Participatory Appraisal Researching for Social Change MA in Activism and Social Change Paul Chatterton (Leeds University)

1. What is it? Part of body of community research work linking: Participatory appraisal methods Action research Participatory/popular education Structured process of learning with communities about their lives/conditions Hears and elicits views of local people Informs policy

1. What is it? Participatory appraisal is a community-based approach to consultation that gives precedence to the views and attitudes of local people as experts within their own communities. Through PA, local people can explore and share their knowledge of life and local conditions as well make decisions, and plan and carry out actions to effect change within their communities.

2. Approach Involves education, research and action Valuing local knowledge and respecting local perceptions Verifying each stage using variety of methods – triangulation Full involvement of local people Emphasis on visual material rather than just written Emphasis on feedback Information in research process is publicly/locally owned Help overcome barriers between ‘professionals’ and ‘locals’ Participation is voluntary and in community settings Empowers local people to control the process and set agenda

3. Where does it get used? Lots of areas including: Community development Community health Urban environmental improvements Rural development Can collect data on a range of topics: Physical (pollution etc) Demographic, health, social Cultural Spatial and temporal distributions

4. Values Behaviour and attitude are key! Make a list Respect Watch and listen Self critical Supportive Sharing Participatory Flexible Adaptable Exploratory Enjoyable Iterative Inventive Empowering Collaborative Transparent Neutral/objective

5. Dangers Rushing Forced or one-off Jumping on the bandwagon Rhetorical not substantive Inadequate training Use of methods only and not values/approach Institutional claims to ownership Reinforcing local power structures Having a ‘hidden agenda’

7. Scales of participation Co-option Tokenism, manipulation Co-operation Incentives or tasks given Consultation External analysis of local opinion Collaboration Local discussion, external responsibility Co-learning Sharing knowledge Collective action Locally determined process The ladder of participation (Hart)

8. THE PROJECT CYCLE

9. Tools Semi structured interviews Community walkabouts and fieldwork Spidergrams (showing cause, effects etc) Timelines or daily activity lines Graffiti walls Pie charts (showing proportions between different activities/choices) Mapping (places, bodies, cities, countries - social, historic, land use, resources) Venn diagrams (to show groups, institutions and overlaps) * Evaluation wheel * Pair wise ranking Matrix (making a choice between options) * Criteria ranking Matrix (using dots to rank features of options) * Impact ranking Matrix (focuses on impacts V ease)

Remember Plan well Group size (individual or groups) Sequencing of activities Triangulation of results