Training Course on Participatory Rural Appraisal
Participation is an essential key to sustainable community development. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a way of learning from and with community members about their life and community as an integrated system. It tackles development issues in partnership with the communities involved, and it most often used to access community needs, priorities, attitudes and behaviours. It aims to investigate analysis, and evaluate constraints and opportunities, to create sustainable solutions that involve all the key stakeholders, and enable informed and timely decisions regarding development projects.
PRA has been adopted by several international organisations such as the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the united Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development. Similarly, in Nepal NGOs, INGOs and Governmental organisations have been applying PRA in their day to day activities. A network of PRA professionals including institutional members called Nepal Participatory Action Network has already been established.
PRA/PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) is a widely accepted approach in sustainable community development processes. Its main aim is to empower local people to share, enhance and analyse their knowledge and life situation in order to plan, act, monitor, evaluate and distribute the results in an equitable basis. We have developed PRA training module/package to enable participants to understand and apply PRA.
Training Courses
- Orientation Course – 3 Days
- Basics on PRA – 6 Days
- Advanced Course on PRA – 10-12 Days
Objectives of the Course
The main of the PRA training is to enhance and improve conceptual and practical understanding of PRA of the participants so they can apply it in their own area of expertise.
Participants
We organise all the three module. The orientation and basic course are geared mainly to decision makers, managers, development workers and the people who can not afford much time in field. The advance course is the detailed course with 4-6 days of field visit. In each course, a maximum of 20 participants can participate.
Flexible Contents
Each course can include a combination of the following modules. The level of detail of each segment depends on the duration of the course.
Module 1
Conceptual Understanding on Development of the following modules. The level of detail of each segment depends on the duration of the course.
- Present development process and PRA/PLA
- Poverty and PRA
- Philosophy of Participation
Module 2
Basic Understanding of PRA and Important Qualities of Development Workers
- Development paradigms and history of PRA/PLA
- Differences between PRA and PLA
- Definition and basic principles of PRA
- Participatory attitude, behaviour and change
- Rapport building
- Qualities of PRA practitioners or development workers
- Limitation of PRA practitioners or development workers
- Dangers of PRA
Module 3
Theoretical Understanding and Class Room Exercise on PRA Tools and Technique
- Time Line
- Mobility map
- Resource Map
- Venn Diagram
- Well-being ranking
- Daily schedule
- Seasonal calender
- Seasonal calender
- Problem trees (cause-effect analysis)
- Livelihood analysis
- Focus group discussion
- Time trend
- Social map
- Transect walk
- Flow diagram
- Preference ranking (pair-wise ranking and matrix ranking)
- Ethno history
- Pie chart
- Semi-structured interview
- Direct observation etc.
Module 4
Field Visit to observe PRA in action followed by group reflection (not) or orientation course, 1-2 days for basic course and 4-6 days for advanced PRA training )
- Intensive field exercise of the selected tools and techniques
- Reflection of the field exercise
- Evaluation
- Analysis and presentation of the information in the field.
- Action plan/commitment of the trainees
Training Program will be organized in association with ICA Nepal.
Fees – Training fee depends on number of participants and duration of training program. The cost for field visits includes lodging, food and travel. The fees also include a comprehensive workbook, snacks, and program instruction. Please contact us info@volunteeraidnepal.org for more details.