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Participatory Review and
Analysis Processes (PRAPs) -
Guide Notes
Designed and Written by Vincent Azumah
July 2013
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In the spirit of improving our Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (P,M&E) and Accountability
processes, WANEP’s Network Accountability, Learning and Planning System (NALPS) require both
regional and national networks, themes and functions to carry out a set of participatory review and
analysis processes on an annual basis.
In essence, Nalps asks us to work with stakeholder groups to:
Assess what has been done against plans
What outcomes have resulted or are resulting
Are the realised outcomes the envisaged ones or not and why the difference
What has been learnt?
And, within this analysis, articulate what will be done differently in the future.
PRAPs should happen at every level of the organisation. Innovative methods are required to ensure
stakeholder participation especially at international level. Where physical meetings become too costly,
technology (skype etc.) can be employed.
Purpose: To keep track of our work and open ourselves up for critical feedback, learn and share
(achievements and failures) so that we can improve the responsiveness and quality of on-going work
and to increase our accountability and transparency to stakeholders.
Process: The Unit Head at every level will determine this. The process should be fully transparent and
participative. The process should involve as many stakeholder groups as possible (including the groups
we work with, partners and donors and supporters) and provide space for them to express their ideas,
priorities and concerns. Note that involvement of various people requires very sensitive facilitation so
that all feel comfortable to contribute. It may not always be possible for teams to meet up with all
stakeholders. Stakeholder surveys, social audit and similar methods of enquiry should also be
encouraged to allow for stakeholder perspectives and views on our work. The lessons and findings of
the review and reflection processes and agreed actions arising should be noted and fed into the next
planning session. Achievements, challenges and lessons should also be captured to compliment
monitoring data for reporting. All levels will show evidence of this exercise by providing detailed
reports.
Frequency and timing:
At least once a year and at the discretion of relevant coordinators/team heads and their teams, in
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consultation with partners and groups as appropriate. It should however be timed to feed into next
plans and or annual reports. Please see how to go through the process below:
Participatory Review and Analysis Processes (PRAPs) can be carried out
at various levels of the organization – program/project thematic level,
functions (Administration, Finance), National Networks level, Regional
and international/Policy levels. It is an important part in the development
work circle and even more important in peacebuilding. It is a very creative
and organic participatory and accountable way of critically analysing and
learning from our experiences. Review and Analysis processes aim at
bringing partners, staff and other stakeholders especially people we work
with closely on peacebuilding and people affected by violent conflicts
together to critically reflect and deeply analysis our work to drive how
subsequent work is carried out. It affords us continuous chances to re-
examine the factors affecting peace and how well we are doing to address
those factors. This is therefore an integral part of WANEP’s monitoring
and evaluation processes. It is mandatory for all units and National
Networks to have at least one specifically for enhancing reporting at the
end of the year and planning for the coming year.
PRAP is an on-going exercise that facilitates the analysis and
reflection on the work done over a period (quarter, half year or end
of year. Whilst we would encourage all to use PRAP as frequent as
possible, we insist that the annual PRAP is mandatory). PRAP is
an essential part of our work because it provides a picture of the
state of affairs and it helps to show the changes that our work is
bringing or not bringing on peacebuilding and the lives of the most
vulnerable in times of conflict. It also gives us moral legitimacy. If
we make ourselves accountable, we would have the moral courage
to hold others accountable. PRAPs recognize the need for regular
analysis and learning, to ensure that our plans and actions are
responsive and adaptive to emergent change processes in
peacebuilding
PRAP, WHAT
IS IT?
PRRP,
WHAT
IS IT?
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In fact our day to day work with our partners, vulnerable groups
and other stakeholders must be a continuous reflective and
participatory process. PRAPs therefore compliment other
participatory on-going processes and so must not be regarded as
the only means of analysis, learning and seeking improvement to
our work or the only means of opening up ourselves to external
reflective judgement. Every unit (Theme), function or National
Network is encouraged to have a regular practice of critical
analysis, learning and planning to inform their activities
The Four key words in PRAPs
Participatory: who participates? Who is included? How are they
included? The “who” is included is also determined by the methodology
employed in the process. Different methodologies for participation will
apply to different participants. Think about who is explicitly included or
excluded (by invitation). But more importantly consider who might be
excluded by the “how” a PRAP is organized. Consider for example, timing
/ seasonality, some participants can be excluded if the PRAP is run at a
time that is not appropriate for them. For example, women might not be
able to participate if the process happens during time for preparing meals
in many African countries.
In some cases the format and time in which information is presented can
exclude some people Remember that participation is strongly linked with
issues of power. How power dynamics will work in the process? Which
groups are likely to be excluded? Who makes decisions? Who leads the
process? Consider for example that a meeting putting together “powerful”
people with people who are excluded might mean that they will not have
the courage to express their views and ideas. Think about how best to
sequence discussions in the process to ensure that different groups have a
voice (for example, consider having a women’s only discussion before a
meeting with the full group.
Review: is the what. It is about reviewing the plan, the outcomes, the
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budget, the involvement of different actors. Did we achieve what we set to
achieve? Are we on course? Do we have the right actors or just
passengers? Etc.
Analysis: it is the why? This is where learning and critical reflection
happen. Why did the envisaged change not happen? Why are women still
not ready to lead peacebuilding processes? Why did political parties fail to
play their roles in preventing violence during elections? Why did we
over/underspend? This is the analysis part. This means that we need to
have analytical tools for PRAPs. It is only when we do the right analysis
that we can make changes. If we find the answers to the whys, then we can
plan the “what” and “how.”
Process: a process is composed by many events, which are not organized
in a linear way. Different events will involve different stakeholders.
Consider also that the process include the preparation of events that come
together to form the process to account back and learn with key actors
No matter where we are located in the organization, we are first and
foremost accountable to the people who suffer-most the brunt of violence
and also our donors, partners, and people who are affected by our actions
or inactions so we must create spaces to allow them tell us what they think
about our work, what they are happy with, what they are not happy with
and what they would like us to change.
The key principle to start with is accountability to the our
critical stakeholders (ECOWAS, AU, donors, other critical
partners)
We need to embark on a PRAP in a way that would make our
partners hold us accountable. We should be prepared to account
back how we spent monies on their behalf, how we made decisions
and why those decisions, why we took some actions and not other
actions.
Create space to hear what our partners and vulnerable groups think
about how we have planned and executed our plans. What have we
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wasted resources on? What could we have done differently?
Seek answers to how the decisions we made and actions we have
taken at various levels of the organization impacted on peace and
peacebuilding in the region.
Plan the process in a way that would enhance empowerment and
encourage all partners to become accountable.
PRAPs demands that staff are accountable to each other
Make the process build staff capacity in consciousness of their
obligation of being accountable for their job to peace. Discuss how
much space we as an organization create to realize this
accountability.
Reflect on how different levels of the organization are interacting
with each other. Are we listening to the different views of how our
decisions and actions impact on different team members?
Are we building our internal mutual accountability in ways that
ultimately lead to accountability to our peacebuilding efforts?
PRAPs also require that we are accountable to all stakeholders.
If we make ourselves first and foremost accountable to the
vulnerable groups we work with, all other accountabilities to other
actors such as governments, ECOWAS, SIDA, DANIDA and other
donors, supporters, peer organizations, local and international
partners become easier and legitimate.
Create spaces for other actors to hold us accountable for our work?
Make them part of our processes?
Ensure donors and supporters get value for their resources and
relationships with us. Are their resources truly making a difference
in peacebuilding?
Listen to other civil society and actors to know what they feel
about us? What advice, lessons and ideas do they have about our
practice? And how do we take such advice and opinions?
Build a process that recognizes the fact that PRAPs are also spaces
that enforce mutual accountabilities across many stakeholders
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Learning through Participation of all:
PRAPs serve to enhance learning with partners. PRAPS also provide a
good moment to hear directly from people who suffer violent conflicts.
This means we must create the space for all stakeholders to share their
opinion on our work. We must not limit our ideas generation and analysis
only to our “friends” who would tell us what we want to hear.
Who is included? And who is not and why?
Ensure that we go into the process with an open mind to genuinely
learn
Use methodologies that enhance inclusion instead of exclusion.
How a PRAP is conducted depends on the participants in the
process. Different methodologies would apply to different classes
of participants. In some cases e-conference is possible. In many
cases however, the only viable option is face to face meetings.
Find out what lessons vulnerable people have about the process of
peacebuilding. What is their advice? Their knowledge? Their
frustrations? Their hope?
Share relevant lessons with poor and excluded people.
Plan to make different levels of the organization learn together
about our activities
Share lessons, ideas, challenges and experiences derived from the
process with all stakeholders. This should be targeted at building
greater synergy and collective learning between different actors.
“Life is not just a series of calculations and a sum total of
statistics, it's about experience, it's about participation, it is
something more complex and more interesting than what is
obvious” - Daniel Libeskind
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Think about Power Relations and how it affects
relationship building
Power is at the heart of our work and must therefore be considered in
every aspect of our work. Gathering people together in processes that do
not ensure that they build relationships and have the space and power to
speak out their views is twice as bad as not involving them in the process.
Identify the various power brokers in PRAP and how their power
might prevent others from making critical comments or questions
that might lead to improving our work. Think about who is
explicitly included or excluded by invitation but most importantly
think about the people excluded by “how” the process is organized
and avoid methodologies that exclude.
Do not present yourself in a way that may serve as a barrier for
critical reflection for all in the process. For example if you go into
a PRAP with introductions that includes the mentioning of all the
qualifications with our names, how do we expect the poor farmer
or palm wine tapper to question Dr. X? Avoid this.
Do we meet with women and men together without considering the
power relation between these groups? What about other excluded
groups such as children, people with disabilities and people living
with HIV/Aids
Be conscious of simple things like the way we dress and sitting
arrangements in PRAPs in the very many different contexts. (the
dressing to a local community PRAP may be different from one
organised with donors in the city) Your dressing could become a
barrier to critical discussions.
PRAPs are processes and they must remain truly processes and not
events and one-off workshops with ourselves
Examine how internal power can inhibit a good process.
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What about the Rights of Women
PRAPs provide a regular opportunity for women in particular to exercise
their power and hold WANEP and the wider peacebuilding community
accountable
Consciously make and understand that the participation of women
in the process is a matter of rights and not just because calling for
the participation of women is in vogue
Be proactive in ensuring that women actively participate, question
and influence the way we work.
Create safe spaces for women to speak out without fear. Use the
process to enhance an environment for dialogue, analysis, debate
and new action on women’s roles in peacebuilding.
Find out what women think on the progress our work has made to
enhancing their safety. What has worked? What has not?
What percentage of resources has been allocated to women’s roles
in peacebuilding?
Internally how effectively have we contributed to women’s rights?
What has worked? What has not? What could we do differently?
Find out how our allies and partners actively promote women’s
rights in their work. What has been successful? What has not?
What could we all learn?
Find out who is making the decisions even among women’s
peacebuilding groups and initiatives.
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You must ensure that you are engaging in a principled process. This is
critical. Allow the principles of accountability, transparency, gender
and rights of women and power relations to drive the process. Think of
how to consistently apply them through out the process.
Preparing for a PRAP
Did you determine, based on your context and your means, the best way to
have a critical accountability, analysis and learning process? Here are
some simple questions which if you seek answers to, would help you
manage the process successfully:
Are you tackling the process from the start with an open mind? Are
you willing to challenge your practice? Are you willing to learn?
Are you willing to engage with other people outside your network
membership?
Are you considering how to ensure participation of relevant
stakeholders from the start? Consider, for example, how to break
silos mentality and bring together different teams to account back
from the planning phase.
Do you actually know why you are undertaking a PRAP? How
will it be different from your other meetings?
Are you ensuring that your accounting back to stakeholders is not a
one-off disconnected event?
When is the best time to carry out the process? Did you consider
how it will suit the commitments and engagements of other
network members and stakeholders?
What resources will you need? (People, Time, Money, Capacities).
Consider carrying out PRAPs before your annual planning
process but before annual report, so that they inform your future
actions as well as enhance what goes into your report.
If people are dispersed, consider what will be the best and most effective
process. The most effective process may not be the one that seeks to bring
everyone together into one place. The PRAP is not a meeting. It is a
PRAP at
the
National
Network
Level
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process to strengthen our accountability with external stakeholders and to
learn to improve our practice.
In your annual budget you should have planned for regular activities of
participatory review and analysis.
For example: staff members and network members working in different
themes could actually conduct PRAPs on common areas of activities. This
enhances synergy and complimentary planning in our work.
How do I Start a PRAP at the National Network Level
Start with self-reflection within your small team at the secretariat. It is
important to start a PRAP process with some critical internal self
reflection with your immediate team. This should be a light, fun but
useful process.
The initial self reflection does not necessarily have to take place face to
face. Think about creative means to tap into your team if your team is too
dispersed. You may employ the use of even text messages on your cell
phone, skype chats, email and phone conversations in a lively but critical
way. Adequately making the process answer the following question would
help in a good PRAP:
Have you had your own internal reflection to build a common
understanding of our work? What were you trying to achieve?
What changed as a result? Who benefited/who didn’t? Did it
benefit women too? What were the intended and unintended
results?
What are you proud of? What are you sorry about? What needs
improving or changing? What could we do better? What did you
learn?
Did you reassess the context? What did you learn? What has
changed?
Are you referring back to your strategy and plans?
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How did we use resources? Was there value for money? What did
we waste?
Are you ready to transparently share these reflections with others?
Try and discover opportunities to challenge your understanding amongst
yourselves, with external people and in the National Networks, with the
various vulnerable groups and the people who have the power to make
change happen identified in your analysis
In the series of engagements with your constituents to account back, you
should ensure the following are not forgotten:
The principle of gender, women’s rights, power and relationship
building, accountability, learning and transparency
Note that as the name suggests, it is a process and not an event and
so must remain a process in organisation – this can be a number of
days flexible time meeting with community members, partners etc
and it is building on other such critical engagements
WANEP and partners work in many communities but we can’t
carry out PRAPs in all these communities all at once. We should
therefore strategise in ways that can allow us to reach as many of
our constituents as possible in a given year
Where we have to select our constituents, the ones to consider first
should be the ones that have a diverse class of vulnerable groups
such as people living with HIV/Aids, women, children, people
living with disabilities and refugees
Whether a group can establish an appropriate mental state for
critical analysis would partly depend on the time, place and the
atmosphere created for such a meeting. It is therefore important
to select a comfortable, relaxing quiet place that would allow for
concentration. This does not mean a plush hotel because it can be
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counter productive because it does not put people in their natural
and normal environments. Under a shady tree away from rude
disruptions would be fine in a community. Another very important
practice that inhibit open discussion is if the setting is stratified
into “high table” and “low table” sitters. (It is good to know who is
in the reflection process but avoid long introductions that spell out
qualifications and positions)
Focus on analysis of issues/changes rather than narration of
activities
Avoid generalization, stereotyping and prejudices and appreciate
diversity
Be curious and open and prepared to change your mind
Take account of power dynamics within the group/community and
make room for a women only discussion and men only discussion
etc if the context demands that
As much as possible make the process light, interesting and fun
and yet still deep in reflection
Use participatory tools. Note that how a tool is used is as
important as which tool is used. Here are a few to be considered:
1. Focus group discussions
2. Timelines – can be used to reflect and learn from events
and actions
3. Case Studies from various groups – can provide more
detailed learning
4. Oral histories – can show changes in organising peoples
lives and power relationships
5. Matrix scoring can compare partners/WANEP strategies in
a particular project/programme
The person leading should have good skills in leading discussions.
Ability to make people think beyond the usual assumptions.
Must be sensitive to the power relations of participants and create room
for all to contribute freely. Be able to use techniques that bring out both
the positive and negatives in the work done or on-going
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A fair understanding of WANEP/partners work in the
area/community/country
Consult with stakeholders
Did you identify which actors you want to actively involve in the
PRAP process? (vulnerable groups, state and non-state partners,
donors, supporters, allies, civil society representatives)
Do not consider vulnerable people as one homogenous group of
people. Recognize their specific interests and stakes and
standpoints.
Are you ensuring that all relevant staff within WANEP are
involved, active and committed to the process? Are you ensuring
diversity of staff (from different levels, functions themes, areas of
expertise?
Did you prioritize the stakeholders you want to engage with? Are
you avoiding putting on them excessive demands on their time?
Are you looking at who to connect in the PRAP to create a vibrant
exchange? (for example how you might bring together similar
actors from different geographies – for example representatives of
different communities around the same issue? Or different actors in
the same geography (for example, communities, donors,
government officials, other civil societies)
Did you consult with the actors? Did you explain the purpose of
the PRAP? Are they interested in participating in an active process
of accounting and critical reflection? Did you agree on which
process will suit them best?
Some Concluding Notes:
Are you sorting out practical arrangements? Is there a calendar for the
PRAP process? Are you looking up for interesting ways to capture and
present learning? Think for example about employing using audio-visuals,
photographs, cartoons, music etc to capture moments and learning from
an event. If you are using videos and pictures, be aware of sensitivities
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and of the fact that they can reduce mutual trust and openness
“Many activities and team play participation will give
you a training that will prove invaluable later on in
life”.
Walter Annenberg
For further clarification, comments or support, contact:
Vincent Azumah (Regional Coordinator, Monitoring & Evaluation) [email protected]
Tel: +233 302 775975, Cellphone: +233 266121216
Skype: St.Vincent1
This guide was adapted from Vincent Azumah and Silva Feretti’s PRRP notes, 2010