Introduction

The book is a study on rural participation based on the methodology of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), the accompanying methods and field-level applications.

Chapter 1

The first chapter provides a short introduction to the logic of participation and the methodology of PRA, its significance, principles, foundations, kinds and origin.

Chapter 2

The second chapter analyses the indigenous knowledge-sources and discusses the different participatory methods in the light of field experiences. It briefly touches upon the sequencing of methods to illustrate its significance for in-depth analysis of rural issues.

Chapter 3

The third chapter describes applications of PRA in understanding of poverty, wealth, ecology, gender and health.

Chapter 4

The fourth chapter illustrates some policy measures flowing from such applications, discusses the limitations posed to the use of PRA and the opportunities which PRA offers as a participatory methodology.