The
late seventies witnessed serious
critiques of ideology and approach,
both nationally and internationally.
Grassroot realities across much
of the developing world including
India revealed that governments
were unable to deliver relevant
or sustainable development programmes.
Local level initiatives were successful
in raising awareness and mobilising
community to participate in different
aspects of their own development.
It
was in 1982, that
PRIA came into existence. PRIA's founders
believed in two principles of development:
Participatory
Research is a process whereby the intrinsic
value of people’s knowledge is the basis for their own empowerment.
Participatory Development
is a process whereby people
are empowered to plan and implement their own
development plans.
These
two principles of participation
were applied in a variety of settings
and contexts:
Women’s
education and their livelihood
Forests and tribals'
rights
Workers’ education
and occupational health
Literacy and continuing
education
In
the process of its work at the grassroots,
PRIA pioneered a vast range of methodology
and tools for the empowerment of
the marginalised
Participatory
Training
Participatory Monitoring
and Evaluation
Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue
Community Based Monitoring
Within
10 years of its intensive experiences
at the grassroots, PRIA’s
experience strongly suggested that
many ills facing democratic societies,
including our own, were the result of malgovernance. From PRIA’s
perspective the only solution appeared
in focusing on promoting greater
citizen engagement to generate awareness,
increase participation and democratise
the processes of governance.
PRIA’s
vision is to develop a democratic
society based on the values of equity
and justice.
PRIA
intervenes directly at the local
level in the six states of Andhra
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and
Rajasthan. With the support of its
core group of partners PRIA further
extends this approach to the states
of Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Uttaranchal and
Uttar Pradesh.
PRIA’s
interventions in each state are
woven around relevant issues and
themes ensuring delivery of development
through the effective and accountable
functioning of local governance.
PRIA
is a repository of people’s
knowledge building on the premise
of Knowledge
is Power.
