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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3.2 EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT: Wisdom from the Field These led to the search for less costly and more rapid methods of data collection by development professionals. While many methods and techniques used in PRA are the same as used in RRA, there is a fundamental difference between them. While in RRA it was the outsider professional who applied and controlled the use of these methods for data collection, PRA enables the local community to use these methods themselves for analyzing their situation and preparing their own plans. The shift has been from ‘extracting’ information to enabling the community to take over the process of analyzing their conditions, and planning and implementation of development activities. The label PRA continues to be more commonly used in the growing literature on the subject. However, in recent years it is increasingly felt that the term is too restrictive with its accent on ‘rural’ and ‘appraisal’. This methodology does have its roots in the field of rural development, but during the past three to four years it has been adapted for use in urban areas as well, where it continues to spread in new fields. It is also felt that the word ‘appraisal’ indicates a false limit to the use of the methodology in the subsequent stages of the project cycle. Participatory Learning and Action (PLA), in comparison, is a more appropriate label for the methodology in its present form. ‘PLA’ is applicable to rural and urban contexts, and indicates its continued use during the ‘action’, or implementation phases of the project cycle. 1.2 Key principles of PLA Chambers (1997: 156-157)) describes the following key principles of PLA (10) . Part 3 The facilitator takes a back seat and allows the participants to carryout their analysis without interruption. Zambia A reversal of learning: Learn directly from the local community, gaining from their local physical, technical and social knowledge. Learning rapidly and progressively: Learn with conscious exploration, flexible use of methods, maximizing opportunities, improvisation, iteration, and cross-checking, not following a blueprint program but being adaptable in a learning process. Offsetting biases: Offset biases, especially those of rural development tourism, by being relaxed and not rushing, listening not lecturing, probing instead of passing on to the next topic, being unimposing, and seeking out marginalized groups within the community (the poorer people, minorities, children and women) and learning their concerns and priorities. Optimizing trade-offs: Relate the costs of learning to the useful truth of information, with trade-offs between quantity, relevance, accuracy and timeliness. This includes the principles of optimal ignorance – not learning more than necessary, and of appropriate imprecision – not measuring what need not be measured, or measuring more accurately than needed. Triangulating: Learn from several (often three) methods, disciplines, individuals or groups, locations and/or types of information, to cross-check, compare and verify. Verification also involves
EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT: Wisdom from the Field 3.3 asking different questions during the same conversation to further probe an issue or theme. Seeking diversity: Seek and enable the expression and analysis of complex and diverse information and judgements. This includes looking for and learning from exceptions, dissenters and outliers in any distribution. It goes beyond the cross-checking of triangulation, for defined broadly it deliberately looks for, notices and investigates contradictions, anomalies and differences. Handing over the stick (or pen or chalk): The local people themselves facilitate analysis of their information and make presentations so that they generate and own the outcomes, and also learn. This requires confidence that ‘they can do it’, that the local people are able to map, model, rank, score, diagram, analyze, prioritize, plan and act. The facilitator may initiate the process of analysis and presentation, but then sits back and observes while the local people take over the process. Self-critical awareness: The facilitators need to continuously examine their behavior and try to do better. This includes embracing error – welcoming it as an opportunity to learn; facing failure positively; correcting dominant behavior; and being critically aware of what is seen and not seen, shown and not shown, and said and not said. Sharing: Ideas and information are shared between the local people, between the local people and the facilitators and of experiences between different communities and organizations. The three pillars or foundations of PLA are (Chambers, 1997:105-106): ♦ ♦ ♦ the behavior and attitudes of outsiders, who facilitate, not dominate; the methods (11) , which shift the normal balance from closed to open, from individual to group, from verbal to visual (12) , and from measuring to comparing; and partnership and sharing of information and experience between insiders and outsiders, and between organizations. Part 3
Page 1 and 2: 3PART THREE A Step-by-Step Field Gu
Page 3: EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPM
Page 7 and 8: EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPM
Page 55 and 56:
EMBRACING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPM
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79:
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?