PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 1 Sharing our concerns and looking to the future

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 1 Sharing our concerns and looking to the future Elkanah Absalom et al. Introduction centre of all participatory development activities. We are an informal group of development Experience has led us, and many others to practitioners, researchers and trainers from South and North, using, supporting and recognise the implications of participatory developing participatory approaches, often approaches, such as PRA, for: known as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). A working description of PRA is "a · personal and professional values, norms growing family of approaches and methods to and behaviour; enable local people to share, enhance and · community issues; analyse their knowledge of life and conditions, · organisational structures, styles and to plan and to act" . Used well, PRA can practices of management; enable local people, rural or urban, to · approaches and methods in training; undertake their own appraisal, analysis, action, · networking and sharing between all monitoring and evaluation. It can empower actors engaged in the development and women, poor people and disadvantaged spread of participatory thinking and people, giving them more control over their practice; and, lives. · the policies and practices of donors. As part of a process of reflection, ...