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This article summarises the perceptions of staff of a rural development NGO in southern India, on the impacts of PRA on their project planning, implementation , management and evaluation.
There is an important role for qualitative, low cost and quick techniques in the field of malnutrition. RRA appears to promise this. Five constant principles of RRA are given, while recognising that every RRA is different, namely triangulation, optimal ignorance, appropriate imprecision, rapid and progressive learning, and learning from local people. Data collection is discussed, including secondary sources and primary work in the field, particularly semi-structured interviews, group discussions,semi-structured interviews, group discussions, observations, key informants, community respondants is important. It is felt that there is not yet adequate recognition of the potential of RRA, with a lack of training in, and instutionalisation of, the methods being highlighted.
This manual is primarily aimed at helping aid staff supervise in a way which deepens insight into local situations, is supportive of health workers, and is focused on improving the quality of service to the poor. The checklists of questions are intended to be adapted rather than definitively applied. This manual gives practical advice on avoiding the pomp and ceremony of visits which often distracts from appreciating the health situation at community level. RRA techniques are recommended in order to gain a real understanding of health needs. Suggestions are made as to how to talk with health/nutrition workers to get an idea of their integration into the community, their understanding of health in a wider context, recent training, ability to question the health messages that they deliver and the extent of supervisory support. The author then recommends that an attempt is made to decide which problems relate to an individual and which are systemic problems that need to be addressed at the centre or state level. An Annex is included of a sample field visit report.
This paper presents the findings of a one and a half day investigation of the impact of BRAC's Rural Development Programme (RDP) on a village in Manikganj. It was conducted by 11 BRAC staff as a part of a RRA/PRA Refresher course and provided an opportunity to test out the methods to be used in the PRA component of the BRAC Impact Assessment Study [IAS]. The paper is divided into four main sections. In the first, the methodology used in the study is explained - main methods used time lines, seasonal calendars and wealth ranking. In the second, the location is introduced and the history of BRAC's involvement is reconstructed. The third section asks who has benefited, to what extent, and how ? And finally, the wider implications of this pilot study for the IAS are drawn out - these include the assertion that more time is needed for fieldwork, and the observation that, while RRA/PRA potentially offer a very good way of dealing with the IAS agenda, this potential will only be realized if "the most able of the BRAC staff trained in the methods are given the responsibility".
Describes a short exercise designed to explore the potential uses of RRA/PRA for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee [BRAC]. Divided into two major sections, the first is a general introduction to some of the most commonly used RRA/PRA techniques, while the second presents the findings of an attempt to use RRA methods to evaluate the performance of a BRAC-supported village deep tube-well group. Section one is based around a summary chart of the range of techniques "currently [in 1991] employed by RRA/PRA practitioners". Notes on each of these techniques expand on this chart and provide some useful advice and information on the application and procedure characterising each technique. The case study, described in section 2, was carried out by a team of 6 BRAC staff (none of whom had previously performed RRA) and facilitated by Mick Howes from the IDS. Two and a half days were spent on preliminary orientation and a further two and a half days in the field. Although a complete evaluation study of the performance of the village deep tube well group was not carried out during this period, a "number of potentially significant insights were generated" and the potential for RRA/PRA in operational and research work (including evaluation) within BRAC was emphasised.
This manual "is designed to provide ideas on how to learn from and with rural women (and men!)". Its aim is to convince the readers of the need to consider gender and environmental issues in the planning, implementation and M&E of any development activity. The introduction reviews the general issues. Section 2 is a set of guide-lines on communication, learning and analysis of techniques for use in investigating local natural resources issues with rural women. These techniques are largely drawn from the RRA repertoire but their specific application to gender and the environment makes this volume more than 'just another RRA manual'. There are useful boxed examples of the use of various techniques and a list of books and organisations which offer more information on the subject. Section 3 comprises a number of illustrative case studies by groups of rural women. Section 4 describes some simple techniques which have been applied in conservation projects and case studies of how groups of rural women have used these ideas.
The International Conference on Rapid Assessment Methodologies for Planning and Evaluating Health Related Programmes, was organised by the United Nations University, at the Pan American Health Organisation headquarters in 1990, to "explore anthropologically based methodologies for the design, evaluation, and improvement of programmes of nutrition and primary health care". The 42 chapters on Rapid Assessment Procedures [RAP], Rapid Rural Appraisal [RRA], and related approaches deal with a range of research tools. The book is divided in to seven sections: 1. The expanding role of Qualitative research in International Development; 2. Development and applications of RAP procedures in Africa, Asia and the Americas; 3. Community Participation and RRA; 4. Institutionalization of RAP; 5. Training for RAP and other qualitative methods; 6. Bringing RAP to the decision-making realm: effective communication and use; 7. Conference summary, comments, speakers and participants. The overall focus is on planning and evaluation of nutrition and health related intervention programs, but much that is discussed will have a direct bearing on other social development sectors. The stated aim of the volume, of contributing "toward increasing the understanding of RAP and RRA, both as tools of investigation and potentially as integrated components of the community development process itself", highlights this point.
This report describes the results of a training workshop on Participatory Environmental Assessement held in Cambodia. The initial training in Environmental Impact Assessment and PRA is briefly described, with some attention given to the concepts behind them. The results of an appraisal and planning process by two groups in separate villages are described in detail. Throughout, the report nicely illustrates the work done with diagrams, maps, etc. An extensive evaluation of the process by all involved, while specific to this workshop, provides interesting ideas for training in general.
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Discusses the methods of collecting information during a field-study carried out in Brazil, in the health district of Pau da Lima. It was intended to provide a learning experience for students as well as to explore the local potential for Primary Environmental Care (PEC) and to produce a number of recommendations to local bodies. Possible actors, conditions, means and resources to promote PEC within the Pau da Lima district were investigated. PEC integrates three components: empowering communities, protecting the environment, and meeting needs. The first step was a preliminary identification of present and future potential actors in PEC in the Pau da Lima district. A Rapid Appraisal (RA) was conducted in three squatter communities within the district, focusing on felt problems; interests and priorities in PEC; forms and conditions of community organisation; and instances and conditions of community-based action. Methods used include: review of secondary data, informal disucssions with informants, direct observations, laboratory analysis of water samples collected during the observation walks, life history interviews, focus groups and ranking exercises, semi-structured interviews. While the study found the RA methods useful, it suggested that they may not be sufficient to identify community-based solutions to specific problems. The techniques in "Making Microplans" (Goethert and Hamdi 1988) provide an example of how this action-oriented phase could proceed.
The paper reviews experiences of participatory planning with pastoralists. It looks at the specific needs of pastoral planning and discusses how planning with pastoralists differs from that in agricultural settings. The paper also discusses some of the problems and limitations of participatory planning, and some of the ethical issues raised in the process. It concludes that most RRA/PRA methods can be useful in planning with pastoralists if applied in a flexible way. However, some concepts used in planning with settled farmers are not suited to mobile herders. Planning with pastoralists requires an approach oriented to social rather than territorial units.
This is a summary of a larger study for the World Bank of loans for rural development to Brazil. Programme evaluations shed more light on the causes of failure than of success. This summary seeks to do the opposite. The projects are introduced and problems summarised. The remainder of the article discusses the causes of success in some regions and in some periods. Factors include 'inherent capabilities', flexibility, innovation, simplicity, co -ordination between agencies, control by higher authorities, involvement of non-specialised agencies. The implications for standard project design are discussed. Five points summarise the conclusions, and it is emphasised that reality is unpredictable.
This brief paper argues that a participatory monitoring (PM) system is meaningful and effective only when people are involved right from the inception of the project, given a free hand in setting their own objectives and monitoring indicators. The outsider should aim at developing the institutional capability of local organisations, instead of overburdening them with data collection to fulfil the monitoring requirements of outsiders. The effectiveness of a PM system is questioned when people have to participate in a project designed by the outsiders often using indicators that are alien to them.
This training manual with a practical reference guide clearly presents the rationale for participatory project development and a step-by-step process for its use in training workshops. Workshop sessions are outlined in a sequence of stages in project development, viz., planning (understanding the community, needs assessment, determination of goals and objectives, assessment of resources and constraints, planning project activities), implementation and evaluation. The use of sample charts, checklists, and worksheets applied to different stages of project development make it easy for trainers to follow the reference guide. The manual emphasises community participation at all stages of project development.
The Lesotho Primary Schools Sanitation Project, undertaken in 1976-9, had limited success. When a follow-up project was proposed, it was decided to hold workshops to find out the communities' views on how the follow-up should be designed. Workshop participants included school and community representatives, ministerial and donor agency representatives. This paper describes the results of those workshops held in March 1981. Most of the report discusses technical implications of the workshop discussions. A final section discusses the role of community based workshops in development planning.
This document is an abstract from the executive summary of a larger report on participatory village planning in Indonesia. It assesses GTZ's experiences with participatory village planning in six programmes (in area development, food security, social forestry and farming systems development). The participatory planning methods used include ZOPP, Poster Analysis and gender analysis. Strengths and limitations of the participatory planning processes and methods used in each programme area are discussed in detail. Overall, it is concluded that the institution building approach to village planning supports existing regulations on bottom-up planning (an objective decided without villager participation in overall project planning); and, no systematic analysis of the weaknesses of village institutions was conducted before attempts were made to strengthen them. Key questions which emerge from the analysis are: Who needs to now what for which type of planning? Who needs to participate in which type of planning? Which type of planning procedure is appropriate to a given situation? How can facilitator quality be ensured? How much may a planning process cost in relation to the programme being designed? The paper ends by considering minimally required steps to institutionalise villager participation in routine bottom-up planning: