Participatory Review and Analysis Processes (PRAPs) Guide Notes
Participatory Review and Analysis Processes (PRAPs) can be carried
out at various levels of the organisation – programme/project thematic
level, functions (Administration, Finance), National Networks level,
Regional and international/Policy levels. It is an important part in the
development work circle and even more important in peacebuilding. It is
a very creative and organic participatory and accountable way of
critically analysing and learning from our experiences. Review and
Analysis processes aim at bringing partners, staff and other stakeholders
especially people we work with closely on peacebuilding and people
affected by violent conflicts together to critically reflect and deeply
analysis our work to drive how subsequent work is carried out. It affords
us continuous chances to re-examine the factors affecting peace and how
well we are doing to address those factors. This is therefore an integral
part of WANEP’s monitoring and evaluation processes. It is mandatory
for all units and National Networks to have at least one specifically
for enhancing reporting at the end of the year and planning for the
coming year.
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PRAP,
WHAT
IS IT?
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PRAP is an on-going exercise that facilitates the analysis and
reflection on the work done over a period (quarter, half year or
end of year. Whilst we would encourage all to use PRAP as
frequent as possible, we insist that the annual PRAP is
mandatory). PRAP is an essential part of our work because it
provides a picture of the state of affairs and it helps to show the
changes that our work is bringing or not bringing on
peacebuilding and the lives of the most vulnerable in times of
conflict. It also gives us moral legitimacy. If we make ourselves
accountable, we would have the moral courage to hold others
accountable. PRAPs recognize the need for regular analysis and
learning, to ensure that our plans and actions are responsive and
adaptive to emergent change processes in peacebuilding
 In fact our day to day work with our partners, vulnerable groups
and other stakeholders must be a continuous reflective and
participatory process. PRAPs therefore compliment other
participatory on-going processes and so must not be regarded as
the only means of analysis, learning and seeking improvement to
our work or the only means of opening up ourselves to external
reflective judgement. Every unit (Theme), function or National
Network is encouraged to have a regular practice of critical
analysis, learning and planning to inform their activities
The Four key words in PRAPs
Participatory: who participates? Who is included? How are they
included? The “who” is included is also determined by the methodology
employed in the process. Different methodologies for participation will
apply to different participants. Think about who is explicitly included or
excluded (by invitation). But more importantly consider who might be
excluded by the “how” a PRAP is organised. Consider for example,
timing / seasonality, some participants can be excluded if the PRAP is
run at a time that is not appropriate for them. For example, women
might not be able to participate if the process happens during time for
preparing meals in many African countries.
In some cases the format and time in which information is presented can
exclude some people Remember that participation is strongly linked
with issues of power. How power dynamics will work in the process?
Which groups are likely to be excluded? Who make decisions? Who
leads the process? Consider for example that a meeting putting together
“powerful” people with people who are excluded might mean that they
will not have the courage to express their views and ideas. Think about
how best to sequence discussions in the process to ensure that different
groups have a voice (for example, consider having a women’s only
discussion before a meeting with the full group.
Review: is the what. It is about reviewing the plan, the outcomes, the
budget, the involvement of different actors. Did we achieve what we set
to achieve? Are we on course? Do we have the right actors or just
passengers? Etc.
Analysis: it is the why? This is where learning and critical reflection
happens. Why did the envisaged change not happen? Why are women
still not ready to lead peacebuilding processes? Why did political parties
fail to play their roles in preventing violence during elections? Why did
we over/underspend? This is the analysis part. This means that we need
to have analytical tools for PRAPs
Process: a process is composed by many events, which are not
organized in a linear way. Different events will involve different
stakeholders. Consider also that the process include the preparation of
events that come together to form the process to account back and learn
with key actors
No matter where we are located in the organization, we are first and
foremost accountable to the people who suffer-most the brunt of
violence and also our donors, partners, and people who are affected by
our actions or inactions so we must create spaces to allow them tell us
what they think about our work, what they are happy with, what they are
not happy with and what they would like us to change.
The key principle to start with is accountability to the our
critical stakeholders (ECOWAS, AU, donors, other
critical partners)
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We need to embark on a PRAP in a way that would make our
partners hold us accountable. We should be prepared to account
back how we spent monies on their behalf, how we made
decisions and why those decisions, why we took some actions
and not other actions.
Create space to hear what our partners and vulnerable groups
think about how we have planned and executed our plans. What
have we wasted resources on? What could we have done
differently?
 Seek answers to how the decisions we made and actions we have
taken at various levels of the organization impacted on peace and
peacebuilding in the region.
 Plan the process in a way that would enhance empowerment and
encourage all partners to become accountable.
PRAPs demands that staff are accountable to each other
 Make the process build staff capacity in consciousness of their
obligation of being accountable for their job to peace. Discuss
how much space we as an organization create to realize this
accountability.
 Reflect on how different levels of the organization are interacting
with each other. Are we listening to the different views of how
our decisions and actions impact on different team members?
 Are we building our internal mutual accountability in ways that
ultimately leads to accountability to our peacebuilding efforts?
PRAPs also require that we are accountable to all stakeholders.
 If we make ourselves first and foremost accountable to the
vulnerable groups we work with, all other accountabilities to
other actors such as governments, ECOWAS, SIDA, DANIDA
and other donors, supporters, peer organisations, local and
international partners become easier and legitimate.
 Create spaces for other actors to hold us accountable for our
work? Make them part of our processes?
 Ensure donors and supporters get value for their resources and
relationships with us. Are their resources truly making a
difference in peacebuilding?
 Listen to other civil society and actors to know what they feel
about us? What advice, lessons and ideas do they have about our
practice? And how do we take such advice and opinions?
 Build a process that recognises the fact that PRAPs are also
spaces that enforce mutual accountabilities across many
stakeholders
Learning through Participation of all:
PRAPs serve to enhance learning with partners. PRAPS also provide a
good moment to hear directly from people who suffer violent conflicts.
This means we must create the space for all stakeholders to share their
opinion on our work. We must not limit our ideas generation and
analysis only to our “friends” who would tell us what we want to hear.
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Who is included? And who is not and why?
Ensure that we go into the process with an open mind to
genuinely learn
Use methodologies that enhance inclusion instead of exclusion.
How a PRAP is conducted depends on the participants in the
process. Different methodologies would apply to different
classes of participants. In some cases e-conference is possible. In
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many cases however, the only viable option is face to face
meetings.
Find out what lessons vulnerable people have about the process
of peacebuilding. What is their advice? Their knowledge? Their
frustrations? Their hope?
Share relevant lessons with poor and excluded people.
Plan to make different levels of the organization learn together
about our activities
Share lessons, ideas, challenges and experiences derived from
the process with all stakeholders. This should be targeted at
building greater synergy and collective learning between
different actors.
Think about Power Relations and how it affects
relationship building
Power is at the heart of our work and must therefore be considered in
every aspect of our work. Gathering people together in processes that do
not ensure that they build relationships and have the space and power to
speak out their views is twice as bad as not involving them in the
process.
 Identify the various power brokers in PRAP and how their power
might prevent others from making critical comments or questions
that might lead to improving our work. Think about who is
explicitly included or excluded by invitation but most
importantly think about the people excluded by “how” the
process is organized and avoid methodologies that exclude.
 Do not present yourself in a way that may serve as a barrier for
critical reflection for all in the process. For example if you go
into a PRAP with introductions that includes the mentioning of
all the qualifications with our names, how do we expect the poor
farmer or palm wine tapper to question Dr. X? Avoid this.
 Do we meet with women and men together without considering
the power relation between these groups? What about other
excluded groups such as children, people with disabilities and
people living with HIV/Aids
 Be conscious of simple things like the way we dress and sitting
arrangements in PRAPs in the very many different contexts. (the
dressing to a local community PRAP may be different from one
organised with donors in the city) Your dressing could become a
barrier to critical discussions.
 PRAPs are processes and they must remain truly processes and
not events and one-off workshops with ourselves
 Examine how internal power can inhibit a good process.
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What about the Rights of Women
PRAPs provide a regular opportunity for women in particular to exercise
their power and hold WANEP and the wider peacebuilding community
accountable
 Consciously make and understand that the participation of
women in the process is a matter of rights and not just because
calling for the participation of women is in vogue
 Be proactive in ensuring that women actively participate,
question and influence the way we work.
 Create safe spaces for women to speak out without fear. Use the
process to enhance an environment for dialogue, analysis, debate
and new action on women’s roles in peacebuilding.
 Find out what women think on the progress our work has made
to enhancing their safety. What has worked? What has not?
 What percentage of resources has been allocated to women’s
roles in peacebuilding?
 Internally how effectively have we contributed to women’s
rights? What has worked? What has not? What could we do
differently?
 Find out how our allies and partners actively promote women’s
rights in their work. What has been successful? What has not?
What could we all learn?
 Find out who is making the decisions even among women’s
peacebuilding groups and initiatives.
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You must ensure that you are engaging in a principled process. This
is critical. Allow the principles of accountability, transparency,
rights of women and power relations to drive the process. Think of
how to consistently apply them through out the process.
PRAP at
the
National
Network
Level
Preparing for a PRAP
Did you determine, based on your context and your means, the best way
to have a critical accountability, analysis and learning process? Here are
some simple questions which if you seek answers to, would help you
manage the process successfully:
 Are you tackling the process from the start with an open mind?
Are you willing to challenge your practice? Are you willing to
learn? Are you willing to engage with other people outside your
network membership?
 Are you considering how to ensure participation of relevant
stakeholders from the start? Consider, for example, how to break
silos mentality and bring together different teams to account
back from the planning phase.
 Do you actually know why you are undertaking a PRAP? How
will it be different from your other meetings?
 Are you ensuring that your accounting back to stakeholders is
not a one-off disconnected process?
 When is the best time to carry out the process? Did you consider
how it will suit the commitments and engagements of other
network members and stakeholders?
 What resources will you need? (People, Time, Money,
Capacities). Consider carrying out PRAPs before your annual
planning process but before annual report, so that they inform
your future actions as well as enhance what goes into your
report.
If people are dispersed, consider what will be the best and most effective
process. The most effective process may not be the one that seeks to
bring everyone together into one place. The PRAP is not a meeting. It is
a process to strengthen our accountability with external stakeholders
and to learn to improve our practice.
In your annual budget you should have planned for regular activities of
participatory review and analysis.
For example: staff members and network members working in different
themes could actually conduct PRAPs on common areas of activities.
This enhances synergy and complimentary planning in our work.
How do I Start a PRRP at the National Network Level
Start with self-reflection within your small team at the secretariat . It is
important to start a PRAP process with some critical internal self
reflection with your immediate team. This should be a light, fun but
useful process.
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The initial self reflection does not necessarily have to take place face to
face. Think about creative means to tap into your team if your team is
too dispersed. You may employ the use of even text messages on your
cell phone, skype chats, email and phone conversations in a lively but
critical way. Adequately making the process answer the following
question would help in a good PRAP:
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Have you had your own internal reflection to build a common
understanding of our work? What were you trying to achieve?
What changed as a result? Who benefited/who didn’t? What
were the intended and unintended results?
What are you proud of? What are you sorry about? What needs
improving or changing? What could we do better? What did you
learn?
Did you reassess the context? What did you learn? What has
changed?
Are you referring back to your strategy and plans?
How did we use resources? Was there value for money? What
did we waste?
Are you ready to transparently share these reflections with
others?
Try and discover opportunities to challenge your understanding amongst
yourselves, with external people and in the National Networks, with the
various vulnerable groups and the people who have the power to make
change happen identified in your analysis
In the series of engagements with your constituents to account back, you
should ensure the following are not forgotten:
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WANEP and partners work in many communities but we can’t
carry out PRAPs in all these communities all at once. We should
therefore strategise in ways that can allow us to reach as many of
our constituents as possible in a given year
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Where we have to select our constituents, the ones to consider
first should be the ones that have a diverse class of vulnerable
groups such as people living with HIV/Aids, women, children,
people living with disabilities and refugees
Whether a group can establish an appropriate mental state for
critical analysis would partly depend on the time, place and the
atmosphere created for such a meeting. It is therefore important
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The principle of women rights, power and relationship building,
accountability, learning and transparency
Note that as the name suggests, it is a process and not an event
and so must remain a process in organisation – this can be a
number of days flexible time meeting with community members,
partners etc and it is building on other such critical engagements
to select a comfortable, relaxing quiet place that would allow
for concentration. This does not mean a plush hotel because it
can be counter productive because it does not put people in their
natural and normal environments. Under a shady tree away from
rude disruptions would be fine in a community. Another very
important practice that inhibit open discussion is if the setting is
stratified into “high table” and “low table” sitters. (It is good to
know who is in the reflection process but avoid long
introductions that spell out qualifications and positions)
 Focus on analysis of issues/changes rather than narration of
activities
 Avoid generalisation, stereotyping and prejudices and appreciate
diversity
 Be curious and open and prepared to change your mind
 Take account of power dynamics within the group/community
and make room for a women only discussion and men only
discussion etc if the context demands that
 As much as possible make the process light, interesting and fun
and yet still deep in reflection
 Use participatory tools. Note that how a tool is used is as
important as which tool is used. Here are a few to be considered:
1. Focus group discussions
2. Timelines – can be used to reflect and learn from events
and actions
3. Case Studies from various groups – can provide more
detailed learning
4. Oral histories – can show changes in organising peoples
lives and power relationships
5. Matrix scoring can compare partners/WANEP strategies
in a particular project/programme
The person leading should have good skills in leading discussions.
Ability to make people think beyond the usual assumptions.
Must be sensitive to the power relations of participants and create
room for all to contribute freely
Be able to use techniques that bring out both the positive and
negatives in the work done or on-going
A fair understanding of WANEP/partners work in the
area/community/country
Consult with stakeholders
 Did you identify which actors you want to actively involve in the
PRAP process? (vulnerable groups, state and non-state partners,
donors, supporters, allies, civil society representatives)
 Do not consider vulnerable people as one homogenous group of
people. Recognize their specific interests and stakes and
standpoints.
 Are you ensuring that all relevant staff within WANEP are
involved, active and committed to the process? Are you ensuring
diversity of staff (from different levels, functions themes, areas
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of expertise?
Did you prioritize the stakeholders you want to engage with? Are
you avoiding putting on them excessive demands on their time?
Are you looking at who to connect in the PRAP to create a
vibrant exchange? (for example how you might bring together
similar actors from different geographies – for example
representatives of different communities around the same issue?
Or different actors in the same geography (for example,
communities, donors, government officials, other civil societies)
Did you consult with the actors? Did you explain the purpose of
the PRAP? Are they interested in participating in an active
process of accounting and critical reflection? Did you agree on
which process will suit them best?
Some Concluding Notes:
Are you sorting out practical arrangements? Is there a calendar for the
PRAP process? Are you looking up for interesting ways to capture and
present learning? Think for example about employing using audiovisuals, photographs, cartoons, music etc to capture moments and
learning from an event. If you are using videos and pictures, be aware of
sensitivities and of the fact that they can reduce mutual trust and
openness
For further clarification and support, contact Vincent Azumah: [email protected]
Skype: St.Vincent1
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