Resources

This training course in RRA techniques was held for heads of local government departments of several states in Northern Nigeria. The report does not describe the training sessions, but evaluates how various RRA techniques were carried out in the village context. Many of the problems identified relate to the idea of government officials using RRA : they were viewed with suspicion by the villagers (as tax collectors), and had a different perspective from NGO workers (one official asked, "Why are we trying to identify the poorest?") The report includes the visual results of activities and suggests how the training could link to project identification in local government.

A detailed account of a five day training course in PRA for NGO staff working on a project in West Bengal. After a day's introduction to PRA techniques, the field work in Kharamdanga village began: descriptions of each day's activities are given, with methodology used and findings. Time line, social map, transect and resource map are illustrated visually. The report concludes with a list of PRA methods found useful to the NGOs involved.

This provocative article reflects on the experience of conducting PRA exercises in Madhya Pradesh, India. The issues relate to Kulkarni's role as "development manager" in the context of villagers working directly with government officials. The ethical, political and methodological dimensions of PRA (specifically wealth ranking and social mapping) are all brought out in the discussion.

A postgraduate course for professional social workers, entitled "Social Research and Popular Participation", has been developed at the Central American University, Nicaragua. This paper describes the course in detail: diagnosis of practical experiences through "forum-like role play" led to defining a new model of participatory action research. Finally, a participatory research project was carried out by researchers and students in a fishing village in Masachapa. Greater emphasis is given to the theory sections of the course, including training methods used, than to the field work experiences.

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.

This three day PRA workshop for nine 'Southern' health workers included a field visit to a poor area of Birmingham. Teaching methods (cartoons, slides, role play) in the theoretical sessions are described in detail, together with the trainees' responses. The concluding section makes suggestions on practical aspects of organising a workshop for PRA trainers and reflects on the different experience of doing PRA activities in the 'Northern' and urban context.

A two day PRA workshop was held for staff and students from the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamil Nadu, India, together with 60 women members of the village Women's Association. This report describes the PRA training activities carried out in the village, with details of timing, group organisation and methods used. Areas of priority (eg the harijan community) and PRA methods were chosen after discussion of the first day's experience. Evaluation of the workshop and of PRA makes useful suggestions for PRA training.