Rapid Rural Appraisal How to find out what

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Rapid Rural AppraisalHow to find out whats
going on!
Forbes Walker Environmental Soils Specialist ________________________ Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Michael Wilcox Economic Development Specialist ________________________ Department of Agricultural Economics
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Overview

• What is Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)?
• Why do we need RRA?
• Planning for a RRA
• Some simple RRA techniques
• Semi-structured interviewing
• Mapping and modeling
• Seasonal and historical diagramming
• Preference ranking

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Rapid Rural Appraisal

• Series of techniques for "quick and dirty"
  research
• Compared to quantitative survey techniques
  generate results
• Less apparent precision
• Greater evidential value
• More efficient and cost-effective
• Particularly useful for learning about
  agricultural systems

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Why Use It?

• You may think you know the answers, but what is
  the question?
• Learn about the agricultural production system
• Identify constraints and opportunities in the
  local agricultural systems
• Better identify issues in target population

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The Process

• Explore the farming system
• Identify the target population
• Identify the problem
• Investigate the nature of the problem
• Explore possible solutions

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Preparations

• What are the objectives of the exercise(s)
• Why is the work being done?
• What type of information do you need?
• Define the study area
• Province
• District
• Community
• Review secondary data
• Reports, maps, photos
• UN, Govt., NGOs etc.

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Preparations (cntd)

• Direct observation
• Learn about the area
• Only a starting point
• Do not assume you know!
• Prepare check-lists

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Check-Lists

• General information
• Agro-ecological zones
• Climate
• Main economic activities of local population
• Socio-economic information
• Distribution of assets
• Gender roles
• Land tenure system
• Interest groups
• Labor use patterns
• Access to services and markets
• Cultural attitudes towards farming
• Farming system information

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Check-Lists Farming system information

• Physical resource base land, soil, water,
  vegetation, etc.
• Land use patterns agriculture, livestock,
  forestry activities
• Cropping patterns crops, varieties, patterns,
  rotations, varietal preferences
• Assets available (e.g., major tools)
• Yields per crop per unit of land
• Quantities of physical, variable inputs used per
  crop per unit of land
• Labor used per crop per unit of land
• Prices for inputs, outputs, labor, land, capital

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Planning Community Meetings

• Location of meeting
• Mosque or other communal meeting place
• Private compound
• Seating is important
• Time
• Who can and cannot attend?
• Who will facilitate exercises?
• Group or individual meetings?
• Culturally will everyone participate equally?

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Know Your Audience!

• Butawata, Uganda
• Community meeting
• Men dominated discussions
• Split into two groups by gender
• Asked to discuss and prioritize issues
• Women ranked labor shortage 1
• Men did not even mention labor!
• Bring two groups together
• Share what was discussed
• Discuss issues

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Common RRA Techniques

• Semi-structured interviewing
• Mapping and diagramming
• Seasonal and historical diagramming
• Preference ranking

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Semi-structured interviewing

• Semi-structured interviewing is a form of guided
  interviewing
• Some of the questions are predetermined
• New questions are usually generated during the
  interview
• Use a checklist of questions as a flexible guide
  rather than a formal questionnaire
• Interviews take the form of discussions
• Interviewer and interviewee learn from each other
  

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During the Interview

• Use checklist to stimulate discussion and a
  participatory dialogue
• Ask questions around existing information on the
  community, or visual material such as diagrams,
  photographs, or maps
• Use open-ended questions who? why? what? when?
  where? how?
• Listen!!!
• Take some notes during the interview
• Better to complete notes immediately after the
  discussion

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After the Meeting

• Finish the discussion politely
• Have evening brain-storming sessions with the
  team to complete notes and to prepare for the
  following day
• Establish report writing procedures with the team
  making sure enough time is allocated

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Mapping and Diagramming

• Simple schematic devices
• Present information in a condensed and readily
  understandable visual form
• A simplified model of reality
• Draw in the presence of different categories of
  people (women and men, young and old, etc.), as
  their perceptions, viewpoints and information
  will often differ

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Mapping and Diagramming (cntd)

• Greatly simplify complex information
• Facilitate communication
• Stimulate discussion
• Increase consensus among community members
• Are an excellent way of involving community
  members

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Uganda
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Information Collected with Mapping

• Physical infrastructure
• Social infrastructure
• Cropping systems
• Water sources
• Woodlands
• Major physical features
• Land tenure systems
• Grazing areas

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Ethiopia
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Participants, Location and Equipment

• Groups should generally not be too large (no more
  than 15)
• Select a comfortable place, free from
  distractions
• Equipment Maps can be prepared with a variety of
  tools on a variety of surfaces. The most common
  combinations are
• sticks, stones, leaves, etc. on cleared smooth
  areas of ground
• colored chalk on cement floors
• colored pens on paper

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Mapping

• Explain the purpose of the exercise
• Guidance should be kept to the minimum - give
  some assistance with the first features
• The map is a tool discussion can take place on
  its features and questions can be raised about
  items on the checklist
• Copy the map when it is completed
• A copy should be shown to the participants and a
  copy should be left with them

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Transects

• A diagram that is produced during a walking
  discussion with villagers
• Shows the key features of different land use
  zones in a community
• Gain a basic understanding of the agriculture in
  an area constraints opportunities
• Check-lists are useful soils, slopes, food
  crops, cash crops, land-tenure, livestock, water
  etc.

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Uganda
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Seasonal and Daily Activity Calendars

• Diagrams showing the timing and/or importance of
  events over a period of time (a year, a
  production season, a day)
• Examples
• Food availability
• Rainfall and temperature
• Production and post-harvest activities
• Prices
• Marketing
• Income
• Labor or levels of work activity
• Debt

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Seasonal Calendar (example from North Kordofan,
Sudan)
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Daily Activity Clocks Zimbabwe
Women - Winter Dry Season
Women - Summer Wet Season
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Daily Activity Clocks Zimbabwe
Men - Summer Wet Season
Men - Winter Dry Season
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Pair-wise Ranking

• List set of priorities, compare each priority
  with all others

  Problem Problem Number Problem Number Problem Number Problem Number Problem Number Problem Number Score Rank
    1 2 3 4 5 6 Score Rank
1 Lack of Capital   2 3 4 5 6 0 6th
2 Changing climate     2 4 5 6 2 4th
3 Planning farm activities     4 3 6 2 4th
4 Lack of market     5 6 3 2nd
5 Pests and diseases     6 3 2nd
6 Soil fertility             5 1st
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Questions?