Pathways to Participation: Reflections on PRA

'Participation' may have become a buzzword of development practice but the pathways of current enthusiasm for participatory methods stretch back over decades. The most popularly recognized and widely used participatory approach, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), had its genesis in the late 1980s. Since then, it has come to be used in countless communities, in dozens of countries and in a huge variety of contexts. Once a marginal practice battling for recognition, it has now become an instrument used by the most powerful of global development institutions. As PRA has spread and been taken up by actors and institutions across the spectrum of development practice, it has taken on a diversity of forms and meanings. This book brings together some of the greatest names in development practice including Robert Chambers, and Jules Pretty. It comprises the reflections of thirty-two practitioners from twenty different countries, from different generations of PRA practitioners and from different arenas of development work, cultural and political contexts and professional backgrounds. Their pathways to participation have taken different directions, influenced not only by their own professional and personal backgrounds, but also the forms of PRA which they were introduced to and helped to evolve. Embracing a range of entry points and experiences, these stories speak of moments of frustration and revelation, of dilemmas and discoveries; together, their accounts articulate the sheer variety of the forms of practice that have come to be called 'PRA'. Contributors: Andrea Cornwall; Garett Pratt; John Kennedy Alumasa; Eloy Anello; Qais Anwar; Karen Brock; Robert Chambers; Rene 'Pong' Clemente; Chandan Datta; Michael Drinkwater; Marc Fiedrich; Bara Gueye; Irene Guijt; Regis Gwaba; Katja Jassey; Barbara Kaim; Humera Malik; Mwajumah Saiddy Masaiganah; Jessica Nalwoga; Koos Neefjes; Bardolf Paul; Ditdit R Pelegrina; Kamal Phuyal; Michel Pimbert; Rajendra Prasad; Jules Pretty; Mallika Samaranayake; Tilly Sellers; Meera Shah; Marja Liisa Swantz; John Thompson and Andreas Wilkes

Andrea Cornwall is a Professor in the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, UK. Her main work is in the anthropology of participation and democracy, masculinities, women's empowerment and women's rights, and sexualities.

Garrett Pratt is a Research Officer in the Participation Group, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. He co-ordinated the Pathways to Participation project which aimed to support critical reflection on PRA. He is now working on participation and organizational learning issues.