FAQ Fish9riës Circular No. 868 FIPP/C868

TRAINING OF RAPID APPRAISAL TEAMS

NOTES FOR TRAINERS

by

Philip TownsleyConsultantALCOMP.O. Box 3730.HarareZimbabwe

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATIONROME, December 1993

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

iii

TABLE OP CONTENTS

PqINTRODUCTION 1

SESSION I: WHY ARE WE HERE? 5

1. Introduction 62. Session Plan 73. List of Materials 84. Guidelines 9

A. Introductions 9B. BackgrOund to this appraisal and this training ioC. Participants’ contributions 12D. Participants’ expectations 15E. Expectations of the leading agency 16F. Summary 17

SESSION II: WHAT IS RAPID APPRAISAL?WHY AREWE GING TO USE IT? 19

1. Introduàtion 202. Session Plan 213. List of Materials 224. Guidelines 23

A. How did Rapid Appraisal develop? 23B. Why use Rapid Appraisal? 25C. The features of Rapid Appraisal 28D. The uses of Rapid Appraisal 33E. What are the components of Rapid Appraisal 38F. Summary 42

SESSION III: HOW DO YOU DO RAPID APPRAISAL? 43

1. Introduction 442 Session Plan 453 List of Materials 464. Guidelines.

A. Setting objeätives . .. 48

B. Preparation. 51

C. Intensive interviews and discussions 56D. Use of communication tools 62E Workshops 75F. Participatory planning and discussions with

the community 79G. Summary 83

SESSION IV: WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARDS? 87

1. Introduction 882. Session Plan 833. List of Materials 904. Guidelines

A. Reporting 91. Summary

.

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APPENDIX: . VISUAL AIDS 97

PREPR7TION OF T1118 CIRCUL7R

These notes for training of rapid appraisal teams have beenprepared as part of the FAO/SIDA project Aquaculture for LocalCommunity Development Programme (ALCOM) activities. Although thenotes are based on experience from Rapid Appraisals carried outin Zimbabwe in the framework of the ALCOM project, they areconsidered to be of general use and are therefore published inthis format in order to ensure a wider distribution than wouldnormally be the case for an ALCOM document. They are intendedto be used by staff who will be involved in nrqanising RapidAppraisals and who will be responsible for tra:iiing participantsin the Rapid Appraisal Any correspondence elated to thiscircular should be directed to: Mr. Kees Leendertse, FisheryDevelopment Planning Service, Fisheries Department, FAO, Rome.

Townsley, P.Training of Rapid Appraisal Teams; notes for trainers.FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 868. Rome, FAO. 1993. 115p.

ABSTRACT

This document presents training notes to be used as atool by staff who will he involved in orgari.ising RapidAppraisals and are respopsible for training participants inthe Rapid Appraisal. It also serves as an introduction toRapid Appraisal for those that are not familiar with it. Thenotes have been divided in four “sessions”: (I) Why are wehere; (ii) What is Rapid Appraisal; (iii) How do you do aRapid Appraisal; and (iv) What happens after a RapidAppraisal. The training notes on each session contain astep-by—step guide to the activitin which can h? used forpresentation and boxes explaining a :ects of Rapid Appraisalto be presented. Copies of visual aids which might be usefulfor presenting the materials are provided in the appendix.

The FAO Fisheries Circular is a vehicle for distribution of shortor ephemeral notes, lists, etc., including provisional versionsof documents to be issued later in other series.

1

INTRODUCTION

Users

These training notes have been aimed at staff who will beinvolved in organising Rapid Appraisals and who’ will beresponsible for training participants in the Rapid Appraisal.

It has been assumed that many of these staff may have’ oneimportant feature in common: that they mey have very limitedexperience in training. This rule does not hold true in allcases but it has been taken as a safe “bottom line”.

Bearing this “bottom line” in mind, the emphasis throughout thetraining notes has been on providing a practical set ofguidelines for people who are not familiar with the role of thetrainer. Many of the conventions of training materials have beenignored in order to give step—by-step guidance. Likewise, jargonhas been eliminated as far as possible to ensure that the notescan be easily understood by everyone who is likely to want to usethem.

The risk in this approach is that those who do have experience

as trainers may find the notes simplistic. For these people it

is hoped that the materials contained in the notes can be of use

as a resource on Rapid Appraisal. The steps taken to get thatmessage across to trainees can of course be developed according

to the trainers own preferences.

Contents

These training notes are very concentrated. They attempt to

introduce participants to the basics of Rapid Appraisal, so that

they can get out into the field quickly and do most of the real

“learning” there. This point needs to be emphasised: it is

impossible to- “teach” someone -how to do a Rapid Appraisal in a

classroom. The only way to properly understand how to use Rapid

Appraisal and the techniques which make it up is try it out in

the field.

However, these training notes are designed to allow participants

to think about the approach and techniques which they are being

trained in before going to he field to try them out. In

particular, more space has been given to exercises and group or

the participants during the course of the training.

At least two days should be. allowed for the training. The

training in Rapid Appraisal and the planning of the current Rapid

Appraisal for which people are being trained have been combined

as this seemed to be a rather artificial division. Trainers will

hopefully be able to adapt the training materials provided to the

amount of time they actually have available.

2

The notes have been divided into four “sessions”. The termsessions has been used to indicate sections of the training wherethe materials are closely connected. It does not necessarilymean that the material in each “session” has to be covered allat once, without a break.

The sessions are as follows:

Session I — Why are we here?Session II— What is Rapid Appraisal?Session III— How do you do a Rapid Appraisal?Session IY- What, happens after a Rapid Appraisal?

Each of these sessions is broken up into sections which addressparticular aspects of these questions. These sections are laidout in easy—to—follow lessons plans which can be used by trainerswhile they are actually leading the training to keep track of thematerials they are covering. In addition, each session has aneasy-to—follow list of which graphics are required arid when

The training noteson each section contain the following:

- a step-by-step guide to theactivities which can be usedfor presentation in that section;

- boxes explaining aspects of Rapid Appraisal to bepresented in that section.

copies of some visual aids (pictures, diagrams, tables or lists)which might be useful for presenting the materials are providedin the Appendix. They are referenced in order to relate them tothe places in the training where it has been suggested they beused.

Using the training notes

The step—by—step guide to each section and the boxes on differentaspects of Rapid Appraisal need to be studied thoroughly by thetrainer before the training begins Trainers need to know whatthe content of their presentation is, how they are going toorganise activities for participants and what materials arerequired at each point of the training

Once the training starts, the trainer, ideally, should not haveto consult the detailed descriptions of activities and trainingcontent The easy—to—read plans of sessions and some sectionsand the lists of teaching materia3s should be sufficient as areference for trainers to remember what they have to do and Whento do it during the training session The idea is for thetrainer to avoid having to leaf through detailed notes whiletrying to present materials, as this interrupts the flow of thepresentation

It would be very much contrary to the spirit of Rapid Appraisal

to suggest that anything written on the subject can bedefinitive. Likewise these training notes should he a jumping

3

off place for people who are involved in carryihg out appraisals

and training others to do, them. They will always need to be

updated, revised, adapted to personal tastes and to the

conditions in which they are’ going to be used. No least, every

single country has their own norms when it comes tq training

activities which may have to be observed, at least in.part. it

is hoped that people using these notes will change the, add to

them and improve then for their own use.

Training tools

“Training tools” means any material by which a trainer tries to

get his message across and trainees to do what he or she would

like them to do. Tools can range from writing something on the

blackboard to getting participants to play a game, from using

videos or other relatively sophisticated media to getting

participants to write things down on a piece of card with a

pencil.

The kit of tools for which these training notes have been

designed could be described as “intermediate” and is probably

what most projects or programmes would be able to obtain if they

were organising a Rapid Appraisal and the training necessary to

carry it out. The basic tools would consist of:

— Something or somewhere where sheets of paper, and pieces of

card can be pinned up — a wooden wall, a portable bulletin

board, or a felt board.

- A flip chart with sheets of paper. This’ could conceivably be

substituted by a white - or black board but it is difficult

to conserve whatever is written on a board.

- An overhead projector. This is highly recommended as a means

of presenting images and messages. It is relatively portable

and versatile. The only drawback is that it requires a light

coloured wall or screen and electricity.

— Pieces of card and felt—tip pens. These are invaluable for

getting participants in the training to do work themselves

which can be presented directly.

Some of the visual aids suggested for use in the training (mostly

diagrams or tables for used as overhead transparencies) are

provided. These are marked with an asterisk in the list of

‘materials provided at the beginning of each session.

Each trainer inevitably prefers some training tools over others.

The materials provided are intended as a basic training kit for

trainers who feel happy with them o for those who have not yet

had sufficient experience or training to be able to come up with

their own materials and tools.

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SESSION I

WHY ARE WE. HERE?

6

1. INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES of this session are

1. To introduce the team members to one another.

2. To get everyone working together as a team.

3. To clarify the overall objectives of the Rapid Appraisal.

4. To clarify the background of the current Rapid Appraisal.

By the end of the session, the participants should

1. Understand WHO is organising the Rapid Appraisal and WHY.

2. Know who is taking part in the appraHi.

3. - Understand WHY they have been asked to take part in theappraisal.

4. Be willing to participate in and contribute to the team’sdiscussions.

METHODS used in this session include

1. Eliciting participants’ own ideas and getting them topresent them.

2. Illustrated explanations.

3. Group discussions and presentations.

MATERIALS used during this session include

1. Pieces of card distributed to individual participants orwork groups with appropriate writing materials. -

2. Overhead transparencies / drawings on flip chart.

7

2. SESSION I - PLAN

INTRODUCTIONS

BACKGROUND to this APPRAISAL

$PARTICIPANTS’ CONTRIBUTIONS

*PARTICIPANTS’ EXPECTATIONS

IEXPECTATIONS of the LEADING

AGENCY

$SUMMARY

8

3. LIST OF MATERIALS

A Introductioiis— Sheet of paper

— names of trainer(s)

Pieces of card + felt-tippens for each participant

B Background to this appraisal and training- Sheet of paper

- overall and immediateobjectives of the leadingagency! próject/ programme

- Overhead transparency — organisation chart ofleading agency

C Participants’ contributions— *Overhead transparency — points of view of

‘outsiders” and local people— Pieces of. card for each

participant

D Participants’ expectations— Pieces of card for each

participant

E Expectations of leading agency— Overhead transparency — expectations of leading

agency

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4. GUIDELINES

A Introductions

Purpose To introduce team members to one another.

- To start getting the group tà dperate as a team.

Shet of paper — names of trainers1. Introduce yourself and your fellow trainers first.

2. Ask each of the participants to intrbduce themselves andsay what organisation, agency or department they come from.

Pieces of card - felt-tip pens3. Distribute pieces of card to all participants andget them

to write down their full names, what they would like to becalled, their official titles, and the organisation, agencyor department who they work for or represent. Get people towrite in BIG letters which are easy to read.

If you do not have card or do not have a place to pin upcards, get participants to write their names on pieces ofpaper and then have one of your fellow trainers collect thepapers and write up the information from them on a largesheet of paper from the flip chart while you continue withthe session. take up a lot of time with theseintroductions.

5. pin up these pieces of card somewhere where everyone cansee them and refer to them easily so that people get achance to familiarise themselves with the names of otherteam members.

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B Background to this appraisal and this training

Purpose : To clarify who is organising the appraisal andwhy.To explain the context of the appraisal and thelonger-term objectives to which it shouldcontribute.

Overhead transparency — organisation chart for agencycommissioning the Rapid Appraisal1. Who is “commissioning” this Rapid Appraisal (whether ALCOM

or some other orgariisation) ? Keep. the expi 1ion briefand limited to the vit i points which are ;ant to thework at hand. A imp1e diagramnie explaining theorganisational framework into which the sponsoringorganisation s might be useful here.

In the case of 2\LCOM, all that is required is to clarifythat it is an FAQ/UN programme, that it is interested inaquaculture for local community development, and that i1has a special• programme for-. developing t:he fisheries insmall water bodies. It is always best to be clear that aprogramme like ALCOM is NOT a funding agency.

2. Why are they commissioning it and how does it fit intotheir programme ? If the appraisal is part of a specificproject, explain both the overall and immediate objectivesof that project.

Small water bodies in Southern Africa

Some explanation may be required about small water bodies assome of the participants may not know what is meant by theterm and they may not be sure why anyone should beinterested in them.

The main issues concerning small water bodies are

— “Small water body” means more or less any body of waterbetween 1 and 500 hectares and perhips even bigger.

— In Southern Africa, there are many thousands of thesewater bodies.

— Some are natural i.e.ponds or small lakes, but many areman—made i.e. reservoirs and dams.

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Small water bodies - (continued)— These water bodies usually have many uses or which the

most important are irrigation, livestock watering anddrinking water for people. Fishing isusually asecondary use.

- It is commonly believed that these water bodies havethe potential to produce a great deal of, fish whichcould provide a valuable source of animal protein forlocal communities

Sheet of paper overall and immediate objectives of programmeor project for which Rapid Appraisal is being carried out3. Pin up these overall and immediate objectives somewhere

where they are clear and can be referred to by everyone.

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C Participants’ contributions

Purpose : — To get participants to think about their ownstrengths and skills.

— To give participants a clearer sense of theirindividual roles in the appraisal team.

To ensure that participants appreciate the valueof their potential contributions and know thatthey are appreciated by others.

1. Explain some of the words you are going to be using alotthroughout the training

— “outsiders” means anybody who is not from theV immediate area we are talking about. Obviously,foreigners are ‘outsiders, but any people from urban.centres or even from the provincial town may also beregarded as outsiders by people living in ruralcommunities.

“local people” means people who live and/or work inthe place we are talking about. They not be originallyfrom that place but, if they are familiar with thepeople there and their problems, they can be regardedas local people. This category might include localfarmers, extension agents and local governmentofficials.

2. The trainer needs to present the. points in the box belowregarding the roles of “outsiders” and “local people” indevelopment work.

Outsiders and local peopleV

The overall and immediate objectives set by the programme orproject under which this appraisal is being carried out havebeen formulated by “outsiders” who either know only verygeneral information, or very little information or noinformation at all about the area where activities are plannedto take place. Also, the project staff, including the trainersthemselves, have a very different way of looking 9t localconditions from how local people and local—level workers wilsee them.V

13

Both outsiders and 1oal people have something to contribute

to the design of development activities, but it needs to beremembered that most development activities are implemented

by local people — either the communities themselves or by

staff from local agencies at village, district or provincial

level Therefore those people are the “cutting edges’ of

development and thei± priorities are probably the ones that

need to be taken into account first in planning development

work.

overhead transparency — points of views of “outsiders” and local

people V

3. Contrast “outsiders” points of view anI local people’s’

points of view using an overhead transparency. Uncover only

the “outsiders’” points of view.

Highlight one—by—one the outsiders’ oncerns

— looking for problems they can solve- looking for possible projects- looking for limited involvement and coininittment

— looking for measurable outputs- looking for activities that are easy to manage, monitor

and evaluate.

Uncover the other side of the transparency and contrast

local worker’s concerns with those of outsiders :

- real day—to—day problems- how will new activities fit into their daily work

schedule— how will the “target group” react to planned development

activities— how will new learning and experience be useful to them in

their work. V

4. Elicit participants’ own comments, additions and

corretions to the points 1istd above. Point out that this

is what the trainer (an “outsider”) thinks local workers

are concerned about. V

V

5• Emphasise that both these points of view are important and

both groups have things to offer. “Outsiders” may be

ignorant about local conditions but they may have new

knowledge and techniques which are valuable (like Rapid

Appraisal for instance). Local workers will all have their

own knowledge and experience to contribute.

14

Pieces of card - felt-tip pens for each participant6. Ask each participant to write down on a piece of card whatthey think they can contribute to this appraisal. Emphasisethat these contributions might be personal qualities orskills (1 e good at interviewing, trusted by local people),knowledge (i.e.local customs, local agricultural practice)or as representatives of a particular organisation oragency (i.e.the Department of Comnimunity Development, alocal NGO). Give each participant several pieces of card to

write on. Ask them to keep their writing brief and too thepoint.

7. Collect the cards and run through them, pinning up thecards and arranging them into categories of “strengths” asyou go.

8. Once all the cards are up, review what seen to be thestrengths of’the group and the finalise the categories theycome under. Try to emphasise the range of skills andexperience which is present in the group and how thisconstitutes the team’s;own main strength.

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D Participants’ expectations

purpose •: — To understand participants’ personal expectationsfrom the training and Rapid Appraisal.

— To create a basis for evaluating the trainingactivity and the Rapid Appraisa,l.

pieces of card - felt-tip pens for each participant1. Distribute 3-4 pieces of card to all the participants.

2. Ask each participant to write down, clearly, what they hopeor expect to learn during the course of this training andthe subsequent Rapid Appraisal. Point out that many of themmay notyet know clearly what Rapid Appraisal is, but thatthey must have come with some kind of expectations and theyshould feel free to put down anything they choose. Askparticipants to write down one hope or expectation on each.piece àf card.

If people seem reluctant to start with, the trainer couldwrite down some of his own hopes and expectations to startwith as an example. If the trainer gives an example theyshould include expectations regarding the OUTPUT (findings,plans, etc.) and the METHOD.

3. Get the participants to get up and pin up their cards withtheir various expectations written down and, at the sametime, divide their expectations into reasonably consistentcategories.

4. Once all the cards are pinned up and “categorised’, discusswith the group how each category might be entitled,eliciting ideas from participants.

5. Make sure that this list of hopes and expectations is

recorded. Explain that these expectations will help in

evaluating both the appraisal training, and the appraisal as

a whole.

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E Expectations of the leading agencyPurpose : — To clarify the expectations from the appraisal of

the agency which is leading or commissioning it.

1. Briefly explain that the agency which is “commissioning”the Rapid Appraisal has its own hopes nd expectations fromthe appraisal.

Overhead transparency — expectations of leading agency2. Outline these, illustrating them with the overheadtransparency.

3. Differentiate between two areas of interest for the agencycommissioning the appraisal :

— the Rapid Appraisal method and its development andimprovement.

— the actual results of the appraisal and potentialfisheries development activities on small waterbodies.

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f Summary

purpose — To review and check the content of Session j.

1. Very briefly review the key questions for’this session

Who are we 7 — refer people to the list ofparticipants which should bepinned up.

Why are we here ? - refer to the. range of skills andagencies represented inthe team,the expectations of participantsand the expectations of thecommissioning agency.

4

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SESSION II

WHAT IS RAPID APPRAISAL?

WHY ARE WE GOING TO USE IT?

20

1. INTRODUCTION

The OBJECTIVES of this session are

1. To get participants to understand the background of RapidAppraisal.

2. T explain the main features of Rapid’Appraisal.

3. To get participants to recognise possibi.e uses for RapidAppraisal.

By the end of this session, participants should

1. Be aware of the background of Rapid Appraisal.

2. Know the main features and uses of Rapid Appraisal.

3. Have a clear idea of the different components which make upRapid Appraisal.

4. Understand the advantages and disadva iges of RapidAppraisal compared with other import;’t: methods forachieving the same results.

METHODS used during this session will include

1. Illustrated explanations.

2. Group discussions.

MATERIALS used during this session will include

1. Overhead transparencies.

2. Cards and writing materials for groups.

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2. SESSION II - PLAN

HOW DIDRAPID APPRAISAL DEVELOP?

WHY USERAPID APPRAISAL?

*The FEATURES of RAPID APPRAISAL

IThe USES of RAPID APPRAISAL

4’,The., COMPONENTS of RAPID

APPRAISAL

‘7SUMMARY

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3. LIST OF MATERIALS

B Why use Rapid Appraisal ?— Pieces of card for trainer

— Pieces of card for workinggroups (two colours)

— *Overhead transparency — drawbacks of formal surveys

— *Overhead transparency — drawbacks of “ruraldevelopment tourism”

*Overhead transparency —. schematic representation ofsmall water body

C The features of Rapid Appraisal- Pieces of card - features of Rapid Appraisal

B The uses of Rapid Appraisal— *Overhead transparency Rapid Appraisal as part of

the project cycle

- *Overhead tralsparency Rapid Appraisal asinteraction between“outsiders”, local agenciesand local communities

— *Overhead transparency — Rapid Appraisal asempowerment

E The components of Rapid Appraisal— *Qverhead transparency .— components of Rapid

Appraisal

F Summary

— *Overhead transparency — review of Session IIcontents

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4• GUIDELINES

A How did Rapid Appraisal develop?

purpose - To clarify the historical deve,lopment of RapidAppraisal

i. Point out that, because one of the key features of RapidAppraisal is its flexibility and adaptability, thisquestion can be answered in many ways. Some idea can beobtained from looking at how Rapid Appraisal developed.

2. Briefly outline the historical development of Rapid.Appraisal along the lines of the material presented in thebox below, adding any other points which seem particularlyrelevant to the group being trained or the appraisal being.prepared.

.Bacicground of Rapid Appraisal

During the 1970s many development workers were becoming moreand more disillusioned with the progress and achievements ofdevelopment activities and began to question the methodsgenerally being used. In particular, it was felt that a lot ofdevelopment activities were imposing solutions thought Upbyoutsiders without properly taking into cOnsideration thepriorities1 knowledge and culture of the people who weresupposed to be the beneficiaries of these developments.

Many development workers realised that real development couldonly take place when the “beneficiaries” or “target group”became invOlved in all the stages of development work, rightfrom identification of problems through to evaluating theresults of projects.

People began to look for methods and techniques for gettingthe “target group” or local people, involved in developmentactivities initiated by “outsiders”. As one way of doing this,many people tried out new ways of collecting the informationrequired for development work in a way that would allow localpeople to tell outsiders about what they knew. what theythought was important and what they thought could be done toimprove conditions. It was soon seen that, by using the righttechniques, local people could be encouraged to participatemore and take a leading role in designing solutions to theirown problems.

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As more and more people tried out dIfferent methods,developed new techniques and talked about them with otherdevelopment workers, some became interested in pulling thesetechniques together into a more systematic framework. thisframework came to be called “Rapid Rural Appraisal”, mainlybecause it was inItially used mainly jn rural areas. As itnow is used in wider circumstances, the term “RapidAppraisal” seems more appropriate.

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B Why use Rapid Appraisal ?

Purpose — To compare Rapid Appraisal methods withalternative methods for field investigation

- To highlight the advantages and disadvantags ofsome of the common alternatives to RapidAppraisal.

1. Call attention to the fact that Rapid Appraisal wasinitially used mainly as a means of gathering,informationin areas where development work was planned.

Pieces of card — felt-tip pen for trainer2. Elicit from participants all the methods they have used in

the past to collect information.in the, field. Participantswill probably come up with various types of surveypossibly with some action research type activities Theymay not come up with, the “quick visit” to the field whichmay not be regarded by many participants as a “method” atall. Some participants may even have taken part in RapidAppraisals in the past. Be ready to make full use of thesepeople’s comnents or criticisms.

Write these down on pieces of card.

Pieces of card -. felt-tip pen for trainer3. Try, through discussion, to divide the methods suggested by

participants into categories, write the categories down onpieces, of card.. and pin them up. The more differentcategories which people come up with, the better However,the minimum which you require to make the point would betwo categories : one containing.”formal” survey methods andone covering quick, “rural development tourism” by“experts”.

Pieces of card (two colours) - felt-tip pens for working groups4. Divide the participants into groups and ask each group to

come up. with a list of the advantages and disadvantages ofeach category of information-gathering methods. Eachseperate advantages and disadvantage should be written onseperate pieces of card. Ideally, positive features oncards of one colour, negative features on cards of anothercolour’.’

5. Get each group to pin up its cards, with advantages anddisadvantages in respective columns under each category ofmethod.

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Overhead transparency — drawbacks of surveys and ruraldevelopment tourism6. Briefly review the points raised. Where there are obvious

gaps, try to fill them in from the trainer’s pre-preparedlist of negative features of formal surveys and ruraldevelopment tourism, using the overhead transparency ifnecessary. In particular, call attention to the issue ofbiases.

7. Take each negative feature of each category and elicit fromparticipants how it could be overcome.

8. Ask the participants as a group to decide on what they feelare the most important positive features which are requiredin a method and which features can be compromised on. Beprepared for participants to want statistical validity ininformation gathering as an important positive feature.

First of all, be careful not to confuse the issue ofstatistical validity with the collection of statistics. Thefirst issue refers only to the statistical validity of anyinformation collected. The second refers to collectingnumerical information about conditions. Concern withstatistical validity is perfectly justified but you canpoint out the draw—backs described in the box in insistingon statistical validity in information gathering

Statistical validity

— Going for statistical validity rnens taking time. Bythe time you have your statistica]ly valid resultsanalysed and reported, many of them are almostcertainly out-of-date.

— Collecting statistically valid information is liable tobe expensive.

The point should be made that participants may have to findthemselves forced to compromise on the question ofstatistical validity.

9Pieces of card - felt-tip pens9. Get participants to prepare on pieces of card a list of the

features which they feel are most important in ainformation gathering exercise. Pin up the list.

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overhead transparency - schematic drawing of small water body10. put up the overhead transparency showing a small water bodywith the writing surrounding the picture covered. Uncoverone element at a time (following the numbering) to show thepotential complexities of the situation around a smallwater body. Using the points in the box beloV, show’thespecial suitability of the Rapid Appraisal approach forinvestigating small water bodies.

Rapid Appraisals on small water bodies

Rapid Appraisal is. well-suited té looking at small waterbodies for several reasOns

Looking at complex systemsSmall water bodies are usually used in many different waysby different people. The different uses and the varioususers all interact with each other in different ways.

There are also many factors which influence the conditionsof small water bodies and the people living around them.These include the ciimatê land and water use throughout thecatchment which feeds water into the water body, the beliefsand traditions of communities in the area and many otherfactbrs.

Many of these interactions and relationships are difficultto predict and therefore difficult to put into a morestructured survey.

Rapid Appraisal leaves room for the unexpected to show upand influence the team findings.

Looking at limited systemsA small water body may be a complex system but it is usuallya system with fairly well—defined limits (i.e. the area fromwhich users tome to thewater body or the catchment area ofthe water body). As a result, it is easier to investigateusing the relatively quick methods of Rapid Appraisal.

Looking at non-priority usesGiven the multiple uses of most small water bodies, it canoften happen that the üsè which the leading agency isparticularly interested in (fisheries, for instance) is notan important or priority matter for local people. There iseven the possibility thatmany communities might not beinterested in paying special attention or putting specialeffort into the improvement of one particular use of thewater body. In such situations, the lower costs of a RapidAppraisal are particularly justified.

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C The features of Rapid Appi aisal

Purpose — To outline the main features of Rapid Appraisal

Emphasise that, as can be seen from this process ofdevelopment, Rapid Appraisal is not a single, fixed met1 dIt is a composite of many techniques, developed bydifferent people in widely differing situations It isstill developing and changing all the time and cannot beeasily given a single definition. It can be used in manydifferent situations and for many different purposes.However, most Rapid Appraisals will have certiin featuresin common,

Pieces of card — features of Rapid Appraisal2. Pin up, next to the list, of features of information

gathering prepared by the participants in the last section,the various features of Rapid Appraisal prepared beforehandon pieces of card Where these features match featuresproposed by the participants, they can be put side by sidePut up overhead ransparenci of features of RapidAppraisal.

3 Uncover them one by one and briefly explain each

Participation— involving local people fully— making local people the subjects of the activity

ParticipationRapid Appraisal establishes communication between outsidersand local people and ensures that local people take aleading role in future activities. The techniques used inRapid Appraisal allow lOcal people to express ‘their ideasand priorities, c1iscuspossible developments and,eventually, plan, their own development.

In the case of small water body development, this means thatthe people living around the water body will have the chanceto decide which use of that water body is most important forthem and how the fisheries on that water body should bemanaged

_________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

29

speed— in collecting information and in producing

results.

SpeedRapid Appraisal is relatively quick because it does notattempt to collect a statistically valid sample Instead, ituses many different techniques to obtain a complex picturemore quickly and it provides the information ‘in animmediately usêable form.

Optimal ignorance— collecting only what is really important and

relevant.

Optimal ignoranceRapid Appraisal-doesn’t attempt to learn everything but justwhat is necessary for deciding on future action and/orfuture research.

In the case of an appraisal of a small water body, thismeans that the team would not try to learn everything aboutthe area and community around the water body, but limititself to what is of relevance to the water body and itsdevelopment. At the same time, by using open—ended methods,the team would leave room for unexpected cOnnections to turnup.

Learning from local people— not imposing outsiders’ preconceptions on local

conditions— making full use of local knowledge and experience

Learning from local peopleRapid Appraisal gives an opportunity to local people toexplain their views in theirterms, expressing theirpriorities, using their terminology, describing how they dothings, what they know and .what they’re good at.

Local people living around and using a water body wouldteach outsiders what they know about thewater body, itsuses, the fish and fisheries going on there and the factorswhich influence the conditions of the water.

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Learning from many points of view— getting a complex picture of local conditions— compensating for lack of statistically valid data— avoiding the biases of specific groups of people

Learning from many points of viewRapid Appraisal uses many different techniques to look atsituations from many different angles and points of view. Inaddition, it is done by a team which should be multi—.d.iiplinary, to avoid subject-matter bias, and drawn frommany different levels, i.e. international, national,provincial, district and local/village levels.

For investigating a small water body, a team would need tobe made up of at least an aquatic biologist oraquaculturist, an agricultural specialist and .a socialscientist.

Flexible and adaptable— usable in many different conditions and contexts— usable in many different forms— learning and adapting as it is in progress

- Flexible and adaptableRapid kppraisal is nota fixed methodology but a selectionof techniques which can be chosen from depending on thesituation in which they are to be used. As a rnsult, it hasbeen used in many fields — agriculture, forestry, health,nutrition — for many purposes — project identification,farming systems research, monitoring and evaluation,participatory planning. It is also open—ended and semi-structured and so can be adapted as it goes along in orderto incorporate what is learnt in the field and changedirection or focus (iterative).

This is importantfor looking at small water bodies as thesewatyer bodies can be found in many different settings, withmany different uses and many different sets of problems.

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Fieldwork- forcing you to get out in the field to learn

Fieldwork

Rapid Appraisal forces you to go to the field and ensures.

that researchers and planners get out to see things for

themselves and talk to peopleon the ground.,

To get a proper picture of a small water body this means

visiting and talking to people in all the communities which

use the water body, live near it arid live in the catchment

area which supplies the water.

Tools for aoznmi.tnication- helping local people communicate to outsiders.

- helping outsiders communicate to local people

- helping researchers communicate their findings

Tools for communication

Rapid Appraisal used schematic pictures and diagrammes of

information to help people from different backgrounds and

cultures communicate more clearly. It also uses techniques

for interviewing which allow local people to communicate

their ideas and priorities to outsiders.

Avoid biases- avoiding biases by a series of checks and

balances

Avoid biases

Rapid Appraisal uses team members from’ different disciplines

and levels, different techniques for collecting information

about the same sufrject and constant review and checking of

information to avoid and counteract biases. It also seeks to

be constantly aware of the possibility of bias in order to

overcome it.

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Systematic and intensive— using different techniques systematicaLly— covering topics of interest systematically

Systematic and intensiveRapid Appraisal is semi-structured and open-ended butsystematic in order to economise on time and expense, tomake up for the lack of statistically valid simp1ing and toavoid biases. It is very intensive, also in order toeconomise on time and expense.

4. Elicit comments on these features from the participants, inparticular where important features in participants listhave not been matched by features of Rapid 1ppraisal. Arthere ways of overcoming these gaps ?

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p The uses of Rapid Appraisal

purpose : — To clrify some of the alternative uses of RapidAppraisal..,

— To get participants to consider the possibilitiesoffered by the Rapid Appraisal approach.

Explain that, given the flexibility and adaptability whichare part of the Rapid Appraisal approach, Rapid Appraisalswill have many different types of objectives, differentoutcomes and they will fit into the plans of projects orprogrammes in many different ways.

2. Present threa different ways of looking at the role ofRapid Appraisals which place emphasis on different aspectsof the approach.

overhead transparency -Rapid Appraisal as an part of the projectcycle3. Put up the first overhead. Point out the different types of

Rapid Appraisal which might, be used at different points ofthe project cycle.

Rapid Appraisal in the project cycle

Rapid Appraisals have been used for many different purposesby projects or programmes and this has led to the commonidentification of several different “types” of RuralAppraisal

ExploratoryA large proportion of Rapid Appraisals will probablyaim at simply finding out about an area, a community, aparticular group of people or a particular activity inorder to design development activities which can helpto improve conditions. Such appraisals would tend totake place during the initial phases of a programme orproject in order to identify problems and needs, lookfor potential and possibilities, establish a workingrelationship with local agencies and the community andcome up with a practical plan for future activities.

Generally, such appraisals would tend to be done bylarger, more multi-disciplinary teams and requiregreater preparation and more time in the field.

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Topical

Another important use of Rapid Appraisals is toinvestigate more specific topics, problems orquestions. Such topics might have arisen during thecourse of development work already taking place in aparticular area or they could simply be ,issues ofparticular concern to local authorities or agencies.The subject matter for a topical Rapid Appraisal mightwell be the output of a more general, “exploratory”Rapid Appraisal which identified an issue of particularimportance but did not have the time or expertise toinvestigate the issue in detail.

The objectives of topical appraisals could well be setin the form of a critical question or series ofquestions to be answered or a hypothesis to be provedor disproved.

The scale of such “topical” appraisals would obviouslydepend on the complexity and scope of the topic beinginvestigated. The Rapid Appraisal,approach would bewell-adapted to being used for quick, “ad hoc”investigations by small project teams to tackle issueswhich crop up during the course of project activities.Such as hoc appraisals could be organised as and whennecessary by staff in the field.

Monitoring and evaluation

Rapid Appraisals used to monitor or evaluate projectactivities would operate rather like topicalappraisals, focussing on particular aspects or tOpicsin order to guage the impact of a project or programme.One iajor advantage of the Rapid Appraisal approach inthis context would be the possibility of involving thelocal community fully in assessing, the impact of anactivity.

Such appraisals could be incorporated into the projectdesign as a regular feature for carrying out routinemonitoring of activities. They could also be organisedas “one—off” activities involving independent outsidersand/or the local community in order to evaluate afinished project.

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particiipätory

All Rapid Appraisals should be participatory in thatthey should involve local people (whether local-levelworkers or government staff, intended “beneficiaries”,people who might be effected by activities or potentialopponents of activities) as much as possible. However,some appraisals might take full account of localpeople’s inputs but not involve them,directly in theprimary planning process. Other appraisals might makethat involvement of local people in planning activitiesthe main objective of the appraisal. Such RapidAppraisals might ba called “participatory” because theyplace partic.tlar emphasis on those aspects of theappraisal.

Such appraisals would have a rather different structureto those appraisals primarily interested in collectinginformation The team would be playing the role ofanimators or catalysts rather than investigators.Planning of the appraisal vould have to be more open-ended to allow far the community to make their ownplans

These “participatory” Rapid Appraisals could fit inanywhere in the project cycle as they really representa change of emphasis for the other main types ofappraisal. An initial “exploratory” appraisal couldgive more space to open—ended discussions with thecommunity where the community could take the leadingrole in formulating development activities for thefuture. A topical: appraisal could organise members ofthe community to investigate a particular problemthemselves and discuss possible solutions amongthemselves. An. appraisal for monitoring and evaluationcould get local people to establish their own criteriaand assess project activities according to them.

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Overhead transparency — Rapid Appraisal as interaction between

“outsiders”, local agencies and local communities

4. Put up the second overhead. In this model, the important

feature is not only what subject is being looked at bu the

appraisal, but who is involved in doing the appraisal. The

appraisal may act as a forum in which agencies and

communities which do not normally interact or discuss

certain topics are able to get together to address those

topics.

Rapid Appraisal as interaction

In many cases,’ who does a Rapid Appraisal maybe just as

important as what the appraisal looks at, theobjectives it

has, the topics it investigates and even how it is carried

out. It has always been said that an important feature of

Rapid Appraisal is that it should be done by a multi

disciplinary team. Getting people from different disciplines.

(i.e. agronomists, biologists, economists, sociologists,

anthropologists, etc.) together to look at a particular set

of conditions will allow those conditions to be understood

in depth taking full acount of their pomplexity.

However,’ just as important for future work in a particular

area, might be the multi—agency or multi—level nature of a

team. This means having people involved from all 1-he

agencies that might be concerned with the area, community or

topic being looked at. It might provide an invaluable

opportunity for higher-level administrators, both from

sponsoring agencies and government, to get into direct

contact with people at village level and be made aware of

their conditions, their skills and their priorities

Multi-level teams can also mean having people from all the

hierarchical levels that might be involved in carrying out

such work, from .the planning and administrative levels down

to the field workers who will be responsible for much of the

hands—on activities at village level. In terms of getting

genuinely practicable development plans out of an appraisal,

this aspect is .vital as local—level staff will have an

opportunity such as they rarely qet to put their concerns

and practical experience into the planning process.

The importance of using Rapid Appraisal as an opportunity to

make proper use of local—level knowledge and experience to

come up with good activities which address real needs cannot

be overemphasised.

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2verhead transparency Rapid Appraisal as empowermentput up the third overhead. The team carrying out the RapidAppraisal acts as a lens which allows the localcommunityto focus on a particular topic and work out ways ofaddressing it. The Rapid Appraisal is a vehicle by whichthe local community mobilises itself. In the future, thecommunity can carry out their own appraisals, with orwithout the aid of outsiders, in order to analyse theirconditions and plan action.

6. Emphasise that there is no question of one model beingbetter than another. It will always depend on theobjectives of the exercise, the cultural conditions inwhich it is taking place and the priorities of thoseinvolved. The important point is to recognise thepossibilities available.

Rapid Appraisal as empowerment

The team carrying out the Rapid Appraisal can act as a lenswhich allows the local community to focus on a particulartopic which might not otherwise get addressed even though itmay be important to the community. There may be many reasonswhy such topics do not get addressed by the community lackof leadership, lack of a suitable forum for discussion ofcommon problems, problems which cut across existingadministrative or traditional boundaries between communitiesand therefore do not get dealt with locally but at higherlevels where they are regarded as less important.

In such conditions. a Rapid Appraisal by ‘outsiders” cancatalyse the community to confront problems, create newmechanisms for consultation and action and increase theirown capacity for decision—making, management andorganisation. Where something is already known about thecommunity, a “participatory” appraisal which emphasises thiscatalytic role could be planned. Where such a situation isrevealed by an “exploratory” appraisal, it. may be enough toorganise a community meeting at the end of, the appraisalwhich will bring together different groups to discuss thetopics investigated by the appraisal. The appraisal team’swork in interviewing individuals and households in thecommunity can act primarily to focus people’s attention onthe issues of concern to the agency which commissioned theappraisal.

Through, processes like this, the community can createmechanisms for carrying out their own appraisals and take ona leading role in shaping their own development. The role ofoutside agencies, including government technical agencies,can become more advisory, providing specialised technicalinputs when and where required.

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E What are the components of Rapid Appraisal?

Purpose : — To describe tIie main activities which make upRapid Appraisal

— To clarify the purpose of these activities

Overhead transparency — five components of Rapid Appraisal1. Put up the overhead transparency with the five key

components of Rapid Appraisal These can be arranged more-or—less as they would take place on the ground, but itshould be emphasisec that various components might changeplace or take place simultaneously

2. Briefly review these components

Preparation— secondary data review— contacting local authorities and concerned parties— contacting localpeople and leaders— identifying and briefing prospective team members- preparing follow-up

Preparation

Rapid Appraisal is a short and irtensive exercise which, toohave maximum effect, needs to be very well—prepared. Thatmeans time and effort being allocated to preparation andfollow—up well in advanceof. the actual Rapid Appraisal — oneperson needs to do a lot of work, travelling and contacting sothat the team’s work later on can be made effective.

“Preparing the follow-up” before the appraisal itself may seemcontradictory, but to really achieve the “rapid” effect ofRapid Appraisal, all concerned parties have to be ready toreact to the results of the appraisal as soon as it isfinished because, ideally, the appraisal should come up withan immediate plan of action.

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intensive communication and djscussions with local people

— interviews and discussions with members andrepresentatives of local communities

— interviews and discussions with local authorities andconcerned agencies

tntönsive diScussions with local people

This 5 the “crucial” component of any Rapid Appraisal and thevalue of any appraisal will lie in the quality of thisintensive interaction between outsiders and local people. Thisinteraction takes place both within the team which is doingthe appraisal1 which should consist of outsiders and local—level workers together, and between the eam and the localcommunity.

Use of communication tools

— diagrammes and models to help local people communicatewith outsiders

— diagranuues and models to help team members structuretheir findings

Coiftmunication tools

The various communication techniques are the “toolbox” ofRapid Appraisal to help people in the field to talk to peoplefrom often very different cultures and backgrounds abouttopics of common interest. A lot ofthese techniques areequally useful in the field and, later, when the appraisalteam has to communicate their findings to other levels.

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Repeated workshops by the appraisal team

— to analyse findings as they are collected— to review the objectives and focus of the appraisal

based on findings

Workshops

Repeated, and regular meetings by the appraial team are anintegral part of any Rapid Appraisal. They include the initialworkshops where people are trained, define the initialobjectives of the appraisal and plan the activity. They shouldcarry on a regular intervals throughout the appraisal so thateveryone knows what everyone else has discovered, theappraisal can be kept on track, and everyone’s point of viewand expertise can be brought to bear on everything that isbeing investigated.

They also help to collect and sort out information. .as it iscollected, so that at the end of the appraisal, reporting canbe quicker.

Participatory discussions and rlanning sessions

- to discuss appraisal fi; cjs with the community— to discuss appraisal fi: igs with local authorities- to plan action to follow p the appraisal

___________

Presenting findings back to the community,discussing findings and planning future action

During the course of a Rapid Appraisal, some discussions withthe local community will be aimed mainly at gettinginformation and finding out about conditions while others maybe aimed at planning future action. The division between thetwo will not always be very clear. However, an importantelement in any Rapid Appraisal will be that the informationcollected by the team from the community should be presentedback to them for comment. This will allow the community as awhole to understand better what the appraisal was about andgive local people a chance to correct any wromg information orimpressions that the team might have formed. Any follow-upshould also be planned with the community or itsrepresentatives. If these discussions can involve both thecommunity and local authorities and concerned agencies, somuch the better.

The aim is to end the appraisal already having a practicalplan of action which the community has formulated itself, withthe assistance of local authorities and the appraisal team.

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Elicit any comments from the participants. Make it clearthat these components may also be changed or added to basedon future experience.

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F Summary

Purpose : — To review and check the content of Session II.

Overhead transparencies — features of Rapid Appraisal / uses ofRapid Appraisal / components of Rapid Appraisal1. Remind participants of the key question for this sessionwhat is Rapid Appraisal ?

2. Using the overhead transparencies, review the contents ofthe session, covering the features, uses and components ofRapid Appraisal.

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SESSION III

HOW DO YOU DOA RAPID APPRAISAL?

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1. INTRODUCTION

The OBJECTIVES of this session are

1. To develop clear objectives for the rrent RapidAppraisal.

2. To decide on appropriate techniques for carrying out thecurrent Rapid Appraisal.

3. To familiarise participants with some of the alternativetechniques for carrying out Rapid Appraisals.

4. To plan the implementation of the current Rapid Appraisal.

By the end of this session, participants should

1. Have decided themselves on appropriate immediate objectivesfor the appraisal.

2. Have identified a selection of appropriate techniques forcarrying out the appraisal.

3. Be aware of alternative techniques which can be used inRapid Appraisals.

4. Have planned the fieldwork for the curreri praisal.

METHODS used during this sessio’ will include :

1. Illustrated explanations.

2. Group discussions and presentations

MATERIALS to be used during this session will include

1. Overhead transparencies

2. Overhead transparency pens for working groups.

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2. SESSION Ill- PLAN.

SETTING OBJECTIVES

*PREPARATION.

IINTENSIVE DISCUSSIONS with

the LOCAL COMMUNITY

The USE ofCOMMUNICATION TOOLS

WORKSHOPS.

IPARTICIPATORY PLANNING

$STi1’vIMARY

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3. LIST OF MATERIALS

A Setting objectives— *Overhead transparency

— Pieces of card for workinggroups

— factorsobjectives

for s e t tin g

— *Overhead transparency objectivesAppraisals

of past Rnpi d

- Sheet of paperobjectives for rentappraisal

B Preparation— *Overhead transparency - components of Rapid

Appraisal (from Session II)

— Pieces of card for workinggroups

*Overhead transparency — preparatory steps for RapidAppraisal

— Overhead transparency — results of secondary datareview for current appraisal

- Printed handout of importantsecondary data

C Intensive interviews and discussions with local

— topics for investigationfrom previous appraisals

— topics for investigation forcurrent appraisal

community— *Overhead transparency —

— *Overhead transparency

— Overhead transparencies +pens for working groups

*Overhéad transparency

— Overhead transparency

intnsive interviewsdiscussions

— q’stion matrices

and

47

p The use of communication tools- *Overhead transparencies — maps

— transects- distance chart- timelines— calendars— historical transect- daily activity chart— process chart— decision chart— bar chart- graph— venn diagramme- dirct matrix ranking— pair-wise preference ranking

I&II- list of topics, key

informants & techniques— objectives and topics for

different days from previousV appraisals V

E Workshops- *Qverhead transparency — principle

V

features ofworkshops

F Participatory planning and discussions with thecommunity

- *Overhed transparency - Rapid V

Appraisal asempowerment

V

(from Session II)

G Summary

- *Overbead transparency - review of Session III

- *Overhead transparency - possible outputs

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4. GUII)ELINES

A Setting objectives

Purpose : — To develop a set of objectives for the currentRapid Appraisal.

1. Call participants’ attention to the objectives for theproject or programme of which the current Rapid Appraisalis part. These should still be pinned up somewhere visiblefrom Session I. Emphasise that these objectives relate tothe development of small water bodies and that it is notwithin the scope of the project to deal with problemsunrelated to this area. -

2. Call participants’ attention to the expectations of theagenày commissioning the Rapid Appraisal. These should alsohe posted somewhere visible.

3. These objectives and expectations can be regarded asoverall objectives for the Rapid Appraisal. However, theactivity requires more immediate objectives.

Overhead transparency — factors to remember when settingobjectives4. When setting these objectives, several points need to be

born in mind. Put up the overhead transparency. Uncover thepoints one by one.

- The time avai1abl

Look carefully at the amount of time you have available,decide what key issues you want to address and see how youcan fit them into that time period. If your time period islonger or flexible, you can plan more. But, mostimportantly, don’t -try to cram everything you would want tofind out from a fully—fledged formal survey into a 3—dayRapid Appraisal. Be selective.

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Setting achievable objectives

you can’t possibly investigate every aspect of the area,topic or community which you would like to during a RapidAppraisal and still keep it “rapid”. But you can setobjectives which are achievable and will help you addressthe key issues at hand rather than collecting masses ofinterestingdata which you don’t really need.

Setting “limiting” objectives

The structure of Rapid Appraisal allows a lot of flexibilityto address new issues as they are uncovered during work inthe field. This can even extend to the reformulation ofobjectives for the appraisal if the original ones turn outto be totally misconceived. Thus whatever objectives areset, they should not be.regardedas a straight-jacket.However, if the effort of the team is spread too thinly,trying to cover very general, non—specific objectives, toomuch superficial information may be collected, leaving lesstime to look at the important issues in depth. Given theflexible structure of Rapid Appraisal, it seems to be betterto try to be more specific in setting objectives as limitedobj ectvies.

Pieces of card - felt-tip pens5. Ask the participants to decide on a viable set ofobjectives for the appraisal. Depending on the size of thegroup this could be done by the group as a whole or insmaller working. groups. If the participants are dividedinto groups, each group should be asked to come up with 3separate objectives.

The participants should be reminded that these areobjectives which, if achieved, will help the project ofwhich the appraisal is part to achieve its own overallobjectives.

The objectives proposed by groups should be written clearlyby them on individual pieces of card.

6. Get working groups to present their objectives. Similarobjectives proposed by different groups should then be puttogether and, if possible, turned into one objective.

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setting useful objectives

Two of th’;, most likely problems to arise during the settingof objectives will be— objectives that are too general (I.e. “identify the

real problems and needs of the community”)

— objectives that take too much for granted (i.e.“identify suitable fishing methods for exploiting thewater body being investigated”)

The first objective would lead the team to investigate a lotof topics whichmlght be interesting but not relevant for aproject dealing in fisheries. The second objective wouldlead to an assumption that the improvement of fisheries onthe water body in question was a priority issue andsomething which local people were interested in taking up.

It was seen from these appraisals that it is best to setobjectives that focus on small water bodies so that thelimited time available for the appraisal is used to focus ontopics which the commissioning agency is competent topaddress. The techniques used in Rapid Appraisal will ensurethat the team does not get a distorted picture of localconditions by concentrating on the water body.

Overhead transparency — objectives of past appraisals7. To illustrate these problems, put up the lists of

objectives for the three appraisals of water bodies inZimbabwe. Point out how attaining the first objective forthe first appraisal (Chichewo Dam) took up too much timeand provided a grea deal of Interesting data which provedto be largely useless or the purposes of thern apprisal,which was to investigate the, potential for improvedfisheries in the dan.

The objectives for the other two ppraisal (Taru andMwenje Dams) seemed to be more balanced.

Sheet of paper - felt-tip penB. Using participants’ own suggested objectives and the

examples from past appraisals, decide on a provisional setof objectives for the current appraisal. Write them upclearly on a sheet of paper and pin them up where they areclearly visible.

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u Preparation

purpose.: — To clarify the steps required before commencingwork in the field

— To check whether sufficient preparations havebeen carried out for the currentRapid Appraisal.

— To eniphasise the importance of’proper preparationfor ensuring proper follow-up

overhead transparency - components of Rapid Appraisal1. Call participants’ attention to the components of RapidAppraisal mentioned in Sessibn’II. In order to come up witha plan for the currnt.appraisal and techniques for doingthe appraisal in the field, these components can be takenone—by—one, starting with the preparation of the appraisal.

2. Emphasise the particular importance of proper preparationfor Rapid Appraisal

Prearinq a Rapid Appraisal

One of the ways in which Rapid Appraisal tries to be “rapid”and cost-effective is by doncentrating the energy and timeof many people into a short, very intensive activity. But inorder for this approach to work, the preparation has to bethorough. Where proper groundwork has been done beforehand,local people and authorities properly prepared and therelevant agencies which should be involved, in any follow-upproperly informed and involved, the concentrated activity ofa well—qualified team can produce immediate results in theform of appropriate plans for development activities orfurther research which are understood and fully approved bylocal people..

Pieces of card and felt-tip pens for groups of participants2. Elicit from participants what they think should be the

proper steps in preparing a Rapid Appraisal.

Divide participants into groups and get them to come upwith suggested steps, writing each step on seperate piecesof card.

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3. Get each group to present their ideas for relevant steps,pinning up their pieces of card.

4. Run through the suggested steps, grouping together similarsteps.

Overhead transparencies— preparatory steps for Rapid )ppraisa1

5, Where required, present own further suggestions as in thefollowing boxes.

Preparatory steps for Rapid Appraisal

Secondary data review —

Once an agency has decided to undertàk a Rapid Appraisal,the first step which needs to be underta)cen in preparationis a review of all possible existing sources of informationabout the area, community or topic which is going to be thesubject of the appraisal.

Typical sourcc which need to be checked might be— GoverninenL. statistics, departmental reports, project

• reportsreports from other agenci’ or non—governmentalorganisations working in the area

— results of surveys carried out in the area— documentation and experience of local missionary groups

or other service organisations in the area— maps from government surveys, mining companies, local

military or other sources

Visits to agencies or individuals who might be fami liar withthe area, community or topic in question can turn upvaluable information which can help to decide whether theappraisal i really necessary help to formulate theobjectives of the appraisal and assist in deciding whoshou1dtake part in the appraisal as part of the appraisalteam

Overhead transparency — results of secondary data reviewHandout with ptoto—copies of important documeniation

6 The results of any secondary data review undertaken for thcurrent appraisal should be presented very briefly at thispoint. Documents with relevant information should be handedout to participants and they should be given a chance toread it.

53

From participants who work locally, elicit comments on therelevance and accuracy of the information obtained in thesecondary data review.

8. Review with participants other sources of secondary atanot yet contacted. Prepare schedule of visits to relevantsources which participants feel need to be contacted anddistribu’e responsibility for contacting ,these sources.

9. Check through with participants which local authoritieshave and ha’ient been óontaóted as yet about the appraisal.Elicit suggestions regarding other agencies and individualsthat should be contacted to ensure that all relevantparties are involved in the appraisal.

io. Plan meetings with any agencies which have not yet beencontacted and distribute responsibilities among teammembers.

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Contacting local authorities —

By the time this raining session is taking place, therelevant local authorities should have been contactedalready. At least some agencies will almost certainly havebeen contacted in order to elicit their participation in theappraisal team

What needs to be remembered is that contacts with localauthorities have several functions

— Rapid Appraisals are really being done for localauthorities. It will often happen that thóy are in factorganised in relative isolation by national—level orinternational organisations, but the output should besomething which will help local agencies improve localconditions, with or without the help of “àutsiders”. Solocal agencies should be involved in planning anyappraisal and so be contacted well in advance.

— Most appraisals wi’ll require permission from loc’aJauthorities (provincial—, district— and village-levelto take place.

The secondment of local sLaff to take part in theappraisal will usually require permission from thelocal authorities for which those staff work.

— Local authorities will have their own exisLingdevelopment plans and development priorities whichshould become important inputs into the planning of theappraisal, perhaps affecting the objectives set for theappraisal and the scopeof its coverage.

55

ontactiflg local authorities — (continued)

1JJ- Any follow—up of the appraisal will have to be cleared

by local authorities. In most cases, those authoritieswill also be involved in the implementation of anyplans that come out of. the appraisal. Therefore theappraisal teaneeds to know how far they can go inplanning activities with the community.

— Ideally, direct participation in the.appraisal, or atleast in the opening and closing workshops, by someonefrom the rélevantloàal authority who can speak ontheir behalf should be elicited. This can also help tolend weight to the appraisal team in the eyes of thelocal community.

If the appraisal is to come up ith useful plans fordevelopment activities, local authorities have to beinvolved inthe pa±tof 4the apprai.sai inwhiàh future plansare discussed with the community. This means that, some timebefore this stage is reached, local, authorities also have tobe briefed On the provisional findings of the appraisal sothat they can contribute properly to the planning sessionwith the community.

11. Explain that the third impórtañt preparatory activity isthe workshop in whidh partiOipants are currently involved.

Preparatory workshop —

The preparatory workshop has three main functions- To introduce the team and get it fundtioning as a team

- To train team members in Rapid Appraisal techniques

- To prepare and plan the Rapid Appraisal.

Ideally it should take place immediately before work in the

field by the team begins although it can also be anopporlunity for loose ends in the preparation of theappraisal to be tidied up.

The length of time devoted to the wrkshop will depend onthe people taking part, their familiarity with RapidAppraisal approaches, the number of participants and the

complexity of the topics being investigated by theappraisal. At least one full day will be required, if onlyfor ‘the preparation of the appraisal. Training will require

pextra day if it is to be done thoroughly.

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C Intensive interviews and discussions with localcommunity

Purpose : — To familiarise participants with techniques forconducting interviews and discussions with localpeople.

— To identify topics for investigation during theinterviews and discussions with local people.

1. The most important single element in Rapid Appraisal is thecontact between the appraisal team and the local people.This will mostly take the form of interviews anddiscussions between members of the team with individuals orsmall groups.

Overhead transparency - intensive interviews anddiscussions2. Several points can help in making interviews more

constructive and these are reviewed below.

Intensive interviews and djscussions

Semi-structured but systematic interviewing -

— The interview and discussion techniq)ies used in RapidAppraisal are semi-structured but systematic. Thismeans that they do not use questionnaires and theyallow respondents to answer freely to open questions,but interviews are prepared — interviewers need todecide whattbey want to ta].k about, what order theyare going to talk about those topics in and how theyare going to ask about those topics or get people totalk about them

Interviews need to be prepared and have some sttucturebecause the appraisal team has limited time to find outabout the topIcs which interest them.

I

V 57

Topi for interviews - V V

I - The simplest way of providing some structure t aninterview is to :have a range of topics which should bediscusSed The team as a whole should decide at thebeginning of the appraisal what topics need to beinvestigated in order to achieve the objectives set forthe appraisal. These topics should then be distributedamong the team carrying out interviews to use as duringtheir discussions with local people.

These topics should not be considered exclusive, butthey shâuld provide a guideline for the interview. Ifthe conversation starts to wander too far off theprepared tdpid, the team members can try to bring itback on track

If, however, the interview wanders atay from theprepared topic but into a subject area which appearsproductive, the team should not interrupt but allowinformants to talk about whatthey are interested in.

Avoid leading questions -

One of ‘the most important basic points to remember whenasking questions V

is to avoid suggesting the answers topeople. This means, whereever possible, askingquestions which allow for compietly open answers. Suchquestions will usually start with one of the sixquestion words what 2, who ?, why ?, where ?. when ?orhow?

V

Use question matrices - V

•V

V

Overhead transparency question matrices for semi—structured interviews V

These question words form a very good basic guide forinterviews which will help team members to cover topicsthey are investigating thoroughly. They can be made upinto matrices to ensure complete coverage as the sixquestion words asked about any particular topic willgenerally give complete information about that topic.

Alternatively, matrices can be prepared aboutparticular aspects of certain topics.

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Using communication tools during interviews —

— In addition to decided what topics are going to becovered during interviews, teams should decide bow theyare going to he covered. This might include decidingwhich communication tools (such as those discussed

• later) can be used to talk about particular topics

Appraisal team working in pairs for interviews -

— Interviews and discussions should be carried out by theappraisal team working in pairs, or groups of threeWithin each pair, interviews have to be planned andbefore each interview it has to be decided who is goingto ask what. At any one time, one person should beasking the questions and ta]king while the other takesdawn the information.

3. Teams also have to decide who to talk to. Various means canbe used to try to ensure that, although the appraisal willnot cover a “statistically valid” sample, a selection ofpeople will be talked to who will be reasonablyrepresentative of the range of circumstances which areencountered in the area.

Deciding who to talk to

One of the biases to which teams of visiting outsiders aremost vulnerable is that of only meeting a very limitedselection of local people. These are usually, either the mostprosperous, the most educated, those living nearest the mainroad or along principle paths through a community or thosewhom local leaders or government officials want outsiders tomeet (i.e. family members, successful model farmers, etc.).

Overcoming these biases requires considerable effort on thepart of the team. Some of the means n[ overcoming thesebiases are as follows :

Getting away from the main pathways or roads —

IA conscious effort to get away from the main pathwaysthrough the community can go a long way towards overcomingthese biases. Team members can consciously look out for thesmall houses, where people do not come out to greet them,which are not yisible from the main road and try to find thepeople living there.

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Mapping -

mong the uses of maps of the community (which will bediscussed laterE is using them to make sure that the-teamtalks to people who live in all the different parts of thecommunity, this can ensure thatremoter, isolated householdsin widely dispersed communities do not get left out of the’appraisal.

sampling —

While a Rapid Appraisal will seldom leave, time forattempting to actUally wàrk up a (statistically) propersample through stratification clustering, etc., it may bepossible to use Very approximate sampling techniques toensure a thorough coverage of the different range ofcircumstances in the community.

The team cando this b mapping ll the households in acommunity, dividing them into approximate geographicalclusters, and deciding on an approximate number ofhouseholds which should be interviewed in each cluster. Ifthe community has been divided by the team according to someother criteria, the households can be mapped in differentways and “samples” chosen from these “strata”.

It should always be remembered, however, that one reallygood, in—depth interview with one informant may Well be farmore valuable than four superficial interviews which aredone just to make sure that a 20% sample is contacted. Inother words, the team should never feel that they have atarget number of households to contact.

Key informants —

Many interviews during an appraisal will be with more-or-less casually encountered people. However, based on existinginformation, the knowledge of local people on the team andinitial contacts with local authorities, it may be possibleto identify a few “key” informants. These might be peoplewho have long experience of a particular topic which is ofconcern to the team, people who are considered to be moreknowledgeable or whose work means that they may haveinformation of particular value to the appraisal.

These key informants may provide larger amounts ofinformation or more in-depth information than otherrespondents. The team shOuld therefore try to come up withlists of key informants to be contacted. These lists mightbe associated with lists of topics to be investigated, withParticular people being suggested to team members as keyinformants about. particular topics.

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Interviewing individuals or groups —

Many interviews and discussions, parcularly those with keyinformants may aim at talking to qne person. However, theteam will often find themselves talcjng to a group whetherthey intend it or not. group of: outsiders. ñ a comniunityasking questions inevitably attracts attention. Talking tosmall groups can often be just as productive as talking toindividuals. The team simply has to be aware that people saydifferent things when they are alone apd when they are withothers. Individuals such as icey infozmants who the teamparticularly wants to talk to can be tactfully asked whenthey can be met alone

During the course of the appraisal, the team will learn whenthey should visit people if. they want to talk to them aloneand when they are most likely to encounter groups. In manyrural areas, the earlyevening is the time when people visiteach other and the team will more often find groups ofpeople together. This can also vary with the season. —

4. After interviews, the interviewers should take the time toreview what they have talked about during the interview,what information they obtained, how they obtained it andwhat else they need to discover about the same topics.

5. The experience of interviews, including which techniquesseem to work well and which topics need furtherinvestigation should be constantly incorpàrated into newinterviews as interview teams work in the field.

6. Whatever the objectives set by the participants, achievingthem will certainly depend on gathering information. Theteam will have to decide which information is required.

Overhead, transparencies transparency pens for each group/Pieces of card — felt-tip pens7. Divide the participants into groups, each group to take one

of the objectives for the appraisal. Where possible, try toget people with experience or expertise relevant to aparticular objective tq lookatthat objective. Each groupshould come up with a list of information, or topics whichshould be investigated in order to achieve that objective.

It can be suggested that groups might find this task easierif they try to convert the objective into a question orseries of questions which need to be answered. Encourageparticipintis to ivoid being exhaustive just for the sake ofbeing exhaustive. They should look for relevant topics.

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It should alsp be made clear that the lists prepared nowmay not be definitive and can be added to during the courseof the regular discussions and brain—storming held by theteam.

Give each group either an overhead transparency and a setof transparency pens,or pieces of card and felt pens withwhich to prepare their list of topics.

8. Get each group to put up its transparencies or cards withtopics for investigation and get comments from otherparticipants. Encourage participants to look for ways toabbreviate and eliminate topics which are not relevant tothe objectives. Keep the topics listed in groups undertheir relevant objectives.

Someone from each group should keep note of the lists oftopics finally decided upon These lists should be writteninto sheets of paper or overhead transparencies and put upwhere participants can see them.

overhead transparency — topics for investigation from previousappraisals9. If necessary, the trainer can put up overhead

transparencies showing lists of topics for investigationfrom previous appraisals Draw attention to the

How to avoid too many topics for investigation

The main danger with the formulation of lists of topics forinvestigation is the possible proliferation of topics. Thetemptation to be exhaustive in covering every possible topicwhich might in any way be related to the objectives isalmost overwhelming. If time allows it, these wide—rangingtopics can be left in. One of the best training experiencesfor participants would be to investigate a large number ofdifferent topics and then realise, afterwards, that many ofthese topics were not really relevant or necessary.

However, where. time is limited, as it usually is, thetrainer may need to try to pursuadé participants that someof the topics they have proposed are. not vital to theappraisal. The lists of topics from previous appraisals canbe useful in showing how lists can be pared down to theminimum necessary. -

10. Explain that the checklist of topics finalised by theparticipants will be typed up and distributed toparticipants before they go to the field.

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ri •B I he use of conununication tools

iurpose : — To get participants to identify techniques whichthey already know for investigating topics.

— To introduce participants to knew ways ofinvestigating topics.

To get participants tO think about ways ofcommunicating i (leas

Overhead transparencies or pieces of card with wrtting ixnplementsdistributed to groups1. Divide participants into groups and assign. each group three

topics. Ask each group to decide how they would ask peopi.ein a village about that topic.

Emphasise that “how” does not just iean what questions theywould ask. It might mean where they think they could getthe information, who might be able .to provide them withinformation, how they would actually try to get theinformation from a respondent in the field, The trainershould suggest that they might want to represent thequestion in a certain way or get the respondent torepresent his or her answer in a certain way so that thequestion or answer is, more easily understood.

Ask each group to present., their techniques using whatevermedia they feel is appropriate

2 After each group has presented their suggested techniques,lead a discussion with participants about the usefulness of.the proposed techniques, how they could be improved andwhat alternatives there might be for topic’ covered

Overhe.- I transparencies — Rapid 2ppraisal techniques for fieldinvest i.jations3 Ac’ required or relevant, where participants appear not to

have any viable ideas of their own, suggest othertechniques from the Rapid Appraisal “vepertoire”, usingoverhead transparencies and expi’nations along the lines ofthose in the box below

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Rapid Appraisal techniques

appiflg-

overhead traiipa±eJiCy of comnninitiessimple sketch maps can be used to illustrate many differentjmportantrelätionshipsbetween différént sectionS of thecommunity, between people and their environment and theresources they use, and between the community and theoutside world.

Mapping can be used in Several ways- A simple sketch map prepared either before the

appraisal from existing maps, or at the beginning ofthe appraisal can help the team to find their wayaround the area being investigated.

- The location of all hoUseholds or clusters ofhouseholds in a community can be mapped so that theteam makes sure to visit all the different areas of thecommunity. It can be even used to select a randomsample if this is thought to be necessary or useful.

- The use of land can be mapped and used to distinguishdifferent agricultural or ecological zones in the area.When looking at.small water bodies, land-use in thecatchrnent area can be mapped to identify practiceswhich might affect the water supply or siltation of thewater body.

The divisions within the community according to ethnicgroup, clan, family, wealth, length of residence,asset-ownership, political allegance, profession orwhatever other criteria that is thought to be ofinterest can be mapped in order to see anyrelationships between these divisions and the physicaldistribution of services, access to resources, etc.

The main points to remember are

- Maps made during a Rapid Appraisal will be mainly usedto represent issues or topics or particular aspects ofthe community. Therefore they do not need to be exact,they need to be clear.

If good maps are available, an outline Of the mainfeatures of the area which is going to be investigatedcan be traced and reproduced for team members. Anydetails can then be filled in on this outline map.

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Transects —

Overhead transparency — transects of villageTransects are both a way of representing information and atechnique for the’ team to familiarise thejnselves with thedifferent parts of the community and the differentagricultural and ecological zones which make up the area.

Transects can be used to show— The uses and activities carried out in each zone of a

community

— The groups of the community who use each zone

— The principle problems encountered In each zone

— The resourcesavailable in each zone and their possibleuses

— Possible activities which could be deve’oped i each

zone

*

Happing (continued)

— Sketch maps can be prepared based on informationprovided by l people, or they can be piepareddirectly by i ‘.l people.themselves. When local peopleprepare maps cr models of their community or thesurrounding area, they will show the fe.ures whichthey think are important (not what out ilers thinkshould be important). This can help the Learn tounderstand local people’s priorities.

Local people will often represent their descriptions ofthe area and its features by drawing on the ground.Such drawings can becopied by the team members ontopaper

— Don’t try to get too muchinformation onto one sketchmap. One map should try to show up one particularaspect of a community or area

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rransects — (continued)

To do a transect, team members should :

Choose a more—or—less straight line through the are’abeing investigated. This can be done based on a map ifone is available, or after an initial visit to thearea. .The line chosen should attempt to take in aa manyof the different physical areas, types of vegetation,land—use areas and sections of the community aspossible.

When looking at a water body, transects should ideallybe done in the area immediately around the water bodyand in the catchment area above. V

Walk along this line, accompanied, if possible, by oneor mOre local people. Note what activities are going onand where, talk to people met on the way, ask aboutwhat is- going on, possible alternatives, seasonalvariations and problems.

After they have walked the length of the transect,represent the main features observed schematically. Byconsulting with other team members from otherdisciplines, try to distinguish distinct zonesaccording to land—use, vegetation, resident group, etc.

The features noted during the transect can then becomea guide for discussions and interviews with otherpeople in the community. The drawing of the transectcan then become a guide for discussions and interviewswith other people in the community. It can also be usedto represent the team’s findings to the community atthe end of the appraisal.

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Distance charts -

Overhead transparencies — distance charts of water bodiesThese charts can be used to illustrate clearly the area andrange of communi.L:ies serviced by or making useof a waterbody. It cna also show how different people use the waterbody according to their dist nce from it

To do a distance chart, team members should— Ask an informant about the different uses of the water

body — how is it used 7 who uses it in differeritways?

— Once a list of uses has been obtained (1 e irrigation,livestock, watering, fishing) ask the informant toidentify where people come from who use the dam inthose different ways

Get the informant to indicate the name of thecommunity, the direction and the distnceq

— Plot these on a schematic diagramme of. the area. Theinformant might wish to do this himself, indicatingrelative distances rather than actual mileage

- This chart can then be used to investigate why somepeople come to this water body and use it in certainways and how these people might be affected by futureactivities, such as fisheries management activities orfisheries enhancement.

Timelines —

Overhead tra parencies — t.i’ linesTinielines ar i simple graph method of representing pastevents which ve a c).ear idi of what events in the pastare consider important and 9W events occur in a sequence.They can he . cJ by team memi to represent informationprovided y .iormants about the past.

Some of the unes of timelines when looking at small waterbodies might be :

- the history of the water body— the history of the community around the water body— the record of high and low water levels in the water

body— changes in agricultural practice and new technologies

on surrounding farmland and new fishing methodc on thewater body.

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calendars —

overhead transparencies — agricultural, lá.bour and foodsupply calendarscalendars showing the distribution, of activities, products,natural phenomena or problems through the year are vital foridentifying seasonal variations which may not be immediatelyobVIOUS to the team at the time of the actua] appraisal.

calendars can be used to show :.

- wateravailability and rainfall- cropping patterns throughout the year- the distribution of labour throughout the year- food availability from different sources

Plotting different information on one calendar canimmediately make the connections between different seasonalfactors obvious Informants will often be ableto-fill incalendars themselves otherwise team members can create theiralendars based on what they are told by informants.

To do a calendar, team members should :

- Find out how local people divide up the year i.e.months, seasons, etc. Mark these divisions along thetop of the calendar.

— Focus attention on one particular aspect such as wateravailability. Ask informants if they have water allyear round. If not, when is water availability aproblem ? When is it not a problem ? What about in theother periods? Plot the responses on your calendar orexplain the calendar to informants and get them to plotit directly themselves. The calendar can be drawn onthe ground.

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Historical transects —

Overhead transparency — historical transect of rivercatchment areaHistorical transects consist of a series of transects whichillustrate how a particular area has changed over time.

They can be used to show— changes in land use in different zones along a transect— import’ ‘hanges in the catchment area of a water body

changes settlement: patterns

Historical transects can be prepared as foflows :— Together with an informant, draw- a transect Lhrough the

area of interest. This could-be based-on a morecomplete transect already prepared to help todistinguish agro—ecological zones in the area or itcould be done from scratch

— Get the informant to describewhat current conditionsare like in, each zone or in particular parts of thetransect. -

- -

— Ask what conditions were like 10 years ago, then 20years ago, etc.

— Redraw the, transect and try to represent theseconditions schematically.

Daily activity charts —

Overhead transparency- daily activity charts for men andwomen -

Daily activ charts illustrate the acttvities undertakenin one day by respondents. They can be made up for theprevious day or for a “typical” day during a particular timeof the year.

Daily activity charts are particularly useful for assessingthe relative work—loads between different groups of peoplein the community. They are particulari.y valuable whenlooking at differences between the work—loads of men andwomen and how they vary according to season.

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Daily activity charts - (continued)

Activity chartd can be prepared as follows:

- Focus the informant’s attention first of all on the’activities of th previous day.

- Build up a picture of all the activities, carried out atdifferent times of the day and how long they took.

— Plot these activities on a circular pie chart or as arectangular bar chart.

- Ask how typical this day was and how it differed fromother days at this time of year.

- Ask about the activities of a day at another time ofyear i.e. if the appraisal is taking place in the dryseason, a day during the rainy season, if during theslack agricultural period, a day during the peak periodfor agricultural work.

Process charts —

Overhead transparency — process chartProcess charts are useful for breaking down and analysingimportant activities. They can help to understand all theinputs tO and outputs from an activity, who is involved andthe alternative ways df doing it. They can be used to getrespondents to focus on and explain features of theiractivities which they might otherwise take for granted andnot reveal to oUtsiders. Process charts are particularlyuseful for analysing economic activities and the inputs andoutputs involved.

The charts can be prepared as follows

- Focus the informant’s attention on a particularactivity.

- Ask him/her to describe in detail how the activity iscarried out.

- If the informant tries to rush through the descriptionsuperficially, stop them and, get them to describe inmore detail.

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Process charts — (continued)

- FoS each step in the activity, ask whether any inputsare required, how many/much, how much they cost, andhow long it lasts or whether anything is produced.— Mark each step down as a box tn a process, with theinputs or outputs noted beside it.

- Work through the activity from beginning to end to geta complete picture.

Decision trees —

Overhead transparency — decision treeDecision trees try to identify the factors influencingimportant decisions taken by local people and thus clarifytheir priorities.

Decision trees can be useful for illustrating the following:— decisions on resource use, including water and land— decisions on alternative economic activitiesIt seems to be difficult to get people to analyse theirdecisions directly, therefore decision trees are probablybest used to illustrate information obtained from informantsby other means.

Decision trees can be created in several ways— Start from a particular resources or activity andestablishing what alternatives are available, forexample different ways of using the same resource ordifferent ways of doing the same activity. Find out whypeople decide on one alternative or the other. For eachalternative, find out what further choices areavailable and why people might choose them.

Alternatively, start from existing practices, find outwhat alternatives were available and what influenceschoices of alternatives. Work backwards through thevarious alternatives until the “original” resource andthe decisions on its use are reached.

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Bar charts —

overhead transparency — bar charts of cattle ownership andhouseholds with migrant workerssimple bar charts are useful means to illustratequantitative rélatiönships. They are easily understood andcan often be prepared by local people directly.

Possible uses of bar charts might be :- to show and compare asset ownership from different

selected informants- to show and compare asset ownership of all households

in a village- to illustrate proportions of income from different

sources

imp1e graphs -

Overhead tranparency - graph of crop yieldsVarious types of simplified graph can be used to illustratespecific topics or trends. Within a Rapid Appraisal it maybe difficult to obtain the precise data required to producea prefect graph but whatever quantitative information isobtained from informants can often be plotted so that trendsor distribution is clearer.

Wherever various quantitative information has been obtainedfrom various households, the information can be put onto agraphs

Venn diagrammes -

Overhead transparency — groups and, organizationsVnn diagranunes can be used to show the relationshipsbetween different groups and organizations within acommunity. This can be useful in identifying potentialconflicts between interest groups and in clarifying theroles of individuals and institutions.

Venn diagranunes can be prepared based on informationprovided by informants.

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Venn diagrammes (continued)

In looking at small water bodies, particularly importantaspects which can be illustrated using venn diagrammes are

— different groups of users of the water body andcorrespondences with ethnic, clan, family or vil).agegroups

— groups or individuals responsible for managing a waterbody and their interaction

- the degrees of interaction between differentadministrative groups in communities surrounding awater body.

When asking about: groups and institutions, team membersshould take care to find out about— leadership— membership— activities— decision—making processes— interaction or conflicts with other groups or

institutions

Ranking

One important communication tools that can be used in manydifferent ways during intensive interviews is ranking. Theidea of ranking is that it will stop the interviewer fromimposing his own ideas about what is important andunimportant during an interview. It will often happen that,if an informant mentions something which the interviewerthnks is important, the interviewer will automaticallyassume that it is important for the informant as well. Byusing different types of ranking exercises the interviewercan get a picture of the informants own priorities.

The interviewer has to elicit from the informant severalitems which fall into the same category i,e different crops,dii f’erent fishing gears, different types ofwork, different:orgmisations. It is very important that: these items aresuggested by the informant. The interviewer should notsuggest items because they may be either unknown orunimportant to the informant

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ganicing (continued)There is then a choice of two ways of proceeding

overhead transparency — direct matrix rankingDirect matrix ranking -

The simplest way is to ask about good or bad qualities ofthe various items which have been listed. Then make turnthese various qualities into either all bad or all goodqualities.

or example, if the various qualities mentioned for fishinggear are — expensive, can be üsedför many different fish,difficult to repair, readily available in local shops —

these could be turned into all positive qualities such as -

cheap, versatile, easy to repair, readily available. Theidea is to have a set of criteria which local people thinkare important.

The items being discussed and the criteria for 5udging them-can then be put quickly into a matrix by the interviewer andthe informant can be asked to rank each item according toeach criteria.

It is also important to get people to tell you, at the end,which if the items they would choose or which they prefer.This can lead to surprising results and can give an idea ofwhich criteria is most important for people.

Pair-wise preference rankingOverhead transparency — pair—wise preference rankingAn alternative way of ranking items which can be usefulparticularly with smaller numbers of items (say .4—5) is tofirst try to place the items in order by getting theinformant to compare pairs of items and simply say whichthey prefer. By comparing each item with every other item ahierarchy can be formed. Then informants can be asked aboutthe features of each item i.e. why is it good ? why is itbad ?

4. After reviewing all the various techniques suggested byparticipants and those above, run through the list oftopics prepared earlier and elicit from participants whichtechniques could be applied to which topics.

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Overhead transparercy - comprehensive list of keyinformants and techniques5. Make sure that a comprehensive list of topics to be

investigated, key informants for each topic and techniquesfor investigating each topic is noted down to be typed upafter the training and distributed to participants beforegoing to the field.

6. Using this list of topics., ask participants to decide inwhat order the topics, ard thc objectives to which they areassociated should be investigat:d.

Overhead transparency — objectives and topics investigated ondifferent days of previous appraisals7. If necessary, put up transparency showing order in which

objectives and topics were approached in previousappraisals.

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I E Workshops

purpose - To get participants to understand the Importanceof regular workshops and brainstorming sessionsduring the appraisal.

To introduce participants to important factors inorganising workshops.

1. Emphaslse that the list of topics prepared above is basedon what participants think are the important aspects whichneed to be investigated. Almost certainly the team’s ideaswill change during the course of the appraisal. How willthese changes be incorporated into the team’s work ? -.

2. A vital feature of Rapid Appraisals is the constant reviewof the appraisal and its findings as it is in progress.This is done during regular meetings which will be held inthe field or wherever the team is staying.

overhead transparency — principle features of workshops3. Using the overhead transparency, review the main pointswhich need to be considered when planning and conductingthese meetings.

Workshops

Frequency -

The frequency with which workshops are organised during theappraisal will depend on how much time is available overall,how large an area is being covered by the appraisal, howwidely dispersed the team will be during the work in thefield and what kind of appraisal is being conducted.

For an appraisal of a small water body, where a relativelysmall area is being covered, workshops can be planned afterevery day’s work in the field.

If, for any reason, this is not possible, the team leadershould not hesitate to organise the workshdp for thefollowing morning i.e.during time previously allocated forfield work. The workshops should be considered as importantas the field work.

If the area being covered is bigger, and therefore it is‘fore difficult to get the team together, the workshops canbe organised at longer intervals.

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Timing -

Meetings should be timed to suit all team members. Inparticular it should be remembered that, while for“outsiders” it may be normal to put in time in the eveningsfor workshops and discussions while they are in the field,for local staff this represents overtime on a normal workingday and they maybe less enthusiastic about spendingevenings away from their homes and families.

Therefore plenty of time should be allowed for workshopswhen the appraisal is being planned, remembering that theseworkshops are not “extra” activities but an integral part ofthe appraisal.

It should not always be assumed that evenings are the besttime for workshops and meetings of the appraisal team (orthat mornings are the best time for field work). Eveningscan often he better spent in rural communitiestalking topeople relaxing after work.. Depending on the time of year,it can be very difficult to find people to talk, to during’the morning as they are often all at work.

Meeting place —

Flexibility is the key when chosing places to hold workshopsand brainstorming sessions. Often, when a workshop isrequired just to run through findings and distribute tasksto team members, a workshop can he held just about anywherewhere there is room for people to sit and shade or shelterfrom the rain : the veranda of someone’s hou;r, under atree, by the side of a water body.

However, if the team has to review a lot of information andanalyse findings in depth, a place where the group will notbe disturbed and can work in relative comfort is preferable:a school room, meeting hail or local government office mightbe possible venues.

organisation

—

The key features of useful workshops are- full participation by all team members- limitation of discussion to relevant topics- clearly defined tasks as an output of the workshop.

participat.in by team members can in part be elicited bythorough coverage of the topics which the,team has beeninvestigating before the workshop. These can be reviewed oneby one eliciting any information which team members havecollected which is relevant to that topic. This shouldinclude any useful diagrammes which have been preparedeither by team members or informants.

Keeping to the point -

One of the biggest problems during these workshops islimiting discussion to relevant matters and not allowingteam members to simply recount everything they. have foundout during their field work. This is one of the keys tokeeping a-Rapid Appraisal “rapid” and participants should bereminded of this point -before every, workshop.

Using the topic lists prepared by participants as a guide todiscussion will help to keep the workshop on track. However,the team leader, or whoever is leading the workshop, shouldmake sure that discussion does not wander of the subject or.get bogged down in irrelevant details.

Of course, participants have to be given the liberty tobring up new points which have not been though of, but thisdoes not mean that every possible alternative, real orimagined, of every situation or circumstance encountered hasto be analysed in depth. Once a particular finding has beenmentioned, supported by evidence in the form of hard data,anecdotes or informants responses and perhaps illustrated bya suitable diagramme, that should be enough.

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Outputs -

The outputs of these regular workshops and brainstormingsessions could be among the following:

— A revised list of topics for investigation in thefield. This might mean new topics which were notthought of before when the team was drawing up its listof topics for investigation. It might mean moving onfrom one set of topics to another.

A hypothesis to.be either proved or disproved in someway during the course of future field Work.

— A key question to be answered

- A list of topics which have already been investigatedby some team members using certaifl techniques but Whichneed to be further investigated by other team membersusing different technique in order to properly checkfindings.

— A detailed plan for the next phase of field work,including how the appraisal team will divide up intopairs or groups, what each group will investigate, howthey will investigate it and where they will go to doit.

4 With participants decide how often wotkshops will be heldduring the course of the current appraisal. Making use ofthe knowledge of local staff taking part in the appraisal,try to identify possible locations for holding workshops,such as local schools, offices or meeting halls.

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F. Participatory planning and discussions with thecommunity

purpose : — To make participants aware of some of ‘thealternative techniques for participatoryplanning.

overhead transparency — Rapid Appraisal as empowerment1. Call participants’ attntion to the nodel of RapidAppraisal as empowerment Suggest that beyond thecollection of !ñfotmation on an area, a community or awater body, this aspect of Rapid Appraisal is the mostimportant.

2. Several different approaches can be adopted to involvingthe community in discussing findings and planning actionThese alternatives are presented in the boxes below.

Partióipatory p1afl!ing. Sessions

Many techniques and approaches have been developed forundertaking participatory planning activities withcommunities or groups bf people.These approaches areprobably the most effective ways of getting communitiesfully involved in planning their own development.

However, before embarking on such an activity as part of aRapid Appraisal several important points have to be born inmind:’- Most of these activities require specially trained

animators with special communication skills in orderfor them to work properly The importance of theseskills hould not be underestimated as participatoryplanning techniques’ usually involve groups of people(often groups which do not usually get together to dothings) analysing problems in depth and decidig whataction to take. The results can often be unexpected anddramatic Whoever undertakes to start off such aprocess haS to be able to “keep it Under control”.

These activities require a large investment of time andeffort fràmthepeople involved. They:will probably bewilling to put in such time and effort if they aredealing tiith, an issue which is regarded as critical.One use (fisheries) of a nearby small water body whichis also used for many other purposes may not representan important enough problem for people to be willing toundertake such a long and intensive activity.

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Participatory planning sessions — (continued)Participatory planning usually involves the followingelements :— The motivation of local people to address existingproblems themselves.

- The identification by local people of criticalproblems.

- The identification of existing resources.- The matching of resources to problems arididentificatiori of requirements. from outside thecommunity.

- The establishment of mechanisms among local people formanaging activities and future developments.

Presenting findings back to the communityPerhaps the simplnst way of involving the community inshaping the output of an appraisal is for the appraisal teamto organise a presentation of their own findings back to thecommunity towards the end of the appraisal. When doing anappraisal of a small water body this may be the mostpractical means of working with the community as a whole forseveral reasons- During a Rapid Appraisal of a small water body, theappraisal team will have talked to a lot of. people inthe community about the water body, about its uses andthe problems associated with it This will have alreadyfocussed people’s attention on the water bàcly.Presenting the teams findings at the end of theappraisal will help to build upon the discussions whichhave already taken place and the interest which hasbeen aroused.

— Where a fisheries agency is leading the appraisal, thepresentation of the team’s findings will help to focusdiscussion on issues which that agency may be in aposition to address. Open-ended participatoryactivities always carry the “risk” that the agenciesinvolved may not be able to address the problems whichemerge as priorities. A more directed approach can helpto avoid this.

81

k

presenting findings back to the community — (continued)

At the same time,’a presentation Ofthetea&s findingscan involve local agencies which may be able to take upany non—fisheries issues- which have emerged from theappraisal and which the community regards as important.

Small water bodies are generally used for manydifferent things and the function which the appraisalis concentrating on may be only one, possibly minor,use. Therefore the local-community may not beinterested inexpending a lot of energy on addressing alOw priority problem This type of guided discussion atthe end of the appraisal can produce results in arelatively short time.

Important factors to remember when preparing meetings topresent the appraisal findings to the community are-

As many local àgendies as seem to be relevant should beinvited to partioipate in such ñeetings. However, theirrepresentatives have to be well-briefed before themeeting so that they already know what the appraisalhas discovered and what it recommends and what theiragency can do in response to the appraisal findings.

Keep the presentation brief andconcrete. Avoid thetemptation to talk in abstract terms.

If possible, illustrate points with pictures, drawingsor diagrammes which will be easily understood.

Try to reduce the findings of the appraisal to a smallnumber of key issues.

If possible, involve local—level workers who know thepeople and are used to communicating with them on theirterms tO participate in leading the meeting. A goodcombination, from experience in Zimbabwe, seemed to beto have a member of the appraisal team from outside topresent the appraisal findings and then a localextension worker to lead the discussion by thecommunity.

Keep the presentations brief and allow as much time aspossible for discussion.

If there appears to be the interest and need to takeaction as a result of the appraisal findings, encouragethe meeting to take decisions on what the next stepswill be.

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Presenting findings back to the community - (continued)

The agency leading the appraisal has to know what itcan and cannot do to assist the community before goinginto a meeting of this sort. Possible follow-up optionshave to be discussed in detail with other agenciesinvolved in the meeting beforehand.

3. Whatever type of participatory activity is planned duringthe appraisal, plenty of time should be allotted topreparing it well, notifying people of planned activitiesand briefing key participants. Relevant media for gettingacross messages also require a lot of time to be preparedproperly.

4. Hopefully, any meeting held with he cómnmnity to round upthe apprais1 will come up with some cccrete suggestionsor plans for action. These must be prpcrly recorded sothat they can be included in the report produced by theappraisal team.

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G. Summary

purpose : — To review and check the contents of Session iii.

— To discuss possible outputs from the appraisal.

overhead transparency — review of Session IIIi. Using the overhead transparency, briefly review the

sections of Session III, what was covered in each section,and relate it to the current Rapid Appraisal

- Setting objectives for the appraisal.(Call attention to the objectives set for the currentappraisal)

— Preparatory steps for Rapid Appraisal.(Outline the steps already taken and those still to becompleted for the current appraisal)

— Intensive inter’iiews and discussions with localpeople.(Call ãttóntion to the list of topics drawn up forthese discussions)

- Techniques.(Call attention to the various techniques Which wereidentified as potentially useful for the currentappraisal)

- Workshops.• (Remind participants that the appraisal team will be

aiming towards presenting its findings to thecoiiuuunity or undertaking some kind of participatoryplanning acti*iiEy With the community at the end of theappraisal)

2. Ask participants to suggest what kind of outputs they wouldexpect from the process outlines in Session III. Note downparticipants suggestions regarding outputs

Overhead transparency — possible outputs from a Rapid Appraisal3. Once participants have made their suggestions, put up the

overhead showing various types of output which could beexpected from a Rapid Appraisal. Those which have notalready been suggested by participants and discussed can bepresented briefly as in the box below.

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Outputs

One of the principle intentions behind Rapid Appraisal as anapproach is to generate constructive outputs in as short aperiod as possible. The techniques used are all gearedtowards coming up with practical suggestions for developmentand generating the best environment for getting theappraisal’s suggestions put into practice.

The type of outputs which a Rapid Appraisal can be expectedto come up with are of several different types and willdepend on the type of appraisal which has been carried out.However, here are some of the possible outputs which anappraisal team could aim for

Suggestions or plans for development activitiesDepending:on the time which an appraisal team has had towork in the area, they should be able to deve].op practicalplans for developmentactivities whiöh could he]p to improvespecific aspects of local conditiops which have beenidentified as requiring action.

Most importantly, the process of an appraisal, invo:Lvinglocal people and local agencies at all stages should enablean appraisal team to lay out in detail bow any activitiesthey suggest could be put into action, who should beinvolved, what different people roles should be and whowould be affected by the activities,

Particularly important would be the suggestions on how thelocal community would participate in activities and organisethemselves to manage and implement activities wheneverappropriate.

Topics for further investigation or reearchAn appraisal team should be perfectly aware of thelimitations it faces in terms of time and the amount ofdepth with which it can investigate topics. Whereverparticular aspects of the local situation are encounteredwhich seem to be of particular importance and too complexfor the team to look into in the ltmé available, the teamshould suggest further investigation of these topics and howthey should be investigated.

An appraisal team could therefore suggest the objectives fora further appraisal, who should take part in that appraisaland when it should be done, They might aisà suggest a matterrequiring a detailed formal survey pf some type.Alternatively they might simply formulate some new “keyquestions” which needed. to be answered in order to carry onwith development work.

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hypotheses for testing

where an appraisal team identifies an activity which itfeels could be useful for improving local conditions’;, theymight suggest ways of testing the activity, involving localpeople. An example on a small water body might be theimprovement of productivity through the addition ofnutrients to the water. If the appraisal team feels thatthis could be a feasible activity, they could suggest how itcould be tested and who could be involved. All thesequestions would previously have been discussed with thecommunity and therefore the team could present a detailedplan for trials involving the community and clarifying theroles of the various agencies involved.

Local commitment

Whatever the suggestions and proposals that the appraisalcomes up with, they should have the overwhelming advantageof being ideas which have already been discussed with thepeople in the community and the people from local agencieswho have day—to—day experience of the area,. Thus localpeople will know what is being proposed, wIll have offeredtheir opinions on it and contributed to formulating theproposals which are being made. Therefore any futuredevelopment work is takes place as a result of the appraisalwill not be merely outsiders work but the fruit of localpeople’s contributions and something they will want to takepart in and support.

This is not a “by-product” of a Rapid Appraisal but shouldbe regarded as one of its most important outputs.

4. Discuss with participants’ which types of output are mostlikely from the current appraisal and any additional meansof achieving them which have not yet been discussed.

5. Suggest that a final workshop for the appraisal team toevaluate the appraisal as a whole, discuss the outputs andplan the follow-up should be planned for some time afterthe final meeting or planning session with the community.

6. Elicit any further comments to the contents of this sessionand clarify any points which require further explaination.

S

87

SESSION IV

WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARDS?

88

1. INTRODUCTION

The OBJECTIVES of this session are

1. To identify options for the follow—up, of the currentappraisal.

2. To identify options for reporting procedures on theappraisal.

3. To assign responsibility for different aspects of reportingto different team members.

By the end of this session, participants sh’uld1. Be aware of possible approaches to the follow—up of thecurrent appraisal.

2. Have decided on a suitable reporting procedure for thecurrent appraisal.

3. Be aware of their own responsibilities in the reportingprocedure.

METHODS used in this session include

1. Illustrated presentations.

2. Group discussion.

MATERIALS used in this session include

1. Pieces of card and writing materials for working groups.2. Overhead transparencies.

0

89

2. SESSION IV PLAN

REPORTING

SIJMMARY

90

3. LIST OF MATERIALS

A Reporting— Pieces of card for working

groups

— *Overhead transparency— V reportizg on Rapid )%ppraisal

B Summary— Overhead trans rency

— plan for current aprnisal— *Overhead trar.rency

— Rapid App.iaisal asV interaction

p

91

4. GUIDELINES

A Reporting

purpose : — To identify options for reporting procedures forthe current appraisal.

- To select (provisionally) a suitable reportingprocedures for the current appraisal.

pieces of card distributed to groups - writing materials forparticipants1. Divide participants into groups and ask each group to

decide

- Who the findings of the current appraisal have to bereported to.

- How they should be reported to different individualsor groups.

2. Distribute pieces of card and writing materials to eachgroup. Ask groups 1o write down, on seperate pieces ofcard, the different groups or individuals who shouldreceive some kind of report on the findings of theappraisal and, in each case, how t.he findings could best bereported.

3. Remind participants that “reporting” can consist ofanything from a 5—minute telephone call to a 100-pagereport.

4. Once groups have finished, collect the cards and workthrough the people who should receive reports groupingtogether those which different working groups havesuggested.

5. In discussion with participants try to categorise thevarious people who have to be repotted to. Initially thegrouping may be by location or position in the hierarchyi.e. local authorities, then district, provincial andnational level. Try to encourage an alternative groupingaccording to how people are expected to react to thereport.

92

Overhead transparency — reporting on Rapid Appraisal6. As required, put up the overhead transparency on reportingand call attention to it. Explain features of the reportingprocess along the lines presented in the box below.

Reporting on Rapid appraisal

Who needs reports ?

People who you expect to react to the findings of theappraisal.

People who have asked you to report the findings of theappraisal.

People who have taken part in the appraisal.

People who may be.affected by the results of theappraisal.

The normal problems with reports is that they have tosatisfy the different requirement of these different groups.To make sure, all the groups usually end tip with exhaustivereports which are not strictly necessary nd usually do notget read anyway. In addition, it usually takes a long timeto generate such reports and by the time people receive themthey are out—of—date or have been overtaken by events.

One of the features of Rapid Appraisal is that it tries toaccelerate the reporting procedure in several ways.

1. People who are expected to react to appraisal findingsshould be involved in the appraisal.This way, they will understand what has happened andwhat has been found out and what their role in thefollow-up should be. If they have not taken part in theactual fieldwork they can be invited to take part inthe final workshop or community meeting so that theycan make their own inputs and get hear first hand howthe findings were arrived at and what it is thoughtthey should do about it. For these people, a writtenreport will serve merely to reemphasise what they haveheard in person.

93

2. Repeated workshops by the team throughout the appraisalshould lead to quicker preparation of a fLnal report.During the regular workshops held by the team duringthe course of the appraisal, the findings up to thatpoint will be reied, sorted out, reäorded and *

“provisional” conclusions discussed. Subsequentworkshops will review these points, ref L.ne them andsuggest new conclusions. Findings and ‘informatjon whichis not relevant to the objectives of, the appraj.sai willbe discarded. By the end of the appraisal, theinformation distilled by each workshop should be in aform where it canbe reviewed and put together into areport fairly quickly

3 Graphic representations of informationThe techniques used for communicating during a RapidAppraisal make use of graphic representations ofvarious kinds to-illustrate important ideas. The sametechniques can be used in reporting findings. Whereverpossible actual pictures or diagrammes used in thefield can be presented as findings. This will shortenthe reporting procedure considerably as good graphicscan substitute large amounts of printed explajnatjon.

4. Use the objectives set for the appraisal as a quide toreportingBy keeping to the objectives set for the appraisal, thereporting process can be kept to a minimum. What isreported can be limited to findings which are relevantto achieving those objectives.

5. Involve all team meabers in the reporting processThe appraisal team 1ill be made up of people fromdifferent agencies which have an interest in theresults of the appraisal. Team members can be maderesponsible for reporting the findings to theirrespective agencies. This can save considerable timeand make sure that each agency is informed about whatis of interest to them. Such reports can be supportedby brief recapitulations of the objectives of theappraisal, he participants, the principle findings andthe recommeñdatiohs.

94

6. Organise a workshop to report findings firsthand toconcerned agenciesWhere there is time, the best method for ensuring thateveryone who needs to know-is informed about theappraisal’s findings and understands them would be toorganisé a workshop specifically for the purpose ofpresenting the appraisal team’s findings to therelevant agencies, discussing the findings and futureaction. Such a meeting could take place after thecommunity meeting at the end of the appraisa•1’s fiel.dwork. Holding such a meeting would again make it lessnecessary to prepare a long written report on theappraisal. A summary of the proceedings and discussionsof a workshop for reporting findings would probably besufficient as a report:.

7. Review participants’ suggestions of who should receivereports on the appraisal and how they should be reportedto. Discuss alternatives method of reporting.

8. In consultation with participants, decide on a(provisional) reporting procedure for the current appraisalincluding the following

— Which people and agencies should receive informationon the appraisal and its findings.

- What type of information each of these people oragencies should receive.

- How that information should be transmitted.

— Who on the team should be responsible for transmittinginformation to each person or agency.

9. Emphasise that this reporting procedure is “provisional”because the findings, of the appraisal may mean thatdifferent agencies and different means of reporting willhave to be adopted. Reporting procedures will he reviewedin workshops during the course of the appraisal.

010. Make sure that the reporting procedures decided upon arerecorded.

95

B. Summary

purpose — To reemphasise the critical points concerningRapid Appraisal.

— To ensure that participants have a clearunderstanding of the Rapid Appraisal process asa whole.

overhead transparency — plan of the current Rapid Appraisal1. Put up a transparency which has been prepared beforehandshowing a plan of the current appraisal from start tofinish and clarifying which elements covered in thetraining session take place when.

2. Review the planned activities for the current appraisal and.elicit any suggestions or comments from participants makingadjustments where necessary.

3. Emphasise that one of the features of Rapid Appraisal isthat it can adjust to the circumstances encountered in thefield. Therefore the current plan is not definitive but astarting point for the activity.

Overhead transparency - Rapid Appraisal as interaction4. Call attention to the above transparency which is adevelopment of the one used in Session II. Use this toremind participants of what point in the appraisal they arenow at and where they go from there. Einphasise the factthat the crucial interaction with local people is the nextstep after the training.

5. Review plans for all the activities for the currentappraisal up until the next meeting of the appraisal team.Ensure that participants have all the relevant handouts andmaterials which they require for fieldwork.

97

APPENDIX

VISUAL AIDS

S

99

SESSION ISection B

POINTS OF VIEW

OF OUTSIDERS ANT) LOCAL PEOPLE

OUTSIDERS LOCAL PEOPLE

1. Looking for problems Concerned with day-to-daythey can solve, problems and actual local

conditions.

2. Looking• for !?projectsfl. Looking for solutions toexisting problems.

3. Concerned with reactions Concerned with reactionsof funding agencies, of local people.national institutions,evaluation missions, etc.

4. Looking for activities Looking for activitieswhich are easy to manage which will fit into existingand easy to evaluate work programmes.

5. Looking for limited Looking for long terminvolvement and commit- impact.ment.

1 00

SESSIOU 11Section B

DRAWBACKS OF FORMAL SURVEYS

1. TIME CONSUMING

2 EXPENSIVE

3 STRUCTURED AND INFLEXIBLE

4 REFLECTS PRIORITIES OF PEOPLE PREPARINGSURVEY(Not priorities of local people)

5 SUBJECT TO ERRORS AND BIASES DURINGPREPARATION

6 SUBJECT TO ERRORS AND BIASES OFENNUMERATORS

7 SUBJECT TO ERRORS AND BIASES DURINGCODING AND ANALYSIS

101

SESSION IISection B

DRAWBACKS OF‘RURAL DEVELOPMENT TOURISM’

1. TALKING TO PEOPLE NEAR MAIN ROADS ANDPATHWAYS- “ROADSII)E BIAS” -

2. TALKING TO THE FIRST PEOPLE YOU SEE- “VISIBILITY BIAS”

3. TALKING ONLY TO THE EDUCATE AND RICH- “WEALTH BtAS”

4. TALKING ONLY TO MEN (OR WOMEN)- “GENDER BIAS” -

5. TAKING ACCOUNT ONLY OF WHAT YOU SEE,WHEN YOU SEE IT- “SNAP-SHOT Or SEASONAL BIAS”

6. LOOKING FOR PROJECTS- “PROJECT BIAS”

7. TALKING ABOUT THE SUBJECT YOU AREEXPERT IN- “SUBJECT-MATTER BIAS”

102

SMALL WATER BODIES

SESSION IISection B

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SESSION IiSectjonD

RAPID APPRAISALin the

PROJECT CYCLE

1. EXPLORATCRY

2. TOPICAL

3. MONITORING AND EVALUATION

4. PARTICIPATORY

104

SESSION IISection 1)

RAPID APPRAISALSESSION 11AS INTERACTION BETWEEN Section B

OUTSIDERS, LOCAL AGENCIESAND LOCAL COMMUNITIES

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SESSZOn LISection E

COMPONENTSOF

RAPID APPRAISAL

PREPARATION

2 INTENSIVE COMMUNICATION AND DISCUSSIONSWITH LOCAL PEOPLE

USE OF COMMUNICATION TOOLS

REPEATED WORKSHOPS

5. PARTICIPATORY DISCUSSIONSAND PLANNING SESSION

WITH LOCAL PEOPLE

107

CTf’ C’ VP%1 T-rILI iL

Section F

REVIEW OFSESSION II

DEVELOPMENT OF RAPID APPRAISAL

2. WHY USE RAP]]) APPRAISAL?The DRAWBACKS of FORMAL SURVEYS and

“RURAL DEVELOPMENT TOURISM”

3. TilE FEATURES OF RAP]]) APPRAISALSPEED, OPTIMAL IGNORANCE, LEARNING from LOCAL PEOPLE,

LEARNING from MANY POINTS OF VIEW,FLEXIBLE and ADAPTABLE, FIELDWORK,COMMUNICATION TOOLS, AVOID BIASES,

and SYSTEMATIC and INTENSIVE

4. TIlE USES OF RAPID APPRAISALRAPID APPRAISAL as part of the PROJECT CYCLE

RAPID APPRAISAL as INTERACTIONRAPID APPRAISAL as EMPOWERMENT

5. THE COMPONENTS OF RAPID APPRAISALPREPARATION

INTENSIVE COMMUNICATION with LOCAL PEOPLEUSE of COMMUNICATION TOOLS

WORKSHOP SPARTICIPATORY DISCUSSIONS and PLANNING

108

SESSION IiiSection A

FACTORSFOR

SETTING OBJECTIVES

1. TIME AVAILABLE

2. SETTING ACHIEVABLE OBJECTIVES

3. SETTING LIMITING OBJECTIVES

S

109

SESSION IIISection A

OBJECTIVES FROMPREVIOUS RAPID APPRAISALSON SMALL WATER BODIES - I

OBJECTIVES for RAPID APPRAISAL of CHICHEWODAM, ZIMBABWE

1. TO IDENTIFY THE REAL NEEDS AND PRIORITIESOF THE COMMUNITY

2. TO IDENTIFY THE USES AND USERS OF THEDAM

3. TO ASSESS :THE IMPACT OF POSSIBLEINTERVENTIONS ON THE COMMUNITY

4. TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE MECHANISMS FOR THEUTILISATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE DAM

110

SESSTON IIISection A

OBJECTIVES FROMPREVIOUS RAPID APPRAISALSON SMALL WATER BODIES-TI

OBJECTIVES for RAPID APPRAISAL of MWENJE DAM,ZIMBABWE

TO INVESTIGATE THE HOUSEI-OLD FO( )1)SECURITY SITUATION OF THE LOCALCOMMUNITIES AROUND THE DAM

2. TO IDENTIFY PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE USESAND USERS OF THE DAM

3. TO ASSESS THE PAST AND PRESENT FISHINGPRESSURE ON THE DAM

4. TO INVESTIGATE PEOPLE’S ATTITUDES,KNOWLEDGE AND COMMITTMENT REGARDINGFISH RESOURCES, FISHING TECHNOLOGY AMDFISH CONSUMPTION

0

111

SESSION IIISection B

PREPARATORY STEPSFOR

RAPID APPRAISAL

1 SECONDARY DATA REVIEW

2. CONTACTING LOCAL AUTHORITIES

3. PREPARATORY WORKSHOP

112

SESSION IIISection C

INTENSIVE INTERVIEWSAND DISCUSSIONS

WITH LOCAL COMMUNITY

1. INTERVIEWS WHICH ARESEMI-STRUCTURED BUT SYSTEMATIC

2. DECiDE ON MAIN TOPICS FOR EACH.INTERVIEW BEFOREHAND

3. AVOID LEADING QUESTIONS

4. USE QUESTION MATRICES

5. USE COMMUNICATION TOOLS

6. DIVIDE THE APPRAISAL TEAM INTOPAIRS FOR INTERVIEWS

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SESSION IIISection C

TOPICS FOR INESTIGATIONFROM PREVIOUS APPRAISALS

(from Rapid Appraisal at Mwenje Dam, Zimbabwe)

OBJECTIVE : TO INVESTIGATE THE HOUSEHOLD SECURITYSIT’ )N OF HOUSEHOLDS AROUND THE DAM

(TOPIC AREAS)AVAILABILITY OF FOOD— What food is ávailàble ?— Where is it obtained from ?— Who eats the food ?— Incidence of. malnutrition

PRESERVATION OF FOOD— What food is preserved ?— Who processes food ?— Why is food preserved ?— Changes in preservation?

processing techniques

FOOD CONSUMPTION— Traditional beliefs

- Adequacy of diet— Food preferences— Fish as weaning food

- When is iL available— Wo provides food ?— Food preparation— Seasonal variations

nutrition

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— Religiousbeliefs aboutfood

— Changes in diet— Sources of advice on

nutrition

V

C.

(TOPIC AREAS)

DAM HISTORY- Why was it built ?— How was itbuilt ?— Was anyone displaced when

it was built ?

DAM USES— Uses of the darn— Benefits from darn

DAM USERS MID I4MIAGRMRNT— Users of the dam— Restrictions on use ofdarn

— Who makes decisions about dam ?- Changes in decision-making

— Priority attached to use of andaccess to dam

— Awareness of legal status of dam

FISH AND FISHERIES- Knowledge about fish

— Preferences in fish- Fishing methods— Changes in people fishing /

fishing methods— Degree of dependence on fisheries

- Who buil it ?- How has it changed ?- When was dam built/

filled/stocked with fish ?

- Why those people 7- Who bènèf its from darn and.

why 7— Changes in isers of the dam

— AwareneSs of decision—making processes

- Fish which are caught/eaten•

- Who catches fish 7Fishing times / seasonsNumber ofpeeple fishing(licensed/unlicensed)

OBJECTIVE : TO IDENTIFY PASTTHE DAM

115

SESSIONSection

& PRESEN USES & USERS OF

IIIC

- Why is it used that way 7— Changes in uses

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123

SESSION IIISection D

PROCESS CIARTS

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124

SESSiON 111Sectjo D

DECISION CHARTS

• F’TERI Ir3Lb

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125

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SESSION IIISection D

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SESSION IIISection D

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127

VENN PTAGRAJWj4jS

SESSION IIISectj0 D

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SiS1 ON IIISection D

NKING

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129

SESSION IIISection D

PAIR-WISE PREFERENCE RANKING - I

rErOE 2ZE ‘J.

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130

SESSION IIISection D

PAIR-WISE PREFERENCE RANKING -II

AFRICAN WHITE r LOCALOLIVE ACAC IA

JUNIPER CROTONEUCALYPTIJS EUCALYPTUSGLOBULUS CAMALDULENS IS

TREE TYPES REASONS(in order of preference)

1. African olive- many uses (implements, hoes, digging sticks, yokes).- house construction : resistant to termites.

- firewood : no smoke. - incense from leaves2. Eucalyptus camaidulensis

- easy to split. - strong for construction- durability. - straightness. - easy to make charcoal

3. Eucalyptus globulus- holds nails well. - bends easily. - firewood- used for farming implements. - not good for charcoal

4. Juniper- used for windows, doors and chairs.

5. White or local acacia- house construction

6. Croton- used for doors. - smokey as firewood

Preferences in local tree species : Wollo, Ethiopia.(from : McCracken, IIED, Lotidon : 1988)

131

SESSION IIISection D

PAIR-WISE PREFERENCE RANKING-IT

AFRICAN WHITE or LOCALOLIVE ACACIA

JUNIPER CROTONEUCALYPTUS EUCALYPTUSGLOBULUS CAMALDULENSIS

TREE TYPES REASONS(in order of preference)

.1. African olive- many uses (implements, hoes, digging sticks, yokes).- house construction : resistant to termites.

- firewood : no smoke. - incense from leaves2. Eucalyptus camaldulensis

- easy to split. - strong for construction- durability. - straightness. - easy: to make charcoal

3. Eucalyptus globulus- holds nails well. - bends easily. - firewood

used for farming implements. - not good for charcoal4. Juniper

- used for windows, doors and chairs.5. White or local acacia

- house construction6. Croton

- used for doors. smokey as firewood

Preferences in local tree species : Wollo, Ethiopia.(from : Mccracken, tIED, London : 1988)

132

SESSION uTSection E

PRINCIPAL FEATURES OFWORKSHOPS

1. FREQUENCY

2. TIMING

3. MEETING PLACE

4. ORGANISATION

5, KEEPING TO TFIE POINT

6. OUTPUT

133

SESSION IIISection G

REVIEW OF SESSION III

1. SETTING OBJECTIVES

2. PREPARATORY STEPS

Secondary data reviewcontacting local authorities

Preparatory workshop

3. INTENSIVE INTERVIEWS AND DISCUSSIONSWITH LOCAL PEOPLE

4. USE OF COMMUNICATION TOOLS

5. WORKSHOPS

6. PARTICIPATORY PLANNINGWITH THE COMMUNITY

134

SESS [ON Ill.Section C

POSSIBLE OUTPUTS

1. SUGGESTIONS or PLANSfor DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

2. TOPICS for FURTHER INVESTIGATIONorRESEARCH,

3. HYPOTHESESfor TESTING

4. LOCAL COMMITMENT

135

SSSSION IVSection A

REPORTING ON RAPID APPRAISAL

1. Involve people whO are expected to take action in theappraisal.

2. Use the outputs of the workshops to speed up reporting.

3. Represent information graphically.

4. Use the objectives to guide reporting.

5. Involve all team members in the reporting process.

6. Use workshops to report findings firsthand to concernedagencies