PRA-Manual Embracing Participitation tools-only.pdf - PACA

3.12 EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT: Wisdom from the Field
1.11 Duration
It is not possible to recommend a standard duration for a participatory appraisal.
The time required can vary from a couple of days to several weeks. This will
depend on the topic being analyzed, the size of the community, its internal
dynamics, the diversity within the community and the size of the facilitating
team. Urban communities tend to be very large, and therefore, take more time
as compared to rural communities.
During the participatory appraisals with adolescents in Zambia we had fairly
large teams of facilitators, ranging from 12 to over 20 members in a compound.
It was, therefore, possible to divide the team into sub-teams of 3-4 members
each. This made it possible for us to cover a lot of ground within a relatively
short span of time. Usually we spent about five to seven days in a community.
The first few participatory appraisals may require more time. As the facilitators
gain experience in handling the methodology and the process, it is possible to
facilitate the same process in less time in subsequent appraisals.
While planning for participatory appraisals it is important to budget for some
days at the end for writing the reports. During the participatory appraisals
carried out with adolescents in Zambia we allocated two days at every compound
to complete the report. The synthesis report for the seven compounds in Lusaka
took about a week to prepare.
1.12 The daily routine (17)
Part 3
A participatory assessment must necessarily take place when people are available
to participate. Therefore, the team must assemble early in the morning so
that the day’s agenda can be reviewed and material gathered before setting out.
An example of a fairly typical schedule is working in the community for five to
six hours without taking a break, e.g., from 8:00 AM until 1:00 or 1:30 PM. It is
possible that the team of facilitators spends this time with one group of people
in the community, however, there is some fatigue and often it is difficult for the
people to spare 4-5 hours at a time. It is common, therefore, for facilitators to
meet, and have discussions with, several groups of people in the community in
one morning. The teams disengage slowly from the community activity,
discussing if appropriate with community members whether they should all meet
to continue discussions the next day (sometimes it may be necessary to follow
up the discussions in the afternoon on the same day), and then thanking the
people for their time and effort. The teams then return to the central meeting
point for a short break and lunch.
After lunch, each team gathers its members together and begins sifting through
and recording data generated during the morning sessions; as a team, they then
pull out the main findings and results. In the late afternoon, by about 4:00 PM,
each of the teams then briefly presents the day’s outputs to the larger group,
including the display of important visuals prepared by the community. Once all
the teams have presented, data are then systematically compared and contrasted