Monday, November 30, 2009

Suitable PRA Tools for our project

PRA tools suitable for the objectives of the NNMSG community participation project were identified, list of the tools and type of information to be elicited is as mentioned below,

Participatory Mapping
This method involves a diagram of the resources, facilities and infrastructure. It serves as a flowchart for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of village developmental activities. Diagrams summarize data in a way that helps in discussions, analysis and problem solving. This method was chosen to identify the community’s perspective of the tourism resources while exploring the possibilities and the improvement that would be required to develop that resource. In present context we used this tool for tourism resource map.

Semi structured interviews
This method of data collection through structured interviews is helpful for In-depth information. We had few predetermined checklist to initiate and facilitate the conversation, whilst the majority of the questions were formulated during the interview. This gave us valuable understanding about the community’s relationship and dependency on the tourism. Semi structured interviews were most relied and most valuable source of the PRA.

Time Line
This method engages the community in a discussion through a series of guided questions relevant to the objective of the PRA. This tool was largely instrumented to find the impact of seasonal, religious and time bound tourism. The information thus gathered gave an insight of tourist patterns and helped us generate a link with Nalanda Remains, Xuanzang, Sun Temple and other major events associated with tourism and how this affected their lives and the ambience of the place.

Group Discussion
This tool allows us to explore a range of concerns and interests. The process also raises awareness about the resources and communication thus brings forth any potential conflict, and provides a platform for consensus building. This tool was very effective in discussion with the vendors around the Remains. We also engaged the Tangawala (horse cart) in group discussion to build a consensus among the union members.

No comments: