ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Robert chambers’s role in promoting networking and capacity building, and in the promotion and spread of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). It appreciates the significant contribution he has made in initiating and supporting the growth of a global network of PRA practitioners. Through his networking initiatives, pathways of participation have moved PRA beyond its simple application in development projects to embrace a plurality of participatory approaches that seek to influence greater social change. Robert has been a major player, from the early experiments of Rapid Rural Appraisal in the 1970s, to the relaxed PRA in the late 1980s, to Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) in the 1990s. He has seen the uses of PRA/PLA diversify from natural resource management, to participatory monitoring and evaluation and engagement in policy analysis and now in human rights advocacy.
