TOPIC FOUR
PARTICIPATORY
APPROACHES AND
METHODS OF
PLANNING
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Sub topics
Describe the Approaches of
participatory planning
Identify Methods of participatory
planning
Relate approaches and methods
for planning community project
Approaches of participatory planning
• A participatory approach refers to a
method or process that involves active
involvement and collaboration of individuals
or groups in decision-making, problem-
solving, and development initiatives.
• This approach aims at empowering local
communities and ensuring that their needs,
preferences, and opinions are taken into
account in the decision-making process.
i. Top down approach/Directive approach
•The directive approach means that the planning of an
action or programme is developed outside the
community but brought to it for implementation.
•This approach is commonly used by government
departments for development projects.
Cont….
• Refers to a planning process where
the decision-making power and authority are
concentrated at the top level of the organization or
government, and decisions are made by a small
group of experts or officials.
• In this approach, community members are only
consulted or informed about the decisions made by
the top-level decision-makers.
Bottom up approach/Non-directive/Participatory
Approach
• It is the approach whereby people are given
chance to decide on their priorities.
• In this approach people have liberty to
decide on their own affairs, needs, and
priorities without the help of change
agents/external stakeholder.
Cont….
• It involves starting with the local community,
gathering information about their needs,
preferences, and opinions, and involving them
in every stage of the planning process.
• This approach ensures that the
projects/initiatives are more likely to be
relevant, acceptable, and sustainable, as they
are developed in collaboration with the
community.
A collaborative approach
• This is a process of planning that
involves the active participation and
cooperation of all stakeholders in the
planning process.
• It is based on the principle that all
stakeholders have a valuable perspective to
contribute and that collaboration can lead to
more effective and sustainable solutions
Cont…
• Collaborative participatory planning involves
a range of stakeholders, including community
members, civil society organizations, private
sector actors, and government officials.
• These stakeholders work together to identify
and prioritize the needs of the community and
develop plans to address these needs.
• It also involves sharing information,
resources, and decision-making power
among all stakeholders.
• The collaborative approach in participatory
planning ensures the planning processes are
more democratic, inclusive and effective
resulting in more sustainable and equitable
outcomes for communities.
Participatory methods
• Participatory methods (PMs) are the
methods which are designed to ensure that
community development processes are
participatory, transparent, and inclusive.
• They allow for the active involvement of
stakeholders, and their input is taken into
account in decision-making.
It includes a range of activities with a common
thread: enabling ordinary people to play an
active and influential part in decisions which
affect their lives.
This means that people are not just listened
to, but also heard; and that their voices shape
outcomes.
Participatory methods are designed to build
self-esteem and a sense of responsibility for one’s
decisions.
They are designed for planning at community
level,participants learn from each other and
develop respect for each other’s knowledge and
skills.
TYPES OF PARTICIPATORY
METHODS
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
Participatory Action Research (PAR)
Opportunities and Obstacle to Development
Participatory Learning Action (PLA)
Asset Based Community Development
(ABCD)
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
• PRA is a citizen-centered method of
development, which aims to empower
communities by engaging local residents in
the process of identifying issues,
implementing solutions and monitoring
&evaluation.
• The focus of this method is on the local
knowledge, experiences and perspectives of
the community.
The process empowers local people by including
them directly in the issue of identification and
evaluation process and in many cases in the final
implementation ,post-construction monitoring.
• PRA is a participatory process in which all
community residents are involved in
identifying, prioritizing, and analyzing
problems, making action plans to address
the problems, implementing, monitoring
and evaluating the activities.
• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) refers to a
broad group of tools and activities designed to
identify and incorporate the knowledge and
opinions of stakeholders in the management of
projects and programs especially grass root
stakeholders (community members).
• PRA emphasize on the active participation
and engagement of community members,
recognizing their knowledge, experiences,
and perspectives as valuable resources.
Many dvt organisations face the “local
knowledge problem” meaning the inability to
understand or identify full scope of local needs
without communicating with residents.
PRA allows organizers to overcome this
problem by including residents directly in the
issue identification and evaluation process.
• PRA is an extended process that can last for
months or years as communities develop their
own skills needed to address issues, analyze
options, and carry out activities
• The overall objective of PRA is mobilize and
empower the community members by
involving them in every step including
collection and analysis of data, planning and
implementation of activities
• This involvement of community members can
help to build trust, promote a sense of
ownership and commitment and ultimately
lead to more sustainable and effective
development outcomes.
One example of a PRA would include
mapping where participants draw their local
area.
They identify key features such as the
facilities available, residential areas and the
locations of service providers.
Through this, developmental evaluation can
be truly empowering and can equip people with
new skills.
This process of discovery can also be great
for enhancing social cohesion as individuals
articulate their role and place in a team
committed to creating social change.
RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL (RRA)
The term RRA is refers to a discrete study (or
series of studies) in one or more communities.
an activity carried out by a group of people from
different professional fields or disciplines
(multidisciplinary team).
which usually aims to learn about a particular
topic, area, situation, group of people or
whatever else is of concern to those organising
the RRA
These RRA studies typically last from four
to eight days.
• During this period a multidisciplinary team
of researchers looks at a set of issues that
are clearly defined by the study objectives.
it usually involves collecting information by
talking directly to people “on the ground”
it uses a set of guidelines on how to approach
the collection of information, learning from that
information and the involvement of local people
in its interpretation and presentation.
• Information is collected using a diverse set
of tools and techniques that facilitate the
participation of community members
it uses a set of tools - these consist of
exercises and techniques for collecting
information, Eg. the use of questionnaire,
FGD means of organising that information so
that it is easily understood by a wide range of
people,
techniques for stimulating interaction with
community members and methods for
quickly analysing and reporting findings
and suggesting appropriate action.
• The focus is generally on gathering
information and ensuring that the information
is as rich and as accurate as possible
• An RRA generally results in a report that
summarizes the research findings.
• This information can then be used in a
variety of ways including project design,
improvement of an ongoing project,
revision of national policies, etc.
READING ASSIGNMENT
What are the difference between PRA and
RRA
• PRA RRA
• Outsiders (professionals) go People go to the rural areas
to rural areas but they ,obtain
facilitate rural people in information
collections, presentation and then bring it away to
and analysis of information the process of analyzing
by themselves
The information is owned by The information is owned by
rural people but usually outsiders and often not shares
shared with outsiders with rural people.
Team composed of villagers, Multi-disciplinary team of CRS
sometimes facilitated by the staff and specialist
CRS (community relations
service) staff person that
works with larger community
Participatory Action Research(PAR)
Participatory Action Research is a qualitative
research methodology that involves researchers
and participants collaborating to understand
social issues and take actions to bring about
social change
It involves researchers and participants
working together to understand a problematic
situation and change it for the better
It is an umbrella term for all research approaches
that engage stakeholders in each step of the
research process.
This approach has been used since 1940s.
PAR focuses on social change that promotes
democracy and challenges inequality;
PAR often targets on the needs of a particular
group;
is an iterative cycle of research, action and
reflection; and often seeks to ‘liberate’
participants to have a greater awareness of their
situation in order to take action.
Opportunities And Obstacles To
Development (O&OD)
O&OD is a participatory planning
methodology/approach for LGAs to ensure
that development planning process properly
reflects the real needs of respective local
communities.
• O&OD was designed in order to put better
service delivery into operation, LGAs
implemented “Opportunities and Obstacles to
Development (O&OD)” as a mechanism to
operationalize Decentralization by Devolution
(D by D) under supervision of PORALG
O&OD (Opportunities and obstacle to
development) is the participatory process
developed in Tanzania with the aim of
overcoming many shortcomings of other
planning methodology.
Conventional vs improved O&OD
• Conventional O&OD was adopted from 2001
and it aimed at empowering communities by
involving them only in planning process.
• The local community were involved in stating
their priorities and leaving the implementation
to the government
• However, participation in only planning
process does not empower communities
unless they are actively involved in
Community Development Process (Social
Preparation, Community Planning Process,
Implementation, Monitoring and
Evaluation) and learn from that experience
The government aspirations to realize
bottom-up planning and budgeting with
maximum community participation failed to be
materialized due to several shortfalls including:
People's Participation Fatigue , Lack of
People’s Ownership, People’s Dependency on
Government Support, Deficit in government’s
budget etc.
By reflecting experience of O&OD in LGAs,
PO-RALG revised and developed an improved
version of O&OD which put more emphasis on
encouragement and promotion of people’s self-
help efforts.
Improved O&OD
• Improved “Opportunities and Obstacles to
Development (Improved O&OD)” is one
among of the efforts made by the Government
of Tanzania to promote community
empowerment.
• Improved O&OD has been designed to replace
Conventional O&OD developed in 2001 that
was constrained with several shortfalls.
The essence of Improved O&OD is that
people are the main actor of development
and the government is a supporter for their
development.
Improved O&OD aims to build and sustain
collaborative relationships between LGA and
community for better service delivery and
local development by empowering
communities and promoting Community
Initiatives (CIs).
• Improved O&OD is the methodology to
strengthen LGAs’ capacity to grasp the
reality in villages/Mitaa and design
community development projects based on
reflection of the reality of people in each
LGA.
• The method revives and reactivates the
country’s biggest heritage from the Late
Mwalimu Nyerere, “Self-Help Efforts” of
the people towards their own development,
which will eventually lead to sustainable
development.
• The Late Mwalimu Nyerere emphasised that
“people cannot be developed but they can
develop themselves”. Mwalimu believed in the
SelfHelp Efforts as a key to community
development. Mwalimu Nyerere encouraged
people to be the main actor of their own
development
• Improved O&OD is in line with various
government aspirations such as Tanzania
Development Vision 2025, Second Five
Year Development Plan (FYDP 2016/17-
2020/21) as well as various cross-cutting
policies.
• The Tanzania Development Vision 2025
underlines the importance of empowering
local governments and communities and
promoting broad-based grassroots
participation in the mobilisation of
resources, knowledge and experience with
a view to stimulate initiatives at all levels of
society
Importance of Improved O&OD
i. Community empowerment
ii. Sustainability of project outcomes
iii. Short and Long-term Cost Reduction for Local Government
Authorities
iv. Strengthening Collaborative Relationship between the
Government and Community
v. Local Economic Development Improved O&OD contributes
to Local Economic Development (LED) through facilitating
group activities in communities.
vi. Good Local Governance at Lower Local Government (LLG)
Features of O&OD
i. To build capacity to the community
ii. It uses the Tanzania development vision
2025
iii.It’s applied both rural and urban
iv.It strongly emphasizes on self confidence
Classification of opportunities
What communities have and use it properly
What communities have and do not use it
properly
What communities have and do not use it at
all
What communities do not have but have the
right to use
Obstacles
Obstacles are hindrances to optimal utilization
of existing development opportunities ie.
Social obstacles-outdated traditional beliefs
e.g. FGM
Economic obstacles-lack of working capital
Political obstacles-ideological differences
Technical obstacles-lack of qualified
personnel or technology
Advantages of O&OD
i. It promotes transparency and
Accountability
ii. It removes dependency and strengthen
self-reliance
iii. It motivates community to own the
outcomes of the decisions
iv. It enables central and local government
to respond and be accountable to the
people
v. It provides foundation for community to
take a lead in the poverty reduction
effort.
Importance of participatory methods
in undertaking Community
Development interventions
i. Enhances achievement of development goals
ii. Help community members to build
confidence. For example, O and OD
iii. Participatory methods contribute to the
sustainability of community development
initiatives
iv. Increased community engagement
v. It helps to increase capacity of the
community members
vi. Increase communication between donors,
policy makers, development practitioners
and those affected by intervention
