Revisiting Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)-related studies and exploring PRA’s success determinants: A content analysis
Abstract
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) has shown that participation in development programs in poor communities can be empowering not only for the community members but also for the development workers. However, not all PRAs have seen successes especially in fulfilling their mission to encourage real participation. Hence, it is imperative to understand whether PRA has led to adequate understanding of indigenous perspective to call for action and the interest PRA serves. This analysis aims to provide critical insights and reflections from the experiences of previously conducted PRAs. It further aims to reveal whether PRAs were used effectively and successfully according to their goals. Through content analysis, this paper studied 13 PRA-related journal articles published from 2005 to 2020 retrieved from the UPLB Journal Subscription collection. The assessment of a PRA’s success was done using Townsley’s findings on advantages of PRA as guide. It was found that PRA is a powerful approach in addressing community development, but it is also prone to abuse. In conducting PRAs, transparency, inclusivity, involvement, and sustainability are important success factors.
