Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and
Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

methods for social work practice
What is participation rural appraisal
(PRA) ?
 PRA can be described as a family of approaches,
methods and behaviours that enable people to
express and analyse the realities of their lives and
conditions, to plan themselves what action to take,
and to monitor and evaluate the results.
 Its methods have evolved from Rapid Rural

Appraisal (RRA). The difference is that PRA
emphasises processes which empower local people,
whereas RRA is mainly seen as a means for
outsiders to gather information.
The term PRA - quite misleading
 the combination of techniques are equally
applicable in urban settings
 are not limited to appraisal they are linked

to planning processes and are being
adapted for monitoring and evaluation
purposes
The key elements of PRA are:
 the methods used,
 and - most importantly - the behaviour and
attitudes of those who facilitate it.
Origin of PRA
 grew out of a range of methodologies
including agro-ecosystems analysis and
Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) in the 1970s
and 80s, in which the emphasis was
placed on finding ways to express the
diversity of local knowledge through
facilitation by outsiders.
 Two sources: planners and
empowerment-oriented activists
PRA
 PRA provides a structure and many practical ideas
to help stimulate local participation in the creation
and sharing of new insights
 The emphasis on ensuring community feedback

broadens the group of people involved
 Although PRA was not intended to collect

statistically significant information, it is
increasingly used in combination with other
methodologies to fulfil more scientific information
needs and is easily made complementary.
How to do PRA?
 There is no single way to do PRA
 there are core principles and over 30 methods

available to guide teamwork, do sampling,
structure discussions and visualise analysis. The
combination and sequence of methods will
emerge from the context.
 triangulation of findings guide the fieldwork in
recognition of the need to know enough without
knowing it all and to ensure that the qualitative
insights are cross-checked by different sources
using different methods.
The core principles PRA are:
 sustained learning process: enhancing cumulative learning for
action by participants
 different perspectives in group-based analysis: PRA explicitly

seeks insights from and an understanding of the needs of
different individuals and groups
 key role for sensitive facilitators: to include different

perspectives often means challenging local traditions of
communication
 systemic and methodological basis: creating a structured
process that explores problems within the wider context,
from description to analysis and action
 context-specific: unique social/physical conditions means

building a process of discussion, communication and conflict
resolution
PRA methods
 wide range of methods to enable
people to express and share
information, and to stimulate
discussion and analysis. These are
provided here to get you started.
Change them and mould them to fit
the size of the client group,
location, time and other
characteristics of the participants
and their situation.
PRA methods according Kumar, 2002
 Space related PRA

 Time related PRA
 PRA relational methods – inc.
Ranking and Prioritizing
Space related PRA
 Social maps
 Resource maps
 Participatory modeling methods
 Mobility maps
 Services and opportunities
 Transects
 Participatory census methods
Time related PRA methods
 Timeline
 Trend analysis
 Historical transect
 Seasonal diagram
 Daily activity schedule
 Participatory genealogy method
 Dream map
PRA relational methods – incl. Ranking
and Prioritizing
 Cause-efect diagram
 Impact diagram
 Systemsdiagram
 Network diagram
 Processmap
 Well-being ranking methods
 Venn diagram
 Pair-wise ranking method
 Matrix ranking/scoring method
 Force field analysis
 Pie diagram
 Livelihood analysis
 Spider diagram
 Body mapping
PRA activities
 usually take place in groups, working on the ground
or on paper. The ground is more participatory, and
helps empower those who are not literate.
 Visual techniques provide scope for creativity and
encourage a frank exchange of views. They also
allow crosschecking.
 Using a combinations of PRA methods a very
detailed picture can be built up, one that expresses
the complexity and diversity of local people's
realities far better than conventional survey
techniques such as questionnaires.
Behaviour and attitudes
 PRA depends on facilitators acting as

convenors and catalysts, but without
dominating the process.
 Many find this difficult. They must take
time, show respect, be open and self-
critical, and learn not to interrupt. They
need to have confidence that local people,
whether they are literate or not, women
or men, rich or poor, are capable of
carrying out their own analysis.
Abuse of PRA
 Unfortunately, there has been much abuse
of PRA by outsiders keen only to extract
information quickly, and use it for their own
purposes. Such practice is unethical
because local people are brought into a
process in which expectations are raised,
and then frustrated, if no action or follow-
up results.
PRA has been applied in almost every
development domain:
 slum development
 HIV/AIDS awareness and action
 anti-poverty programmes
 disaster management
 negotiation and conflict resolution
 adult literacy
Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)
is an umbrella term for a wide range of similar approaches
and methodologies, including:
 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA),

 Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA),
 Participatory Learning Methods (PALM),
 Participatory Action Research (PAR),
 Farming Systems Research (FSR),
 Method Active de Recherche et de Planification Participative
(MARP), and many others.
The common theme to all these approaches is the full

participation of people in the processes of learning about their
needs and opportunities, and in the action required to
address them.
Participatory Learning and Action
(PLA)
 An intensive, systematic, but semi-

structured mutual learning
experience, carried out in a
community by an interdisciplinary
team that includes community
members for the efficient
acquisition and analysis of data on
community conditions to produce
useful and reliable information in a
timely manner.

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Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

 Its methods have evolved from Rapid Rural

 are not limited to appraisal they are linked

 The emphasis on ensuring community feedback

 Although PRA was not intended to collect

 there are core principles and over 30 methods

 different perspectives in group-based analysis: PRA explicitly

 key role for sensitive facilitators: to include different

 context-specific: unique social/physical conditions means

 Space related PRA

 PRA depends on facilitators acting as

 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA),

The common theme to all these approaches is the full

 An intensive, systematic, but semi-

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