CLASS ASSIGNMENT

Case 1
The Government of Uttar Pradesh requested World Bank funds for the rehabilitation of
field drainage infrastructure, the maintenance of which had been severely neglected since
long.
Under the proposed Agriculture Project, the rehabilitation of these systems will be managed
by Land and Water Associations (LWAs), whose members will contribute 20 percent of the
rehabilitation costs and operate and maintain the improved systems.
These are new responsibilities for farmers, and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) was
uncertain whether farmers were willing to invest in drainage rehabilitation, were able to pay,
or were willing to act collectively through LWAs.
The MOA, therefore, requested technical assistance in carrying out a participatory
assessment of these issues to test the likely feasibility and sustainability of the proposed
investment.








Question

Use of PRA methods for project preparation to develop a social profile
of farming households and to assess farmers priorities.

How to solve it:

Key Features:
Use of PRA methods for project preparation to develop a social profile of
farming households and to assess farmers priorities.
Capacity building of Ministry of Agriculture staff to enable them to
develop a participatory planning process with new farmer-managed
institutions.

Objectives:

The objectives of this phase of the participatory assessment will be to:
learn about farmers attitudes on the benefits of subsurface drainage rehabilitation, and their
willingness and ability to pay for this work;
facilitate farmers analyses of resource constraints, and the social, technical, environmental,
and institutional problems to be addressed during rehabilitation;
explore farmers perceptions of land restitution and ownership issues, their concerns
regarding the formation and management of LWAs, and their role in designing the
rehabilitation, operation, and maintenance systems;
Identify farmers consensus on the next steps to be taken in partnership with the MOA; and
Identify vulnerable rural households.

Process:

This first phase of the assessment will be designed as both a training program for the PRA
research team and the launching of the PRA work in districts targeted by the officials.
The two stakeholder groups that were the primary focus of capacity building in this
participatory approach will be district level staff engaged in developmental activities, with
whom farmers will interact on a regular basis, and social scientists from the IIPA, who will
do the participatory assessments for future project designs.
The four-day PRA training workshop will be organized and will be attended by participants,
including key stakeholders such as district level officials like engineers etc. farmer union
representatives, municipality staff concerned with land issues, and the social scientists.
Contd..
The participants will be split into two teams to carry out the PRA fieldwork
over a period of 10 days,
Analyze the results and hold large feedback meetings with farmers.
After discussion of the findings, the participants will develop a participatory
planning process that will be tested with new LWAs

The principal PRA techniques to be applied
are:
Semi-structured interviews to identify and analyze local perceptions, priorities on
drainage rehabilitation, the formation and function of LWAs, land tenure and other
land management issues;
Farm profiles to analyze drainage and other resource problems at the individual
farm level;
Resource maps at catchment or community level to analyze drainage and other
resource problems at catchment level;
Social mapping at catchment level to identify land tenure issues, different social
groups, asset distribution across social groups, potential focus groups and key
informants, and local innovators and experimenters;

Contd.
Systems analysis to analyze farmers livelihood strategies through farming
and other activities; and
Seasonal calendars to help plan the timing of drainage rehabilitation
activities.

Outputs and Impacts:

The PRA process will enable farmers to articulate their priorities
It will assess how they could cooperate, and to agree on the modalities for LWAs to
develop action plans for their catchments.
Views will assist MOA facilitators and design engineers in planning and budgeting
the rehabilitation works to ensure they meet the local capacity and demand.
PRA work will also set in motion a process by which farmers participation to
integrate decisions into the subsequent stages
The PRA findings will reveal the farmers concerns regarding rehabilitation and
financial arrangements.

Case 2
Use of PRA methods for project preparation to develop a socio-
economic profile of farming households and to assess the issue of
sustainable development vis--vis ecological protection.

Case 2
The Western Ghats are a hot spot of bio-diversity and its protection and
preservation is necessary for our sustainable development. The Report of Working
Group on Western Ghats had identified approximately 37 per cent of Western
Ghats, 59,940 sq km of natural landscape of the hills, as ecologically sensitive. Due
to the following recommendations many farmers fear of losing their livelihoods in
the name of ecological protection. Settler farmers in Idukki district in Kerala and
neighboring areas have been agitating against the report fearing that the
recommendations including restrictions on human activities in "Ecologically
Sensitive Areas" would adversely affect their livelihood and even lead to
displacement.

Case 3
Use PRA method to verify the departments claim and prepare an
action report keeping the socio economic conditions in mind.

Case 3
A famous scheme run by rural development department claims to have
generated rural employment in past few years and had changed the socio-
economic profiles of the rural areas, apart from huge employment
generation, sustainable assets have been created which had developed the
rural areas to an extent. Despite of the Many Claims that the wages are not
disbursed timely or are inadequate with respect to the govt. notification. Also
there has been much hue and cry on the type of work taken and Quality of
assets generated thereof.