1. Transect Walk Mohammadpur:

A transect walk was done by the social worker and the two students Prageet Rathee and Ajay Rathee of Middle School , with the aim of rapport building and community resource mapping.
The group interacted with the people to know about the:-

• Quality of life/general well-being of the community.
  
  
• The resources available in the community and the people’s access to those resources.
  
  
• The awareness about various schemes, programs for urban slum development.

Observations:

1. It was found that the health conditions and the status of the women and children need to be targeted through various interventions.
   
   
2. The visits to the community helped understanding the call for of a baseline survey for need assessment and need identification.
   
   
3. The community constitutes of about 100 migrant families of lower to middle income group.
   
   
4. The community does not have any legal backing and therefore can easily be categorized into an urban community due to poor sanitation and access to basic amenities.

Future Plans:

• To prepare a blue print of the community baseline survey/need assessment or planned intervention by the school.
  
  
• To prepare a community map with particular emphasis on resource mapping involving students.

AZAD BASTI

1. Formation of a Woman’s Group

A visit was made to the Azad basti, it is an urban slum community housing 100 migrant Muslim families. The prototypical features of the community make it a fertile ground for community interventions. After interactions, a need for forming a women’s group was realized. This group can be a medium of interaction with the community and an effective way of empowering women. This group can function later on the model of a Self Help Group which can be used as a powerful tool for both women empowerment and income generation.

The group constituted of 18 women from the community. The main aim was need assessment and the methodology used was Matrix Ranking in Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA).

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): PRA refers to a growing family of participatory approaches and methods that emphasize local knowledge and enable local people to make their own appraisal, analysis, and plans. PRA uses group animation and exercises to facilitate information sharing, analysis, and action among stakeholders. Although originally developed for use in rural areas, PRA has been employed successfully in a variety of settings.

The basis premise of PRA 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.

PRA is an exercise in communication and transfer of knowledge. The learning-by-doing and teamwork spirit of PRA requires transparent procedures. For that reason, a series of open meetings (an initial open meeting, final meeting, and follow-up meeting) generally frame the sequence of PRA activities. Other tools common in PRA are:

• Semi-structured interviewing
  
  
• Focus group discussions 
  
  
• Mapping and modeling 
  
  
• Seasonal and historical diagramming.

The Preference Matrix Ranking method used with the women revealed that the major issue with the community is the absence of an Integrated Child Development Centre (popularly known as the Anganwadi). The second major issue is of alcoholism for which a module of Information Education and Communication (IEC can be planned with the students targeting on educating the community about the social and personal damage due to alcoholism.

A picture of the preference ranking done by the women’s group

The ranking of the major issues will help in planning an intervention module by the social work students in future visits. Also, it helped in forming a rapport with the community and setting a platform for development and welfare

Future Plans:

• To involve students in further applying PRA techniques and tools.
  
  
• Setting up similar groups in other nearby communities.
  
  
• Planning an intervention pedagogy involving students and people in the community to enable the process of community development.