Resources

MYRADA, an NGO working in Karnataka, India, has been using PRA/PALM (Participatory Learning Methods) since 1988. This article reflects on their learning experiences, concentrating on the organisation and approach needed when carrying out PRA activities in a village. PRA/PALM should be "more than a training for outsiders" - the purpose of the exercise should be clear to all. PRA activities tend to "focus upon issues that can yield hard data rather than touch upon relationships". Other reflections include: the composition of the groups of PRA facilitators and of villagers, how to enter the village and "fit in", materials required, duration and timing of training.

MYRADA, an NGO working in about 2,000 villages in South India, developed an approach called PALM (Participatory Learning Methods) from their early experiments with RRA. This article describes the areas in which PALM has been used (eg natural resource development) and outlines a typical PALM training exercise. The programme lasts about five days, including camping in the village, and progresses from "introductory" (history of the village) to "exploratory" (eg livelihood, wealth ranking) to a concluding "Operational Plan". Methods and their applications are summarised in table form and illustrated visually. MYRADA is now experimenting with new applications of the methods, developing new methods and "hybrids". This article shows how a PRA approach can become integrated within NGO project planning through a defined training model.

Aerial photographs were used as the focus for discussions about land use practices in an area of Kenya. Details are given of how the photographs were taken. The photographs helped to reduce spatial biases, such as the tendency for field workers to walk along the contours and along ridges. They also seemed to "confirm what made sense intuitively" in terms of land use options. During household interviews, people seemed happy interpreting the photographs though they were mostly literate and had seen aerial photographs before.

Aerial photographs were used as a communication tool to discuss land use with farmers in Ethiopia. The farmers had no problems interpreting the photographs and could even "take one to any spot on their land shown to them on the mosaic". Each village used the photographs to present their proposals for land use allocation. The author concludes that whilst aerial photography helps technical staff "to visualise development options", its main function for the farmers was not as a planning tool (they already know their land well) but to help illustrate and demonstrate their ideas to others.

The article explores the idea of PRA as a new literacy and examines how far the visual language of PRA can be considered to be neutral and empowering for non-literate people. Using concepts from the New Literacy Studies, it looks at the process whereby new skills of mapping and diagramming are introduced to non-literate villagers. With specific examples it shows that many of the assumptions of PRA practitioners regarding peopleÆs understanding are supported by research into visual literacy and ethnomathematics. It argues that the extent to which PRA can be an empowering process depends on social factors, such as the way activities are facilitated and the familiarity of the setting. It concludes that, with the ænewÆ literacy users, PRA facilitators need to ensure that the visual activities of PRA are helping to extend people's visual literacy by building on the skills they already have, and making the most of the existing local visual literacy and numeracy systems. In particular, the making of diagrams needs to seen differently from the interpretation of diagrams, if PRA activities are to lead to action.

This paper gives a comparative overview of the use of objective/quantitative and subjective/narrative information in understanding the historical land use changes in Uganda. Data obtained from using PRA/RRA methods and from a longitudinal survey are compared and contrasted. Further explanations are provided as to how and why the discrepancies arose and how they were resolved by the use of various triangulation methods. The paper emphasises the importance of understanding the local perceptions and in taking proper care in interpreting them.