Participatory Rural Appraisal

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) is a methodology

to enhance:
• the development agent’s understanding of the
rural reality for the planning and development of
projects; and
• the feeling of a greater degree of ownership and
responsibility in the rural people for better results
and social acceptance of the programme.
• The effectiveness of participatory approaches has
led donors, government organizations and NGOs to
use PRA in their programmes.
Participatory training is based on the belief that:
• learners with their life experiences are
themselves a rich source of learning;
• learning cannot be imposed; the learner can
only be encouraged to learn;
• learners learn best by doing or practising an
activity; and
• learning is facilitated by a positive/successful
activity/experience resulting in further
achievement, thereby building up a ‘virtuous
circle’.
Importance of Participatory Techniques
• Participatory techniques aim to ‘break the
silence’ of the poor and disadvantaged sections,
recognize the value of popular collective
knowledge and wisdom and legitimize the
production of knowledge by the people
themselves.
• Participatory approaches seek to be catalysts
enabling and empowering the people.
• These have internalized some key techniques in
adult training for learning such as
• a) linking learning to problems,
b) linking learning to people’s goals and visions,
and
c) giving trainees control over decisions on
training.
• The participatory approach emphasizes flexible
learning, is adaptable to the pace set by the
learners/trainers and tailored to needs expressed
by participants themselves.
 Aims of participatory methods
• Different participatory methods are used for
different ends. Sometimes participatory
approaches are the means and ends as well.
• In the case of decentralized development, the
ends are:
• peoples’ active participation in prioritizing
needs/micro-planning;
• activating the key Panchayati Raj institution -
the Gram Sabha; and
• attitudinal and behavioural change in the
bureaucracy.
• Since village panchayats have to play an active
role in initiating the micro-planning exercise,
they need a locally relevant database that is
validated by the local people.

• This will form the basis for setting local

priorities. This should help, in turn, in the
formulation of local action plans in the form of
development activities/projects/programmes.
 Scope of PRA
PRA is used:
• To ascertain needs
• To establish priorities for development activities
• Within the scope of feasibility studies
• During the implementation phase of projects
• Within the scope of monitoring and evaluation
of projects
• For studies of specific topics
• For focusing formal surveys on essential aspects,
and identifying conflicting group interests.
 Scope of PRA
Areas of application:
• Natural resource management
• Agriculture
• Poverty alleviation/women in development
programmes
• Health and nutrition
• Preliminary and primary education
• Village and district-level planning
• Institutional and policy analysis.
 Major Challenges
• The major challenges are:
• a) sensitization to bring about attitudinal and
behavioural change; and
• b) using participatory techniques to build
rapport, elicit support, information and
participation of the people in their own
development.
 Procedure
• Gathering villagers in the form of meeting.
• Listing out different problems prevalent in
respective village to form a problem-tree map,
which could be discussed more effectively
• Making a list of different assets/resources of
village like houses, school, Govt. buildings,
markets, roads, ponds, fields, rivers e.t.c to
sketch a rough diagram of village infront of
villagers by their participation.
 Participatory rural appraisal
Principles and methods Benefits
From ‘they learn from us’ to ‘we learn . From ‘we let them participate’ to Empowering the poor and weak to
from them’. ‘they take command of their own assert their priorities, make demands
process’. and act.
From ‘we’ve done a PRA’ to ‘we From ‘we use instruments from our Expression and harnessing of local
admit being corrected by people’. toolbox’ to ‘they can map, model, diversity.
estimate, score, analyze, plan
themselves’.
From ‘we share our knowledge Offsetting biases: spatial, project, Community participatory appraisal,
analysis with them’ to ‘we enable gender/elite, seasonal calendar. planning, implementation,
them to learn from each other and monitoring and evaluation.
conduct their own analysis’.
Rapid progressive learning, which is Triangulation: using different Identification of research priorities;
flexible, exploratory, interactive and methods, sources and disciplines, and experts more receptive to the ability
inventive. a range of informants in a range of of rural poor to design, implement
places and cross checking to get and evaluate.
closer to the truth through successive
approximations.
Facilitation: to enable people to do Insights gained from PRA leading to
more or all of the investigation policy change.
themselves and own the outcome.
Sharing: a culture of sharing Behaviour and attitudes: critical self- A culture of open learning among
information, methods, field awareness in external facilitators, govt., NGOs and community.
experiences among NGOs, learning from errors.
government and villagers.
 Tools of PRA
Diagram Priority Seasonal Time trends Venn
matrix calendar diagram

Map Transect Entire Helps to Provides local Helps to

Provides Builds rapport communit identify perspective on time identify
alternative with locals y involved lean changes in natural marginalize
database Supports in periods resources/ecology/ d
Depicts maps of local prioritizing for etc. individuals
differing local resources/nee needs and resource and groups
perception of ds developm s and within the
local ent timing village
problems/ne initiatives of
eds supply
of key
farm
inputs
 Mapping Methods/Tools
• Group Discussion
• Asset mapping
• Problem Tree mapping
• Resource mapping
• Socio-Economic mapping
• Transact Walk
• Chapaati Diagram
• Seasonality
Finding Out different Assets/Problems in Chapati Mapping
Creation of Rough Map of Different Available Resources
of Village in front of villagers before Planning
Village-wise Analysis of different Assets/ Problems