Participatory Learning and Action 19:
RRA Notes 19: TrainingIIED, February 1994. 114 pp.
Guest Editor: Jules Pretty
Out of print except as part of a complete set of back issues:
Summary
This special issue of RRA Notes focuses on the need to move towards a new learning paradigm for agriculture and rural development. For this vision, evidence suggests that there are three essential areas to tackle. These are: new methodologies for partnerships, dialogue, participatory analysis and sharing; new learning environments for professionals and rural people to develop capacities; and new institutional environments, including improved linkages within and between institutions. The most sustainable solutions lie in the overlapping central sector of these three areas. The papers in this issue of RRA Notes are seeking to explore how we can better understand the process of moving towards this central zone. Many issues are identified in the 26 papers that are important for trainers and facilitators of learning.
Editorial: Training for learning
Jules Pretty
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SECTION A: Training in universities
1. PRA training in universities: some thoughts prompted by a recent workshop in Canada
Andy Inglis and Janice Jiggins
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Abstract
The authors examine issues that should be taken into account when organising PRA training in academic institutions and that may be of particular interest to trainers and facilitators. These issues are related to: participants' identity and maturity in relation to diversity of goals, emotional baggage, lack of university staff as workshop participants, logistics and placements.
2. RRA training in a UK-based rural development course
Mick Howes
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Abstract
RRA techniques are taught as part of a three month course on 'Rural Research and Rural Policy' at the Institute of Development Studies, UK. This article describes two exercises that were introduced to provide practical 'field' experience: an RRA of IDS and a visit to a local farm. Most of the course participants were from 'Southern' countries and the 'individual exercises were conducted almost exactly as they would be in a Third World village'. The differences between conducting the farm study in 'Northern' and 'Southern' countries are briefly mentioned.
3. PRA exercise in an Indian village – a retrospective evaluation of the process
N. Narayanasamy
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Abstract
A two day PRA workshop was held for staff and students from the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamil Nadu, India, together with 60 women members of the village Women's Association. This report describes the PRA training activities carried out in the village, with details of timing, group organisation and methods used. Areas of priority (e.g. the harijan community) and PRA methods were chosen after discussion of the first day's experience. Evaluation of the workshop and of PRA provided useful suggestions for PRA training.
4. RRA training in a US Masters programme: the director's view
Stephen Howard
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Abstract
Ohio University has been offering in-class training sessions on RRA. This account briefly describes an attempt to carry out RRA training in the 'field', with poor rural communities in the U.S. The organisation and topics covered are described, but no details of RRA methods or findings given.
5. RRA training in a US masters programme: the students' view
Tracy Mygrant
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Abstract
This brief account gives a student's perspective of the RRA fieldwork exercise described in Howard's article (RRA Training in a US Masters Programme: the Director's View). The fieldwork was carried out in Appalachia, involving painting a guard rail with local women and 'interviewing using the RRA approach'.
6. Learning by doing to enhance local initiatives
Marc Limmerink
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Abstract
A postgraduate course for professional social workers, entitled 'Social Research and Popular Participation', has been developed at the Central American University, Nicaragua. This paper describes the course in detail: diagnosis of practical experiences through 'forum-like role play' led to defining a new model of participatory action research. Finally, a participatory research project was carried out by researchers and students in a fishing village in Masachapa. Greater emphasis is given to the theory sections of the course, including training methods used, than to the field work experiences.
7. PRA training for health workers
Neela Mukherjee
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Abstract
This three day PRA workshop for nine 'Southern' health workers included a field visit to a poor area of Birmingham, UK. The visit was arranged through an NGO involved in 'training and counselling of women members of the community'. Reflections on doing a PRA in an urban and 'Northern' context include the difficulties of locating a communal meeting place and people being more used to formal interactions, 'on the phone rather than face to face'.
SECTION B:
Reflections of new trainees
8. Some reflections of a new PRA participant: the action researcher
Kavita Srivastava
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Abstract
This thought-provoking article reflects on issues around PRA, after the author attended a two day workshop in the UK. Srivastava questions the 'mystification' of PRA techniques through using technical labels, such as 'transect', and goes on to discuss the political dimensions of 'empowerment through PRA'. Using examples from her experience of working with poor women in India, she stresses the need for PRA 'not to become a one-way process ...of eliciting knowledge from the people.'
9. Some reflections of a new PRA participant: the development manager
Manu N. Kulkarni
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Abstract
This provocative article reflects on the experience of conducting PRA exercises in Madhya Pradesh, India. The issues relate to Kulkarni's role as 'development manager' in the context of villagers working directly with government officials. The ethical, political and methodological dimensions of PRA (specifically wealth ranking and social mapping) are all brought out in the discussion.
SECTION C:
Reflective Learning of Trainers
10. Extracts from a trainer's notebook
Alice Welbourn
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Abstract
A three week PRA course was run for Redd Barna, a Norwegian NGO, with twenty participants from Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. These extracts describe the trainer's preparation, her emphasis on 'approach' before introducing methods and organisation of groups for fieldwork. A day-by-day schedule lists the themes covered in theory sessions - certain activities (Chairs Game, Mapping for Mars) are described fully in the participants' words. The fieldwork activities are not described here, but available in a full report from Redd Barna, Zimbabwe.
11. Reflections of a trainer
James Mascarenhas
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Abstract
This paper describes reflections by a trainer after two PRA exercises in Zimbabwe and South Africa. After brief accounts of how the PRA activities worked in each context, Mascarenhas makes three points about training : i) Participants should be 'vetted' beforehand to ensure that they can become trainers of trainers, ii) 'The exercises themselves should be conducted for real', rather than just as a training exercise, iii) PRA 'has to be followed through with action... to lead to a development process'.
SECTION D:
The Forgotten Issues: Training Areas Commonly Overlooked
12. Making a difference: integrating gender analysis into PRA training
Irene Guijt
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Abstract
PRA is not 'automatically gender sensitive' - there is a need to raise gender awareness before PRA tools can be used to explore different perceptions and it is not enough simply to say that gender is important. A PRA and Gender training programme that took place in Brazil had three preparatory steps : defining gender, 'formulating key questions in terms of gender-differentiated perspectives' and deciding which PRA methods would be most appropriate. The article ends with a discussion of the benefits ('experiential learning of gender differences') and dangers (the trap of the 'gender average') of linking PRA and gender.
13. From participatory appraisal to participatory practice: viewing training as part of a broader process of institutional development
John Thompson
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Abstract
Training alone will not be able to promote a participatory approach in a top-down bureaucratic institution. Other factors, such as funding base, organisational procedures and institutional priorities, may also have to change. Case-studies from Lesotho and Kenya, illustrate that it is possible to change the operational procedures and institutional cultures of large, bureaucratic public agencies, but this transformation is neither easily nor quickly achieved. Seven conditions necessary for such a transformation are identified from the case studies.
14. Some insights into training for Rapid and Participatory Appraisal in a northern setting
Uwe Kievelitz and Reiner Forster
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Abstract
A training programme for GTZ staff focused on an area of the Austrian Alps undergoing rapid change due to tourism and infrastructure development. The 'learning insights' from doing this exercise in the North are summarised as twelve points suggesting how PRA can help in 'Northern' countries and how PRA training in the North for aid personnel can be more effective than if held in 'Southern' countries. Advantages cited include : 'the transfer of a number of critical insights from the First to the Third World and vice versa' and greater involvement and awareness of the ethical issues around research when using one's own language and cultural context.
15. PRA training workshops: follow up issues from Uganda and Ethiopia
Parmesh Shah
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SECTION E:
PRA Training for Special Applications
16. Participatory Rural Appraisal in a women's health education project in Bangladesh
Marcy Vigoda
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Abstract
The Women's Development Project (WDP) of CARE-Bangladesh trains women in 441 villages as local health educators. A mapping activity was conducted in a village in Tangail with thirteen of these women. In three 'para' (neighbourhood) groups, the women drew maps using sticks and flour, showing the households that they worked with and which new health practices (family planning, latrine etc) they had adopted. The maps made the health workers aware of their achievements and helped them plan for the future. The article ends with a list of potential uses of participatory mapping in WDP.
17. Applying the methods to a new context
David Thomas
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Abstract
PRA methods are being used to study the effect of dams and drought on the fishery of a floodplain in 24 Nigerian villages. The problems and solutions devised to carry out participatory mapping and ranking exercises in such an area are described, including the materials used.
18. PRA learning methods in agricultural policy analysis: implications for training
Gerry Gill
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Abstract
Using PRA techniques to collect information for the purposes of policy analysis, raises different issues from using PRA in an NGO project context. Training exercises for policy-oriented PRA need to be 'custom-designed' for government staff who tend to have a more 'top-down' approach, work in discrete departments and have restricted time for learning PRA. The article suggests how to plan a training programme in view of these points.
19. Training in Rapid Rural Appraisal for baseline data collection and target group identification
Bill Duggan
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Abstract
Training in the use of RRA for baseline data collection and target group identification was conducted in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, as part of a joint venture between the Governments of Indonesia and Canada. This report describes the set routine of fieldwork, where a mixture of RRA (participatory mapping) and baseline data collection techniques were used. The results of the target group identification strategy are discussed in terms of successes and problem areas. The trainees' responses to using RRA techniques and 'the potential for institutionalising RRA/PRA' into official planning procedures in Indonesia conclude the report.
20. Applying PRA methods to Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: report on a course held in El Obeid, Sudan
Suzanne Quinney
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Abstract
This short report provides some useful comments on a two week training course on the use of PRA for PM&E conducted by the Development Support Programme Khartoum. Among the problems that emerged from this course, were; 1. the difficulties in encouraging a suitable PRA attitude amongst course participants in their approach to the villagers; 2. A lack of confidence amongst the participants; 3. Problems with the use of symbols during the fieldwork. Although participants were slow to grasp the usefulness of PRA for PM&E, three tools were found to be most useful for evaluation, namely; Impact diagrams, Impact matrices and evaluation matrices.
21. Training of village analysts: from PRA methods to process
Parmesh Shah and Meera Kaul Shah
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Abstract
The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) works with village communities in Gujarat State, India. This paper describes how village analysts are trained in participatory appraisal and planning. Details are given on how the training programmes are designed at the village level, with defined stages in the training process. Training leads to a local cadre of village analysts... who can take up the responsibility of initiating the development process. The constraints of such a process are highlighted. The case is argued for investing more in training village analysts and trainers as opposed to the development of a body of external professionals who continue to dominate the decision-making process.
22. PRA training for church workers: an example from Tanzania
Thomas Kroeck
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Abstract
Munguishi Christian Training Centre provides training in theology and rural development to people from rural parishes. As part of the training course, a one week PRA was conducted in Kiru-Dick village, Babati District. The team consisted of twenty people, including thirteen members of the village. This report describes briefly the organisation of the fieldwork and comments on the PRA methods used.
23. PRA training in the participants' workplace: an example from Kenya
Kenneth K. Odero
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Abstract
A PRA training workshop was organised for staff of Redd Barna-Kenya, held in their project centre. This paper describes how participants were involved in assessing their training needs and deciding upon a training schedule. An important omission in most PRA training workshops is the necessity of the trainees' participation in the process, as opposed to merely being trained on farmers' participation. The difficulties of running a workshop in the participants' immediate place of work are also discussed.
SECTION F:
Training Tips and Ideas
24.Juggling game to energise a seminar
Sarah Holden
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Abstract
A game of juggling with oranges was used to demonstrate how PRA allows the roles of farmer and scientist to be reversed. This glimpse of the actual event at a livestock seminar in Indonesia shows how the role play 'energised' the proceedings.
25. Twenty-one ways of forming groups
Robert Chambers
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Abstract
Instructions are given on how to form groups under the following headings: random (groups), pre-allocated, mixed, homogenous, self-selected, formed through moving on. Plus and minus points for each method of group formation are noted, as well as any 'tips' around logistics.
26. Twenty-one tips for short PRA workshops with lots of people
Robert Chambers
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Abstract
This concise list of practical hints for running a short workshop which does not include fieldwork is intended for numbers of up to 180 people. The 21 tips cover every aspect, general (eg choosing a room, seating arrangements) as well as ideas for sessions on specific PRA techniques (though a basic knowledge of PRA terminology/concepts is assumed). Chambers ends with an amusing list of his own common mistakes, emphasiSing the need for trainers to be critically self-aware and 'fail forwards'.
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