PARTICIPATORY LEARNING AND ACTION (PLA)FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
DR. (MRS.) RAJNI BAGGAASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE, MUNIRKA, NEW DELHI - 110067.
E-mail:[email protected] & [email protected]: 26165959,26107773, Fax:91-11-26101623
PARTICIPATORY LEARNING AND ACTION
• INTRODUCTION
• CONCEPT &DEFINITION
• ORIGIN& EVOLUTION OF PLA
• PRINCIPLES OF PLA
• TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
• APPLICATION OF PLA IN HEALTH
• RATIONAL
• POTENTIAL USE
• IMPACT & BENEFITS
• CONCERNS & CHALLENGES
• CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
Participatory approaches like PLA developed in response to concerns regarding a top down approach to developing strategies for addressing local concerns
These strategies have a much greater chance of success if local community is involved in the process from start to finish
PLA can empower women, poor and disadvantaged, giving them more control over their lives
An explicit concern with the quality of interaction, including a stress on personal values, attitudes and behaviour as a prerequisite for effective work.
The use of open-ended, adaptable visual methods within a flexible, interactive learning process, rather than the use of set sequences of specific methods for pre-identified ends;
Generate important often surprising insights, which can contribute to policies, to serving the needs of the poor and marginalized section of the population
It can challenge the perceptions of those in authority and begin to change attitudes and agendas
PLA methods are based on principles aimed at
offsetting the deficiencies in the earlier
investigative approaches in the health
development and has over the years developed
out of a dissatisfaction with common modes of
investigation, formal questionnaires and
surveys and rural development tourism
CONCEPT/DEFINITION
Robert Chambers 2002 :
“A growing family of approaches, methods, attitudes and behaviour to enable and empower people to share, analyse and enhance their knowledge of life and conditions and to plan, act, monitor, evaluate and reflect”.
Richard Heaver (1991) has also described PRA –
“PRA embraces a series of techniques, many of them recently developed in India, for using local people’s knowledge and skills to learn about local conditions, identifying local development problems and plan responses to them
CONCEPT/ DEFINITION
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
PLA approaches have developed out of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) techniques, which were first systemized in the late 1970s.
RRA techniques in turn developed out of:
dissatisfaction with large scale questionnaire surveys which gave delayed results
dissatisfaction with the unreliability of impressions gained during the field visits made by urban based professionals which came to be known as ‘RURAL DEVELOPMENT TOURISM’
For quickly gaining qualitative insights into a situation
CONTD.
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
FROM RRA TO PRA / PLA
From 1970 onwards Participatory tools- for promoting and participation of the poor & marginalized in improving their wellbeing.
These tools arose from two beliefs:
The knowledge & experience of poor and marginalized have value and not to be dismissed as irrelevant or wrong,
Poor and marginalized have the right to resources traditionally defined by them.
Agha Khan Rural Support Programme (India) conducted participatory RRA in two villages of Gujrat, in 1988
Few of the Govt. organizations which got their staff trained and promoted PRA are:
Dry lands development board. Karnataka
Several forestry departments
National Academy of Administration, Mussouri
FROM RRA TO PRA /PLA
In India PLA more popular in the NGO sector and particularly three NGO’s:
Action Aid in Bangalore,
MYRADA
AghaKhan Rural Support Project in Gujarat
FOR EMPOWERMENT
Mode Extractive Elicitative Participative Sharing Empowering
Outsider’s Role Investigator Facilitator
PLA has evolved from Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and refers to a process that empowers local people to act upon, change their conditions and situations
Nature of Process RRA PRA PLA
Information owned, analyzed & used by
Outsiders Local People
PLA AND JOHARI WINDOW
Information known to every one
Teach Learn
Knowledge belongs only to community
Knowledge belongs only to professionals
Knowledge acquired by learning together
What we know and what they know
What we know and they do not know
What they know
and we do not know
What we do not know and they do not know
PRINCIPLES OF PLA
PLA ENTAILS SHIFT FROM
DominatingEmpowering
ClosedOpen
Individual Group
Measuring Comparing
ReserveRapport
FrustrationFun
VerbalVisual
PRINCIPLES OF PLA
Triangulation
Optimal Ignorance and Optimal imprecision
Direct contact, face to face, in the field
Critical self awareness
Changing behaviour and attitudes
A culture of sharing
Commitment
Empowering
Flexibility, Innovation, Improvisation
Learning directly from, local people
PRINCIPLES, BEHAVIOUR & ATTITUDES
OPTIMAL IGNORANCE
AVOID COLLECTING UNNECESSARY DATA
DESIRABLE ATTITUDES
- OPENNESS
- HUMILITY
- EMPATHY
- CURIOSITY
- ACCEPTANCE
- SENSITIVITY
RIGHT BEHAVIOUR
- SHARING
- FRIENDLY
- RESPECTFUL
- EMBRACING ERRORS
- LISTENING AND NOT LECTURING
PRINCIPLES, BEHAVIOUR & ATTITUDES
CRITICAL SELF AWARENESS
- About attitudes & behaviour- Embracing & Learning from
error- Taking personal responsibilities
REVERSALS
Learning from , with and by local people directly and face to face seeking to understand their perceptions, priorities & needs
- To equity
-Empowering those who are marginalized, specially women, children and elderly
COMMITTMENT
DISCUSSION TOOLS
Focus Group Discussion
Semi- Structured Interviews
VISUAL TOOLS
Participatory Mapping
Institutional Programming (Venn Diagram)
Seasonal Diagram
Daily activity Chart
Trend Analysis
Body Mapping
Pair wise Ranking
Force Field Analysis
Causal Impact Diagram
Impact Evaluation
OBSERVATIONAL TOOLS
Participant Observation – DIY, taking part in local activities
Transect Walks
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
APPLICATION OF THE TOOLS DO NOT FOLLOW ANY FIXED SCHEME. IT IS VERY FLEXIBLE AND DEPENDS UPON THE EVOLUTION OF THE PROCESS, NEED OF THE SITUATION AND USER’S OWN BEST JUDGEMENT
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
BUT MERE APPLICATION OF THESE ARE NOT SUFFICIENT UNLESS THE FACILITATOR / USER HAS THE DESIRABLE ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR AND THE USER MOVES FROM TALKING TO DOING & FROM DOING TO BEING
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUESTOOLS CAN ALSO BE CATEGORIZED AS PER THEIR USE AND SEQUENCE IN WHICH THEY ARE USED
TOOLS FOR EXPLORATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEMS
TOOLS FOR PRIORITIZATION OF PROBLEMS
TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS
TOOLS FOR SOLUTION / IMPLEMENTATION
In 1978 at Alma-Ata, Primary Health was defined by WHO & UNICEF as :
“Essential Health care universally accessible to
individuals and their families in the community
by means acceptable to them, through their full
participation and at a cost that the community
and the country can afford”
RATIONALE FOR CONDUCTING PLA IN HEALTH
Both Primary Health Care and Community Development recognizes that the process of achieving the goal - through the development of Local Initiatives, Participation, Self-confidence, Self-reliance and Cooperation - is more important than the achievement of the goals and objectives
HEALTH IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HEALTH SECTOR ALONE, BUT IS AFFECTED BY THE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN OTHER SECTORS SUCH AS EDUCATION, HOUSING AND SOCIAL SERVICES. HENCE A NEED EXISTS TO INTEGRATE ALL SUCH DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES THROUGH PLA.
DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-RELIANCE AND SOCIAL AWARENESS THROUGH CONTINUING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IS A KEY FACTOR IN IMPROVING HEALTH.
IF HEALTH CARE IS TO IMPROVE IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT COMMUNITY SHOULD DEFINE IT’S NEEDS AND SUGGESTS WAYS OF MEETING THEM.
DECENTRALIZATION IS NECESSARY IF COMMUNITY NEEDS ARE TO BE MET AND PROBLEMS SOLVED.
LOCAL COMMUNITY RESOURCES, FINANCIAL AND HUMAN, CAN MAKE AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.
RATIONALE FOR CONDUCTING PLA
PLA FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH PROJECT
Problem Identification
Problem Prioritization
Possible Solution
Identification
Action Planning
Implementation
Monitoring
Evaluation
HEALTH PROJECT CYCLE
PLA FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
1. It has been recognized that for health services to be truly effective, potential recipients must be involved in every stage of the process
2. This project cycle is conceived as an empowering approach to enable the local community especially the marginalized and the women to review and articulate their own perceptions of need and identify them
3. Enables the local people e.g, women to reconsider their own belief systems, surrounding health and illness, exchange knowledge/ideas.
4. PLA broadens the lens of ‘health’ of local people to focus on the wider dimensions of well-being
5. It offers health professionals (outsiders) and local people an approach in determining priorities and developing strategies for action and improving well-being
PLA FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
Its Positive impact and benefits for Community Health Development :
1. Use and Application of PLA is wide spread
2. Generates rapport and forces outsiders to learn, listen and understand
3. It provide highly accurate information: Local people’s knowledge of local conditions is often greater than
had been supposed
4. Plans drawn up in a prescriptive manner by local people are more likely to work than plans drawn up by
outsiders
5. The participative nature of the process is a “ Development Benefit” in itself, in terms of empowering people
6. Highly cost-effective
POTENTIAL OF PLA
PARADIGM SHIFT TO RECOGNIZE THE ABILITY AND CAPACITY OF LOCAL PEOPLE– INNOVATION
PEOPLE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND ACTION FOR IMPROVEMENTS
EXPERTS NEED TO GIVE UP POWER AND CONTROL OVER PROJECT OUTCOMES – ROLES REVERSAL
‘BOTTOM UP’ APPROACH
PLA FOR EMPOWERMENT
family of approaches for reversing centralization, standardization and top-down development.
2. Biggest challenge includes achieving changes in our personal attitudes and behaviour towards
community & the disadvantaged.
2. Behaviour and Attitude: more important than methods
CONCERNS & CHALLENGES OF PLA IN HEALTH SECTOR
3. The need to recognize and work at personal responsibility, professional ethics, such
as developing self- critical attitude.
o initiate and sustain process of change; empowering disadvantaged people & communities, transferring health services and reorienting individuals.
CONCERNS & CHALLENGES OF PLA IN HEALTH SECTOR
CONCLUSIONS
1. PLA, IS NOT A BANDAGE TO STICK TOGETHER OLD FAILING CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES.
2. RURAL DEVELOPMENT TOURISM HAS TO GO, INSTEAD LOCAL COMMUNITIES ARE TO BE INVOLVED FOR IDENTIFYING, PRIORITIZING, ANALYSING AND SUGGESTING SOLUTIONS TO THEIR PROBLEMS
3. UNDER RCH PROGRAMME, PLA CAN BECOME THE BASIS OF PLANNING AT THE MOST PERIPHERAL LEVEL WHEREBY THE HEALTH WORKER IS SUPPOSED TO FINALIZE THE PLAN AFTER DETAILED CONSULTATION WITH COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITY LEADERS, INFACT, CORRECTLY CARRIED OUT COMMUNITY NEED ASSESSMENT (CNA) IS AN EXAMPLE OF PLA APPLICATION
4. FOR EMPOWERING THE MARGINALIZED SECTION OF THE POPULATION WHICH INCLUDES WOMEN, CHILDREN, ELDERLY, PLA HAS LOT TO OFFER
CONCLUSIONS
5. WE HAVE REACHED A CRITICAL POINT
IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. WITH GOVERNMENTS’ EFFORTS STAGNATING WORLD OVER, LOCAL COMMUNITIES ARE WHERE MANY OF THE CHANGES WILL HAVE TO START. THE PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES LIKE PLA CAN HELP TO ENABLE LOCAL ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, WITHIN AND BY COMMUNITIES.
CONCLUSIONS