1. Participatory Rural Appraisal in developing countries
Engaging in
Participatory Rural Appraisal in developing countries

2. Objectives
Learn about useful tools for working with low literacy populations in rural areas (developing countries) - Participatory Rural Appraisal tools
Stimulate your thinking and creativity for engaging community members in doing participatory needs assessment
“The best item to pack for any trip to the developing world or not – is an open mind”

3. Challenges for “outside experts” & students
Expect the unexpected (rodents, mosquitoes, street hawking, open markets)
Expect poor road conditions
No electricity or power failures (your computer loses power…)
Lots of people may follow you around (no confidentiality!)
Time feels different
So how are you going to get your work done?

4. Participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA)
Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) An approach (and family of methodologies) for shared learning between local people and outsiders to enable development practitioners, government officials, and local people to plan together appropriate interventions
Also known as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

5. Key Principles
Participation – local people serve as partners in data collection and analysis
Flexibility- not a standardized methodology
Off-setting biases – anti poverty biases are consciously avoided, more listening less lecturing
Teamwork – everyone is involved
Diversity – attempts made to identify and analyse contradictions and exceptions
“Optimal Ignorance” – leave out unessential details
Systematic – to get correct details and conclusions, it is best to cross check
Local materials - dirt, stones, sticks (or paper), not computers/electronic devices

6. PRA Techniques Social mapping Time lines Impact diagrams
Interviewing – Not based on questionnaires but issues (households, individuals, focus groups)
Visualization
Ranking – a means by which they can rank preferences, problems, wealth
Mapping - Community members depicting the physical or social characteristics of their community
Social mapping
Time lines
Impact diagrams

7. Social mapping with rural, low literacy participants
A space-related PRA
Used to depict the habitation pattern of a particular region
Drawn by local people
Not drawn to scale but reveals what is believed to be relevant and important to them

9. Time lines with rural, low literacy participants
This is a time-related PRA method
Allows people use their concept of time
Captures the chronology of events as recalled by local people
Flexible in terms of the time scale
One day, or a lifetime, or history of the community

10. Time line

11. Impact diagrams with rural, low literacy participants
A flow diagram , commonly used to identify and depict the image of an activity, intervention or event
Takes into account types of changes as perceived by the local people
Helps to identify impacts of certain events - planned, unplanned, negative or positive

12. Impact diagram

13. References http://www.eldis.org/manuals/participation.htm
Kumar Somesh. Methods For Community Participation: A Complete Guide for Practitioners.

14. Participatory mapping
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