“Water buffaloes get bewitched”: observations of a participatory rural appraisal training workshop

Villages and communities are complex learning organizations. Since 1988, villagers in the south (third world) have been encouraged through participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques to take responsibility for analyzing their own issues and develop action plans. PRA represents an empowering approach whereby the villagers become the teachers, their ideas and data are collected visually by facilitators. Villagers analyze their own problems and chose the changes and change strategies they want. The developments in this field have taken place in Africa, Asia and Latin America and now consultants from these areas are visiting the so‐called “developed world” to teach us these participatory techniques, many of which are transferable to urban and organizational settings. Aims to describe observations of a “train the facilitator” course rub by Nepalese for Nepalese Government workers who will work with villagers.