"NKASIRI": the PRA/planning /action concept for Samburu District : the concept.

This paper documents the proceedings of a workshop run by SDDP for trainees on the theme of PRA and participatory planning techniques. The workshop was designed to give an introduction to the theory and practice of these themes which would enable trainees to then practice the methods in the field. The introduction to the workshop raised some important issues for discussion on the questions of what participatory development actually entails in practice. It also introduced the concept of a '' ladder of participation'' that discusses the potential for different degrees of participation to exist. The trainees were then divided into four sets of teams and introduced to a wide range of PRA tools that they were expected to try out in the field before initiating a process of participatory analysis among community members. The workshop provided a brief guide as to how to utilise the different PRA tools, with a prescriptive list of do's and dont's and an example of each was given. The concept of community action plans were then introduced in the workshop as a means of continuing the process of PRA. The document concludes with discussions arising from the process and the implications it had for the participants and the communities. In the adjoining annexes ( A-E) among other issues there is a short discussion of the relation between PRA and rural development and some comments that were made by participants during an evaluation that followed.