PRA is characterized by an applied, holistic, flexible approach of

progressive learning conducted by multidisciplinary teams

emphasizing commu7nity participants.
PRA is a way of learning from and with community members
to investigate , analyze and evaluate constraints and
opportunities and make informed and timely decisions regarding
development projects.
It is a method by which a team can quickly and systematically
collect information for:
The general analysis of a specific topic, question or problem
Needs assessment
Feasibility studies
Identifying and prioritizing projects
Project or programme evaluation.

Triangulation
Multidisciplinary team
Mixing of techniques
Flexibility and informality
In the community
Optimal ignorance and appropriate compression
On the spot analysis
Off-setting biases and being self-critical.

Attitudes behavior are critically linked to the methods and

sharing. This implies roles quite different to those that
outsiders (We) and villagers (They) are accustomed to play.
We:
establish rapport
Convene, catalyze, facilitate, enquire
Choose, adopt, improvise methods
hand over the stick
watch, listen and learn
They:
Map
model
diagram
quantify
rank, score
inform, explain
show
discuss, analyze
plan, present

WE:HAND OVER THE STICK

THEY CAN DO IT
USE YOUR OWN BASED JUDGEMENT
AT ALL TUIME
SIT DOWN, LISTEN, LEARN, RESPECT
UNLEARN
RELAX
EMBRACE
BEHAVIO
ERROR
R
ATTITUD
E

METHO
DS

SHARIN
G

THEY:

INTERVIEW
MAP
MODEL
RANK
SCORE
ANALYSIS
DIAGRAM
PRESENT
PLAN
VILLAGERS SHARE THEIR KNOWLEDGE
ALL SHARES EXPERIENCES
NGOS SHARE THEIR CAMP
INVITE AND WELCOME OTHERS FROM NGO,AND GOVT.

R
E
A
L
L
E
A
R
N

Respect for people

Encourage people to have ideas
Ask questions
Listen carefully
Listen
Encourage
Ask
Review
Note

TEAMS
Facilitator
Catalyst
Advices
Research and Apply
Support and Consult

VILLAGERS
Evaluate
Diagnose
Analyze
Choose
Experiments

BEFORE:

Meet the villagers with an open and frank mind. Tell them who you are
and why you come here.
Build up personal rapport with villagers.
Identify the villagers who are willing to share their experience.
Show full interest and enthusiasm.
Always begin the interview by relaxing the tension of interviewee by
asking general questions and setting the climate for discussion.
Select suitable place for the interview, sit down with the villagers on
the same floor.
DURING:
Listen carefully, show empathy and be patient.
Intense and careful observation is most important.
Do not interrupt, suggest or prescribe.
Be polite, gentle and accommodative.
Try to adjust villagers as human being.
Head nodding during interview in approval or in disapproval should be
avoided.

Try to follow existing social customs of the village.

Participate wholeheartedly.
Accept villagers offers of hospitality.
There is no point in getting important or becoming too much inquisitive
when the villagers discuss among themselves.
Lead towards sensitive and important issue using open ended questions.
Asking too many questions at atime should be avoided.
Take details note of the answerts and on the process discussion and
information generation.
Quick sketch of subject under study or innovation of the villagers may be
drawn.
Individuals trying to dominate the discussion should be prevented carefully.

Do not prolong the group interview unnecessarily.

Revolve the discussion around the main issue
without blocking spontaneously.
Change of topic should be smooth.
The interviewing group should not generally have more than 4 to 5 people.
Use what, which, when, where, who, why and how to rehearse the question.

AFTER:
At the end of the interview all the interviewers must be thanked individually
by the members of the intervening group for giving time and sharing theirr
experience.
Sit down with all members and record all the information collected and the
process of information generation.

Transect walk is to analyse the problems , situations,

vegetation, soil type, topography, opportunities in a
zigzag path in a village to cover the maximum diversity of
that village.
Transect walk was taken along with farmers helps to
observe land, soil, crop, tree, livestock , fishery, problems
and opportunities.

PURPOSE:
To get an idea
about farming
practices, cropping
pattern, the physical
layout, irrigation
facilities etc.
To know the agroecosystem of village.
To get the crosssectional view of the
village.

This is the construction bases of a map of village area using rangoli

powders or chalk on the ground or a cement floor for understanding the
village layout, main features such as housing, temples, stores and other
resources like forests, lands, watersheds, etc.

Purpose:
To get an impression of the social and
physical layout of the village as perceived
by the villagers themselves.
To understand globally the social
structure of the village, who live where
facilities are there, under they are located
at.
To get an impression of the natural
resource environment of the village
perceived by the villagers.

Crop map is a map of the village cropping area using

rangoli powders or chalk on the ground or a cement floor.
Through this increase in understanding of the village
layout, can be obtained showing the main features such
as water availability, soil type, land situation, topography,
fertility status and various crop grown under those
conditions.
To know main crop, verifications, cropping system,
main cropping area, potential crop, etc.
To get all information regarding crops required for
preparations of action plan for a specific category or
item.

Social map is used to

study social structure,
stratification
and
availability of social
facilities and also helps
the
facilitators
to
understand the basic
situations and social
dynamics of the village.

Resource map locates resources of an area such

as village watershed, forest water bodies etc this
helps to establish the extent and locations of these
resources and to analyse and understand them
better.

Matrix ranking helps in understanding peoples choice

and priorities in a particular situation and their reasons for
it, also it helps in determining the compatibility of certain
item in a given environment of over all perspective.
The reason for liking and disliking and the suitable
difference in choice and priority among the villagers of
different area can also be understood which helps us to
prioritize and determine the strategy.

Seasonality refers to recurring variations of a value at

certain periods (month, quarter, etc.) of the year. The
demand for certain products will peak at specific times of the
year. Some products may peak during the summer while
others may peak during the winter.
Calculating a seasonal index can help identify seasonal
patterns. The seasonal index is calculated as the ratio of the
average value in a season (month, quarter, etc.) to the
overall annual average value.
A seasonal calendar helps
present large quantity of diverse
information in a common time frame.
It identifies cycles of activity that
occur within the life of community on
a regular basis and helps determine
whether there are common periods
of excessive environmental problems
of opportunities over the course of
normal year.

SEASONALITY OF
EMPLOYMENT

SEASONALITY OF INCOME
EXPENDITURE

A list of key events in the history of the community that helps identify post
trends, events, problems, and achievements in its life.

PurposeThe time line helps the team to understand what local or national
events the
community considers to be important in its history. The time line
is prepared
through discussion wit a small groups or elders. The significant
events in the
history of the community hitherto kept in oral form are now
documented.

How:
Group discussions are preferred to interviews of key individuals because they
encourage dialogue among the community members and Addis, helping them
remember events form the distant past.
The elders should be asked to identify that shaped and influenced individual
and the community activity large sheets of paper and felt pens should be used
to write in large letter in the local language.
If there is difficulty in establishing dates for particular events, try to relate them
to a renown event.

Application:
This data re-in forces the communitys
perception of the evolving problems
and the possible opportunities to be
considered in the preparation of the
CAP.

Venn diagramming is a method to find out who, what person or organizations are
important in and for a community.
Purpose:
To identify groups and institutions operating in the community and to show
how they interact with each other.
To show the degree of their cooperation and involvement in development
programs.
To discover their important or influence on decision making in the community.

HowList institutions in the community and discuss importance of each institution

and what they do.
Make different sized circles and not which circle represents each institution
i.e. big circle very important and decision maker, small circle with little
importance.
During overlapping the circles, the size of the circle indicates the importance
of the institution, the distance between the circles indicate the degree of
contact between institutions. For instance a large overlap high interaction. No
overlap distant relationship.

Application Identify individuals, groups or

institutions. Important in the lives of
people and establish close relationship
with them.
Provide the necessary support and
effectively utilize their skills and
experiences.

Villagers participation
venn diagram

Venn diagram of
Barimula

The community can get goods and services from different places. Some
resources will be available with in the PA, others on the boundaries of the
community. People daily, weekly and occasionally fetch for those resources in
and out of their area. Therefore they travel long distances under difficult
situations.
Purpose:
The diagram is used to understand
the places traveled, resources collected
and to identify the persons travailing.
The resource centers could have
problems and the road and means of
transportation may not be appropriate,
PRA team needs to know the critical
goods and services that people travel to
fetch for.

How?
- Select informants who travel for resources
-Write down as many places as possible visited
and resources the most wanted.
- The difficulties faced on the way and at the destination discussed
- The informants mark on the ground the starting point and destination
for different resources or services.
Application
The PRA team and informant record resources in short supply and the
reasons for not having in the community. The community action plans include
ways and means to get critical resources in the future. The difficulties faced
on the road and at the resource center (destination) taken due consideration
for improvement.

Purpose:
Most daily activities in traditional rural, societies are managed along gender
lines. There are activities that are specifically performed by women, men or
children.
In some communities gender role divisions are still pronounced. In such
cases it is necessary for the PRA team to be aware in order not to be seen as
interfering with the community cultural norms specific gender roles so that new
programmers are not introduced to overburden an already overworked
group.
Introducing gender awareness in
PRA helps a community to begin
examining itself.

WOMEN ENGAGED
IN WINNOWING

WOMEN ENGAGED
IN HARVESTING

How
It is better if the community is allowed to lead gender related discussions. The
PRA team facilitates discussions through a neutral process of mapping out a
gender daily calendar. Men and women discuss on each daily activities on
agreed season (raining or dry season). The groups on their timetable, from
the time they wake up in the morning to the time they got to sleep in the
evening.
Application
Gender daily calendar provides a clear picture of who does what in the
community. It will help in the formulation of the community Action Plan. The
community will become aware that unless some changes in gender relations
are effected rural development will not proceed as quickly as they would like it
to be.

WOMEN ENGAGED
IN WINNOWING

WOMEN ENGAGED
IN HARVESTING

Trend lines are helpful to understand the residents perception of significant

changes in the communities over time.
Purpose:
Trend analysis will help the community to and PRA team to:
- Learn from the community how it views change over time in various sectors
- Integrate key changes into a village profile, which well simplify problem
identification and
- Begin to organize the range of opportunities for the community to
consider.

How:
The following steps are important for proper generation of trend lines.
1. PRA team should carefully explain the measuring of trend lines to the
community groups.
2. Explain the concept of trend lines using simple graphs. Demonstrate
the meaning of the two lines. Show them how time moves form left to
right along the horizontal axis, and how the rate of increase/decrease
in resource use is indicated on the upright vertical axis.
3. When the community members have understood the concept, ask one
of them to draw the two lines on the ground. Once this is done, years
should be indicated at equal intervals along the horizontal line.
4. Use the discussion of trends to probe for explanation of the changes.
This will help identify underlying problems and traditional activities to
correct the situation. Find out what solutions have been tried in the past
and how well they have worked.

Application:
Trend lines provide useful
baseline information for
researchers operating on
Micro-level follow ups of
such aspects as population,
food availability, school
enrollment etc. It forms the
basis upon which problem
identification and options
assessment is made during
the preparation of the
community action plan.

Resource flow means whatever inputs for cultivation or food products other
products either available within the village or import from the outside of
village. When these all resources are designed into a map form it is called as
resource flow map also otherwise called as inflow outflow map .

INFLOW PRODUCTS

OUTFLOW PRODUCTS