Participatory Rural Development

Lecture 3: Participatory approaches to rural
development
11th June 2012

Lecture Outlines
– Participatory Development
– Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
– Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
– Difference between PRA and RRA
– Key Elements of Participatory Development
a) Process,
b) Empowerment and
c) Participation
– The Dynamics of Participatory Development
Variations of Participatory Development

– manifestation
– Implementation
– Benefits
– Criticisms
Participatory Approaches to Rural Development &

Rural Poverty Alleviation
Participatory Development
What is Participatory Development??
Participation is involvement by a local population and some additional
stakeholders in the creation, content and conduct of a program or policy
designed to change their lives, built on a belief that citizens can be
trusted to shape their own future.
• A process to engage local populations in development projects.

• PD uses local decision making and capacities to steer and define the
nature of an intervention.
• PD aims at achieving a localized capital accumulation process based
on the progressive development of group identity, skills development
and local resources generation.
• The essential feature of PD is social mobilization or the formation of
group identity
• PD gives a new self-confidence through which the community can
engage in more ambitious projects involving collective action and
management.
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA):
PRA is an approach used by Non-Governmental Organizations and other
agencies involved in international development. The approach aims to incorporat
the knowledge and opinions of rural people in the planning and management of
development projects and programmes.
Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA):

Rapid Rural Appraisal consists of a series of techniques for "quick and dirty"
research that are claimed to generate results of less apparent precision, but
greater evidential value, than classic quantitative survey techniques
Main Difference Between PRA and RRA:

PRAs are used to obtain a broad perspective of the community or group being
Studied while RRA focuses mainly on those key informants most knowledgeable
about an area
Key Elements of Participatory Development
Process: It is a process whose moving forces are the growth of

recognition and group identity, and the realization, in practice, of the
creative potential of the poor.
Empowerment: The process of reconstructing a group identity, of

raising awareness, of acquiring new skills and of upgrading their
knowledge base.
Participation: The achievement of the power to break the vicious circle

of poverty is based on participation within an organization, in a series of
projects.
The Dynamics of Participatory Development
• Interaction between the achievement of specific objectives for

improving the resource position of the local community.
• Localized capital accumulation process.
• Collective actions for specific objectives such as a small irrigation
project, building a school, clean drinking water provision, or
agricultural production activities.
• Savings schemes, reinvestment and asset creation
• Building self-confidence and strengthening a group or community
identity.
Variations of Participatory Development
Manifestations
• Efficiency and effectiveness of “formal” development programs.
• Enabling "mutual learning“.
• To enhance “communication, respect, listening and learning between
development workers and those they serve.
Implementation
1. Information-sharing tools: News and updates via media
2. Consultation tools: Discussion forums, debates, focus groups etc.
3. Collaborative planning tools: Establishment of local-level planning
committees or finance schemes to fund community-managed development.
Benefits
• High start-up cost but less expensive and more sustainable in the long run
• more relevant to local populations than traditional development projects
• Addressing local needs
Criticisms
• Costly and slow
• Smaller target population than traditional development
• Treating everyone same in the communities.
Participatory Approaches to Rural development &
Diagnosis, community planning, project identification and formulation
• Diagnosing the situations that give rise to problems, setting priorities for
their resolution, identifying and formulating project interventions that may
help solve some of those problems.
Research and extension, innovation, knowledge

• The research and development realm consists of co-creative processes
to identify needs and opportunities, generate new information and
innovations, consolidate them with existing farming practice, and then
translate them into learning objectives and activities for enhanced farmer
performance.
Natural resource management

• Natural resource management development is a main area of application
of participatory approaches to help poor in managing the natural
resources available to them.
Participatory Approaches to Rural development &
Governance and Decentralization
• Good governance makes it possible for citizens, individually or in
groups, to articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights and
negotiate their differences.
• Within the broad area of governance, devolution of power, which
brings decision-making closer to the local level, is potentially
important to participation, if it is done well, lead to more responsive
government and new opportunities for citizens to participate.

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Lecture 3: Participatory approaches to rural

11th June 2012

Variations of Participatory Development

Participatory Approaches to Rural Development &

• A process to engage local populations in development projects.

Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA):

Main Difference Between PRA and RRA:

Process: It is a process whose moving forces are the growth of

Empowerment: The process of reconstructing a group identity, of

Participation: The achievement of the power to break the vicious circle

• Interaction between the achievement of specific objectives for

Research and extension, innovation, knowledge

Natural resource management

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