Participatory Action Research

Undertaking participatory action research and consultancy studies has been a niche area for PRAXIS and it has undertaken a large number of projects suiting the needs of various agencies in the development sector. Areas of excellence in particular have been execution of participatory poverty assessments, baseline studies, impact assessments, participatory monitoring and evaluation and stakeholders' appraisal. Praxis has provided consulting services to a large number of prominent agencies in development. In the course of its research consultancies, Praxis has covered various sectors. Poverty, health, education, fair trade, disaster mitigation, urban and rural development to name a few. The experiences gathered have led to the creation of a rich knowledge pool that the organisation draws upon regularly. As a result, a Praxis report is not just accurate or informative, but perceptive too.

In line with The Asian Development Bank (ADB) overarching goal poverty reduction, Participatory Poverty Assessments were carried out in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim and West Bengal with a view to identify priorities for development action, emerging from in-depth poverty analyses involving the poor, in the year 2004.

was held from September 2001-March 2002. The study was conducted across 123 locations (92 Rural & 31 Urban) for feeding into poverty reduction policies of the state government. The primary objective of the study was to understand poverty from the perspective of the poor and their priorities in terms of actions to improve their lives. The study had been commissioned by Asian Development Bank.

undertaken across nearly 50 locations of five Class-1 towns as part of DFID-supported 'Andhra Pradesh (AP) Urban Services for the Poor' project. The project is aimed at facilitating identification of the urban poor and inclusion of their voices in formulation of town-level urban development plans in AP.

(Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network) –The study had been carried out across ten locations in the country (drawn from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh). The study discerned poor people’s perceptions of well being, problems in achieving a better quality of life, their assessment of existing institutions and changes in gender relations over time. Carried out over a period of two months, the outcomes of the study have been fed into the World Development Report 2000-01.

'Participatory Poverty Profile Study in Bolangir' for DFID Indiawas held in drought-prone western Orissa region (Bolangir district) in India, with a field investment of 549 person days, covering all 14 administrative blocks of Bolangir. The project involved working with a large number of stakeholders including the State Government, NGOs, CBOs and prominent local bodies. The poverty dynamics and livelihood issues were examined using participatory tools, which furnished interesting observations on issues of migration, indebtedness, land alienation, coping with disasters, untouchability etc.

DMK, a net work of development organizations was established in the year 2001 by 16 NGOs and community organizations in six northern districts of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. These NGOs ,fecilititating development initiatives in their respective areas, came together recognizing the need for collective action only through which they could be able to bring changes in the lives of Dalits.The mid term review process had been expedited by Praxis, initially by orienting the participants from all the partner organizations of DMK,on the purpose and methodology of MTR.They had been trained by the expert team of Praxis to analyse and assess the efforts made till date and to prepare future plans inline with the findings and learnings.They are also trained in reviewing the direction,stratetigies and activities of the organization to make the interventions effective and relevant.

Southern Collective for New Initiatives on Childhood [SCNIC] is a consortium of three NGOs namely Victory Trust, Navajeevan Educational and Welfare Society (NEWS) and Centre for Education, Development Action and Research (CEDAR). Formed in 2001, SCNIC operates in Virudhunagar, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu, South India. Praxis was called upon to conduct a mid term review to analyse and assess the efforts made, and share the findings and learning to enable planning for the future and to review the direction, strategies and activities of the organisation to make the interventions effective and relevant. The areas reviewed were programmes and performance, human resources and organisational development and also partnership relationships.

CUPRP is undertaken by the Cochin Urban Poverty Alleviation Department (UPAD) and supported by Department for International Development India (DFID India). In early 2000, the project team envisaged the need to introduce a monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) component into their project and Praxis was commissioned to do the same. In a one-year engagement, Praxis gave adequate training to selected number of NHG representatives and a few key project functionaries, including the PM&E officer appointed by UPAD, in using PRA tools to collect, synthesize and analyse data.

On the 8th of October, 2005, a massive earthquake shook the valley of Kashmir to its core which claimed lives and immense sources of livelihood.Praxis had conducted a Participatory Vulnerability Assessment Study to understand how well prepared the communities and the service providers were, in terms of responses and management, to handle a disaster. The study was carried out for Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Jammu and Kashmir, one of the key organisations involved in the long-term rehabilitation process.Seven of the seventeen villages in which AKDN had their programme, has been covered by Praxis team in the course of study. It was an intensive project in which we mapped the history of disasters in the region, traced out the traditional methods of coping with disasters and assessed the vulnerability of each habitation.

Based on a rapid assessment of organizations in Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and Patna.

In Bihar, the Government assumes the most pervasive and critical role, particularly for the socially and economically disadvantaged sections. It occupies a substantial space in the sphere of service-delivery and remains the principal guarantor of social justice. Affirmative action and fundamental rights. Praxis has carried out a study on how the CSOs in Bihar had demonstrated their role in ensuring better governance. While CSOs cannot replace the state, they have a role in holding the state accountable for lapses in performance of vital roles, and in plugging gaps in service-delivery in effective and sustainable ways.

PRAXIS carried out the base line and need assessment study in the slums of Khalbari and Coal Berth in August 2007, focusing on child health and livelihood interventions. Praxis, Right Track, and community members from both localities conducted the study. The main focus was to understand the complex relationship between health and livelihood. The study analysed the current scenario of livelihood options and prospects of need specific promotion of the same.

A participatory assessment of livelihood alternatives of the poor in Jharkhand was undertaken by a collective of 31 civil society organizations (CSOs, henceforth) operating in Jharkhand under the aegis of the ‘Poorest Area Civil Society Programme’. The large scale exercise, undertaken across 18 of the 21 districts of Jharkhand was facilitated by Praxis through provision of design, capacity building and synthesis support.

The Gender Impact Assessment Study was carried out across fourteen locations drawn from five districts of Uttar Pradesh, two of which - Nainital and Sitapur - are directly covered under the UP Basic Education Project. Comparable locations from three other contiguous districts not falling under the project, namely Almora, Baageshwar and Luck now were also included as counterfactuals, to assess the net impact of the project on the lives of women, and on the education status of the girl-children in particular.

The aim of the assessment was to understand underlying issues related to ill health, poor nutritional & reproductive health status among the target populations of RACHNA program. The assessment aimed to identify issues that lead to increasing disparities in incidence of poverty across various social, economic, gender and age groups. It also probed into the social relations, power equations, access and control over resources and rights that relate to or result into poor nutritional & health status. Another key area of exploration for the study was to understand the nature, quality and depth of relationships that the target groups have with service providers, decision makers and institutions that are working in the area of health, nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention.

A Rural Profile Study of the state of Himachal Pradesh was carried out by PRAXIS – during March – April 2000.

The study was commissioned by the Rural Development Group of the Department for International Development, India, which provided the technical and financial assistance to the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department. The study displayed the poverty profile of the Himachal Pradesh districts by collating quantitative and qualitative information from various sources, including the scores of a field-research carried out in the villages of Kullu and Mandi districts.

The study was conducted between October 2001 and March 2002.

The Government of Orissa, India has set up a Task Force to take forward strategic thinking within the state on strategies for poverty reduction. As part of its support to Public Sector Reform and assistance to the Task force in achieving its objectives, this study was assigned to Praxis to be conducted in 40 locations drawn from six districts of Orissa which was supported by DFID.

Development audit of District Poverty Initiative Programme (DPIP) Rajasthan, a large-scale poverty eradication project implemented by Government of Rajasthan with support from World Bank, 2002