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Appreciative Planning and Action : Mission Statement
Appreciative Planning and Action : Mission Statement
Appreciative Planning and Action: Mission Statement
To empower women and their groups to: - take pride in what and who they are and what they have achieved - dream of what might be - plan for what can be; and - feel the energy that comes from making commitments and completing the first step.
To be simple enough that anyone can do it; profound enough to change women's lives.
Trekking over 100 miles from village to village over the course of about a year, and joined by a motley band of various Nepali project staff, park scouts and rangers, and a variety of curious and interested local people, I worked with my team to create something that fit the bill. We started with a combination of various PRA techniques that were designed to engage poor, illiterate rural people in analyzing their local situation as a foundation for planning development activities. Weaving AI concepts into these, we tried them out In village after village, conducting simple participatory assessments after each session of what they liked best and what 'even better' might look like. In particular, they loved the AT parts, although they rather appreciated more actually doing it than talking about it. They also appreciated the PRA exercises involving drawing pictures and maps, especially those where they shared their Successes and dreams for their children and grandchildren. Interestingly the opportunity to make personal commitments also got high marks.
At the beginning we just asked a few volunteers to share their personal commitments, but during our 'A-Valuation' (see box below for description) we learned that those who had not had a chance to share their commitments felt rather cheated. From their own side, after sharing dreams and plans for reviving and teaching their young people traditional songs and dances, they suggested that we add a 'Dance and Drum' step to celebrate their successes and action plans. When we were done - although, of course, we're never really done - we had something people really enjoyed, a process that helped them empower themselves to take charge of their lives, and which mobilized them to take action to get started right away. And even though we had simplified the process, we ended up with 7-Ds instead of the classic 4-Ds. An oxymoron, perhaps, but it worked!
The first 4-Ds were very much those we all use in Appreciative Inquiry although we used 'Delivery' as a short-term action-planning and personal commitment step rather than 'Destiny' (a rather abstract concept for villagers). This was followed by a short 'Do it now!' step where they took on a mini project right away, before the meeting was over, to get started. 'Discussion/Dialogue' followed, as an informal `A-Valuation step, where we talked about what they had liked best about the meeting and how they could make the next one even better if they did it themselves. That led naturally into the final, seventh step, 'Dance and Drum' where we brought out the musical instruments and sang and danced in celebration of the successes we had already achieved and those that would follow. In its simplest form the APA process, as described by Peter Delahay, creator of UNICEF's Imagine Nagaland program, consists of discovery, Dream, Design and Do!'4
The Appreciative Planning and Action Model
APA, as developed and used in WORTH, is built on four basic elements, including a simple 4-part planning and action approach that parallels classic planning models. These include:
One goal: Seeking the root cause o£ success (Not the root cause of failure)
Two laws: 1. What you seek is what you find (The questions You ask determine the answers you get) 2. Where you believe you are going is where you will end up
Three principles: 1. If you look for problems, you find more problems 2. If you look for successes, you find more successes 3. If you have faith in your dreams you can achieve miracles
The 4Ds that became the 7Ds
The Four 'Ds'
Discovery - Asking positive questions, seeking what works, what empowers, what gives life to our community or group; when have we, as women, felt particularly excited, energized, empowered?
Dream - Visioning of what could be, where we want to go, what we want for our daughters, our granddaughters?
Design - Making a strategy and long-range plan based on what we have already done and now will do for ourselves
Delivery - Agree on a short-term action plan and personal commitments to get started
And the APA additions
Do it now! Begin with something we can all do, right now - before the tea comes and the meeting ends
6. Discussion/Dialogue - Mini 'A-Valuation' - sharing and discussing what everyone liked best about this meeting and how, when we do it ourselves next time, it could be 'even better'.
Dance & Drum - Get out the drum and flutes and let's dance to celebrate our successes!
about a year, and joined by a motley band of various Nepali project staff, park scouts and rangers, and a variety of curious and interested local people, I worked with my team to create something that fit the bill. We started with a combination of various PRA techniques that were designed to engage poor, illiterate rural people in analyzing their local situation as a foundation for planning development activities. Weaving AI concepts into these, we tried them out In village after village, conducting simple participatory assessments after each session of what they liked best and what 'even better' might look like. In particular, they loved the AT parts, although they rather appreciated more actually doing it than talking about it. They also appreciated the PRA exercises involving drawing pictures and maps, especially those where they shared their Successes and dreams for their children and grandchildren. Interestingly the opportunity to make personal commitments also got high marks. 