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Backdrop to Participatory Approaches

Explore the evolution and impact of participatory approaches in development efforts, from the late 1980s to present. Learn about the principles, methodology, and recent developments in participatory research. Discover how participatory approaches empower communities to take charge of their own development.

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Backdrop to Participatory Approaches

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  1. Backdrop to Participatory Approaches Vanda Altarelli June 2016 Master in Rural Development and Food Security

  2. Participatory Approaches • Developed in response to dissatisfaction with the RESULTS of development efforts • Not INVENTED • EVOLVED from the late 1980s through the 1990s (and still evolving)

  3. Contributions to the development of PRA/PLA • Work by P. FREIRE and F. BORDA on people take charge of their own development and conscientisation • Work by CHAMBERS,CONWAY, PRETTY, IISD, IIED on techniques of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) that evolded in PRA (Participation, Reflection and Action), and then PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) • Farming System Research : “Farmers First” • Work by Amartya SEN on capabilities, rights and entitlements

  4. Processes in the development of PRA/PLA • Identifying and analysing WEAKNESSES in research practices - what didn’t work? • Distilling BEST PRACTICE - what worked? • Development of a NETWORK of those involved in the use of PRA • Constantly EVOLVING • LEARNING from EXPERIENCE

  5. Conventional Research • “Experts” gather “scientific” information about people, a community, agency without research subjects involved in the process; • Obliteration of centuries’ old indigenous/local knowledge; • Static process; • Info gathered, analyzed and processed by experts without feedback to the people/agency subject of their research.

  6. Participatory Research • Approach to data collection which is two- directional; • Identifies and involves all persons (men, women, young, old, marginalized) and agencies with a “stake” in the issue; • Goal is to involve people as active creators of information and knowledge, to raise their awareness and setting the research agenda

  7. Principles of PRA/PLA • Development workers prepared to learn from people & adapt flexible learning processes at the pace of the community • Main role of development worker is to facilitate investigation, analysis, presentation by the people themselves • They examine their behaviours and constantly learn to be better facilitators; • People have capacity to map, model, quantify, estimate, rank, score and diagram their own realities

  8. Principles of PLA… • Information is owned by participants; • Sequence of PLA exercises builds upon commitment of participants to further action and self-learning • Different PLA tools have cumulative effects of adding new dimensions to the community’s understanding of itself; • All concerned learn through the process of sharing, observing and jointly analysing.

  9. Characteristics of PR/PL • PR/PL is a process of collaborative efforts through generation and use of knowledge; • Objective of PR/PL is pragmatic, i. e. ensuring its utilization; • Approaches and methods evolved through field experience

  10. Characteristics of PRA/PLA • Liberal borrowing from different disciplines (psychology, sociology, economics, adult education, anthropology, statistics, business administration, etc); • Research is a creative rather than mechanised process: in-built flexibility, responsiveness, adaptation and inventiveness.

  11. PROCESS OF PR/PL • Just as important as outcomes: • Collaboration between different levels of users; • People are self-selected by continuing to choose to participate; • However, this process needs to be encouraged through mechanisms in a supportive, non-threatening way • (time of meetings to facilitate participation of women, poor people).

  12. Methodology of PR/LA and Role of Researcher Methodology: • Credibility; • Trustworthiness; • Relevance; • Feasibility Role of Researcher: • Facilitator; • Trainer/Enabler; • Communicator • Advocate or activist.

  13. See table Conventional versus Participatory Research

  14. Recent Developments • The Earth Summit Meeting (Rio 92 and beyond) opened the way to: • Start highlighting the role of “RIGHTS”, advocacy and participation into the development arena; • enlarging participatory approaches to other actors: (children, disabled, people affected by HIV/AIDS, fisherfolks, urban slum dwellers, etc.), other arenas (literacy, empowerment, democracy (REFLECT methodology), stronger emphasis on Gender and Development, etc., reproductive health, monitoring and evaluation…

  15. Recent Developments (Cont’d) The mainstreaming of Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches and the work of SEN on capabilities and agency brought about even broader changes: • Looking at issues of power (the powerless vs the powerful and giving voices to the former), scaling up and out, links between the micro the meso and macro level; • Influencing Policies, Governance, etc. • Mainstreaming Participatory Processes into the National Programmes for Poverty Reduction (PRSP)…. And the game goes on…

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