Manual - Participatory rapid diagnosis and action ... - FAO.org

PRDA Manual 9Based on the selected constraints, you may have to select different additionaltools or collect more basic data on certain constraint areas before you canproceed with solution identification.2D - Detailed constraint descriptionA detailed description of constraints is needed to identify the underlyingcauses and consequently what needs to be changed in order to solve them. Adetailed description of constraints will also show whether these changes canbe made by the farmers themselves or whether it is beyond their capacity,requiring other organizations to give assistance.Step 3. Action planning3A - Solution IdentificationIdentification of possible solutions is closely related to a detailed descriptionof the constraints. In practice, these steps can therefore be taken together.However, in some cases, the local knowledge of farmers may not be sufficientand the expertise of the PRDA team or other irrigation experts may be neededto identify solutions.3B - Impact analysisOnce possible solutions have been identified they have to be assessed as to theirsuccess in solving the constraint(s) and whether they will be acceptable to farmercommunities. In practice, the two issues are related since solutions that are notaccepted by farmers are not usually successful. Therefore, the assessment ofsolutions has to be done together with farming communities. However, as withthe identification of solutions, local knowledge may not be sufficient to assesssolutions. In such cases, it may be a good idea to first test/demonstrate a possiblesolution on a small number of farmers or take a group of them to another irrigationscheme (exchange visit) where the solution has already been implemented.Solution Assessment REPORT3C - Formulation of action planAt the end of a Rapid Diagnosis there should be some feedback to farmers onthe situation of the analysis and identified solutions. Discuss with the groupto validate the results and see whether they want to implement the findings/proposed solutions.