The origins and practice of participatory rural appraisal

This paper is the first in a three-part series examining participatory rural appraisal. It outlines the origins, principles, approaches, methods and applications of PRA from a perspective in early 1994. PRA has sources in activist participatory research, agroecosystem analysis, applied anthropology, field research on farming systems, and rapid rural appraisal (RRA). The differences between RRA and PRA, and the usefulness of distinguishing between them are discussed. Most of the known applications of PRA can be separated into four types of process: participatory appraisal and planning; participatory implementation, planning, monitoring and evaluation of programmes; topic investigations; and training and orientation for outsiders and villagers. The four major areas where PRA has been applied are natural resources management, agriculture, poverty and social programmes, and health and food security. Dominant behaviour by outsiders may explain why it has taken until the 1990s for the analytical capabilities of local people to be better recognised.