RAPID RURAL

APPRAISAL (RRA)
AND
PARTICIPATORY
RURAL APPRAISAL
(PRA)
TYPES OF PARTICIPATION
Passive No role
Consultation Consult – hear
May modify due to people’s
response

Material Incentive Labour for food

Common

Functional Predetermined objective

Limited scope

Interactive Joint analysis

As a right

Self mobilization Highest form

Active

Information giving Answers

interaction
 IMPORTANCE OF PARTICIPATORY
APPROACHES
(OAKLEY ET AL,1991)
 Efficiency
 Effectiveness
 Self-reliance
 Coverage
 Sustainability
STEPS IN PARTICIPATORY APPROACH

 Rapport building
 DIY (Do it yourself)
 Consultation with villagers and outsiders
 Secondary data collection
 Training of trainers
 Diagnosis
 RRA (RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL)

 RRA is an appropriate methodology for

evaluating, diagnosing and identifying rural
situations, particularly when quick action is
called for, gaining an initial orientation in a
project region, for analyzing a special
problem, for resolving conflict, or for focusing
on certain issues and monitoring and
evaluation. (anonymous,1995)
 RRA consists of a set of guidelines which

help people to work in a structured but

flexible way in rural communities and a set
of tools to aid communication and
interaction with those communities.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RRA

 Rapid
 Elective
 Holistic
 Interactive
 Interdisciplinary
 Cost effective
 Shared perspective
 More realistic
TECHNIQUES USED IN RRA

 Direct observation and conversation

 Semi-structured interviews
 Group discussions
 Sequential interviews
 Report writing
 PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL
(PRA)
 It is growing family of approaches, methods
and behaviours to enable people share,
enhance and analyse of life and condition
and to plan, act, monitor and evaluate.
(Robert Chambers, 1995)

 PRA is a form of approaching people with a

semi-structure range of tools that can be
used to learn, relatively quickly, with the
rural people about their situation, problems,
resources and opportunities. (Singh, 2001)
PRINCIPLES OF PRA

 Rapid and Progressive Learning

 Off Setting Biases
 Optimal Ignorance
 Triangulation
 Diversity
MAIN THEME OF PRA
 Focus on rural communities
 Offers alternatives for marginal areas
 Systematizes rural participation
 Uses audio-visual aids and GD
 Help group communities to set resources
management plans
 Integrate sector and organisation

(Samanta 1992)
CHARACTERISTICS OF PRA

 Problem-centered and action-oriented

 Researcher has a subjective commitment
 Collaborative approach (researcher and
beneficiaries)
 People’s knowledge is respected
 Realizes human potential

(Chambers, 1992)
STEPS IN CARRYING OUT PRA

 Site selection and situation analysis

 Primary visit and discussion
 Data collection
 Data synthesis and analysis
 Ranking opportunities
 Preparing the Village Resource Management Plan (VRMP)
and Community Action Plan (CAP)
 Implementation
 Follow-up and evaluation

(samanta,1992)
 Category RRA PRA
Developed in Late 1970s / 1980s Late 1980s / 1990s
Key resource Local people’s Local people’s
knowledge analytical
capabilities

Main innovations Methods Change of behaviour

and attitudes

Mode Extractive Facilitating

Mode of instruments Verbal Visual
Ideal objectives Learning from Empowerment of
insiders by outsiders local people

Outsider’s role Investigator Initiator and catalyst

Insider’s role Respondent Presenter, analyst
and planner

A model For participatory For interaction

intervention

Who demands? Donor organisation Insider (ideally)

PRA METHODS

 Space related PRA Methods

 Time related PRA Methods
 Relation PRA Methods
SPACE RELATED PRA METHODS

 Social Map
 Resource Map
 Mobility Map
 Services and Opportunities Map
 Transect Walk
 Participatory Census Method
 SOCIAL MAPPING
 Social mapping is a visual method of showing
the relative location of households and the
distribution of different types of people (such
as male, female, adult, child, landed, landless,
literate, and illiterate) together with the social
structure and institutions of an area.

Its is used for:

1. Showing data on community layout, infrastructure,
demography, linguistic groups, health pattern, wealth.

2. Identifying different social groups using locally defined

criteria and assessing the distribution of assets across
social groups.

3. Learning about the social institutions and the different

views local people might have regarding those
institutions
 RESOURCE MAPPING
 Resource Map helps people track their work,
resources and results geographically in a
collaborative environment accessible from
anywhere.
 MOBILITY MAP

 It reveals the pattern of social mobility for

different sections of communities, it can be
used for assessment of education, marketing,
fetching drinking water, etc.
 SERVICES AND OPPORTUNITIES
MAP

 Land Use Map: Understanding of available land,

total land under agriculture, forest, fruit trees,
pastures, etc.

 Crop Mapping: Various crops grown in the village in

different seasons.

 Irrigation Map: Major and minor irrigation facility

information and useful for crop planning.

 Enterprise Map: Used for entrepreneurship

development program and gain information on
variety of enterprises in the village and farmers
involved in value addition.
 TRANSECT WALK
 A transect walk is a systematic walk along a defined
path (transect) across the community/project area
together with the local people to explore the
resources, features, landscape, main land uses.

It is used for:
1. Identifying and explaining the cause and effect
relationships among topography, soils, natural
vegetation, cultivation, and other production activities
and human settlement patterns.

2. Identifying major problems and possibilities perceived by

different groups of local analysts in relation to features or
areas along the transect.

3. Learning about local technology and practices.

TIME RELATED PRA METHODS

 Time Line
 Trend Analysis
 Historical Transect
 Seasonal calendar
 Daily Activity Schedule
 Gap Analysis
 TIME LINE
 Time line captures the chronology of events as
recalled by local people.
 It is drawn as a sequential aggregate of past events.
 It thus provides the historical landmarks of a
community individual or institutions.
 To generate discussions on changes with respect to
issue you are interested in, e.g., education, health,
food security, gender relations economic conditions,
etc.
 TREND ANALYSIS

 Large number of villagers are involved in group

discussion on the pace of change taking place
as perceived by them.

 Parameters: Agriculture practices, infrastructure

development, markets, etc.
 HISTORICAL TIMELINE

 To trace important event of past.

 Various landmarks in development of village

(Infrastructure, Social, Educational, Technological)

 Involve old people of the village.

 Purpose is to learn how the village settlement

and farming systems have changed over time.
 SEASONAL CALENDAR

 A seasonal calendar is a visual method of

showing the distribution of seasonally
varying phenomena (for example, economic
activities, production activities, problems
such as debt, illness/disease, migration, and
natural events/phenomena etc) over time.
 GAP ANALYSIS

 Gap between what is and what should be.

 Carried out with the participation of farmers.

 to see the gap between the actual practices

and recommended practices by the farmers.
RELATION METHODS

 Resource Inventory
 Wealth Ranking Method
 Venn Diagram
 Pair wise Ranking Method
 Matrix Scoring / Ranking Method
 Livelihood Analysis
 RESOURCE INVENTORY

 All the resources available in the village is

documented..

 It includes human, animal and material

resources.
 WEALTH RANKING

 To find out the economic profile and status of

the villagers and each family.
 Useful but sensitive task.
 Through landholdings, irrigation facilities,
cattle's and possession.
 MATRIX RANKING

 To discover the local attitude, perception about

the topic of interest.

 This may be soil, water conservation method,

variety of cereal crops, type of fertilizers, etc.

 Can also be used to discover different

perception of chief group of farmers about the
farm information.
 VENN DIAGRAM

 The Venn Diagram shows institutions, organisations,

groups and important individuals found in the village, as
well as the villagers view of their importance in the
community.

 Additionally the Diagram explains who participates in

these groups in terms of gender and wealth.

 The Relationship Diagram also indicates how close the

contact and cooperation between those organisations and
groups is through circles of varying sizes and distance.
 LIVELIHOOD ANALYSIS

 Used to interpret the behaviour decisions with

different socio-economic characteristics.

 To understand the livelihood strategies (seasonal

variations, income generation activities).

 To understand the strategies of different economic

group (income, expenditure, source of credit and
other form of production).
ACTIVITY 1: Prepare a
Social Map of University.
 ACTIVITY 2: Prepare
Seasonal Calendar of the
a nearby village.
ACTIVITY 3: Prepare Venn
Diagram of University