Appreciative inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry is a way of thinking, seeing and acting for purposeful change in organizations.  It works on the assumption that whatever you want more of already exists in all organizations.  While traditional problem-solving processes separate and dissect pieces of a system, appreciative inquiry generates images that affirm the forces that give life and energy to a system.  In the traditional way of doing things one defines the problem, focuses on decay and what is broken.  In appreciative inquiry one assumes the solution already exists, amplifies what is working, and focuses on life giving forces.

The assumptions of appreciate inquiry are:

* In every society, organization or group, something works

* What we focus on becomes our reality

* Reality is created in the moment and there are multiple realities

* The act of asking questions or an organization or group influences the group in some way

* People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future, or unknown when the carry forward parts the past, or known

* If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past.

* It is important to value differences

* The language we use creates our reality

For more information: http://www.positivechange.org/appreciative-inquiry.html

Beneficiary assessment

Beneficiary assessment involves systematic consultation with project beneficiaries and other stakeholders to help them identify and design development activities, signal any potential constraints to their participation, and obtain feedback on reactions to an intervention during implementation. Beneficiary assessments are an investigation of the perceptions of a systematic sample of beneficiaries and other stakeholders to ensure that their concerns are heard and incorporated into project and policy formulation. The general purposes  are to (a) undertake systematic listening, which "gives voice" to poor and other hard-to-reach beneficiaries, highlighting constraints to beneficiary participation, and (b) obtain feedback on interventions.  There are three data collection elements:

o In-depth conversational interviewing around key themes or topics

o Focus group discussions

o Direct observation and participant observation (in which the investigator lives in the community for a short time).

Beneficiary assessment are carried out by local people under the direction of a trained team leader or social scientist. The skill mix and number of staff varies according to the tools used and demographic characteristics of the beneficiary population; BAs often require an experienced focus group facilitator and participant observer.

Beneficiary assessments help to define problems from the point of view of the people who are affected by projects. Such knowledge improves project preparation and the monitoring of implementation. Beneficiary assessments can also help lay the foundation for participatory development work.

For more information: http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/sourcebook/sba106.htm

Citizen Juries

Citizen juries involve the wider community in the decision-making process. Participants are engaged as citizens with no formal alignments or allegiances rather than experts. Citizens' juries use a representative sample of citizens (usually selected in a random or stratified manner), who are briefed in detail on the background and current thinking relating to a particular issue, and asked to discuss possible approaches, sometimes in a televised group. Citizen juries are intended to complement other forms of consultation rather than replace them. Citizens are asked to become jurors and make a judgment in the form of a report, as they would in legal juries. The issue they are asked to consider will be one that has an effect across the community and where a representative and democratic decision-making process is required (see Case Study Citizen Jury regarding water quality in the Bremer River, Ipswich, Queensland). Citizen juries can be used to broker a conflict, or to provide a transparent and non-aligned viewpoint. Citizen jurors bring with them an intrinsic worth in the good sense and wisdom born of their own knowledge and personal experience. The Citizens' Jury provides the opportunity to add to that knowledge and to exchange ideas with their fellow citizens. The result is a collective one, in which each juror has a valuable contribution to make.(Jefferson Center's Citizens' Jury Handbook. Summer 1997.)

For more information: http://www-esd.worldbank.org/sac/Resources/pub5.html

National Issues Forums

National Issues Forums (NIF) is a nonpartisan, nationwide network of locally sponsored public forums for the consideration of public policy issues. It is rooted in the simple notion that people need to come together to reason and talk — to deliberate about common problems. Indeed, democracy requires an ongoing deliberative public dialogue.

These forums, organized by a variety of organizations, groups, and individuals, offer citizens the opportunity to join together to deliberate, to make choices with others about ways to approach difficult issues and to work toward creating reasoned public judgment. Forums range from small or large group gatherings similar to town hall meetings, to study circles held in public places or in people's homes on an ongoing basis.

Forums focus on an issue such as health care, immigration, Social Security, or ethnic and racial tensions. The forums provide a way for people of diverse views and experiences to seek a shared understanding of the problem and to search for common ground for action. Forums are led by trained, neutral moderators, and use an issue discussion guide that frames the issue by presenting the overall problem and then three or four broad approaches to the problem. Forum participants work through the issue by considering each approach; examining what appeals to them or concerns them, and also what the costs, consequences, and trade offs may be that would be incurred in following that approach.

    For more information: http://www.nifi.org/