- Participatory Rural Appraisal

Overview of presentation
(Introduction and Definition of PRA) (Origin of PRA) (Principles shared by PRA and RRA ) (Exclusive principles of PRA ) ? (What it is?) (Principle Components ) (Precepts of PRA) (Evolution in Details) ? (Whats in it?) ?(Where it is Applied?) (Practical Example) (Criticism)

: (PRA : Participatory Rural Appraisal) Components: (People) (Knowledge) (Participation) (Planning) (Action) ( ) (It is a combination of different approaches to (Share) Enhance Analyze Plan Act For the betterment of the rural people with their participation The secrets behind the success of PRA are Decentralization Empowerment

PRA: Introduction and Definition

 PRA: Introduction and Definition

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a set of tools and techniques used with households to gather and analyse information on community resources, Problems, Potential and needs. PRA has been called an approach and methods for learning about rural life and conditions from, with and by rural people. The prepositions have sometimes been reversed in order to read by, with and from. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) describes a growing family of approaches and methods to enable local people to share, enhance and analyze their knowledge of life and conditions, to plan and to act. PRA involves local people and outsiders from different sectors and disciplines. Outsiders facilitate local people in collection and analyzing the information, practicing critical self-awareness, taking responsibility and sharing their knowledge of life and conditions to plan and to act.

 PRA: Introduction and Definition

PRA, Participatory Rural Appraisal ( - ), , "" , , "" "" - . ." ( ), . , . , , . , ,

PRA: Origin
The roots of PRA techniques can be traced to the activist adult education methods of Paulo Freire the study clubs of the Antigonish Movement In 1983, Robert Chambers, a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (UK), used the term Rapid Rural Appraisal to describe techniques that could bring about a 'reversal of learning Two years later, the first international conference to share experiences relating to RRA was held in Thailand By the mid 1990s, the term RRA had been replaced by a number of other terms including Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA).

Principles shared by PRA & RRA

Reversal of learning To learn of the local people Learning rapidly and progressively Exploration, flexible methods, adaptable Offsetting bias To be receptive rather than preconceived ideas Optimizing tradeoffs Understanding the usefulness of information Triangulating Crosschecking and approximation

Exclusive Principles of PRA

Empowerment The authority to local people through decentralization and confidence building Self critical awareness Mistakes are lessons to learn and to do better next time Personal responsibility The belongingness and ownership to the participants Sharing To discuss and argue about ideas in open forum with all stakeholders

Principles of PRA
The principles of PRA have been induced rather than deduced: they have been elicited by trying out practices, finding what works and what does not, and then asking why A reversal of learning, to learn from local people, directly, on the site, and face-to-face, gaining, insight from their local physical, technical and social knowledge. Learning rapidly and progressively, with conscious exploration, flexible use of methods, opportunism, improvisation, iteration and cross-checking, not following a blueprint program but being adaptable in a learning process Offsetting biases, especially those of rural development tourism, by being relaxed and not rushing, listening not lecturing, probing instead of passing on to the next topic, being unimposing instead of important, and seeking out the poorer people and women, and learning their concerns and priorities Optimizing tradeoffs, relating the costs of learning to the usefulness of information, with tradeoffs between quantity, relevance, accuracy and timeliness. This includes the principles of optimal ignoranceknowing what it is not worth knowing, and then not trying to find it out, and of appropriate imprecisionnot measuring what need not be measured, or more accurately than needed, it is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong Triangulation: using more than one, often three sources of information to cross-check answers

What it is?
Participatory research is not an alternative research method, but an approach that can be applied to any methodology survey, experimental, qualitative (Lilja and Bellon 2008). PRA methods, as they are often called, are visual and tangible and usually performed by small groups of people. (Chambers 2007) PRA comprised of different research tools to facilitate local people in
Analyzing information Practicing critical self-awareness Taking responsibility Sharing their knowledge of life and conditions to plan and to act.

What it is?
1.Principles of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) concern the behavior and attitudes of outsider facilitators 2.The power and popularity of PRA are partly explained by the unexpected analytical abilities of local people when catalyzed by relaxed rapport, and expressed through sequences of participatory and especially visual methods. 3.Evidence to date shows high validity and reliability of information shared by local people through PRA compared with data from more traditional methods 4.Explanations include reversals and shifts of emphasis: from etic to emic, closed to open, individual to group, verbal to visual, and measuring to comparing; and from extracting information to empowering local analysts. 5.The success of any development intervention depends on the confidence built and the power given to people to decide and to take community initiatives.

Principle Components of PRA

which are open, grouporiented, visual and comparative

of outsiders, who facilitate rather than dominate

of information, food, experiences, etc. Between in- and outsiders

THREE BASIC PILLARS OF PRA

 (, )

Adopted from Chambers 2007

Overview of PRA techniques

These techniques can be divided into Seven types: Secondary data reviews: Books, files, reports, news articles, maps Observation: direct & participant observation, Wandering, DIY(do it yourself) activities Semi-structured interviews: informal, guided & predetermined or questions arise during interview. These may be1.individual 2. key informants 3. group interview 4. community meeting 5. sequences of interview. Conducted by a multi-displinary team 2-4 persons, discussion is lead by different people in different occasions. Analytical Game: quick game to find out a groups list of priorities, performances, ranking, scoring, or stratification Stories & Portraits: colourful description of situation, local history, trend analysis etc. Diagrams: maps, aerial photos, transects, seasonal calendars, Venn diagram, flow diagram, historical profiles, ethno-history, time lines, etc. Workshop: locals & outsiders are brought together to discuss the information & ideas intensively

Whats in it?
Secondary sources Semi-structured interviews Key informants Groups of various kinds Do-it-yourself They do it Participatory analysis of secondary sourcesaerial photographs Participatory mapping and modeling Transect walks Time line and trend and change analysis Oral histories and ethno-biographies Seasonal Calendars Daily time use analysis Livelihood analysis Participatory linkage diagramming Institutional or Venn Diagramming Well being and wealth grouping and ranking Analysis of difference Matrix scoring and ranking Estimates and quantification Stories, portraits and case studies Team contracts and Interactions Presentation and analysis Participatory planning, budgeting, monitoring Group discussions

Analysis & Preparing the report

Analyzing Data Each technique has its own method of analysis, should be kept simple, related to purpose & scope of study, data & information should be arranged according to category, issue, topic, sub-topic or question For qualitative method: categorisation (grouping) of data should be done & analyzed according to category, should be inclusive & mutually exclusive, coded according to inductive category(open ended question), deductive category(farmer, non farmer) For quantitative method: simple statistical techniques- mean, mode, median(central tendency), Range, variance,& standard deviation( measures of dispersion), frequencies & percentage can be used. In rare cases Pearsons coefficient of correlation, chi square, multivariate regression & t-test can be employed.

Analysis & Preparing the report

Presenting the Report 1. Include some products of field activities such as output of analytical game, examples, pictures or graphs when necessary. 2. Sequence should be Field note Fine Note- Final note 3. At the end of day all team members sit together & consolidate the field notes into fine note which is the basis for further discussion, analysis 7 report preparation 4. Fine note could be structured in the chronological order, according to topic or the question 5. The report should consist of the following:
i.The Problem statement ii.Purpose & scope iii.Methodology iv.Date & findings v.Implication of findings vi.Summary vii.References & appendices

Tips for doing PRA

Practical tips: 1. Do not lecture. Look, listen & learn 2. Facilitate; do not dominate; do not interrupt or interfere; once a task is initiated, let people get on with it; give them time to think or discuss among themselves 3. Embrace error; we all make mistakes, and do things badly sometimes. Never mind. Do not hide it. Share it. 4. Try to obtain opinions from all groups. 5. Relax, don not rush. 6. Meet people when it suits them 7. Use six helpers- what , why, who, how, where, & when

Usefulness OF PRA
Outsiders encourage and allow local people to dominate, to determine much of the agenda, to gather, express and analyze information, and to plan Outsiders are facilitators, learners and consultants Their activities are to establish rapport, to convene and catalyze, to enquire, to help in the use of methods, and to encourage local people to choose and improvise methods for themselves Outsiders watch, listen and learn Local people make maps and models; they walk transects and observe; they investigate and interview; they diagram and analyze; they present information; they plan. they are more in command of the investigation, they own and retain more of the information, and they are strongly placed to identify their priorities for action, and then to determine and control that action Participation then generates diversity; local people play a part in interpreting, applying, and, sometimes inventing methods themselves local peoples capabilities; the value of relaxed rapport; diagramming and visual sharing; and the power of sequences of methods.

Where it is applied?
PRA applications include:
Natural Resource Management; Agriculture; Poverty and Social Programs; Health and Food Security Analysis.

Project Cycle
From inception to end. Participatory projects pull methods, attitudes and values from PRA. Micro projects

Whose Participation?: The criticism

... much of what currently passes as 'participatory' involves local people taking part in other people's projects, according to agendas set by external interests. (Cornwall 1996) Remained donor driven and imposed. Lack of proper training distorts the overall objectives of this approach. Methods are often used to extract infos rather than to empower. Even the term carpet-bombed with PRA came forward due to its over utilization. Shortcomings of some methods like community meetings and widespread use of group discussion.

Paulo Freire
Pedagogy of the Oppressed is the most widely known of educator Paulo Freire's works. It proposes a pedagogy with a new relationship between teacher, student, and society. It was first published in Portuguese in 1968, and was translated and published in English in 1970.[1] Dedicated to what is called "the oppressed" and based on his own experience helping Brazilian adults to read and write, Freire includes a detailed Marxist class analysis in his exploration of the relationship between what he calls "the colonizer" and "the colonized." The book remains popular among educators all over the world and is one of the foundations of critical pedagogy. In the book Freire calls traditional pedagogy the "banking model" because it treats the student as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge, like a piggybank. However, he argues for pedagogy to treat the learner as a co-creator of knowledge. According to Donaldo Macedo, a former colleague of Freire and University of Massachusetts professor, Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a revolutionary text, and people in totalitarian states risk punishment reading it[2]; Arizona's secretary of education, Tom Horne, objects to its use in classrooms.[3] The book has sold over 750 000 copies worldwide.[4] Freire was born September 19, 1921 to a middle class family in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Freire became familiar with poverty and hunger during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1931 the family moved to the less expensive city of Jaboato dos Guararapes, and in 1933 his father died. In school he ended up four grades behind, and his social life revolved around playing pick up football with other poor children, from whom he learned a great deal. These experiences would shape his concerns for the poor and would help to construct his particular educational viewpoint. Freire stated that poverty and hunger severely affected his ability to learn. This influenced his decision to dedicate his life to improving the lives of the poor: I didn't understand anything because of my hunger. I wasn't dumb. It wasn't lack of interest. My social condition didn't allow me to have an education. Experience showed me once again the relationship between social class and knowledge"
[1]

Timeline
1891 Pope Leo XIII issues encyclical Rerum Novarum advocating Christian associations of workingmen for economic improvement 1890s-1900s Co-operative stores, co-operative creameries and fruit-growing co-ops established around Nova Scotia 1906 formation of the British Canadian Co-operative Society in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia 1912 Tompkins gains key contacts and ideas at the Conference of British Empire Universities 1917 British Canadian co-operative store in Sydney Mines organizes a conference on co-ops in Nova Scotia, sparking renewed interest 1921 Father Jimmy Tompkins publishes Knowledge for the People, an appeal to St. Francis Xavier University to implement a program of adult education 1922 St. FX loses patience with Tompkins and sends him into exile to Canso, Nova Scotia as parish priest 1924 George Keen, president of the Co-operative Union of Canada, visits Tompkins in Canso and advises him on co-operative development Summer of 1927 Father Jimmys work in Canso, Nova Scotia is featured in The Halifax Chronicle May 1928 a Canadian government commission advocates adult education as part of a strategy to save the Maritime fisheries November 1928 St. Francis Xavier University sets up adult education Extension Department and asks Father Moses Coady to be the Director October 29, 1929 stock market crash precipitates economic collapse around the Maritimes December 10, 1932 first credit union in Nova Scotia launched in Broad Cove 1933 first School for Leaders at St. Francis Xavier University 1938 formation of Credit Union Central of Nova Scotia (A.B. MacDonald, Director) Sept. 1944 A.B. MacDonald leaves for Ottawa to lead the Co-operative Union of Canada 1952 Death of A.B. MacDonald 1953 Death of Father Jimmy Tompkins July 28, 1959 Death of Moses Michael Coady

The Antagonism Movement blended adult education, co-operatives, microfinance and rural community development to help small, resource-based communities around Canadas Maritimes improve their economic and social circumstances. A group of priests and educators, including Father Jimmy Tompkins, Father Moses Coady, Rev. Hugh MacPherson and A.B. MacDonald led this movement from a base at the Extension Department at St. Francis Xavier University (St. F.X.) in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The credit union systems of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI owe their origins to the Antigonish Movement, which also had an important influence on other provincial systems across Canada. The Coady International Institute at St. F.X. has been instrumental in developing credit unions and in asset-based community development initiatives in developing countries ever since. Goals-As educators and priests, the leaders of the Antigonish Movement were primarily concerned with human and spiritual development. The title of Moses Coadys only book Masters of Their Own Destiny encapsulates this desire to see ordinary Nova Scotians achieve economic and social freedom. Origins-The origins of co-operatives in Nova Scotia go back to a cooperative store in Stellarton, founded in 1861. Co-operative creameries and fruit-growers co-ops were established by farmers to free them from exploitative middleman in the 1890s. Many early co-ops failed due to "poor management, domination by a few individuals and a lack of ongoing education."[3] Adult education in action- The Antigonish program of adult education employed three main components: the mass meeting, the study club, and the school for leaders.[9]

Antigonish Movement

 Uses PRA can be used in all phases of rural appraisal and research planning. For reasons of efficiency and project sustainability, political imperatives for participation, donors are increasingly insisting that participatory methods be used in project planning.

 Strengths The strength of PRA is that it can empower local people to take decisions and responsibility for planning development and research activities, which should lead to greater community involvement and sustainability of research/development activities

 Strong points PRA presents a major step forward from RRA. Local people do the analysis and plan for the future. Their own values, needs and priorities are the point of departure. They themselves develop criteria to classify aspects of their life. This not only leads to a better understanding of the situation (for both the in- and the outsiders) and therefore increases the chance for realistic plans, it also generates a much higher commitment of the people to the planned activities. The many different perspectives on daily reality and the visualisation offer good opportunities to go beyond the most obvious and dominant points of view in the community. The only warning here should be that too much attention to group discussions/ -activities might enable some groups to dominate the discussion.

Risks As with RRA there is still a major problem with defining what a proper PRA is and how it should be implemented. The debate on this is lively and as yet unresolved. The social scientists who developed it are invariably disappointed when they see how PRAs are implemented by others. There is quite a lot of literature on what is called bad practice. The social scientists call for a reversal in the thinking of professionals (read technical experts), but apparently have not yet managed to reach their target group. The following bad practices should be mentioned: - PRAs are implemented mechanically; the tools are used, but the attitude of the staff and the organisations involved has not been changed; - the technicalities of problems are taken as crucial, leaving out socio-political issues; - local diversity is ignored, both in technical issues (e.g. soil units) as well as in social issues (e.g. the different interests of the different social groups in the village tend to be played down in the process); - a specific aspect of the previous point is that gender issues are often insufficiently taken into account (this issue is addressed in a number of recent publications: Akerkar (2001), Bell and Brambila (2000), Cornwall (2000), Groverman (1992), Guijt and Shah (1998), IUCN (2001)); - local knowledge is often inventoried but not actually used; - there is hardly any relation between the PRA and the follow-up; - the team is dominated by outside experts in PRA, leaving the (local) project staff with a report full of good intention but little practical meaning. These issues are interlinked: too often PRAs are isolated activities. They are not part of a personal and institutional change in attitude towards development and empowerment of the people. The potential of PRAs can only be used within the context of a wider participatory strategy. It is one thing to conclude in a PRA with the villagers that the village leadership is poor, but quite another to facilitate the people in improving it. In PRA literature few tools are found which could be used in translating the analysis into an action plan. Unfortunately the same applies to the newly coined term Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) which is used more and more as a synonym for PRA. Some critics stress that PRAs are still culturally dominated by the outsiders wish to learn; Mosse (in Okali et al.) sums up: - notions of informality are culturally defined and situation specific; - paraphernalia of PRA (charts, maps) may mystify rather than entice participation; - visual tools are very attractive for outsiders who do not understand the language; the collective events emphasise the general rather than the specific, which might be more interesting; - most PRAs are too technique-led (despite the opposite rhetoric). In terms of content, PRAs tend to have an inward focus. Much attention is paid to local problems, while issues of a larger scale can easily be forgotten even if these are very important (see a.o. Sellemna, 1999).

Bibliography
Lilja , Nina and Mauricio Bellon ; Some common questions about participatory research: a review of the literature, Development in Practice, Volume 18, Numbers 45, August 2008. Chambers, Robert; The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal. World Development, Volume 22, No 7, pp 953-969, 1994. Chambers, Robert; From PRA to PLA and Pluralism: Practice and Theory, Working Paper 286, IDS, 2007. Cornwall, Andrea; Towards participatory practice: participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and the participatory process in De Koning, Korrie and Martin Marion (1996). Participatory Research in Health: Issues and Experiences. Zen Books Ltd., London.