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Participation
Change Agents 2 - reflections on practice
 | The first thee one-pagers in this collection reflect on
sustainability in Asia |
| The last three refer to educational change agents (Advisers) in
Lesotho |
| Stimulation of self-reliant initiatives |
941107 |
| For committment to survive |
941114 |
| Sensitization of those who would intervene |
941107b |
| Coping with oralcy - being the scribe |
941009 |
| Beyond the oral culture - written materials from the Advisory Service |
g971124a |
| An adviser's portfolio - collecting and packaging ideas |
g971107a |
Stimulation of Self-reliant Initiatives
Based on Tilakaratna S in Fals Borda O & Rahman MA (1991 Eds) Action
and Knowledge; ITDG
The stimulation of people so as to undertake self reliant initiatives requires two
essential steps
- the development of an expanded awareness of the reality in which they live - the
space/time dimension and,
- based on such critical awareness, increased confidence in being able to get organized so
as to make a difference
The overall process involves a movement away from the classic manipulation and
dominance mode towards a more humanistic animation and facilitation mode.
Humanistic animation and facilitation mode
|
rather than
|
Classic manipulation and dominance mode
|
Start from where people are - their
experiences, knowledge, perceptions and rhythm of work and thought |
from a preconceived political agenda or an
externally conceived set of assumptions |
Stimulate the people (animation) to
undertake self-analysis of their life situations (a self-inquiry into the economic,
social, cultural environment in which they live) and help them derive from such self
inquiry facts, figures and conclusions to serve as an intellectual base for initiating
changes |
the use of a closed framework of analysis
or a social analysis carried out by outside intellectuals |
Assist the people to organize themselves
and to create their own organizations |
organizing people into externally
determined structures to serve goals set up by outsiders |
Facilitate the actions for change decided
by the People's Organizations, & in particular assist them to deal with logistical and
practical problems with which they may not initially be fully equipped to cope |
implementation of externally conceived
projects/programs |
Stimulate and assist the POs to carry out
self-reviews of their activities, including any failures, and to plan future actions |
monitoring and evaluation carried out by
outsiders |
Conscious measures taken by the external
agent to make his/her role progressively redundant in order to pave the way for and thus
ensure self-reliant capacity build up of the POs |
attempting to provide continued leadership
and patronage or to project one's own image |
Such a phasing out would necessarily
require assistance in developing local cadres who could eventually replace the external
agents |
the use of a large number of external
agents, which is costly and usually requires access to foreign funds. |
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For Commitment to Survive
Based on Fals-Borda O & Rahman MA (1991) Action and
Knowledge; ITDG/ The Apex Press
Participatory Action Research (PAR) has the best chance of
surviving the test of time only if it tells the people that it can betray them, and that
only an aware and ever-vigilant people is not betrayed. (M A Rahman)
- the agent of change may assume him or herself to have a "superior
consciousness" and thus be prone to thinking "be reasonable, do it my
way". When such a person meets with resistance there is the tendency to go on the
psychological defensive and this can readily turn to dictatorship.
- when new, revolutionaries have "commitment" but this can burn out
through time and/or can be bought off by fame or fortune.
- as the movement grows and becomes successful it attracts members for reasons other than
those which attracted the originators. With a diversity of characters jumping on the
bandwagon there tends to be a dilution in the heart of the movement.
- also, as the movement becomes successful, it will tend to form alliances of convenience
with other movements with slightly, or perhaps markedly, different agendas: in this case
the "purpose" of the movement can slip out of focus.
- the movement will have been set up to "dictate over the people with
commitment" but, when they have been formally institutionalized, such movements
are readily taken over by self seekers who lack commitment.
- it is notoriously difficult to transfer commitment to the next generation of
people who did not "live through the struggle".
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Sensitization of those who would Intervene
Based on Tilakaratna S in Fals Borda O & Rahman MA (1991 Eds) Action
and Knowledge; ITDG
The learning process undergone to develop people capable of sensitive intervention in
other cultural situations should be distinguished from formal training courses where the
trainee becomes an object of training and a depository of knowledge delivered by a
trainer. The main elements of this learning process may be summarized as follows:
Collective self-reflection and "unlearning"
|
The starting point is a collective reflection on and an analysis of the
experiences that "trainees" already have in working with communities and their
existing knowledge of micro and macro social situations. Such a critical review of
existing knowledge and experiences provides an opportunity for each "trainee" to
engage in self-criticism and self-evaluation, to initiate a process of
"unlearning" as well as new learning. |
Basic Data Collection in the field
|
Beginning from such an initial self-reflective exercise, the trainees are
exposed to concrete field situations by living among selected communities in order to
gather socio-economic information through informal discussions with the people and through
direct observations as a base for understanding community life. |
Identifying groups and issues and promoting localized self-inquiry
|
Such an exercise in basic data gathering enables the trainee to identify
categories of groups. Through interaction, the trainee seeks to stimulate those groups to
identify issues of common concern, collect the relevant data on these issues and assist
them in analyzing the data so as to enrich their understanding of their own life
situations. It requires a sustained effort on the part of a trainee to be able to set in
motion such a process of self-inquiry by the people. |
Collective reflection on ongoing experience
|
While engaged in such field exercises, the trainees meet regularly (at
least once a month) as a group to share and analyze their experiences among themselves as
a collective learning experience. This transference from field action to collective
reflection is an important method for the trainees to improve the quality of their work by
learning from each other's experiences. |
Breakthrough at 6 months
|
While their can be no definitive time table, concrete experiences suggest
that trainees generally take at least 6 months to acquire the basic skills for stimulation
and to demonstrate some concrete results in the field. At this point, the trainees would
begin to show varying degrees of success in stimulating the people with whom they had been
interacting, and to organize themselves so as to initiate changes. The process is not
necessarily even; some would lag behind others. |
Identifying Counterparts
|
As an important part of these field exercises, the trainees also should
identify those individuals from within the communities who possess the potential skills
for animation and facilitation, and should assist in improving such skills. Creation of
internal or community cadres is an important requirement for the ultimate phasing out of
external cadres. |
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Coping with Oralcy - being the scribe
Source: Clark GG (1994) Personal communication
| Modern bureaucracies tend to be large and complex and 'literacy' enables uniform and
exact communication through time and space on even complex and detailed issues. |
| People from essentially oral cultures do not feel comfortable with the literate demands
of bureaucracies. The issue is not of necessity one of motivation and cognition but
relates rather to modes of communication. |
| Those who seek to promote bureaucratic rationality in essentially oral cultures can, as
an interim measure, function as translators between modes. This act of "being the
scribe" can operate at different levels. |
Transcribed Interviews
|
While a tape is running, questions are asked and answers
given. The audio tape is transcribed and, after editing and discussion, a written Platonic
Dialogue is available for distribution and feedback. |
Discussion Papers
|
A series of one-on-one interviews are conducted with key
stakeholders. Major issues, and their variations, are highlighted and reported on. The
written product is distributed to contributors, or more widely, for feedback. |
Policy Workshops
|
A group of key stakeholders is called together to discuss a
topic. Brainstorming and conceptual mapping lead to a set of options which are prioritized
and a generally desirable and contextually feasible "mission statement" is
generated. The written product is widely distributed as a draft for ratification. |
Minutes of Meetings
|
During the meeting the scribe listens and makes notes. After
the meeting the notes are unscrambled and tidied. Action points (who said they would do
what by when) are highlighted. Copies of the minutes are distributed the next day.
Feedback is obtained at the next meeting. |
Feedback in an Oral Culture
| Written feedback is not to be expected in an oral culture but, if the topic is seen as
relevant, there will be no shortage of oral feedback. |
| This can be gathered systematically using one-on-one or group techniques. |
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Beyond the oral culture - written materials from the Advisory Service
Source: DFID's Secondary Education Support Project (SESP) in
Lesotho (1997)
It is said that Basotho culture is essentially oral. The Basotho are good
at speaking and listening but are not so good at reading and writing. But there are
limitations in an oral culture. Communication is limited in space and time. Those who were
not present for the discussion can know about it only from someone who was there and they
may not have access to such a person. And, even if they do have access, they will get to
know only what the person remembers - and the person might be biased.
The value of the literate culture is that it can make detailed and accurate information
available over wide areas of space and time. This has already happened with humanity. Even
today we can read about the thought of ancient Greeks, Chinese and Indians to mention but
a few. The problem is that although those from oral cultures can learn about literate
cultures, the reverse is not true. In an oral culture information comes in but does not go
out. This is particularly unfortunate in our confused modern times when there is a great
need to investigate alternative ways to be human.
But the usefulness of literacy is not only in the intercultural realm. Even within a
given culture it is useful to be able to share ideas through time and space. This is
particularly true for example within the education system in Lesotho. There is much that a
given school or teacher can learn from the successes and failures of others in Lesotho.
But they cannot learn it if they do not know. If experiences are written down they can be
readily available to anybody at any time. Herein lies one of the challenges for the
Advisory Service. Three factors have to be considered:
Who will do the writing? *** AUTHORS
What will they write about? *** TOPICS
How will their writings be published? ***
MATERIALS
AUTHORS
|
the authors could be any individual or group of individuals
with an interest in education. In a more limited sense the advisors could set the ball
rolling and so encourage teachers who could then encourage pupils by their example. |
TOPICS
|
the big topic is education itself with all its economic,
political and cultural dimensions. Then there are the larger conceptualisations concerning
teaching and learning and the different subjects that are taught. At a more operational
level there is the function of the various non-school based educationists who act in
support and/or supervisory roles. And of course people could write about the fine details
of any of the grand topics. |
MATERIALS
|
different types of materials could be produced depending on
the scale of distribution. Items might include Workshop Materials (before, during and
after), One-pagers, Newsletters, Journals, Guidelines, Common Exams, Schemes of Work,
Lesson Plans and Tips etc |
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An Adviser’s Portfolio - collecting and packaging ideas
Source: DFID's Secondary Education Support Project (SESP) in
Lesotho (1997)
An Adviser’s main function is to help others do their jobs effectively. But, when
those jobs involve organising affairs such that effective teaching and learning can take
place in a fast changing socio-cultural environment, there is an enormous challenge to
creativity. To meet this challenge the Adviser has to collect and systematically package
ideas ie she has to build a Portfolio.
Collecting ideas - the never ending quest.
| The Adviser moves between schools. She is thus able to observe and talk to different
people tackling their jobs in different ways. This is a source of ideas upon which the
Adviser can draw - ie individual reflection on local experience. |
| The Adviser organises groups and encourages them to reflect. Careful listening in these
situations is another source of ideas ie group reflection on
local experience. |
| The Adviser has close contact with resource materials which she herself has selected.
She has the time to review these and filter them for local relevance. This is another
source of ideas - non-local experience. |
Packaging ideas - the portfolio concept
The Adviser has to help those with problems to overcome them ie to give up on those
ideas which are causing the problem and to develop and act upon new ideas. Pure creativity
would allow people to develop new ideas out of thin air but this is an uncommon ability -
it helps to have pre-existing, alternative ideas to challenge and adapt. It will also help
if these ideas are packaged in a way that makes them easily available (a) to the Adviser
herself, and (b) to the various clients.
Most Principals and teachers are too busy to engage in exhaustive research (either
direct or via literature review). Thus the concept of filtered source materials.
The Adviser can engage in the research (field and book), filter the findings for
local relevance, and then make them available in an easy to digest form (one-pagers,
workshop handouts, audio or video tape, newsletter or journal articles etc). (Many
materials come prepackaged for workshop use these days)
During the process of research and filtering the Adviser adds to the collection of
ideas in her own head - these can be communicated personally. Also, by writing the ideas
down, or capturing them on audio or video formats, the ideas can be available for clients
to mull over at their own convenience.
Thus we have the concept of An Adviser’s Portfolio. As time goes by the
Adviser will build up and revise a collection of materials related to all the topics/ideas
with which she commonly has to deal. Note that this is information which has to be
easily retrieved by the Adviser and/or the client. The material has to be well indexed and
sensibly filed - the clerical assistant will have a key role to play in this.
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