This book combines the concept, practice and application of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) in a comprehensive manner. The author views PRA as a means of opening up new ways of approaching various problems within the development process. He defines it as a growing body of methods to enable local people to share, enhance and analyze their knowledge of life and conditions in order to plan, act, monitor and evaluate their actions. The basic premise of PRA is that poor and marginalized people are capable of analyzing their own realities and that they should be enabled to do so.
The book provides examples from experiences, material with directions for use, as well as possibilities for innovation. It is rich in insight from actual practice in the field, and contains useful tips on the best practices which readers and practitioners will find extremely valuable.