Prospects for participatory grassroots planning : Singida Region strategy

This paper discusses the use of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods in addressing poverty and rural development, and it focuses on participatory planning as the heart of grassroots sustainable development strategies in the Singida region of Tanzania. It addresses some of the challenges in instituting PRA, particularly the relationship between government, grassroots organisations, and the local people themselves. It concludes that grassroots participation is extolled at ministerial levels without a corresponding awareness of how it can be institutionalised, a situation that urgently needs to be addressed. (See also 3842)