Promotion of self-help among farmers adapting to climate change in Bangladesh; using social constructionist and appreciative inquiry resources.
Project duration
12 months (May, 2011 –April, 2012)
Location
Patikabari village of Bhadurpur Union of Pangsa Thana under Rajbari District of Bangladesh Support providing organization
Taos Institute
63 Maple Hill Drive,
Chagrin Falls,
Ohio 44022, USA
Chagrin Falls,
Ohio 44022, USA
Background and purpose of the project
Extreme events of climate change affect the livelihoods of communities that depend on agriculture. Talks concerning climate change, its effects on agriculture and ways to adapt are largely dominated by the thoughts of external scholars and professionals; rarely do experts pay attention to the ways that farmers themselves address these significant problems, nor do these professional people work together with farmers to improve their responses to climate changes. Yet, relational interactions of farmers, their agriculture, and climate variability continuously generate learning and innovations of adaptation; how farmers develop adaptive measures can be seen as one of the life giving forces to climate change. However, traditions of problem solving and professional domination in development and social change arenas usually do not encourage the promotion of horizontal sharing of knowledge and innovation through creating enabling knowledge sharing infrastructure; the subject-object structure of transferring professionals’ thoughts to the farmers often does not match the diverse local situations farmers find themselves in. Integrating the principles of Social/Relational Construction and the 4-D cycle of AI offers us the potential and possibility to promote self-help means towards climate change adaptation in agriculture among these people.
The main purposes of this project are to:
- Pilot an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) cycle in a rural ( agri-livelihood based) community of Bangladesh in order to promote local innovations and actions affecting climate change adaptation in agriculture;
- Develop a contextualized AI facilitation tools (useful for grassroots change workers) in order to facilitate farmers’ community in order to promote self-help with regard to climate change adaptation in their agriculture.
Expected outcome
Upon successful completion of the project:
· VORD would have a community level project of AI for the promotion of local innovations and actions towards climate change adaptation in agriculture:
· VORD as a local NGO in Bangladesh would have developed its capacity to facilitate Appreciative Inquiry for the promotion of local innovations and actions towards climate change adaptation in agriculture;
· Experiential learning have been packaged in the form of facilitating tools and shared with others involved in this pursuit.
Facilitating approach
One of the objectives of this pilot project is to develop practice generated appropriate approach and tools to facilitate AI process towards promotion of self-help towards climate change adaptation in agriculture. Social-relational construction convey that language is not mere medium of sharing ideas but it has power to transform and constitute the world, thus creating transformative dialogue and language is crucial for changes. Based on this understanding appreciative inquiry strongly proposes to create vocabularies of positive and hope. Again it is suggested that positive discussions should be in the form of narrative / story telling because stories center relationship and interaction processes as locus of change. From this perspective for a facilitator of AI in relation to Climate Change Adaptation posing right questions for positive story telling- and listening is very important. Further, with regards to farmer’s innovations to climate change adaptation it is also crucial to find out innovators and innovations who can share their stories of success in the application of AI cycle: In relation to the application of AI process towards promotion of self-help towards climate change adaptation in agriculture VORD has thought of following process.
Story of lessons
Historical relationships and construct pursue farmers to express what their deficit rather than what they want it is important to ask “what do we want”
Shayamal K. Saha , Taos Associate
It was on July 3, 2011, I with VORD staff went Patikbari village and disused with some farmers . Our main purpose of this informal dialogue and discussions with the farmer was to listen and learn from them about whether they are experiencing and observing climate changes and its effects on the agriculture. There were about 20 famers met in primary school ground of Patikabari. Weban by asking “ how are you all; how is your agriculture etc . Just after few minutes of beginning farmers of patikabri started to speak difficulties of their life and agriculture . They added:
- Now a days nothing grows without use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides ; we cannot afford to buy and use those .
- Doing agriculture has become so expensive due to buying costly fertilizer , seeds, and pesticides , irrigation w e don’t get adequate return of value ?
- Land is no more fertile with out excessive use of chemical fertilizer nothing grows well
- Some vegetables such and eggplants; tree grows well, flowers but does not crop; we have no idea why it is like that
- Tell a story of a farmer who was able to sow and germinate seeds successfully
- Our jute plants are destroyed by unbelievable pest attach ( Bisa)
- Reach farmers who have land now become absentee landlords and lease out the land to the poor and marginalized farmers don’t share any risk At the beginning if all farmers of our village together could kills all Bisa then our jute plats could be saved.
All these talks were deficit based. Years after year village people used to speak their problems when external change/development worker ask them. This problem / deficit based discussion is contrary to the principles of AI but seems impossible to avoid at beginning.
In order to transform this vocabularies of deficit in —we asked the farmers ( presented in the meeting) “what do we want; what is our wish? Discourse began to change form deficit into positive ; Farmers added:
· We want doing agriculture without buying/using any chemical fertilizer and pesticide?
· We want doing agriculture with little chemical fertilizer and pesticide but largely using organic fertilizer and pesticide.
· Went want to reduce cost of farming
· We want less pest attack to our crops and we know how to control pest
· We want our land is fertile and has little need of using chemical fertilizer
· We want our crop is not destroyed by natural calamity and pest
· We want to have good seeds in our hand
· We want we can make collective decision and action needed to do good agriculture and protect our crops.
Often there is misunderstanding about AI that it does not regards problem . Through this story we can easily sight the purpose of AI is not to forget problems of life but convert problem –centered deficit based session and discussions into a positive vision based discourse . Economically poor and marginalized people/farmers like Patikabari Vage of Bangladesh, who lead their daily life in struggle , can not suspend talks of struggle . But if the goal I to create wellbeing then just thinking and dialoging on defect/problem does not help but acting to reach desired.
There is no need to force people to stop telling their problems of life ; let then share but without ignoring problems of life as AI facilitator we can convert those into a vision by simply asking “ what do we want ‘ what is our wish”
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