Master in Rural Development and Food Security APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY Vanda Altarelli July 2015 Master in Rural Development and Food Security

Why Appreciative Inquiry? Born out of dissatisfaction of the focus on problems and needs. Local people were viewing their communities as a place full of problems and needs, most of which needed help from outsiders; Needs are endless and even if some are satisfied, many others are not Hence local people were always dissatisfied and ask for more assistance

What is AI? Developed in the early 90’ (D. Cooperrider) to help corporations sharpen their competitive advantage; AI turns the problem solving approach on its head. It focuses on a community’s achievements rather than its problems and seeks to foster inspiration at grass-roots level.

What is AI?... AI is a strategy for intentional change that identifies the best of “what is” to pursue dreams and possibilities of “what could be”; It is a cooperative search for strengths and life-giving forces that are found in every system, a situation or another human being and hold potential for positive changes; Its approach involves collaborative inquiry , based on interviews and affirmative questioning, to collect and celebrate the good news stories of a community

AI… Local people can use their understanding of the “best of what it is” to construct a vision of what their community might be if they identified their strengths, improved or intensified them. This is achieved through “provocative propositions” which challenge them to move ahead by understanding and building on their current achievements.

AI… Provocative propositions are “realistic dreams”: they empower a community to reach for something better but base their empowerment on an understanding of what gives them life now; AI is consistent with a livelihood approach to development that starts from people’s strengths and recognizes people as resourceful and adaptive to changing circumstances

AI… For example, a person is not simply a wage earner but part of a larger family unit with multiple skills and assets that are employed in an innovative way to create a resilient livelihood system There are four steps in the appreciative approach: DISCOVERY, DREAM, DESIGN, DESTINY

Steps of A I DISCOVERY What gives life? Appreciating DELIVERY How to empower, learn, adjust? Sustaining DISCOVERY What gives life? Appreciating DESIGN What should be the ideal? Co-costructing DREAM What might be? Envisioning

Steps of AI: DISCOVERY The core task in the DISCOVERY phase is to appreciate the best of “what it is” by focusing on peak times of community excellence – when people have experienced the community in its most alive and effective state. Participants seek to understand the factors that made that high point possible, such as leadership, relationships, indigenous knowledge, values, capacity building, external relationships,etc..

DISCOVERY… Work with members of self-help groups, associations or community groups to identify past achievements and period of excellence within the community; Encourage local people to reflect on periods when the community was functioning at its best. This might involve storytelling about the construction of a temple/mosque or of a school, the rebuilding of local livelihoods after a natural disaster or the management of common property resources.

DISCOVERY… Participants deliberately choose not to analyse deficits but systematically seek to isolate and learn from even the smallest victory (best practices); Typical Appreciative questions: Tell me about a time when you felt really excited to be part of this group; Tell me about the greatest achievements of this group; Who was there? Who did what? How did you organise yourselves? How did you feel?

DREAM In the dream stage, local people discuss how they can build on the positive and unique characteristics of their group to improve their community/their rights, etc., since they have discovered its potential when it is at its best. Now they start exploring their purpose or destiny. What will the group be in 5 years’ time? What will be its greatest achievement? What role could they play in the development of their community?

DREAM.. The group’s vision is likely to encompass social and economic aspects, cultural traditions, natural and man-made environment, governance structures, employment opportunities, etc. In this stage, the people become inspired and they begin to understand the need for collective action.

DESIGN This stage is meant to be provocative and aims to develop, through consensus, short- and long term goals that will contribute to the community’s overall vision and well being. These goals are likely to take the form of statements such as: We will mobilise the necessary resources to build a school; We will plant 1000 trees in the next 3 years; We will concentrate our efforts to eliminate gambling and drinking in the village in the next 6 months.

DESIGN.. With these goals in mind, people begin to consider how to build a social architecture for their community that might, for example, redefine approaches to leadership, governance, participation or capacity building. As they develop strategies to achieve these “provocative propositions”, they incorporate the qualities of community life they want to protect/restore and the relationships they want to achieve.

DELIVERY In this stage, group members turn their imagination and inspiration into meaningful directions by establishing roles and responsibilities, forging institutional relationships and mobilising resources to achieve their goals. As a result of the appreciative process, local people gain a better understanding of the relevance of new initiatives to their long-term vision of the community.

Beginning the Cycle Again Because AI is a continuous cycle, a new round of discovery, dreaming, designing and delivering can take place any time; After a community has begun to implement an action plan for example. AI can be used to reflect back on past experiences and to identify and reinforce those conditions that enabled these achievements.

Beginning the Cycle Again … New goals and action plans emerge which address current priorities and build on current successes.

Why AI works? The approach is true to human nature because it allows room for emotional response as well as intellectual analysis, room for imagination as well as rational thought; AI is based on an understanding that: Reality is a collectively defined interpretation of a situation based on a group’s history, assumptions and expectations; It is an evolving story that is being co-authored as it’s passed from person to person, and from one generation to the next; People derive their identities and devise their strategies on the basis of a reality they see constructed around them.

Potential Limitations Successful application of AI requires creative and energetic facilitation and an expectation that the group is capable of success. If the facilitator lacks these skills and attitude, group members will not challenge themselves; AI takes time. If it is attempted as a short exercise, enthusiasm may initially rise but a deeper analysis of strengths, thoughtful vision building and action planning process will not occur;

Potential Limitations… The process may generate conflict if there is an imbalance in power relations which may result in disagreements among group members on the vision of the suggested action plan, or not participating. Effective facilitation skills are required to re-emphasise positive and shared values and to ensure that all participants are able to tell their stories and contribute to the group’ goals and plans.