ActionAid in Local Partnership: An Experiment with Rapid Rural Appraisal in Ethiopia

This report is the result of a RRA training exercise for staff of ActionAid- Ethiopia (AAE). Its aims were to encourage adoption of participatory approaches in AAE's work, to encourage cooperation among AAE staff, familiarise them with the local area and with RRA methods. The exercises were held in two peasant associations (PAs). As a result of the training exercises, these two PAs are described, through reports of historical time lines, land tenure distribution, mapping, seasonal calendars of rain, water resource use, cropping, grazing, fuel, labour use and marketing, wealth ranking, pie charts, and Venn diagrams. For each PA, strategies for AAE involvement in local development, including those relating to water resources, grain mills, land use, income generation, forestry, pest management, livestock, credit, and agricultural innovation. The report ends with comments and reflections on the RRA training and on the differences between RRA in agroecosystem analysis and conventional agroecosystem analysis.