PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 9 Storytelling for Participatory Rural Appraisal

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 9 Storytelling for Participatory Rural Appraisal Wouter T. De Groot, Franke H. Toornstra and Francis N. Tarla 3. For learning. In this function, stories are Introduction designed for communication in the opposite direction to that of the `teaching This paper describes how we designed and stories', namely, from the villagers to the tested storytelling as an approach during a PRA researchers. Stories are especially training course in Cameroon. Besides being the appropriate here for discussing sensitive oldest form of entertainment, storytelling may issues. Although not expressly designed well be the oldest `method' people use to for this purpose, the trial story in Box 1 transfer culture and to discuss moral dilemmas. can be used as an example of this, since it The rural areas of the developing world still aims to present the issue of the role of abound in stories, hidden in people's heads and religion in environmental matters. seldom told to strangers. One of the sources of our idea to test storytelling as a PRA method The trial stories may have been a romantic wish to participate in this hidden world! But on a more rational level, The storytelling exploration described here ...