Rapid Rural Appraisal

RRA is a social science approach that emerged in the late 1970s. The basic idea of RRA is to rather quickly collect, analyse and evaluate information on rural conditions and local knowledge. This information is generated in close co-operation with the local population in rural areas. Therefore, the research methods had to be adjusted to local conditions, i.e. they had to meet the communication needs of illiterate people or people who are not used to communicating in scientific terms.
Tools like mapping, diagramming and ranking were developed or improved in order to gather information for decision-makers in development agencies. One of the key principles of RRA is the visualisation of questions and results by using locally comprehensible symbols. A main reason for developing RRA was to find shortcuts in the search for relevant information on rural development issues in order to avoid costly and time consuming research procedures.
In most of the cases RRA is carried out by a small team of researchers or trained professional in one to three days in a kind of workshop. The role of the local population in RRA is to provide relevant local knowledge for research purposes and development planning. The RRA team manages the process and maintains the power to decide on how to utilize this information.