SPEECH

Julie - Jane, does abstract give indication of length or confirm that it's in English?

This video provides a good introduction to the potential benefits of PRA in implementing projects which benefit those normally excluded by conventional approaches. It contains interesting interviews with villagers who had previously participated in a PRA process. It also uses dramatised scenes to emphasise aspects of PRA, mostly concerning behaviour and attitudes. Which scenes have been scripted is sometimes confusing. Key points made are that marginalised people are usually not reached by conventional development approaches (03, 05, 30).

In 1990 SPEECH carried out a PRA training workshop in Paraikulam, India. The outcome was a workplan to develop 60 acres of barren land. This four-day PRA workshop was intended to evaluate progress made, make future plans and act as a training workshop for other NGOs. Observations and recommendations on soil and water conservation were presented as past, present and future watershed plans. These plans are not in the report, some of the recommendations are.

This report outlines a four day workshop conducted by the Indian NGO SPEECH in Manavarayanenthal, Tamil Nadu. The primary purpose of the exercise was to introduce 23 NGO participants to PRA principles and to evolve new stategies in planning specific health projects. Training took place through a mixture of lectures and activities, which included social mapping (by mixed groups and women only), health mapping, time lines, historical transects, seasonality diagrams, venn diagrams, disease ranking, focus groups with women on the reproductive cycle and a problem linkage exercise.