Participatory Learning and Action 10:
Issue 10 Contents 1. Farmer participation on on-farm varietal trials: multilocational testing under resource poor conditions – the women of Sangams 2. Rural development in the Highlands of North America: the Highlander Economic Education Project 3. Assessing women's needs in Gaza using Participatory Rapid Appraisal techniques 4. The bias of interviewing 5. The outsider effect 6. Focusing formal surveys in Thailand: a use for Rapid Rural Appraisal |
RRA Notes 10: General Issue
IIED, February 1991. 34 pp.
Out of print except as part of a complete set of back issues:
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1. Farmer participation on on-farm varietal trials: multilocational testing under resource poor conditions – the women of Sangams
Pastapur and Michel Pimbert
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Abstract
Reports on the trials of various pigeonpea cultivars in Medak district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Forty marginal farmers from 16 villages were asked to grow the genotypes on large plots using their own management practices, and compare them with local pigeonpea cultivars. PRA methods were used to elicit criteria for comparisons from farmers in semi-structured interviews. All participants were women farmers who play a central role in fuelwood collection and in all aspects of food production, preparation and storage.
2. Rural development in the Highlands of North America: the Highlander Economic Education Project
John Gaventa and Helen Lewis
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Abstract
The Highlander Center, a non-profit adult education centre in Tennessee, is working in three rural communities where unemployment has been growing. Their role is not to create jobs or development, but to help the community undertake a process of education and participatory research through which they could assess their own situation, define and implement strategies for themselves. This article describes briefly the methods used, such as oral histories, community mapping and drawings, videos and community theatre.
3. Assessing women's needs in Gaza using Participatory Rapid Appraisal techniques
Heather Grady, Amal Abu Daqqa, Fadwa Hassanein, Fatma Soboh, Itimad Muhana, Maysoon Louzon, Noha el-Beheisi, Rawhiya Fayyad, Salwa el-Tibi and Joachim Theis
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Abstract
Save the Children Federation/US (SCF) organised a PRA focusing on women in the Gaza Strip to obtain more information on the social and economic roles of women and to improve women's projects. A team, consisting almost entirely of women from Gaza, carried out the PRA in one urban and one rural community. Semi-structured interviewing and direct observation were the main methods used (with a checklist for observing 'perceived relationships among family members' to work out male/female dynamics). The report analyses which methods worked best with women.
4. The bias of interviewing
John Mitchell and Hugo Slim
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Abstract
This short article explores the cultural assumptions behind informal interviewing techniques. Westerners assume that questions always have answers" and that these answers can be given briefly, thus creating a bias in the interview as a means of discussion. Rural people tend to regard knowledge as 'something very complex... which cannot be glibly articulated in response to quick question's'. Being aware of this cultural bias is essential to good interviewing, so we should not be alarmed if people seem to be 'talking round' issues.
5. The outsider effect
Ueli Scheuermeier
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Abstract
Reflects on the role of 'outsiders' in RRA and how this role can be acceptable to both the local people (the 'insiders') and the 'outsiders'.
6. Focusing formal surveys in Thailand: a use for Rapid Rural Appraisal
Karen Ehlers and Christine Martins
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Abstract
Describes how RRA was used in the preparation of a formal survey to investigate highland farming and in particular soil and water conservation. Initial RRA helped to focus the survey in terms of both its content and also in terms of the methods used to carry out the survey.