Local development must above all stem from an internal and inherent process by which the community and its inhabitants form the primary protagonists. Nobody understands community-based issues better than its residents; furthermore, sustainable development cannot exist without the will and work of the community.

In this sense, Participatory Rural Appraisal methodology comes into play (hereafter referred to as PRA). A PRA process consists of a set of techniques and tools that allow communities to make their own diagnosis and begin to self-manage their own planning and development.

PRA goes beyond the superficial, subjective or non-existent diagnosis mechanisms of development projects. PRA places the community in the center of the process and sets it as the main process actor, from initial identification to the development of the Community Action Plan. Indeed, this Community Action Plan aims to establish the foundations of a comprehensive development that will involve, primarily, the community and, secondly, the external national and international entities.

Therefore, PRA is a community process where each and every villager is given a say. Our job as facilitators is to invite workshop participants think about community problems and make them go beyond the role of victim, encouraging community inhabitants to be the promoters and the protagonists of their own development by providing a suitable environment and tools to do so.

Objectives

These are the objectives of the diagnostic process:

• Generate contacts and links with villagers;
• Become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the community;
• Understand community problems, its causes and consequences from the perspective of the village residents.

PRA in Centro Sanibeni: Introduction | Stage I | Stage II | Conclusions