RRA and Needs Analysis: Whose Knowledge Counts?

This paper explains how various PRA exercises have been used to help health - and other - workers think through and challenge the assumptions that they make in their work. Thus the process of conducting the exercise is often in some ways more important than the outcome. Examples are given of PRA which has led to reversals in learning in Asia and Africa. It is concluded that PRA does not solve problems but rather reveals the complexity of the problems encountered - PRA is not a fad or fashion but a fundamental challenge to conventional approaches to development.