8. Participatory Rural Appraisal 1-2

Participatory Rural Appraisal:

The work of Robert Chambers has been extremely influential in this regard, in its attempts to counter excessively formalistic approaches to ‘data collection’ by development workers and professionals.

Definition. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and its variants aim to enable rural people to plan and enact solutions to problems by analysing their own knowledge of local conditions, facilitated by outsiders. This approach (Chambers, 1992) has drawn upon insights borrowed from social anthropology such as:

The idea of learning in the field as ‘flexible art rather than rigid science’
The need to learn in the field, informally, through conversations and relaxed observation.
The importance of the research’s attitudes, behaviour and rapport with local people.
The emic approach.

Advantages

Helps understand your knowledge aspirations perceptions.
Participation brings efficiency and quality in development.

Method

Build rapport with villages. Share information ine relaxed open dialogue
Villages model and map the village
Survey of the village with villages
Prepare diagrams of various social economic phenomena and rank their priorities and choices
interdisciplinary will experts from agriculture Anthropology sociologists government psychologist engineers.
Process. In diagram.

site selection.
Clearance from local administration.
Data collection.
Analysis of data.
Resource mapping.
Social mapping points away. Implementation.
Evaluation.

Limitations

Time consuming.
Participation of all villages needed not just elite.
Good communication with villagers needed, but often missing.
Sometimes process is rushed.

Used in unnat bharat abhiyan. Used by US aid.

The validity and potential value of indigenous knowledge.

PRA therefore involves training researchers to go to villages and spend time talkling to groups of people ‘in situ’, encouraging them to express local problems and potential solutions in their own terms. Care is taken to represent as many different sets of interests as possible, and the focus in on mutual learning between researcher and informant.

RRA case study - Used in MGNREGA budget and planning. 2/3 days in village. Social mapping. Resource mapping. Survey.

Rapid rural appraisal vs PRA

RRA. Systematic activity designed to draw inference, conclusion, hypothesis, and assessment to get new information in a limited time.
RRA is used here to refer to a discrete study (or series of studies) in one or more communities, during which a multidisciplinary team of researchers looks at a set of issues that are clearly defined by the study objectives. The emphasis in PRA is often not so much on the information as it is on the process and seeking ways to involve the community in planning and decision making.
RRA and PRA will gather information to provide insight about people and their communities to enable projects to:

Customize interventions according to the needs and circumstances of the communities where they work.
Focus questions for quantitative surveys that may be conducted to complement qualitative research.
Refine the approach and activities as information is gathered for monitoring purposes.
Improve follow-on activities and inform future projects as a result of what is learned in evaluations. .

research team may involve people principally from outside the community (project staff, partners, relevant technical specialists). In the case of PRA, the team may include some staff, partners, or specialists, but it is critical that it include people from the community who represent diverse perspectives.
RRA studies typically last from four to eight days. A PRA is an extended process that can last for months or
Cheap vs costly
Type of Data Collection: A number of different tools are used to collect and report information, including semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, transect walk, Venn diagram, calendars, wealth ranking, historical profile, matrices, and community action plans.
Quick. Grassroot. Holistic. By outsiders.
Limited.

Faking by respondents.
Little time devoted to study.
Behavioral aspects ignored, as time is short to. On paper followed. Elite get benefit.
Low quorum in gram sabha and vulnerable groups or lower castes and women don't participate.
Rushed process. Quality takes a hit due to hurry.

Extra info. Not useful here.

Gurjeet singh. Jharkhand social audit. Head of social audit unit. MGNREGA mid day meal audit.