Programme and Background Papers for Workshop on PRAP

These papers discuss the experience of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP India) with participatory rural appraisal and planning (PRAP). The first contribution documents the adoption of RRA by AKRSP in 1988 and its subsequent applications by staff to a variety of topics. Since then, experience has led to shortening and intensification of RRA contacts with villagers and increasing involvement of villagers as team members. PRAP has become related to the production of village action plans. The paper contains reflections on the use of RRA in the organisation - the term has been loosely used and training relatively unstructured. In taking stock of their experience with PRAP, a list was compiled of all exercises conducted and their characteristics (given in Annex 2). It is suggested that PRAP should be integrated into AKRSP's work in a more structured manner, to facilitate future planning. the second contribution consists of guidelines for using RRA in the AKRSP context. This includes rationale for its use, objectives, methodology, exploratory RRAs, and topical RRAs.