Second national inter professional dialogue on participaroty development and participatory research, April 18-24, 1997

Abstract

This report documents the Second National Inter Professional Dialogue on Participatory Development and Participatory Research, organised by PRIA and the Association of Schools of Social Work in India in 1997. Its central purpose was to deepen conceptual understanding of participatory research and participatory development, while examining their relevance for social work education and practice. Participatory research is presented not merely as a method of inquiry, but as a process through which ordinary people generate knowledge, analyse their realities, and shape their own development. Participatory development is similarly located within wider shifts from welfare oriented and top down models toward empowerment, decentralisation, and democratic engagement. Across chapters on governance, rural and urban development, people’s movements, training, and field practice, the report reflects on how participation can be institutionalised in meaningful ways. It also raises critical questions of power, professionalism, curriculum reform, and the relationship between theory and practice. A major contribution of the dialogue is its insistence that social work education must move beyond service delivery alone toward approaches that strengthen agency, collective action, and social transformation.