Participatory Methods

Introduction

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 Introduction
• Participation means that the people themselves are involved in identifying the problems they face,
determining ways to overcome them, designing realistic plans to achieve these goals, and carrying
them out.

• Solutions devised and fulfilled by the people in need are far more likely to prove successful than
those imposed from outside.

• Participation is defined as a voluntary contribution by the people in one or another of the public
programmes supposed to contribute to national development, but the people are not expected to
take part in shaping the programme or in criticizing its contents (Economic Commission for Latin
America, 1973).

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 Introduction
• Participation includes people’s involvement in decision-making processes, in implementing
programmes, their sharing in benefits of development programmes and their involvement in efforts
to evaluate such programmes (Cohen and Uphoff, 1980)

• Community participation can be loosely defined as the involvement of people in a community in

projects to solve their own problems. People cannot be forced to ‘participate’ in projects which
affect their lives but should be given the opportunity where possible. This is held to be a basic
human right and a fundamental principle of democracy.

• Public awareness, effective community participation, transparent and clean administration,

introduction of citizen charters and accountability at all levels can only bridge this gap.

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 Need and Importance of Participation
• Participation occupies a central place in development thinking and
practice.
• Many organizations such as NGOs, World Bank etc., arrived at consensus
development cannot be sustainable and long-lasting unless people’s
participation is made central to the development process.
• The way participation is defined largely depends upon the context and
background in which participation is applied.
• Farmers and finding solutions

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 Need for Participation
• The following are some of the key reasons:
• Active participation of local residents is essential to improved democratic
and service accountability.
• It enhances social cohesion because communities recognize the value of
working in partnership with each other and with statutory agencies.
• It enables policy to be relevant to local communities.
• It adds economic value both through the mobilization of voluntary
contributions to deliver regeneration and through skill development,
which enhances the opportunities for employment and an increase in
community wealth
• It gives residents the opportunity to develop the skills and networks that
are needed to address social exclusion.

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 Steps in Community participation

• Needs assessment
• Planning
• Mobilizing
• Training
• Implementing
• Monitoring and Evaluation

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 Steps in Participatory Approaches

• Rapport building
• Do-It Yourself (DIY)
• Consultations with the villagers and outsiders
• Secondary Data Collection
• Training of Trainers
• Diagnosis

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 Different Participatory Approaches

• Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)

• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
• Participatory Learning Methods (PALM)
• Agro-Ecosystem Analysis (AEA)
• Participatory Action Research (PAR)
• Participatory Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (PAME)
• Farming Systems Research (FSR)
• Participatory Rural Appraisal and Planning (PRAP)

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 Different Participatory Approaches
• Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
– a multidisciplinary team makes use of simple, nonstandard methods and the knowledge of local
people to quickly elicit, analyze and evaluate information and hypotheses about rural life and
rural resources that are of relevance for taking action.
– RRA techniques are an attractive alternative to conventional survey methods when the aim is
not to systematically capture precise figures, a typically time-consuming and cost-intensive
undertaking, but rather speedy and action-oriented assessment of local knowledge, needs and
potentials with an aim to elaborating strategies to resolve conflicts or investigate specific
problems.
• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
– Emphasis is placed on empowering local people to assume an active role in analyzing problems
and drawing up plans, with outsiders mainly acting as “facilitators”.
– Here it is no longer the external experts but rather the local people themselves who “own” the
results of the study. This enables them to assume responsibility for implementing the activities
based on them.
– The outsider’s role is that of a catalyzer, a facilitator and convenor of processes within a
community, which is prepared to alter their situation.

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 Different Participatory Approaches
• Participatory Learning Methods (PALM)
– This approach developed by MYRADA (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency) in Bangalore, India around 1989
(a nongovernmental organization that has been active in rural development since 1968 in some 2000 villages in
Southern India)
– PALM emphasizes participation by village residents and the function of the externals as catalysts and partners for self-
determined development.
– With 25-30 externals, the PALM village studies involve a relatively large team.
– The aim of PALM is to go beyond “appraisal” and arrive at participatory analysis and a common understanding of rural
conditions.
– The focus is on learning from and with local people. In order to avoid stimulating false expectations.
• Agro-Ecosystem Analysis (AEA)
– Conway et al. in the early 1980s developed this approach in Northern Pakistan within the scope of the Aga Khan Rural
Support Program (AKRSP). Areas in which it has been successfully applied are all levels of agrarian ecosystems, i.e.
systems in which human beings intervene in order to derive food or other products.
– Study of sources (secondary data review), then field residence, resulting in a series of agro ecosystem diagrams.
– Time requirement: 2-3 days per village. A set of identified key issues leads to additional studies or development
activities.

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 Different Participatory Approaches
• Participatory Action Research (PAR)
– Action Research developed as an academic discipline of social psychology in the United States during the late 1940s.
– Participatory Action Research was developed in social science circles in Latin America, and has been used since the early
1980s in the FAO’s Peoples’ Participation Programs.
– PAR is “learning-by-doing” approach in which the investigator places his/her knowledge at the disposal of local groups.
– The following is expected of an action researcher: awareness of one’s own limitations and value orientation;
willingness to empathize with and share the problems and needs of local people; knowledge of their history and
political and economic situation.
– The action researcher then engages in a dialog with the local groups, and works together with them in small
discussion groups to search for solutions to the their problems.
• Participatory Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (PAME)
– A Participatory Evaluation is an opportunity for the stakeholders of a project to stop and reflect on the past in order to
make decisions about the future.
– Through the evaluation process participants share the control and responsibility for:
• deciding what is to be evaluated
• selecting the methods and data sources
• carrying out the evaluation and
• analysing information and presenting evaluation results.
– PAME can be conducted as part of a broader participatory process or as a separate exercise.

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 Different Participatory Approaches
• Farming Systems Research (FSR)
– The FSR-methodology generally consists of 4 essential steps (although many variations on this concept exist)
– Target group orientation: groups or regions of farming families with the same farming system are identified
(recommendation domains)
– Diagnosis: within one recommendation domain farmers are interviewed about their constraints and possible solutions
– On-farm experiments: based on the diagnosis an experimental field programme is designed, which concentrates heavily
on experimental work inside the farmer's fields
– Evaluation and extension.
• Participatory Rural Appraisal and Planning (PRAP)
– Deciding the objective of the planning exercise
– Deciding the methodology and who should participate
– Informing villagers about the programme
– Base map preparation on ground/paper
– Transect walk
– Equity aspects
– Focus groups
– Village meetings
– Management plans
– Community proposal
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 Different Participatory Approaches
• Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
• Participatory Learning Methods (PALM)
• Agro-Ecosystem Analysis (AEA)
• Participatory Action Research (PAR)
• Participatory Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (PAME)
• Farming Systems Research (FSR)
• Participatory Rural Appraisal and Planning (PRAP)

Assignment 1: Compare and contrast Different Participatory Approaches

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Different Participatory Approaches

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