The Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) is a methodology that was developed in the 1970ties as a participatory approach to development. With this approach, outsiders (i.e. researchers, project officers etc.) want to learn in a quick way from the insiders (i.e. beneficiaries, target communities, government officials) about the situation at hand. It is a systematic, but semi-structured approach to learn new facts about rural life to use for project planning and development.
This methodology was developed to include more local voices into the process of planning, implementing and evaluation of a project. Without local input, projects are less likely to be successful. This is proven by multiple studies. People do not develop strong feelings of project ownership when they are not included in planning and implementation. Furthermore, quite often the local communities have knowledge that is of core importance for success. However, it is not accessible to an outsider.
It is possible to develop blueprint approaches to specific problems. But the adaptation to local conditions is always necessary and important. This is only possible with the use of local knowledge.
Agencies eventually realized that local input is needed to achieve good results and that local knowledge is of core importance. However, gathering all this data takes a long time. This methodology emerged mainly from the necessity to save resources while still using all available information and data.
It is not practical for scientists from one discipline develop a system to sample the entire target population. Instead, teams of scientists from different disciplines were formed to evaluate a much smaller sample size. They did this with a variety of methods and from different angles. Methods used in the approach include interviews, cross checking, focus group discussions, direct observation, and the use of secondary data sources.
While small NGOs will probably not have the resources and also not the need to implement a RRA exercise, this is very useful when you want to implement larger programs. Also making a profound baseline study can be easier with this approach, provided you can allocate resources and funding towards it.
Eva is based in Germany and has worked for nearly a decade with NGOs on the grassroots level in Nepal in the field of capacity development and promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. Before that, she worked in South America and Europe with different organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in geography and her field of research was sustainability and inclusion in development projects.
Good piece of writing.
Learnt something