PROGRAMME PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION 2(1+1)

Lesson 32 : Techniques of Participatory Rural Appraisal

Social maps

Purpose:

• To learn about the social structures in the village and the differences among the households with respect to ethnicity, religion and wealth.
• To learn about who is living where and how many people live an area.
• To learn about the social institutions and the different views local people might have regarding those institutions.

Social mapping is a PRA method that involves the sketching/drawing of houses and other social facilities and infrastructure like temples, stores, rice mills, school, pharmacy, trails and roads, water pumps, irrigation and recreational facilities in a village (Fig 32.1). These features have usually not been well specified in the village setting and village land-use maps. It helps to visualize and locate the location of households and other social facilities/infrastructure in a village. It serves as a baseline for planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of village development activities including selection of village organizing strategy.

(Ref: Kunwar , N. and Vashistha, P. (2004). A Text Book of PRA and Methods for Community Participation, Pg 15)