Participatory Needs Assessment: A Key to FSRE

The article reviews two needs assessment methodologies "rapid rural appraisal" and "participatory rural assessment", which balance the field perspective with academic rigor. These methodologies have been used in FSRE to help communities develop natural resource management plans. Advantages and disadvantages of the methodologies are discussed, and specific steps in conducting a particpatory rural assessment are described. The example used is an adaptation of participatory rural assessment that was piloted in Costa Rica to identify the training needs of rural development workers.