Participatory appraisal
Practical Action
Cause-Impact of well-being in the community
During the group discussion the residents were asked to discuss their perceptions of the
necessary conditions to enable an individual or household to attain a higher level of well-being.
Using chart paper the residents were asked to draw and indicate the causes and related impacts
of things needed for well-being or a good life. They were also asked to identify linked items with
coloured arrows. The resulting diagram can be seen in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Silanga group discussion.
Figure 2: Cause-Impact of well-being in Silanga.
CAUSES
IMPACTS
Self-reliance
Lower poverty level
Employment
Healthier
Affordable Shelter (3)
Electricity (6)
Clean water (1)
Infrastructure/roads/transport (5)
Health facilities (1)
Less disease
Less crime
Well-being
Less poverty
Booming business
/ improved access
Good transportation
/communication
People being treated well
(respect)
Sanitation (2)
School (training school) (4)
Clean environment
Society
Empowered community
Healthy society
Self-reliance
Prevents disease outbreak /
improve health
Ideas / less crime /
able to work
The residents were then asked to rank the top six items they consider the most important needs
for well-being. The rankings can be seen in brackets within the diagram. This exercise got the
residents thinking about their priorities, needs and standard of their current life today. It can be
seen that residents are clearly aware of the impact that infrastructure has on their lives. They
have shown the link between clean water, reduced disease and during interviews revealed they
are aware this has an impact on their expendable income as hospital bills are reduced. The
provision of decent infrastructure for roads and transport was also shown to support
communication, access and resulting business achievement. The residents are aware of the
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