Narayanasamy, N.

Whither ChildrenÆs Hour? An Experimental PRA Among Labouring Rural Children

A three-day workshop was held to: 1) explore whether different PRA methods could be used with children and, 2) to examine whether children have an understanding of the various dimensions of family and social life. The workshop was made up of 75 children participants. Some of the PRA exercises carried out and their objectives are described. It was observed that children who participated in the workshop were reluctant to talk initially, but with time the initial hesitation disappeared. The article also mentions that the PRA exercises made a significant impact on the childrenÆs life.

Towards a rural immersion: a World Bank journey

This booklet gives account of a village immersion programme for World Bank staff carried out in 1997, in collaboration with the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamil Nadu, India. Four groups of staff (altogether 15) were despatched to different villages where they stayed for a four day period. The participants went on transect walks, met with leaders, examined social amenities, observed community projects and interacted with the people.

Towards rural immersion: a World Bank journey

The village immersion programme for the World Bank staff is atrining programme for executives entrusted with development transactions. It entails not mere spot visits, but staying in the village, not mere conversation with people, but comprehension of their culture and economy and not mere exposure to the rural scene, but immersion in their life and work. The booklet contains a report of immersion visits and reflections from Bank staff and facilitators.

Process observation in PRA : guidelines and reflections

This article argues that observing process within PRA sessions is facilitated by a set of clear questions for a special observer to record. This leads to opportunities for facilitators to change their behaviour and attitudes and improve the quality of participation. The article also lists some questions that a team can ask about the impact of the participation on people, their power and their actions.

Getting fishermen off the hook : an exploratory PRA in southern India.

This article reports on a workshop attended by men and women involved in different fishing trades to investigate and analyse their occupational problems and means of ameliorating them. Some of the tools used in the workshop and their results are described, including, listing of the trades in which fishers are involved and ranking of these according to the severity of problems and risks faced by each, seasonality analysis of activities and problems of the various trades and focus group discussions with fisherwomen.

Participatory Evaluation: A Framework for Evaluating Comprehensive Water Shed Development Programme

The short article starts by discussing the role of evaluation as an integral part of the project cycle and goes on to discuss the problems with the conventional approaches to evaluation. From a list of these problems a number of pre-requisites of good evaluation systems are identified. This then leads to a discussion of participatory evaluation with specific emphasis on how this can be carried out using the general philosophy of PRA techniques.

PRA by GRI: A Status Paper

This paper reports on recent developments in the rural-issue based research programmes of the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamilnadu, India. This has involved the consolidation of its village community development programmes. Emphasis has shifted towards the needs of special groups, with whom PRA meetings have been held. Some problems with such meetings are noted, including time constraints, tendency for some individuals to dominate, constraints on multi-disciplinary team, problems in group formation and discussions, and little documentation.

PRA exercise in a village: a retrospective evaluation of the process

A two day PRA workshop was held for staff and students from the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamil Nadu, India, together with 60 women members of the village Women's Association. This report describes the PRA training activities carried out in the village, with details of timing, group organisation and methods used. Areas of priority (eg the harijan community) and PRA methods were chosen after discussion of the first day's experience. Evaluation of the workshop and of PRA makes useful suggestions for PRA training.