PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 12 Participative Rural Appraisal (PRA): a brief note on ActionAid's experience

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 12 Participative Rural Appraisal (PRA): a brief note on ActionAid's experience Sam Joseph PRA is both an attitude and a methodology. It of people; types of soil and terrain; water helps outsiders to understand village systems resources; cropping systems; trees; animals; by using visual techniques of diagrams, flows of food, labour, credit; knowledge and models, counting/quantification devices, as experience in exploiting the agro-economic well as techniques of direct observation and system; social organisation and rainfall. discussion. But it relies on a particular mind set. The main PRA methods that help outsiders quickly understand the environment include Interviewers and field staff should be able to village social maps, village resource recognise sets of information based upon: maps/models, transects, time-lines, wealth · rankings, social organisations - chapati Fact: a thing done, an actual occurrence, a diagrams and seasonal analyses. piece of evidence presented as having objective reality. In the process of understanding the · Opinion: a view or judgement formed in environment, opportunities and problems the mind about a particular matter; a belief usually emerge. These can be studied as sub- stronger than impression and less strong systems like a rainfed irrigation system; crop than positive ...