on session 3 (Participatory approaches and techniques)

More theory. Tons of people (the circle broke and I had to bring in another chair). More on the Moodle conundrum of diary submission.. . So we have a touch screen… and my diary is being screened to everyone… Kees responds to the comments (Carolina’s, mine ?) on the pertinence of the Honduras’s video… but of course I/we got the point that it was an example of PAR (although I pause before conceding that it wasn’t interventionist). Anyhow…

I feel hideously dressed and everyone is taking pictures! (Ok. So only two persons, but then I like to exaggerate) What’s Soumita telling Alma? I’m not concentrating [evaluation of past session’s lesson, the cascading exercise…]. Make it four persons with cameras. Maria Roda is using a tape-tag: “Maria”. Kees shows some ppt, a tool he outspokenly hates… reiteratively. I believe some credit should be given to PowerPoint as a very useful tool that made paper presentations more entertaining and/or visually appealing as compared with the tools from 20 years ago. Flash is nice but even still it can also be boring and/or disenchanting. Are there no substitutes for PowerPoint-like tools that can be used for this case? Or does this Microsoft Office theme fit the purpose?

Maggie got her tag out. I have mine here but I’m not taking it out.  I don’t want to. I should slept more yesterday. Carolina is looking amazing and she’s right in front of me. Howard conveniently grouped with his girlfriend (lucky him, I guess). Buzz group exercise: “helps flow (?) your ideas… get to reflect a moment with someone else… a question should be out there”. Chambers is one of Kees heroes; he took [from PRA to PLA (?)] out of an NGOish image. It became an easy way to get what “people” wanted [or their undemocratic representatives]. RRA was “quick and dirty”… but “at least it was rapid”, commented Kees, and an “appreciation of local knowledge”.

Methods: triangulation (and others) was a paternalistic, top-down approach, not really very participatory.  Transex diagram… what? Oh! Transect diagram! Just my imagination. A transex diagram sounded so much interesting. Local knowledge can be appreciated, e.g. the locals know where the good soils are. Which reminds me of the pop-art Colombian movement: CARO ES CARO was a statement/engraving that the hippie artist Antonio Caro made contradicting his then recent valuation for his works. His works (a Caro) had become expensive (in Spanish caro). Art valuation tends to be a topic of heated debate among economist… probably more than the valuation of these techniques in the heavily funded development supply side interventions inside their own speech communities. But back to the toolbox: Chapatti Diagrams... would Ven ever imagine his image compared to a usually round wheat yeast-free bread (mainly Indian)? How can comparisons be validated, especially when the proponents of the original ideas are absent? How do these tools account?

India is in the air. Body language, as an alternative to a written or spoken one, might not be as universal as we usually expect. Take for example tapping! Kees sustained that tapping someone in India was different than tapping a person in The Netherlands. Howard nodded but Kees sought only Indian responses… so Soumita had to answer… however contradicting this anti-universality. Tap a person downward = CALM DOWN! Tap her upwards = SPEAK UP!

Lenny is unwrapping candy and Umbreem is chewing gum. I feel tired all of a sudden and want to eat something. I’m writing a lot today. Inequality and wealth rankings… social map of the village [I forgot the name of this… oh yeah! Social cartography]. Kehinde seems to have gone to the toilette. Everyone looks bored. Yeah, Chambers promotes FUN as an important distinctive factor of PRA. Disadvantages to PRA: technique used in development business with hidden agendas. Santiago (in Paris) blames the weather: imagine then summer productivity.

As a result [of the criticism?] the third strand came: PLA

Tree diagram: gina comments from her experience what it consists on. The intelligent board is very dusty. Reflection is learning? What? Reflection as learning? I guess I missed it. Nice example of Disempowerment: a YouTube video. But first Kees´s synthesis. Should I include quantitative data into my RP? Just to tell a different story or less ambitiously, controvert a dominant view. Maggie says, “this looks like a role play” Yeah! It does! I was thinking the exact same thing. Kehinde: “You need a skillful person to direct/facilitate a participatory actor”. So e.g. I shouldn’t do it. I like Marlon’s explanation “this looks like the end of a day where everyone just wants to get it over with”.

I complain too much in these diary entries. What is simply a metabolic disorder that I must address with yoga and a change in diet can be taken for a whimsical attitude which I do not have. I somehow miss the cheerfulnes that a good rest + good health provide. Dear reader, please be patient and forgiving.

 

This word has given me a very hard time! I feel so glad that I have the opportunity to pronounce it and to identify with it! I valued this greeting symbolism greatly.

 

Another (less amazing) use of local resources. People cannot complain they have not seen a map of the Hague.

 

Umbreem asked me to take pictures with her panoramic app. Picture taking and participating in the exercise overall made me put my note-taking aside :) (I was very happy that happened).

   

Alma and I thinking on cool things to do for further integration.

 

This is me engaging in participatory action!

  

Kyla guiding us as another group at the back debated heavily on their listing. Madurodam discounts were the new voting token.

 Our votes, dispersed.

 Some tape was introduced to uniform the votes along the red tulip like lines.

 Lenny and Carolina very proud of our group work... despite the fact that we didn't come up with a tenth activity.

 Gina and Marlon continue to tape their listing, just to make sure it would not fall (which it didn't).

 Associating ourselves with emotions. Like Kees, I thought the surprised expression (lower right) was possitive and lay my red square on it.