A very rough review of commonly used participatory

methodologies suggest that the shift from conventional

surveys onto rapid rural appraisals (RRA) was based on the realization that RRAs were not very

participatory, ("windshield survey"), and the accuracy of the information was low. This led to a shift

towards participatory rural appraisals (PRA) with the aim of increasing the involvement of the

respondents. PRA therefore made much emphasis on "handing over the stick" (as participants drew maps

or transects) to symbolize the shift in the control over the process (Chambers, 1997).

Definition

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) Or participatory learning and action (PLA) is the fieldworkers use

of participatory approach. The PRA continues to evolve so fast that no definitions can be final and has to

be updated several times. PRA is defined and updated several times by Prof. Robert Chambers. PRA has

been described as and analyse the realities of their lives and condition, and themselves to plan,

monitor and evaluate their actions (chambers, 1994).

 A family of approaches, methods and behaviour to enable poor people to express

 A growing family of approaches, methods, attitudes and behaviours to enable and

 It empower people to share, analyse and enhance their knowledge of life and conditions, and

to plan, act, monitor, evaluate and reflect (Chambers, 2004).

 PRA is a flexible, low cost and time saving set of approaches and methods used to enable workers to

collect and analyze information in terms of past, present and future situations to understand the rural
 populace and the condition that exists in rural areas which would provide a thorough and

comprehensive idea regarding problems, potentials, resources and solutions to formulate realistic

development practitioners to achieve the desired goals

within specific time (Chambers1992).

 Participatory approaches like PRA are now becoming a basic approach in rural development

and a wide range of examples can be found in the literature for natural resources and

communally owned land: resource economics (Pretty and Scoones 1989), resource planning

(Scoones and McCracken 1989), and community forestry (Molnar 1989 and Messerschmidt

1991).

 The use of the PRA also brought forth the adaptability of PRA tools and their use in the research

process (Szymanski, et.al 1997).

 Locally, participatory processes create the possibility for creating linkages between survival

strategies, knowledge systems, knowledge network and sustainable livelihoods (Gupta, 1997).

ELEMENT IN A PRA
 Self-aware responsibility: Individual responsibility and judgment exercised by
1. Self-aware responsibility: Individual responsibility and judgment exercised by

facilitators, with self-critical awareness, embracing error.

2. Equity and empowerment: A commitment to equity. Empowering those who are

marginalized, excluded, and deprived, often especially women.

3. Diversity: Recognition and celebration of diversity

 Equity and empowerment: A commitment to equity. Empowering those who are

 Diversity: Recognition and celebration of diversity
4. SPREAD
In development terms the last decade or so has been largely dominated by efforts to promote people's

participation in development, which would involve :-

A fundamental shift - both in attitudes and in methodology - if it was to break decades of top-down,

non- participatory practice. Since the early 1990s the major donor development agencies have put their

weight behind and committed resources to promoting participatory development, recognising the

problems caused by non- participatory development. In the last decade (1990-2000) PRA has expanded

and spread (Chambers 2004) :-

 From appraisal and analysis to planning, action and monitoring & evaluation

 From rural to urban

 From field application to application in organization

 From a few sectors and domains to many

 From a few countries to many

 From methods to professional and institutional change

 From behaviour and attitudes to personal change

 From action to policy influence

 From practice to theory

 From appraisal and analysis to planning, action and monitoring & evaluation
 From rural to urban
 From field application to application in organization
 From a few sectors and domains to many
 From a few countries to many
 From methods to professional and institutional change
 From behaviour and attitudes to personal change
 From action to policy influence
 From practice to theory
The spirit of inventiveness and improvisation (linked with optimal unpreparedness) which is the

part of PRA is spreading, and helping people in different parts of the world to feel liberated and able to

develop their own variety of approaches and methods.

FEATURES OF PRA
PRA has the following unique features:

1) Iterative: Goals and objectives are modified as the team realizes w ha t is or is not relevant. The newly
generated information helps to set the agenda for fur there analysis. This involves the” learning as you
go'’ principle.
2) Innovative: Innovative techniques are developed for particular situations depending on the skills and
knowledge available.
3) Interactive: In PRA the team and disciplines combine together in a way that fosters innovation and
interdisciplinary action . A system perspective helps make communication easy.
4) Informal: It focuses on partly structured informal interviews and discussions.
5) Community Participation: Here learning takes place largely in the field or immediately after, o r in
the intensive workshops. Community perspectives are used to help define differences in field conditions.

ROLE OF RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL (RRA) FOR DATA

COLLECTION
 Accelerating rural change, and the need for good and timely information and insights.

 Recognizing "us" and our confidence in our knowledge as much of the problem, and

"them" and their knowledge as much of the solution.

 The anti-poverty biases (spatial, project, person, seasonal...) of rural development

 tourism.

 The insulation, isolation and out-of-date experience of senior and powerful people,

most of them men Being rapid and wrong.

 Survey slavery - questionnaire surveys which took long, misled, were wasteful, and

were reported on.

 The search for cost-effectiveness, recognising trade-offs between depth, breadth,

accuracy, and timeliness, assessing actual beneficial use of information against costs of

obtaining it.

ROLE OF PRA IN DEVELOPMENT

 A confluence of approaches and methods - applied social anthropology, agro ecosystem

analysis, farming systems research, participatory action research, and RRA itself all

coming together and evolving...

 A repertoire of new methods especially with visuals (mapping, matrices, diagramming )

and of sequences of methods

 The discovery that "they can do it" (that .lowers. have far greater capabilities than most

.uppers. recognize)

 The relative power and popularity of the open against the closed, the visual against the

verbal, group against individual analysis, and comparing against measuring.

 The search for practical approaches and methods for decentralization, democracy,

diversity, sustainability, community participation, empowerment.

 Role description of PRA-Members

a) Facilitator

The PRA facilitator is the man or women who facilitates a focus

group, the drawing of a map or any other PRA tool.
Activities:
· Introduces the PRA tool to the group
· Facilitates the event
· Moderates the process

Attitudes:
 Has flexibility, patience and a sense of humor
 avoids to use complicated terms and words
 He/she talks the local language
 Encourages people and motivates them

b) Note-taker

When drawing a map, developing a seasonal calendar or applying any other PRA tool, one person
from the PRA team is the note-taker who writes down all important information and relevant
observations.

Activities:
· Brings along material for copying what is drawn on the ground during an event: - white A4 paper
to attach a copy to the documentation sheet

 Brings along the necessary material

 Observes the event from the background
 Writes down all important information. It would be helpful to have a checklist showing relevant
topics.
 Attitudes:
 good observer
 familiar with the language used
 is able to visualize and present results to the PRA team briefly and precisely.

c) PRA Team-leader
 Every PRA team has one person who serves as the team leader during the PRA field workshop.
Activities:
 · Is responsible for the PRA team.
 · Is responsible for all organizational and logistical matters concerning the PRA workshop in the

Kushet.
 · Moderates the PRA workshop and evaluation meetings during the evening
 · Introduces the PRA-team to the community (or organises it)
 · Takes care that the events can start in time

Attitudes:

 well organized
 kind and patient at all the time, keeps a cool head if things go wrong
 Sense of humour
 keeps low profile
 listens, observes, consults

PRINCIPLES OF PRA
 Offsetting biases (spatial, project, person-gender, elite etc, seasonal, professional,

courtesy…)

 Rapid progressive learning- flexible, exploratory, interactive, inventive

 Reversals- learning from, with and by local people eliciting and using their criteria and
 categories

 Optimal ignorance and appropriate imprecision- not finding out more than is needed, not

measuring more than the needed, and not trying to measure what does not to be measured.

 Triangulation- using different methods, sources and disciplines and a range of informants

in a range of places and cross checking to get closer to the truth through successive

approximations

 Direct contact, face to face, in the field

Seeking diversity and differences

 Critical self awareness about attitudes and behaviour; doubt; embracing and learning

from error; continuously trying to do better; building learning and improvement into

every experience

 Changing behaviour and attitudes, from dominating to facilitating, empowering and

enabling them to conduct their own analysis

 A culture of sharing- of information, of methods, of food, of field experience

 Commitment to equity.

APPROACHES AND METHODS OF PRA

PRA entails shift of emphasis from :

Individual To Group

Verbal To Visual

Measuring To Comparing, ranking,

 scoring, experiencing

Reserve To Rapport

Frustration To fun

closed To open

1. Offset: the anti-poverty biases of rural development tourism (spatial, project, person,

seasonal, courtesy )

2. Find and review secondary data: They can mislead. They can also help a lot.

At present, for the sake of a new balance, and of "our" reorientation and "their"

participation, secondary data are not heavily stressed in PRA; but they can be very

useful, especially in the earlier stages of e.g. deciding where to go.

3. Observe directly: Combine observation with self-critical awareness of personal

biases that result from our specialised education and background, and consciously try

to compensate for these.

4. Seek out the experts: Ask: who are the experts? So obvious, and so often

overlooked. Markets and prices? Factionalism and conflict? Changing values and

customs? Resolving conflicts? The priorities of poor people, child

5. Semi-structured interviewing: The Khon Kaen school of RRA has regarded

this as the "core" of good RRA. Have a mental or written checklist, but be open to new

aspects and to following up on the new and unexpected.

6. Transect walks: Systematically walking with key informants through an area,

observing, meeting people, asking, listening, discussing, identifying different zones,

 local technologies, introduced technologies, seeking problems, solutions, opportunities,

and mapping and/or diagramming resources and findings. Transects can take many

forms - vertical, loop, along a watercourse, combing, even (in the Philippines) the sea-

bottom.

7. Sequences of analysis: From group to key informant, to other informants; or with

a series of key informants, each expert on a different stage of a process (e.g. men on

ploughing, women on weeding... etc)

8. Key probes: Questions, which can lead direct to key issues such as - "What do you

talk about when you are together?" "What new practices have you or others here

experimented with in recent years?" "What happens when someone's hut burns down?"

9. Case studies and stories: A household history and profile, a farm, coping with a

crisis, how a conflict was resolved...

10.Groups: (Casual or random encounter; focus or specialist; representative or

structured for diversity; community/neighborhood; or formal). Group interactions and

analysis are often powerful and efficient, especially with mapping and diagramming

when group-visual synergy occurs with cross-checking, reminding, adding details,

mutual reinforcement and visible enthusiasm to get it right.

11.Local people (and lowers generally) as investigators and

researchers: Women, children, school teachers, volunteers, students, farmers,

village specialists, and poor people. They do transects, observe and interview other

local people. Beyond this, their own analysis, presentations, planning, action,
 monitoring and evaluation....

12.Do-it-yourself, supervised and taught by them: (levelling a field,

transplanting, weeding, lopping tree fodder, collecting common property resources,

herding, fishing, cutting and carrying fodder grass, milking animals, fetching water,

fetching firewood, cooking, digging compost, sweeping and cleaning, washing clothes,

lifting water, plastering a house, thatching, collecting refuse...). Roles are reversed.

They are the experts. We are the clumsy novices. They teach us. We learn from them.

And learn their problems.

13.Time lines and trend and change analysis: Chronologies of events, listing

major remembered local events with approximate dates; people's accounts of the past,

of how customs, practices and things close to them have changed; ethno- biographies -

local histories of a crop, an animal, a tree, a pest, a weed...; diagrams, maps as matrices

showing ecological histories, changes in land use and cropping patterns, population,

migration, fuels used, education, health, credit, the roles of women and men...; and the

causes of changes and trends, in a participatory mode often with estimation of relative

magnitudes

14.Participatory mapping and modelling: People's mapping, drawing and

colouring on the ground with sticks, seeds, powders etc or on paper, to make social,

health or demographic maps (of a residential village), resource maps or 3- D models of

village lands or of forests, maps of fields, farms, home gardens, topic maps (for water,

soils, trees etc ), mobility, service and opportunity maps, etc. These popular methods
 can be combined with or lead into wealth or wellbeing ranking, watershed planning,

health action planning etc. Census mapping can use seeds for people, cards for

households...

15.Local analysis of secondary sources: For example, participatory analysis of

aerial photographs (a good scale is 1:5000) to identify, share knowledge of, and analyse

soil types, land conditions, land tenure etc; also satellite imagery and GIS.

16.Counting, estimates and comparisons: Often using local measures,

judgments and/or pile sorting materials such as seeds, pellets, fruits, stones or sticks as

counters or measures, sometimes combined with participatory maps and models

17.Seasonal calendars: Distribution of days of rain, amount of rain or soil moisture,

crops, agricultural labour, non-agricultural labour, diet, food consumption, sickness,

prices, animal fodder, fuel, migration, income, expenditure, debt etc

18.Daily time use analysis: Indicating relative amounts of time, degrees of drudgery

etc of activities, sometimes indicating seasonal variations

19.Institutional or "chapati"/Venn diagramming: identifying individuals and

institutions important in and for a community or group, or within an organization, and

their relationships

20.Linkage diagrams: Of flows, connections and causality. This has been used for

marketing, nutrient flows on farms, migration, social contacts, impacts of interventions

and trends, causes of poverty, hunger, violence etc

21.Wellbeing grouping: (or wealth ranking) - grouping or ranking households

 according to wellbeing, including those considered poorest or worst off. A good lead

into discussions of the livelihoods of the poor and how they cope, and widely used for

the selection of poor and deprived households with whom to work

22.Matrix scoring and ranking: Especially using matrices and seeds to compare

through scoring, for example different trees, or soils, or methods of soil and water

conservation, varieties of a crop or animal, fields on a farm, fish, weeds, conditions at

different times, and to express preferences

23.Local indicators: e.g. poor people's criteria of wellbeing and ill-being, and how

they differ from those we assume for them. Local indicators can be a start or baseline

for participatory monitoring and evaluation.

24.Team contracts and interactions: Contracts drawn up by teams with agreed

norms of behaviour; modes of interaction within teams, including changing pairs,

evening discussions, mutual criticism and help; how to behave in the field, etc. (The

team may be outsiders only, local people only, or local people and outsiders together)

25.Shared presentations and analysis: Where maps, models, diagrams, and

findings are presented by local people especially to village or community meetings, and

checked, corrected and discussed. Brainstorming, especially joint sessions with

villagers. But who talks? Who talks how much? Who interrupts whom? Whose ideas

dominate? Who lectures?

26.Contrast comparisons: Asking group A to analyze group B, and vice versa, as

for gender awareness, asking men to analyse how women spend their time.
27.Role plays, theatre and participatory video on key issues, to express

realities and problems, and to explore solutions. Powerful and popular approaches.

28.Alternatives to questionnaires: A new repertoire of participatory alternatives

to the use of questionnaires, which generate shared numerical information. This has

developed in an extraordinary way, still little recognized even in 2004.

29.Listing and card-sorting: A super way of enabling many people to express their

knowledge, views and preferences, and then sort them into categories or priorities,

often using "the democracy of the ground".

APPLICATIONS AND USES OF PRA

Participatory rural appraisal has become the new development buzzword in every

aspect of community development around the world. These techniques are now

being used in almost every field where people are involved. Some of the more

important and common applications include:

a) Natural resources and agriculture

 Watersheds and soil and water conservation

 Forestry (especially joint forest management) and agro forestry

 Fisheries and aquaculture

 Biodiversity and wildlife reserve management

 Village resource management planning and action

  Integrated pest management

 Crops and animal husbandry, including farmer participatory research/

farming systems research and problem identification by farmers

 Irrigation & Marketing.

Analysis Analysis PRA tools

Space Social and Resource Mapping Mapping

Time Time Line Changing Focus group discussion (FGD) Mapping

Trends Seasonality Seasonality Analysis
Seasonal calendar Time
trend

Flow Venn Diagram Chapatti Diagram/Triangulation

Livelihood analysis Matrix Ranking
Decision Choice Ranking Problem Matrix Ranking
Ranking Triangulation
Preparation of intervention
Matrix
Gender Gender Disaggregated Activity Analysis Matrix marking
Matrix scoring
Matrix ranking
Group Well-Being Ranking Semi structured interview
Identification FGD
Preference Scoring and ranking Matrix scoring Matrix
Analysis ranking
Vector scoring
Valuation of Scoring and Ranking Matrix scoring
resources Matrix ranking
Vector Scoring

b) Programmes for equity

 Women’s empowerment, gender awareness etc

 Children

 Micro-finance

 Selection: finding, selecting and deselecting people for poverty-oriented

 programmes

 Income earning: identification and analysis of non-agricultural income-

earning opportunities.

 Analysis by poor people of livelihoods and coping, leading to household plans

 Participation by communities and their members in complex political emergencies

c) Health and nutrition

 Health assessments and monitoring

 Food security and nutrition assessment and monitoring

 Water and sanitation, including Community-Led Total Sanitation (Kar 2003)

 Emergency assessment and management

 Sexual and reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS awareness and action

 Adolescent sexual behaviour

d) Urban

 Community planning and action

 Slum improvement

 Urban violence

e) Policy

 Impact on poor people of structural adjustment and other policies

 PPAs (participatory poverty assessments)

 Land policy

f) Institutional and personal change

  Organisational analysis

 Participatory learning groups in organisations

 Field experiential learning

 Reflection and developing self-critical awareness

PRA Tools
The following tools are applicable to the process of capturing information relating to the key area for
investigation :-

1) Brainstorming
2) Focus Groups
3) Priority Grid
4) Transects/ Maps

5) Resource Mapping
6) Crop Calendar
7) Constraints Analysis
8) Opportunity Matrix
9) Stakeholder Analysis
10) Venn Diagram
11) Gender Analysis
12) Time Budgeting
13) Trend Analysis
14) Role Play
15) Resource Flows

 Brainstorming
The main purpose of brainstorming sessions is to enhance the creativity of a group, using their
collective insight to derive timely solutions to a problem.

It is important to comply with the following four (4) basic ground rules of brainstorming in order to
minimize participants’ inhibitions and enrich the content of the group:
1) Focus on quantity :- The greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a
radical and effective solution.
2) Withhold criticism :- Rather than criticize or judge ideas, participants should focus on strengthening
the validity of ideas generated by others. In so doing, all participants will feel free to share their ideas.
All ideas should be given equal credence (weight).

3) Embrace unusual ideas:- . No idea (no matter how obscure it sounds) should be rejected. New ways
of thinking may provide better solutions.

4) Consolidate/ build on ideas

a . By a process of association, ideas may be combined to form a single better idea, as
suggested by the slogan “1+1=3”.
b . This can help with team building and reserved members of the group may feel
encouraged

to contribute

Brainstorming can fully exhaust an idea by focusing specifically on that idea. Swiftly
generated ideas usually lead to a very animated and energizing session. Some of the
disadvantages of brainstorming relate to the difficulty of accurately recording the points
generated and if some members of the group are not familiar with the topic of discussion, it
becomes difficult to brainstorm and stimulate a free flow of ideas. It is therefore critical to
define the problem clearly, concisely and unambiguously before a brainstorming session.

 Focus Group
A Focus Group is a relatively low cost and quick qualitative research method to gain an understanding
of local perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes to the issue(s) being studied. One can get a great
deal of information during a focus group session.

Focus groups are dialogue sessions with less than 20 persons (preferably 6 – 10 persons) participating in
the group and is quite similar to a brainstorming session. Focus groups can also be viewed as multiple
interviews where questions are asked in an interactive group setting and where participants are free to
talk with other group members.

Preparing for the Session

• Define the principal objective(s) of the session.

• Carefully develop three to five questions that will serve to stimulate the required dialogue and
extract the required information from the group discourse.
• Ensure that persons targeted are informed of the date, time, venue and purpose of the focus
group.
• Choose a venue that is easily accessible to all participants and comfortable for the session
that should last no more than two (2) hours. Ensure adequate air flow and configure sitting
so that all participants can see each other.

• Make provisions for name tags (first name basis) as well refreshments.
• Plan to record the session with either an audio or audio-video recorder. Don’t count on
your memory. If this isn’t practical, involve a co-facilitator who is there to take notes.

Rules to implement the process

• Always reference the key issues to be investigated, to determine what problem or need is being
addressed by the information exchanges during the session.
• All participants should be encouraged to speak. However, it is very important to keep the
discussions focused
on the issue(s) to be researched; while maintaining the momentum of the discourse and
ensuring closure on questions raised.

 Priority Grid
 The Priority Grid provides a rational and structured approach to derive the group’s priorities,
whilst facilitating much negotiation and consensus building by the group. It is eminently suitable
to conflict management.

The challenge of merging individual perspectives is achieved through reflexivity, which

is about critical self- awareness and an appreciation of power dynamics that define not
only what is thought to be important but also interactions between people. During the
PRA training, the priority grid was used as a preference ranking tool.
Steps to Developing a Priority Grid

 Brainstorm issues that require prioritization / ranking.

 Consolidate into concise themes/ issues for ranking.
 Avoid ambiguity and safeguard the integrity of all themes/ issues
 Employ a pair wise ranking scheme.

 How to do pair wise ranking:

 Construct a pair wise matrix.
 Each box in the matrix represents the intersection (or pairing) of two items.
 Arrange each in the same order along the X and Y axes of the grid. If your list has six (6)
themes / issues, the pair wise matrix would look like this template.
 Rank each pair. For each pair, have the group (using a consensus- oriented
discussion) determine which of the two themes/issues is preferred (the higher
priority).
 Write the preferred priority in the appropriate box for each pair.
 Repeat this process until the matrix is filled.

 Transects / Maps

Visual PRA tools such as transects and maps provide a sound qualitative picture of the situation
relatively quickly. Other conventional methods of compiling similar sets of information are generally
 more time-consuming and costly. Often, their cost far outweighs the gains from many of these
other types of research methods. Even when conventional approaches are necessary,

Specifically, transect walks help to achieve the following:

1 . An appreciation of the biodiversity and the resource endowments of the specific

farming community.
2 . An understanding of the challenges and opportunities for sustainable agricultural
development in that area.
3 . The establishment of rapport with farmers and other key actors in that area..

 Resource Mapping
Resource distribution, use and access is usually a sensitive issue for persons who control or have
access to them. Consequently, knowledge of the social, economic and political structure of the
targeted community is an important prerequisite for mapping the prescribed level of required detail.

In fact, resource mapping requires the application of other tools, in particular transects which allow in-
depth analysis of individual resources.

Resource mapping should ideally start with a resource historical transect, which provides a
preliminary inventory of resource-related issues relevant to the particular landscape.
The information from the resource map helps orient the transect walk which generally follows.
The information generated during a transect walk further complements the output of the resource
mapping exercise.
The construction of maps in relation to different farm, household or enterprise types, socio-
economic strata, livelihood modalities and agro-ecological zones, supports the ability to identify,
locate and classify past and present resource occurrence, distribution, use, tenure and access. For
example, critical locations such as fragile zones and areas predisposed to land degradation can be
identified and mapped. The mapping process can also reveal the significance participants attach to
resources (e.g. latanya for broom making). Furthermore, there is the opportunity to gain a visual
appreciation of relations between resources and issues and their spatial location (e.g. deforestation,
land erosion, poor feeder roads etc.).
Any surface can be used for the mapping process, for example, chalk on a concrete floor or on the
ground with a stick, with resources and features indicated by the use of local materials such as
stones, leaves, sticks, shells or other. However, these kinds of maps must be transferred to paper to
preserve the information generated.

How to do Resource Mapping.

1. Identify the participant group.

2. Describe purpose and scope of the mapping exercise.
3. Ensure the inclusion of key informants who are knowledgeable about the resource
endowments of the targeted landscape (e.g. Fishers should predominate in coastal mapping,
while farmers or forest dwellers in terrestrial resource mapping). Based on the context, the
selection of members of the mapping team may be stratified according to variables such as
gender and age.

4 . Prepare an inventory of resources or features to be mapped. It

must be noted that only a limited number of topics can be properly
mapped.
5. Situate the group where they can have a good view of the area to be
mapped.
• Make sure that the participants have a common understanding of the orientation.
6. Facilitate the development of the base map on the agreed surface
and with the relevant materials.
• A map, one meter high and two meters wide (1m x 2m), should facilitate effective participation by
all members of the group.
7. Ask the participants to “plot” resources or features on the map and
agree on the local name for each feature.
• Sequencing is important.
• Start with coastline, followed by watercourses, islets, mountain
 peaks, paths, roads, human settlements, etc.
• Allow participants to plot features which in their opinion are
significant.
8. Use symbols and colors to represent various sets of information and
generate a corresponding legend.
9. Allow for validation of the information by a wider forum.
10. Ensure that the process is well documented and points of
disagreement are noted.
11. Where feasible, discuss the original map with the community in
question and leave copies with key actors.

Produced maps will vary based on the specific purpose of the exercise; as well as the perspectives,
vision, experiences and knowledge of the participants. Consequently, resources or issues of
significance to a particular group may appear exaggerated in size or color compared to issues or
resources of lesser significance which might be under-represented. Resource mapping is a good

starting point for participatory problem analysis and planning.

 Crop Calendar

Crop Calendars present the pattern of activities related to the production, harvesting and marketing
of specified crops. This participatory tool provides scope to explore changes with respect to
gender- specific workloads, as well as the constraints and opportunities for increased productivity.

Steps in preparing a Crop4 Calendar

i. Draw a calendar which indicates the month of the years on the ground (in a large
open space) or on a large sheet of paper.

ii. Begin by indicating the rainfall pattern in each month of the year.
iii. If in an open space, the group can use stones under each month of the calendar to denote the
 relative intensity of rainfall (more stones meaning more rainfall).
iv. List the crop in an additional column to the left and indicate (with lines) when the various farm
management activities are carried out, e.g. land preparation, pest management, fertilizing,
planting, staking, weeding, mulching, harvesting and marketing.
v. Activities may be denoted by the intensity of the task by varying the type of line. In the
illustrated
vi. Indicate which are joint activities, i.e. performed by both women and men, which are male or
female tasks.
vii. . After completing one crop, develop another calendar for another crop and repeat the steps.
 If there is any livestock, use the calendar in a similar manner for each type of livestock e.g.
poultry, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle etc. While the calendar is being created, encourage participants
to probe and check information and encourage debate.
 On completion of the calendar, the group should further discuss what the calendar reveals to
them. The group discussion can be facilitated through brainstorming and collective decision-
making to identify and prioritize issues.

 An album of calendars addressing the range of commodities in a particular context, e.g. an

agricultural region, will provide diagrammatic representations and a “temporal dimension” of the
various activities, constraints and opportunities that influence the livelihoods of farm households.
The categorization of production and marketing activities by season, month, frequency and
gender also provides a useful reference guide for a gender- aware approach to project planning
and output evaluation, as well as agricultural policy analysis and formulation.

 Constraints Analysis

Constraint is a situation or a factor that determines what will not happen. These limitations, imposed by
nature or by humankind, prevent the realization of goals and targets, by not permitting certain actions to
be taken. Constraints occur at different levels: farm, community, region or district as well as nationally
and internationally.
Some constraints have few causes and can be easily and quickly eliminated. These elastic types of
constraints do not therefore preclude actions, alternatives, consequences, and objectives in the short
term. Other constraints have many fundamental causes and a network of influences. These rigid types
of constraints are usually more difficult to deal with and require a coherent set of actions in the
medium to long term. It is useful to distinguish short, medium and long-term constraints. For example,
poor drainage may a constraint in the short term, however low yields may be a medium-term problem;
while insecure land tenure and soil degradation could pose problems in the long term.
Constraints analysis is a methodology for mapping a critical path of actions required to create an
enabling environment for sustainable livelihood systems.

 Opportunity Matrix

There are a variety of methods that can be used to capture data and information in a participatory
approach. Having collected the data, there is always a need for a structured approach to analyzing data

and information sets and to define the way forward to resolve constraints and achieve predetermined
goals and targets.
Identifying constraints, their causes and effects and the most appropriate and practical ways to
overcome them, initiates communication and builds trust among all key actors and stakeholders
involved in the PRA process. Options for overcoming constraints should be as specific as possible and
each solution suggested by the group must comply with the following ground rule:
• Those involved are both willing and able to initiate and facilitate the change. This approach fosters
self determination, diminishes apathy and emphasizes the creation of sustainable solutions and the
exploitation of opportunities which are accessible and within one’s sphere of control. In this way,
development becomes self-propelled and sustainable.
The development of an opportunity matrix starts with rephrasing each identified constraint into positive
desirable conditions and detailing the opportunities for innovation and change.
  Venn Diagrams

Venn Diagrams or set diagrams illustrate the hypothetical and possible logical relationships among
individual and groups and are also useful tools in discerning and highlighting potential conflicts between
different stakeholder groups or circumstances. When used as a participatory tool, Venn diagrams help
target groups to conceptualize the relative strengths and weaknesses of relationships among specified key
actors / stakeholders or situations / conditions.
A Venn diagram is constructed with a collection of simple closed curves drawn in the plane.
Venn diagrams normally comprise overlapping circles. The interior of the circle symbolically
represents the particular grouping or set, while the exterior represents what does not belong.
The size of the circle used can help indicate the relative power or influence of each group or
the impact of specified situations, while the spatial separation denotes degree of similarity or
differences among them.
For instance, in a typically three-set Venn diagram (as shown in the following diagram), one
circle may represent the degree of pest infestation, while another circle may represent water-

logging and the third illustrates the extent and impact of poor drainage. The overlapping area
or intersection would then represent the degree of commonality / relationship among these three
variables.

 Gender Analysis
The term ‘gender’ refers to the social construction of the female and male identity. It can be
defined as ‘more than biological differences between men and women”. It includes the ways in
which those differences, whether real or perceived, have been valued, used and relied upon to
classify women and men and to assign roles to and expectations of them. Gender blindness or
gender neutrality is in fact a misnomer and any intervention that professes to be gender-neutral
will, in fact, reflect and probably reinforce the imbalances that exist. Women and men are
impacted differently, in all situations, by the outcomes of policies, programmes and projects at
local, regional and international levels. However, the dimensions of these inequalities are often so
deeply embedded that they are difficult to perceive. Gender analysis reveals these differences.

 Time Budget Analysis

Time Budget Analysis facilitates the documentation of reality with regard to:
1 . Activities oriented towards the production of market goods and services.
2 . Activities oriented towards the (re) production of the farm household.

The approach, as exemplified in the following matrix, facilitates better understanding of :

 Who does what activities?
 How much time is spent on these activities?
 Where is the location of these activities?
 Where do they take place?

According to a UNIFEM publication5, time use budget surveys have revealed the failure of
conventional labour statistics to capture the extent, range and complexity of activities in which
individuals engage. This is particularly so in developing countries, such as CARICOM member

states, and among women for whom multi-tasking is common. Time use studies therefore provide
scope for the capture of invaluable information relating to the dynamics of the reproductive/care
economy and the informal market segments of the economy.

 Role Play

Role playing captures the skills, knowledge, experiences and emotions of individuals to act out
hypothetical situations in an uncharacteristic and unencumbered fashion. Participants in the role play
gain a deeper appreciation of the range of concerns, values, and positions held by other people which
can also broaden their perspectives on the issue. Participants are encouraged to improvise, interact,
communicate, relax and be creative in the dramatization of a given scenario; for example, acting out a
controversial issue or a proposed change. Role playing has no script and acting ability is irrelevant.
The following components are important to a role play:
  A specified time limit.
 Description of the scenario to be “played out”.
 Roles or characters to be dramatized.

 The story line or plot and subplots.

 Face-to-face and eye-to-eye contact.
 Trust among members of the “cast”.
 People are likely to be a bit reserved if they are not familiar or comfortable with each other and
have not developed a sense of mutual trust.
 Inference(s) to be drawn or lessons to be learnt (the message in the story).
 Participants’ evaluation of the presentation.
 A thorough debriefing must follow a role play to provide participants with the opportunity to
assess emerging issues, as well as the rationale for particular stands and decisions taken.
 Exploration of the issues raised and the outcome.

 Resource Flow

Resource Flows facilitate a deep understanding of the interactions among components of a farming
system. The negation of these relationships often lead to poor “fit” of technologies which can
generate increased capacity for agricultural production and enhance productivity.
A farming system, which is the result of a complex interaction of number of interdependent
components, is generally driven by the overall goal of security of the farm household’s
livelihood. Farming systems are therefore closely linked with livelihood systems managed by
farm households, and are a complex combination of resources influenced by environmental,
political, and economic, institutional and social factors.
Once the different components of the relevant system are identified, an idea of the potential
interactions between components can be gained by tracking the flow of resources between the
different components, in a spatial or temporal fashion. Resources can include land, labour,
finance, farm inputs and outputs.
The resource flow diagrams are conceptual models of the spatial
dimension of resource transfers within a particular farming system. A
commodity or plot level, the resources of interest are usually nutrients.
At the farm level, the resource flows relate to various farm enterprise
types. The farm enterprise type is denoted by the commodity that is most
profitable or of greatest significance in the opinion of the farmer for
her/his household.
Developing Resource Flow diagram

1. By convention, the relative importance {in the opinion of the farmer} of an enterprise within
the particular farm system is denoted by the size of the box.
2. Boxes denoting the economic enterprises are placed on the one
side and the “subsistence” enterprises on the other.
3. Ovals with broken lines denote peripheral/secondary activities.
4. Ovals with solid lines denote hired labour.

5. Resource flows are indicated by arrows and appropriately labeled,

6. Dotted lines to boxes or ovals signify part time or seasonal/infrequent activities.
7. The household is represented at the center of each enterprise system type diagram, with the
number of persons in the household, disaggregated by sex and age in the center box.
8. The market is always at the top of the diagram and disaggregated accordingly. The
relative importance of each market is denoted by the size of the box.

 TREND ANALYSIS
Time line
This indicates the major events remembered by the villagers. Elderly villagers narrate their life histories.
Since it is difficult to remember the exact dates of important changes, villagers can be facilitated to
broadly connect such changes with major events, political regimes and thus summaries the major events
and changes
That has taken place during his / her life time. It was through the method of time line, as shown in Fig,
11, that information was given by an elderly villager on the various development stages of their village
over a period of 70 years.

Time Trend
This indicates the change in past few years related to variables concerned with a particular field. This
method shows quantitative changes over time in different aspects of village life such also occurrence o f
major diseases, population affected, livestock population, number of trees, rainfall pattern etc. A Time
trend is different from a historical transect or a Time line. The former is more
Precise in giving indication of change whereas, the latter can show broad movements of different aspects
of village life rather than their precise shifts.

Seasonal analysis
This indicates the month wise abnormalities with regard to particular field. This method is used to
analyze the seasonal patterns of some aspects of life or activities, events or problems. There are as o n e

problems, which are cyclical in nature. Problems which have a cyclical pattern can be analyzed using
this method, including availability of food, prevalence of diseases, indebtedness, and relative
Prosperity, stress in livelihoods etc. as also rainfall, availability of water and so on.
Daily Routine Diagram
This daily routine diagram depicts the way in which farmer spends time from morning to night. Daily
routine diagrams reflect the kinfl of activities which one does on a daily basis. It not only shows the time
spent in different activities but also the size o f the work involved. For instance, women spend different
hours of the day in activities like feeding children, cooking etc. It is possible to identify general patterns
from daily patterns. The general patterns of different groups can be compared. Such daily routines can
also be depicted on a seasonal basis in order to identify constraints and work load &of different groups
related to different activities.
 Precautions in the use of PRA TOOLS
■ Any tool is only as good as its user. Much of its 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 and opinions in analysis and planning
■ The selection of informants has to be d o n e with care. Everybody does not know everything
neither does everybody have a view 0n 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.
 39

References
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 Chambers, R. (1992). Rural appraisal: rapid, relaxed and Participatory, IDS Discussion paper No. 331.
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 (1994). The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal. World Development. 22(7): 953-69.

 (1997) Whose Reality Counts. Intermediate Technology Publications, London

 (2004). Notes for Participants in PRA-PLA Familiarisation workshops in 2004. Institute of

Development Studies, U.K.

 Clayton, Andrew., Oakley, Peter and Pratt Brian (1997). Empowering people- A guide to participation.
United Nations Development Programme.

 Fals-Borda, O. and Anisur Rahman(1991). Action and knowledge: breaking the monopoly with
Participatory Action Research. Apex press, New York.

 Guijt, Irene and Cornwall, Andrea (1995) ‘Critical Reflections on the Practice of PRAs’,
 Participatory Learning and Action notes 24, IIED: London.

 Gujit, I. and Kaul Shah, M. (1998). Walking up to power, conflict and process,’ in I. Gujit and M. Kaul
Shah (eds) The Myth of Community. Intermediate Technology Publications, London.

 Gupta, Anil. (1997). "The Honey Bee Network: Linking knowledge-rich grassroots innovations", in
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 Hope, A., and Timmel, S., (1984). Training for Transformation, Vols 1-3, Harare, Zimbabwe.

 IDS. 1996. "The Power of Participation", IDS Policy Briefing Issue #7. August 1996, Institute of
Development Studies, U.K.

 Jiggins, Janice. (1997). Personal Communication - June, 1997.

sharing- of information, of methods, of food, of field experience

 Commitment to equityrganisational analysis
 40

 Participatory learning groups in organisations

 Field experiential learning
 Reflection and developing self-critical awareness