Planning with PRA: HIV and STD in a Nepalese mountain community

The application of Participatory Rural Appraisal methods (PRA) to the topic of sexual health enabled us to explore key factors concerning local people's perceptions regarding HIV/AIDS and STDs and to plan collectively to address the emerging issues. Conducting the process in a gender sensitive way enabled people to feel safe enough to express their own opinions, and having gained confidence in their peer groups, to share ideas later with the whole community in a joint planning exercise. Nevertheless one group was identified as difficult to reach and whose needs could not be met in a group for reasons of confidentiality. While the methodology itself clearly has great potential in planning around specific health issues, there are, nevertheless, limitations. Although the approach and the tools used are simple and accessible, the skills needed to analyze the information are more complex and demanding. The training given did not manage to equip facilitators adequately with these analytical skills and in the future will be more experience based and geared towards developing analysis and the ability to formulate questions. In addition, since the project is not permanently resident in the area, intensive support within the District is necessary to increase the chances of sustainability.