National Institute of Rural Development
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad
THREE MONTHS CERTIFICATE PROGRAMME IN
PARTICIPATORY RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
(9 July – 8 October 2007)
To effectively address issues of sustainability and equity in rural development, people-centred and
people-controlled development is evolving as an alternative approach. The focus of current development
efforts is, thus, heavily tilted in favour of building institutional capacity through participation and local selfreliance leading to empowerment. The notion of 'people's participation' is now widely recognized as a basic
operational principle of rural development programmes and projects. Participation of rural people has come
to be recognized as an absolute imperative for development. Participation is seen not just as a means to
improve project delivery but more so as to ensure that benefits accrue to the intended target and that
capacities of local people, groups and communities are built up. More importantly, participation motivates
communities to assert their collective ownership over projects, thus ensuring that development impacts are
sustained in the long run.
In the past, rural development interventions have been supply-driven. As a result expected results
could not be achieved and the people did not come up to play any active role to sustain those. For that
reason now attempts are being made to make all development programmes demand-driven. For a demand
driven development process community participation is a pre-requisite. Participatory or community-driven
development is advocated on the basis that, among other advantages, it can reduce information problems
for development planners and beneficiaries, increase the resources available to poor people, and
strengthen the capacity for collective action among poor and other marginalized societal groups. The pivotal
role of people's participation in development is indelible in the development landscape.
The Three Months Certificate Programme in “Participatory Rural Development’ has been designed
for development professionals, NGOs, executives responsible for discharging corporate social responsibility,
and social scientists who seek to build up their skills and knowledge in mainstreaming participatory
approaches to rural development. The overall aim of the course is to enhance the understanding of the
concepts of participatory development, participatory methods and their application in participatory planning,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the rural development projects.
Programme Aims
Rural Management is the operation of the rural sector as a system. The management system
needs to grasp and conceive. It is concerned with the transformation of the rural society. While
professionalisation and inculcation of management skills are important, it is equally necessary to sensitize
the development professionals, administrators, and managers, creating in them an awareness of the major
task of their bringing about rural transformation through people-centered, people-controlled, and communitydriven participatory rural development projects. Therefore, the programme seeks to:
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provide participants with a core professional training which integrates the study of rural development
management using participatory approaches
offer a range of advanced courses addressing key policy and management issues in rural development;
develop and enhance participants research skills in using participatory methods in project identification,
project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, community mobilization; and
equip participants with analytical and planning skills relevant to employment as policy-makers, planners
and managers working on rural development.
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Objectives
On completion of the programme, participants will:
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have an understanding of different theoretical perspectives on social and economic
development, and their relationship to policies for agricultural and rural development;
have a critical understanding and some ‘hands-on’ experience of current management
techniques for the preparation, management, and evaluation of rural development projects;
have developed skills in critical analysis of rural development policy issues and in
communicating their analysis in the form of clearly written and readable documents;
have a good command over current participatory development approaches to rural
development, participatory methods, stakeholders engagement, participatory planning,
monitoring and evaluation, social auditing, and community mobilization for participatory
development.
Methodology of Training Courses
The methodology of the training workshop would be based on the techniques of buzz
group session, brain storming, group discussion, small group interactions, chats, brief
presentations, quiz, games, role playing, summary sessions, card sorting, peer group sharing,
village presentation, ice breakers, interviews, video shows, slide show, overhead projection, field
visits to study best practices etc.
Fieldwork
The fieldwork would emphasize on "visual" methods, attitudes and behaviour for effective
communication and learning PRA skills in preparing participatory micro plans on different topics
like watershed, drinking water, health, education, and income diversification etc. Presentation
sessions in the villages and ways of cross checking of the micro plans would also be a part of
fieldwork.
Structure and Content
The programme will be of 12 weeks duration and divided in two parts. Part I of the
programme will be of 10 weeks duration. The Part II of the programme will be of 2 weeks duration
in which the participants will be required to write brief research study report based on the primary
and secondary data collection using participatory methods on the topics assigned by the
Programme Coordinator.
The 10 weeks duration of the Part I will consist of four papers, and each paper will be
covered in 10 sessions.
Paper – I: Rural Development: Concept and Strategies (Two weeks)
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Rural Development: Concept and Approaches
Rural social structure
Poverty and its measurement
Strategies and programmes for rural development
Sustainable rural development
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Gender and development
Human and social development in rural areas
Social capital formation in rural areas
Micro-finance Interventions in Development
Corporate social responsibility
Part II: Participatory Development (Two weeks)
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Defining and interpreting participation
Participatory development and participation in development
Participatory development: Principles and approaches
Promoting participatory development
Participatory principles
Participation and empowerment
The Pros and Cons of participation
Obstacles to people’s participation
Measuring participation
Attitude and Behaviour for promoting participation
Paper – III: Participatory Approaches to Rural Development (Four weeks)
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Foundations in PRA
Participatory Methods: Vision, Mission, Values and Identity
Stakeholder Analysis
Logical frameworks
Participatory Poverty Assessment
Participatory governance
Participatory planning
Participatory Implementation
Participatory monitoring and evaluation
Participatory evaluation and social audit
Paper – IV: Community mobilization for Community-Driven Development (Two weeks)
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Community Participation and Social Mobilization in Rural Development
Community Organizing in the Context of Social Mobilization
Elements of social mobilization
Social mobilization: The main theoretical considerations
Goal of social mobilization
Community Organizing in the Context of Social Mobilization
Role of Animator and Facilitator in social mobilization
Group dynamics and group formation
Facilitating community mobilization
How to mobilize communities
Who should attend?
The Certificate course in Participatory Rural Development is intended primarily for those
involved in policy-making, planning or managing activities in rural areas. This will include
participants from:
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 Government agencies like DRDA, CEOs of the Zila Panchayat/Parishads, and officers
dealing with the participatory watershed and rural drinking water project management, self-help
groups (SHGs) formation and management, young professionals from CAPART.
 Non-government organisations, civil society organisations, commercial banks,
NABARD, regional rural banks, micro-finance institutions (MFIs),
 Corporate and public sectors involved in discharging their social resposnibilities in rural areas,
 Universities who are Graduates/Post-graduates in social sciences and related disciplines, and
 SAARC and other developing countries who are working in the government and NGO sector,
and Fellows/Scholars/Graduates/Post Graduates from the Univerisites.
Course Fees
The course fee for the three months residential programme is Rs. 30,000.00 for residents
of the host country i.e. India, and $ 1,500 for non-residents. The course fee includes board and
lodging expenses, training expenses, local visits and field work. The course fee does not include
travel expenses of the participants for joining the training programme. Ten Fellowships will be
given to the nominees of the NGOs and civil society organizations from India by the S.M.
SEHGAL FOUNDATION, Gurgaon.
Guest Faculty
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Prof. K Prathap Reddy, Former Director, Institute of Rural Management (IRMA),
Ahmedabad. Prof. Reddy is presently associated with the Byrraju Foundation, Hyderabad, as
Lead partner.
Dr. Shankariah Chamala, Visiting Professor, School of Natural and Rural Systems
Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Contacts / More Information
For more information and application forms contact:
Dr. R.R. Prasad
Professor & Head
Centre for Equity & Social Development
National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD),
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030 INDIA
Telefax: 91-40-24008423
E-mail: rrprasad21@gmail.com
rrprasad@vsnl.net
How to Apply: For application form write to: Dr. R.R. Prasad, Programme Coordinator, National
Institute of Rural Development, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030. The application form can
also be downloaded from NIRD's website: www.nird.org.in
LAST DATE FOR RECEIVING COMPLETED APPLICATION: 12 JUNE, 2007