The trouble with PRA: reflections on dilemmas of quality

This article draws on findings from the Pathways to Participation project. The project brought together practitioners to reflect critically on what PRA means to them and to explore some of the challenges posed by the rapid spread and uptake of PRA for issues of integrity and quality. The articles discusses the problems of trying to define PRA as the project discovered that people's notions of what being participatory is all about is often quite varied and there are a range of opinions about what PRA is or ought to be. Given the diversity of practises that are labelled æPRAÆ the article also looks at some of the criticisms. This includes an over emphasis on methods, the tension between empowerment versus data collection and not adopting the right attitudes and behaviour. It then goes on to discuss how addressing concerns about quality has become increasingly difficult as PRA has spread and gives practitioners' suggestions for addressing these issues. The article concludes that no one has the power to determine the behaviour of the many people that influence PRA practice but practitioners value the debates over what PRA is and how to do it well.