Participatory Rural Appraisal (Chambers 1992, Korten 1996) Diane Pruneau January 2003

Participatory Rural Appraisal  Variety of methods which emphasizes local knowledge and helps community members to do their own inquiring, analysis and action plan.  Different exercises and research tools are used to facilitate the sharing of information, the analysis and the action among members of the community.  Everyone (women, poor, directors…) must participate. Important to have a representative sample.  Succeeds if action is taken and helps to build local capacity.

Participatory Rural Appraisal

Stages of the PRA approach  A first public meeting  Information gathering with the help of: - Individual interviews - Individual interviews - Group interviews - Group interviews - Methods such as …community mapping, the transect, seasonal calendar, ecological time-line, the Council of All Beings - Methods such as …community mapping, the transect, seasonal calendar, ecological time-line, the Council of All Beings  Public meeting to present the results of the inquiry and to collect comments and criticism.  Choice and execution of an action

Methods  Community mapping  The transect  Seasonal calendar  Ecological timeline  The Council Of All Beings  Tree diagram

Community mapping  Map of the area and the problem made initially with natural local objects (pieces of wood, rocks, seeds…) then transferred to paper to be kept.  Encourage each participant to contribute to the map and explain as they add.  Helps to visualize the situation  A good tool to begin with as it reveals how people perceive their milieu.

The transect  Walk from a given place (A) to another (B) to describe a situation: from the top to the bottom of a mountain, the length of a certain street… Observe, ask questions, listen, look for the problems and the solutions…  A senior or a person knowledgeable of the area can direct the walk.  Interviews can be done during the walk.

Seasonal Calendars  To depict a situation during a one- year period  Done on a long line divided into 4 seasons or in a circle divided in 4 seasons or by month  Draw the calendar following a group discussion

The Ecological Time-line  Draw a line on which the evolution of the problem is described over time  Emphasis on relationships and trends

The Council of All Beings  Each participant does a research on the impact of the problem on a plant or an animal.  Each participant plays the role of this plant or this animal.  The participant tells how the plant or the animal is affected by the problem.

Tree Diagram  Visual tool to organize information  The trunk represents the main problem and the branches show the elements, the influences and the consequences.

Essential in this approach...  That the community identifies with their milieu and takes ownership of the local environmental problem and the action…