Participatory Rapid Appraisal

Overview

PRA applied to resource management and conservation initiatives puts communities at the centre of the process. PRA recognizes and captures a community's diversity—often with competing interests for the same resource or space. PRA brings stakeholders together to listen to each other to clarify how to tackle the real issues and find a common ground for concerted solutions.

Often, local communities and key persons within the group are the only ones who have information or data on the topic. But this information is scattered and fragmentary; PRA helps to capture and structure local knowledge.

After defining the PRA objectives, the facilitator undertakes a stakeholder analysis to identify who has information and the vested interests. The wider the representation, the stronger will be the ownership by the community and the easier the implementation of actions identified during the PRA.

The PRA Process

PRAs are intensive rather than extensive and are generally conducted in various groups for logistic and socio-dynamic reasons. Organizing the information gathering in different sessions contributes to cross-validation of the information (referred to as triangulation).

The group or organization conducting the PRA works with a facilitator, with whom the objectives of the PRA and a core question are defined. The core question is discussed with the participants and is clearly visible during the process. Examples of core questions are as follows:

• How can sustainable use of shrimp fisheries in the river estuary be planned?
• How can shark overfishing in West Africa be addressed?

PRA field sessions bring the different stakeholders together in a neutral venue to address the core question. PRA targets illiterate groups; hence, facilitators generally use qualitative tools as explained below. The facilitators proceed with the participants in two phases: [Page 605](1) drafting of their knowledge and then (2) reorganizing the information interactively.

Plenary sessions consolidate the information obtained from the different focus group meetings and have four functions: (1) explaining, (2) reporting, (3) exchanging and (4) common decision-making. During plenary sessions, a facilitator explains the process objectives and methods, focus groups report their outcomes and participants exchange, debate and reorganize or prioritize issues and make common decisions.