Empowering communities in the development process: participatory rural appraisal as an approach

The thesis analyses the potential of PRA to empower communities in the development process. The research is based on a literature review that includes both theoretical literature and project documents and evaluations. It discusses the emergence of empowerment as an issue in development, and looks at why it has been so difficult to achieve in practice. The empowering potential of PRA is then discussed in the context of a case study from urban Pakistan. It is concluded that PRA "can be a potent tool in empowering communities but this will not happen automatically".