IFAD PRA Review: Comments on Field Visits, 23-24 January 1995

This report discusses the adoption on a large scale of PRA in the Tuyen Quang IFAD Participatory Resource Management Project, Vietnam. Some comparisons with its application in a SIDA forestry project in the same area are made. Two approaches were adopted: one is a 'shortened form of PRA' and the other is 'questionnaire PRA'. The use of PRA in the IFAD project has become standardised and generalised, leading to standardised and generalised solutions - a product of its target orientation in monitoring and evaluation. The approach is also supply-driven, being directed towards "providing more and better things (i.e. hard inputs) rather than towards finding ways of doing things better". This is due to the rigid list of options provided to farmers in community planning exercises. This is very little different from the use of a questionnaire survey to feed data into a supply led system. Building capacity and skills of extension staff and farmers is not emphasised in the project, and training is inadequate. On the positive side, the project has supported the creation of village institutions which could strengthen community participation. The SIDA approach is not examined in this paper, but recommendations are made regarding how to divide specialisations appropriately between IFAD and SIDA. Attached are field notes from visits to the IFAD project villages during which the author interviewed village leaders and PRA survey persons to compare the implications of the differences between the two methods used. The two methods are described, giving interesting insights into how PRA has been adopted in the projects of large agencies. Notes on the interviews are presented. The questionnaires used in one form of 'PRA' and other documents relating to the project are appended.