Participatory Methods in Community Practice: Popular Education and Participatory Rural Appraisal

Participatory Methods in Community Practice: Popular Education and Participatory Rural Appraisal

In its 10th Human Development Report, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2000) focused on human development and human rights, describing seven basic freedoms necessary for human development:

1.
Freedom from discrimination by gender, race, ethnicity, national origin or religion
2.
Freedom from want, to enjoy a decent standard of living
3.
Freedom to develop and realize one's human potential
4.
Freedom from fear of threats to personal security, from torture, arbitrary arrest and other violent acts
5.
Freedom from injustice and violations of the rule of law
6.
Freedom of thought and speech and to participate in decision-making and form associations
7.
Freedom for decent work without exploitation (UNDP, 2000, p. 1)

Although all these freedoms are important to community practice, this chapter will focus on the sixth freedom. The freedom to think and speak and participate in decision making is a basic right of any democracy, but it is easily eroded, even in nations believed to be mature democracies. In the United States, for instance, citizens easily fall into assumptions that only a select few should speak and participate in most decisions. In a society that places such a high value on formal education, we often dismiss those who have little formal education as having no knowledge. Even as professionals in community practice, we often believe that by demonstrating our personal expertise in problem assessment and problem resolution, we are more useful than if we help other people discover and solve their own problems.

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, always asked the teachers he was training to lead literacy programs, “What is: ‘to know’?” (Vella, 1989, p. 37). How do we know something ourselves, and how do we know what others know? This chapter focuses on how we help others to uncover and make use of the knowledge they have acquired through living and becoming adults—how we help others (re)discover, validate, and use what they already know. It also connects the practice of knowing and learning from life experiences to group- and community-level participation and action.

This chapter introduces two participatory methods that can be used in community practice: popular education and Participatory Rural Appraisal. We outline the ideas behind each method, describe the “how to” or practice of each method, and provide a concrete example of each method's use. The goal of this chapter is to enable community practitioners to become more participatory and empowering in their work, and thus more firmly rooted in the hopes and dreams of the communities they serve.