Social mapping; for Participatory rural appraisal

1. Social mapping
A TOOL FOR PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL

2. Social Mapping
To,
Mr. Shahzad Khawer Mushtaq
By,
Roll# 14, 18, 19, 02, 17, 38, 52, 70 & 85
BS 6th & M.Sc. 4th(SS) Sociology
Department of Sociology & Criminology
University of Sargodha

3. Introduction to PRA
 Appraisal – The finding out of information about problems,
needs, and potential in a village. It is the first stage in any
project.
PRA is considered one of the popular and effective
approaches to gather information in rural areas.
 This approach was developed in early 1990s with considerable
shift in paradigm from top-down to bottom-up approach.

4. Cont.
 PRA is based on village experiences where communities
effectively manage their natural resources.
 PRA is a methodology of learning rural life and their
environment from the rural people.
 It requires researchers/field workers to act as facilitators to
help local people conduct their own analysis, plan and take
action accordingly.
 It is based on the principle that local people are creative and
capable and can do their own investigations, analysis, and
planning.

5. Defining PRA
CHAMBERS (1992)
“PRA as an approach and methods for learning about rural
life and conditions from, with and by rural people.”
 He further stated that PRA extends into analysis, planning and
action. PRA closely involve villagers and local officials in the
process.
 The field work is people-oriented. It seeks information on
indigenous knowledge, local customs and practices

6. Social Mapping
“Social mapping is a visual method of showing the
relative location of households and the distribution of
different people (such as male, female, adult, child,
landed, landless, literate, and illiterate) together with
the social structure, groups and organizations of an
area.”

7. Importance of Social Mapping
 To overview community structure.
 Identifying who lives where in a community.
 It helps to visualize and situate 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).
 It helps to learn about the social institutions and the different views
local people might have regarding those institutions.

8. Material Required
 Large sheet of paper, pencils and color markers.
 If drawing on the ground, find a soft ground and
use leaves , sticks , bottle , caps ,beans , or ,any other
local materials for symbols.

9. Steps in Social Mapping
There are several steps in Social Mapping which are following.
 Decide what type of area the map will show such as village.
 Select a suitable place and medium, such as on the ground
or on paper.
 Prepare the outline or boundary of the map.
 Draw a simple village map showing some features such as
roads, paths, and watercourse for direction.

10. Cont.
 Other landmarks that are important to participants should be
identified and drawn on the map which include religious
buildings, schools, health centers, traditional healers,
places where people frequently meet, community centers,
and other public and business buildings.
 Services or facilities such as irrigation, electricity, water, gas,
telephone, and so on should also be marked on the map.

11. Cont.
 Then The location of houses in the community and
agricultural area should then be marked on the map.
 Then indicate which direction is north.
 Discuss and analyze the results.
 Conclude the activity.

12. Analyzing Social Map
Once the map has been completed, use it as a basis for
conducting semi-structured interviews on topics of interest and
for enabling local analysts to conduct their own discussions and
analysis. These discussions should be noted or recorded.
It might be useful to have a list of key questions to guide a
discussion about community resources.

13. Cont.
Key questions might include the following examples:
• What are the approximate boundaries of the community with
regard to social interaction and social services?
• What social structures and institutions are found in the
community?
• How did public buildings develop?
• Who built the community centers?
• Who uses the community centers?

14. Cont.
• What are the religious groups and where do they live?
• How do people in the community decide on places of worship?
• What are the ethnic groups and where do they live?
• How many households are in the community and where are they
located?
• Which households are headed by females and where are they are
located?
• How is land distributed for housing?
• Is the number of households growing or shrinking? Etc.

15. Last Step; Conclude the Activity
Check again that the local analysts know how the
information will be used. Ask the analysts to reflect on
the advantages, disadvantages, and the analytical
potential of the tool.
 Thank the local analysts for their time and effort.

16. Points to Remember
 Good facilitation skills are key.
 The approach outlined above is a general guide; be flexible
and adapt the tool and approach to local contexts and
needs.
 It is not necessary to develop an absolutely accurate map –
the goal is to explore local perception about the social and
physical structures of a community.
 The social map produced will only be a snapshot of the
current situation.

17. Limitation
Social mapping is easier when communities are
small, but the process becomes much more complex
when household numbers are high.