Participatory rapid appraisal

Participatory Rapid Appraisal

A report in
Agricultural Extension 220 – Farming
Systems Development
Ronel D. Caña
Student

Joselito D. Tucit, M. Sc.
Professor

Introduction
Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA):
• a growing combination of approaches and
methods that enable vulnerable people to
share, enhance, and analyze their knowledge
of life and conditions, to plan and act and to
monitor and evaluate.

Introduction
• first developed in India and Kenya during the
1980s; it has been mainly used by
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
working on the grass-roots level.

Introduction
• emphasizes empowering local people to
assume an active role in analyzing their own
living conditions, problems, and potentials in
order to seek a change in their situation.

Introduction
• an important principle of PRA is to share the
results of the analysis between the PRA team
and the community members by
visualization, public presentations and
discussions during meetings.

What is Participatory Rapid Appraisal
(PRA)?
• Participatory Rapid Appraisal is an
intensive, systematic but semi-structured
learning experience carried out in a
community by a multi-disciplinary team which
includes community members.

(PRA)?
The results of the PRA can be used for:

• Needs assessment;
• Feasibility studies;
• Identifying priorities for development activities;
• Implementing development activities where new
information needs to be collected;
• Monitoring or evaluating development activities.

(PRA)?
The conduct o PRA will require the following:

• Participation;
• Respect for community members;
• Interest in what they know, say, show, and do;
• Patience, without rushing and interrupting;
• Listening, not lecturing;
• Humility;
• Methods which empower community members to
express, share, enhance and analyze their knowledge.

Main Features of PRA
Following are the main features of PRA:

• Triangulation;
• Multidisciplinary team;
• Mix of Techniques;
• Flexibility and informality;
• “In the community” approach;
• On the spot analysis;
• Self-criticism.

PRA ad versus Survey Research
PRA Survey Research

• Short time Long time
• Low cost High cost
• Flexible Fixed
• High participation Low participation
• On-the-spot analysis Heavy statistical analysis
• Semi-structured interviews Formal questionnaires
and group discussions
• Opportunity sample Random sample
• Multi-disciplinary team Enumerators
• Non-hierarchical Hierarchical

• Best for learning and understanding Best for gathering representative,
• rural peoples’ opinions, behaviors quantitative data and statistical analysis
• and attitudes

Dangers of PRA
Following are the potential causes for the failure of PRA:

• Difficulty of finding the right team;
• Going too quickly may lead to superficiality;
• Desire for statistics and quantitative data;
• Desire for the security of a fixed questionnaire;
• Difficulty of finding the right questions to ask;
• Difficulty of finding the poorest and least
educated, especially women;;
• Failure to involve community members;
• Lack of rapport with the community;
• Failure to listen and lack of humility and respect;

Dangers of PRA
Following are the potential causes for the failure of
PRA:

• Seeing only a part of the situation and not getting
the full picture;
• Making value judgment about others;
• Being misled by myth and gossip;
• Generalizing based on too little information or
too few informants;
• Overlooking the invisible;

Dangers of PRA
Following are the potential causes for the failure
of PRA:

• Lecturing instead of listening and learning;
• Raising expectations in the community where
the PRA is carried out;
• Imposing the idea of the PRA team in an issue;
• All male and all-female teams;
• If the approach is too little;

PRA and Other Community
Development Initiatives
Needs
Assessment

Evaluation Participation Planning

(PRA)

Monitoring Implementation

Figure 1. Diagram showing the Project Cycle.

Tools and Techniques of PRA
• Direct observation – is systematically observing
objects, events, processes, relationships or
people and recording these observations. Direct
observation is a good way to cross-check
respondent’s answers. Use a checklist to do
observations systematically. The steps are:
– Think about the objectives and broad topics of the
PRA;
– Identify indicators which you can asses through direct
observation;
– List down the indicators.

• Review of secondary data sources – secondary
sources are sources of information that are
relevant to the area or subject of the planned
PRA and are available in published or
unpublished form;

• Construction of diagrams – a diagram is any
simple model which presents information in an
easily understandable visual form. Diagrams are
constructed to:
– Greatly simplify complex information;
– Show/picture an analytical procedure;
– Facilitate communication;
– Stimulate discussion;
– Increase consensus among members;
– Involve community members and to discover their
views and categories by encouraging them to draw
diagrams of their own;

Tools of PRA: Diagrams
• Seasonal calendar – a calendar showing the
main activities, problems and opportunities
throughout the annual cycle in diagrammatic
form (multi-layer diagrams in one sheet). It
helps identify the events that have impact on
the peoples’ lives. Information in the calendar
include dates, events, cash flow and even
input prices;

• Semi-structured interviews – is a guided
interview where only some of the questions
are predetermined and new questions come
up during the interview. The interviewer
prepares a list of topics and questions rather
than a fixed questionnaire. The targets are
individuals, key informants and focus groups;

• Time trends – are quantitative changes over
time and can be used for many variables
(those that have impact to the lives of the
people on the area). Examples are input
prices, rainfall, livestock population, etc.).

• Historical profile – chronological list of events in
the community. This reveals important
information for understanding the present
situation in a community;
• Daily routine/daily activity profile – collection of
day-to-day activities of community members;
• Flow diagram – this diagram shows cause, effects
and relationships between key variables;
• Venn diagram – shows key institutions and
individuals in a community and their relationships
and importance for decision making;

• Drawing maps and taking photographs – drawn
maps of the area are sources of spatial
information in the area, and taking photos will
show the features of the area. An ideal method
for mapping is to conduct “participatory
mapping”. While “transect mapping” is mapping
of the main land use zones of the area (Includes
Soil, land use, crops and vegetation, problems
and opportunities – presented in linear distance
along the transect path).

The maps drawn and photos taken may be done
for topics such as:
• Demography
• Social and residential stratification;
• Use of natural resources;
• Fields and land use;
• Spatial arrangement of houses and use of space;
• Mobility;
• Water;
• Soils.

Analysis group discussion – also, the focus group
discussion where, the participants are allowed to
conduct a free discussion on important and
related topics. Rules for analysis group discussion
are:
• Listen
• Learn
• Facilitate
• Don’t dominate
• Don’t lecture
• Don’t interrupt
• Respect people’s opinions

• Ranking – ranking or scoring is placing
something in order. This complements semi-
structured interviewing by generating basic
information which leads to more direct
questioning.
o Preference ranking;
o Pairwise ranking;
o Direct matrix ranking; and
o Wealth ranking.

• Innovation assessment – helps to asses and
prioritizes possible options for development
activities. It also identifies the innovation
(intervention) and its implementation. This
activity is done after the analysis group
discussion;

• Sustainability analysis – this is useful for the periodic review
of development activities. Without collection of
information, this sharpens the group’s analytical skills and
brings out important issues. The questions to be answered
are:
o Activity;
o Goals/Objectives;
o Output indicators;
o Impact indicators;
o Strengths;
o Weaknesses;
o What should we continue doing?
o What should we start doing?
o What should we stop doing?

Writing the PRA Report
• As the final part of the PRA, the report should
be prepared for later presentation. The report
will contain the proceedings and results of the
conducted activities. Also contained in the
report are the recommendations and action
plans.

Writing the PRA Report
Considerations in preparing and presenting the
report are the following:
o Who will read the report
(community, government, NGOs, donors)?
o What will the report be used for?
o What should the report contain?
o How should the information be presented?
o Who will write the report?

Writing the PRA report follows common technical
writing principles, guidelines and formats.

With that, I would like to extend my deepest appreciation
and recognition for your valuable attention to the rendition
of this report session.

Thank you!

Ronel D. Caña, MSA-to-be
Mud Creek (Sapang Putik), San Ildefonso, Bulacan
0927-210-1341 ronel.cana@yahoo.com

Participatory rapid appraisal

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