Participatory Planning - Principles

Principles

Robert Chambers, whom Fisher considered a leading icon of the movement, defines PRA according to the following principles;

Handing over the stick (or pen or chalk)

Facilitating investigation, analysis, presentation and learning by local people themselves, so they generate and own the outcomes and also learn.

Self-critical awareness

Facilitators continuously and critically examine their own behavior.

Personal responsibility

Taking responsibility for what is done, rather than, for instance, relying on the authority of manuals or on rigid rules.

Sharing

Involves the wide range of techniques now available, from chatting across the fence to photocopies and e-mail.

PRA and PLA methods and approaches include:

• Do-it-yourself: local people as experts and teachers, and outsiders as novices
• Local analysis of secondary sources
• Mapping and modeling
• Time lines and trend and change analysis
• Seasonal calendars
• Daily time-use analysis
• Institutional diagramming
• Matrix scoring and ranking
• Shared presentations and analysis, and
• Participatory planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring.