The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal - Robert Chambers (1994)

Extract

[...] This research focuses on the farmer's capabilities. Due to the results of numerous research centers and experts, they had their findings on agriculture research to show complexity, knowledge, professionalism, behavior and ability of actors. Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) It emerged in the late 1970s. RRA was started by academic researchers in the late 1970s around the world. RRA appeared firstly due to the incomplete information of rural development tourism on spatial, project management, gender, seasonal information, poor people and the outsiders. [...]

[...] This system contributed enormously to the current analysis of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) by transects, informal mapping, diagraming and innovation assessment. Applied anthropology This approach started in the 1980s by the Institute Development Anthropology in the United States. Only few anthropologists use these methods in agricultural research centers. It helps professionals to study outsiders' mental frame. Also, some anthropologists add this method to informal agriculture surveys. Even on health and nutrition under Rapid Assessment Procedures or applied in numerous methods on conversation, observation, informal interviews, value of field residence, behavior, the emic-etic distinction and the indigenous knowledge under Rapid Ethnographic Assessment (REA). [...]

[...] Then schools emerged and called this method as Participatory Research and Participatory Action Research (PAR). African countries developed this approach in 1982. Nevertheless, a bit difference was observed in India and Bangladesh, where extreme poor people take part in an analysis that benefits were intercepted by the local elite. In addition, this method also appears in Appalachian places where the poor are motivated to take part in political action. This approach can be combined with participatory research in industrial and agriculture fields, in collective analysis, folk culture and knowledge. [...]

[...] Only a few universities adopted this method. Moreover, state organizations and governments used it for national programs, for example on soil and water conservation in Kenya and the India Forest Department. Spreading until Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and around multilateral cooperation. Even though it was difficult to apply, humanitarian development agencies assigned these methods by individual training, monitoring and evaluation. Actually, it has always been overestimated. The specific conducting methods depend on the personal orientation and the size of the organization. [...]

[...] - The four major types of process: Participatory Appraisal and Planning; Participatory implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs; topic investigations; training and orientation for outsiders and villagers. - The four major sectors are: Natural Resources management as listed below: - watersheds, soil and water conservation (participatory watershed planning and management); - land policy; - forestry: social and community forestry, degraded forest and planting, trees use and marketing uses of forest products; - fisheries; - biodiversity and wildlife reserve buffer zones; - village plans (village resource management plan). [...]