The Potential of Participatory Methodologies to Bring About Change

Discuss about the Learning and Participation for International Encyclopedia of Geography.

Robert Chambers is an associate researcher in the Participation, Power and Social Change research team at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. His keynote address at the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) had many aspects which deal with the development process in the society. The below paragraphs will critically reflect on different aspects of the development scenario.

Robert Chambers was optimistic about the world even though extreme negativity was present in the world such as the change in climate, the rise in inequality among people, the abuse of the concept of globalization and the increase in greed among people. However, Chambers says that for individuals like me, who are involved in participation for development, the time is good to make a difference in the world. Participation has many implications on the relations, interactions and the attitudes and behaviours of the people (Chambers & Loubere, 2017). Participatory can be applied to almost all kinds of social processes such as family, education, organizations and others. Whereas development means the good changes that take place and asking questions regarding the power and relationships of people involving those individuals who notice that the change is occurring. Chambers is optimistic about the change that is going tonight in the world. He says that there are many new innovations and changes in the social world that have brought about a rapid development in the society and also among the vulnerable and marginalised people. There are many revolutions that are occurring in different Participatory Methodologies (PM) which helps to bring about a change in the downcast society (Tacchi & Lennie, 2014). The continuous change in the world and the numerous innovations that are emerging everyday have made it easier for people like us to make a difference in the world. These innovations have also brought many social changes among the poor people because of which it has become much easier to develop them. Due to these emerging changes in the world, practitioners are also trying to find new and innovative ways to change themselves so that they can provide more ways to develop the vulnerable and marginalised people. Robert chambers says that these are the developments that have led him to be optimistic because despite of the presence of various negativities in the society, there is always a ray of hope which states that change can be brought about in the society in a good way with the help of the emerging technologies and it’s developments. Many new techniques have been adopted by the development practitioners to understand the attitudes and behaviours of the individuals and what steps they need to take to help the people adapt to the change so that it is beneficial to them. These techniques have assisted in bringing the practitioners and the recipient closer who have contributed to building trust between the two groups and have further helped in making the change rapid and better. In my opinion, Chambers have every reason to be optimistic about the situation because the changes that have been observed are very much relevant to the current scenario. Keeping the negativities far away and developing ways in which the practitioners can overcome the obstacles that will be faced by them, change can be brought about in various ways and furthermore development can be a major part of our society.

Optimistic Outlook on Changes in Social Processes

Robert Chambers’ optimism has been reflected in the experiences of development practitioners like me. Firstly, there is a vast scope in the world with many new emerging trends and also reversing the adverse trends. Primary education is being provided in Indonesia. Researchers like me have lived with families in different communities for five days and nights or more. Afterwards all of them come together to share and compare the experience that they had and what they have learnt in those several days. During these comparisons it is revealed that there are many social changes that occur in these families that the individuals in the capital cities are not aware of (Kamble, 2014). The statistics of participation that was revealed showed that there was massive potential for change in the society. The other professionals of the field and the local people of the area gave other qualitative statistics to us which helped us to remain up to date with the developments in the society (Cameron, Olivia & Shah, 2015). The main aspects which drive change were found to be behaviour, attitude and the facilities that were received. Secondly, we, the development practitioners, became aware of the mind-set and the beliefs of the people which led them to be biased about the changes occurring in the society (Binns, 2017). However, this can be looked as a positive lookout as becoming aware of this business can help us in making a change in the people and show them the way of moving forward. I can understand the aspect that awareness of negativity is a positive sign in the change-making process. In the change making process comes the element of realism, which states that I should as a development practitioner always stays in touch with the continuous changes that are occurring. These changes are the realities of the world which will help me to understand the grass root of the problems that hinder the change. The concept of realism mentor those people to be recognized and rewarded who understands and learns from the failures that are faced by them, understanding and accepting the defeat and changing from it (Chambers, 2014). For this to happen it is necessary that e remain alert of the new happenings around us and to learn from them. To stay alert, I should always listen to the voices around me so that I can be of help to them if they need any aid. Due to this alertness there sometimes forms a bond between me and the recipient whom I have helped. This bond is further intensified when the recipient starts to trust me. In every success story that has been told by the recipients there is always the mention of the staff that has supper the recipient in his or her time of need. Many a times, my recipients have also mentioned the work that I have done for them and the help that I have given in their development process.

Challenges Faced by Development Practitioners in Bringing About Positive Change

Robert Chambers quoted Gandhi’s words, “we must become the change we want to see in the world”. This quote to me states that change is not a single prospect where one makes the change, and the other one receives it. Change is a two-way process where both the parties have to change together to make a real difference in the world. If I want to bring a change into the world, the first and foremost, I have to bring the change within myself. If I am unable to make the change in myself, then I will fail to deliver the change and develop somebody else as well. This is because we will still be unaware about the practical effect of the change that we are about the make and just believe in its concept and that is not enough to develop. The change has to be first made within me, for me to do it outside and in other people. The individuals whom I will help will rely their trust on me. If I am unable to stand on that trust, then they not are able to develop themselves. Change is inevitable but to make something useful in this world, we all should make specific changes within us to make us a better person. We must follow the beliefs and ideas that we teach other people for it to become a part of us, so that we can truthfully say that we abide by these beliefs and are not blindly teaching them. We should know the result of each idea that we show other people and should embed them into our daily life so that we can firmly trust the positive outcome of the change. This saying by Gandhi also makes me realise that to bring about a change in the whole world the first small step should be taken by an individual who believes in the change. If this is not done and people keep relying on each to make the change, then it shall never happen. If each individual started acting on their own and started changing themselves, then slowly the whole society will change. If the change is for a good cause then everyone will start following that one individual. Therefore, I can say that Robert Chambers have quoted the saying by Gandhi to emphasize the importance of change within oneself before trying to change the whole world. It will be impossible for me to change the entire world if I am unable to initiate the change in myself. Then it will just be a theory that I would try to incorporate within other people without actually understanding its meaning and importance. If this is done then the change will not be recognized by the people, and no positive outcome will be received from it.

The Importance of Personal Change in Creating Positive Change in Society

As a development practitioner, there are various challenges and opportunities that are faced by me to bring the change that I want to see in the world. The difficulties faced by me are as follows. Firstly, the social changes that occur are very sudden and rapid without any trace of caution. Hence, it is my job as a development practitioner to keep updated with the changes that are occurring because if I am not upgraded, then I will be unable the changes that have already happened and remain behind. This will stop me from bringing the right kind of change into the world. Secondly, we as development practitioner are mostly separated from the poor people due to many reasons and hence it makes it difficult for us to understand the problems that are faced by them. This can be because of the significant involvement in the capital cities where digitalization is extreme, and people are imprisoned with the concept of the internet. Hence, it results in the poorer countries not getting the desired attention that they should receive. Therefore, it is a challenge for me to make sure that everyone in the more impoverished cities gets the desired attention and they are made recipients of the change that would help them develop themselves. Lastly, many tensions have risen between the planning and designing of a difference and the participation of the people in that change. People have become unwilling to participate in the change due to the mind-set and the set of beliefs that they have been following on from the beginning of time. It has become a challenge for other development practitioners and me to change the mind-set of the people and help to develop them to make themselves better. Just like there are challenges that are faced by us, there are also many opportunities which help us to bring the change. Firstly, the evolution of technology has provided both a challenge and an opportunity for us. The technology has enabled us to evolve ourselves and form new ideas regarding the change process and has helped us to try new methods through which we can develop the society and also allow for people to understand the positive outcomes of the change. Secondly, the trust that is formed between me and my recipient will help me to bring a more rapid and permanent change in the society. The faith that is built would make the recipients rely entirely on us, and this would remove any misinformation that they might have regarding the changes that are about to happen. These opportunities will further help us to bring about the change that we want to see in the world. The challenges would be easy to overcome if we take the opportunities seriously and work on it.

Hence, it can be said from the above paragraphs that change is an inevitable part of life which should be embraced by everyone and should be made in such a way so that it brings a positive outcome for the society. The poor people of the society should benefit from the change, and it is the job of the development practitioners to make sure that the change occurs successfully.

References:

Binns, T. (2017). Participatory Development. The International Encyclopedia of Geography.

Cameron, L. A., Olivia, S., & Shah, M. (2015). Initial Conditions Matter: Social Capital and Participatory Development

Chambers, R. (2014). Rural development: Putting the last first. Routledge.

Chambers, R., &Loubere, N. (2017). Liberating development inquiry: Freedom, openness and participation in fieldwork. Understanding global development research: Fieldwork issues, experiences and reflections, 27-46.

Kamble, S. M. (2014). Participatory rural appraisal: a tool for inclusive growth and participatory development a case study of Village Marale, MS, India. Int Res J SocSci, 3(3), 48-50.

Tacchi, J., & Lennie, J. (2014). A participatory framework for researching and evaluating communication for development and social change. © John Wiley & Sons.