Into the unknown : explorations in development practice / Robert Chambers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chambers, Robert, 1932- author.

Contributor:

John Lammey Stewart Memorial Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Community development.

Physical Description:

xi, 148 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Rugby : Practical Action Publishing, 2014.

Summary:

As change accelerates, development professionals find themselves more than ever explorers of an unknown and unknowable future. This brings opportunities, excitement and surprises, and demands continuous critical reflection and learning. In the opening part of this book, Robert Chambers reviews his own life, including his early career, participation in the World Bank's Voices of the Poor project, and research and engagement in South Asia on canal irrigation. These experiences led him to examine personal biases and predispositions, and to recognize the pervasive significance of power in forming and framing knowledge. Into the Unknown then reflects on a journey of learning, and encourages readers to learn from observation, curiosity, critical feedback, play and fun. Participatory workshops have been the source of much enjoyable exploration and have evolved in unexpected directions. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and community-led total sanitation (CLTS) are two movements that have benefited from sharing practices and innovations through participatory workshops. Experience-based practical tips for facilitating such workshops are presented - 21 each for learning, for managing large groups, and for co-generating knowledge to influence policy and practice. Finally, the author argues that the new dual realities - virtual and physical - are getting out of balance, and encourages readers to enjoy exploring through experiential learning in the physical and social world. Into the Unknown will be useful and of interest to development professionals in governments, NGOs, aid agencies, universities, colleges, training institutes and the private sector, including academics, activists, officials, trainers, field practitioners, freelance consultants and students. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Exploring experience

1 Critical reflections of a development nomad 3

Prologue 3

Nomad and journey 5

Reflections and lessons 9

A radical agenda for future development studies? 15

2 Power, knowledge and policy influence: reflections on an experience 23

Consultations with the poor 24

To engage or not to engage 25

Dilemmas in practical trade-offs 26

Power to open and close 28

Synthesis and SOSOTEC 30

Dilemmas and decisions in analysis 31

Professionalism, presentation and policy influence 36

The power to outrage and inspire 40

Impacts: Making a difference? 41

Practical lessons for optimizing: trade-offs, balances, and win-wins 44

Conclusion: reflexivity, power and pluralism 45

3 Ignorance, error and myth in South Asian irrigation: critical reflections on experience 51

The experience 51

Learning, ignorance and blind spots 53

The origins and resilience of error 55

Warabandi: power, ignorance and error 56

Designing research to 'succeed' 58

Political economy and 'the system' of professional, social and personal relations 63

So what? Reflections on realism and how to make a difference 64

Part II Exploring learning

4 Learning about learning 71

Ahhas! The thrill of discovering that 'they can do it' 72

Wandering around, observation and curiosity 73

Failing forwards 74

Disempowered for feedback 75

Learning, feeling, changing 76

Learning by acting 77

Daring, play and fun 78

Twenty-one tips for nomads on learning journeys 79

5 Participatory workshops: teaching, learning and large groups 83

Explanatory prologue 83

Twenty-one tips and activities from ten years of messing up, borrowing and learning 85

Twenty-one ways of welcoming, mixing and managing very large groups 93

6 Exploring the cogeneration of knowledge: critical reflections on PRA and CLTS 99

Purpose and caveat 99

Context: the history of PRA and CLTS 100

Enabling conditions 101

Participatory workshops for sharing and cogenerating knowledge 103

Types and contexts of cogenerating workshops 104

Common dimensions of sharing and cogenerating 106

Lessons learnt from participatory methodologies 110

Final reflections 112

Twenty-one ideas for activities for participatory workshops for sharing and cogenerating knowledge 112

Part III Into the new unknown

7 Exploring for our faster future world 121

Three themes 121

Passionate communities 122

The future is faster 124

New exclusions, inclusions and impacts 126

The imperative of experiential learning 127

Exploring as a way of living and being 128.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John Lammey Stewart Memorial Library Fund.

ISBN:

1853398233

9781853398223

1853398225

9781853398230

OCLC:

869795175

Publisher Number:

99962033695