In December I began a more formal application of SALT in the community I am working in. Up to now, I have been practising my communication techniques in how I interact with the wonderful residents on the urban inner city London estate on which I work. Our project is an informal, ABCD project where, a couple of days a week, we hang out at a borrowed social housing flat, inviting residents in for cups of tea and letting the ideas they naturally begin to speak…

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/4877a1e8f3470559c21b77fbc/files/ea75fff5-9b02-47f4-905f-852d18fe36cd/Constellation_Report_2016_English.pdf…

March 1, 2017

Do we  Europeans behave like the legendary frog? You know the story: the frog was living in a pond whose water was heating so slowly that it noticed nothing until it died in boiling water. Is our fixation on “the economy” so strong that we pay no attention to the fate of fellow human beings? Are we so mesmerized by the current US excesses that we leave unnoticed the gradual abandonment of our own values? Not long ago, I was proud to belong to Europe, a beacon of human…

In the first week of March 2017, Dr Jean-Louis Lamboray (JL) arrived at Chennai on a 3-day visit in connection with the launch of his book, "What Makes Us Human".

His three days' stay was a packed schedule for JL as he had interactive sessions with South India Aids Action Programme (SIAAP) staff, the students of the reputed Women's Christian College (WCC) and then the scheduled book launch.

My meeting up with JL again after I first met him at the Global Learning Festival (GLF)…

Il y a plus de 18 mois que je vis loin de ma famille, mes amis ainsi que de mon mari pour des raisons professionnelles. Les autres collègues, se demandent comment puis-je vivre et tenir si longtemps sans mon mari et dans un environnement très incertain? La réponse à cette question est très simple et facile; je leur ai juste répondu que je vis le SALT. En bref, j’applique les principes SALT dans ma vie et j’ai opté de voir plus le positif dans ce que je fais. L’unique force et source de ma…

From the Constellation 2016 Report:

Training on SALT Community Dialogue

Since October 2015, the Ministry of Communication and Relations with Institutions (MCRI) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports with the support of UNICEF C4D have begun a process of critical reflection on the harmonisation of approaches to Community Dialogue applied in Madagascar. They contracted the international NGO, The Constellation, to carry out these reflections and develop a harmonised…

Karachi, Pakistan. (Texte en français à la fin).

On the invitation of the Indus Hospital in Karachi, Claire Campbell and Luc Barrière-C have been running the first training of Community Facilitators in Pakistan from the 27th February to the 3rd of March in Karachi.

It has been a pleasure to meet young committed people who are all, in one way or…

I find myself reflecting on the experiences I have shared over the years since being exposed to the SALT approach. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened had I not been exposed to the approach. I remember Usa and Gaston who introduced us to the approach, they were fantastic. The workshop was different, not the regular workshop that I was accustomed to, there was something exciting in the air. I was made to reflect on who I was as a human. It was a weird question "why are you human?"…

"¿Es posible imaginar un [...] mundo donde los individuos y las comunidades reconozcan, respeten su humanidad común y vivan plenamente su capacidad de contribuir a la sociedad en su conjunto?

Muchos de nosotros, somos participantes en esta plataforma virtual de Constellation. Sentimos que estamos contribuyendo a crear ese mundo. Lo hacemos a nuestra manera, con nuestros…

« Est-il possible d'imaginer [...] un monde où les individus et les communautés reconnaissent et respectent leur humanité commune et vivent leur…

“Is it possible to imagine [...] a world where individuals and communities recognise and respect their common humanity, and live out their full potential to contribute to society as a whole?”

Many among us as participants in this Constellations virtual platform will surely feel we are contributing to creating that world. We do so in our own way, with our own means, in our own context.…

   I am working as a storyteller in a very diverse and difficult public school in Manhattan.  Inspired by the SALT method, that I am learning,  I asked  22 young people in a third grade class to describe their strengths. "I am kind."  "I love to read"  "I can run really fast" and so on.   They  were learning to be storytellers  to present folktales that inspired leadership and advocated against bullying.  During our session I noticed a boy who kept to himself and was avoided by the…

On February 17-19, Belcompetence ventured out onto yet another road to spreading the “taste” of SALT and CLCP in Belgium:  We…

Hans Rosling was a Swedish physician, academic, statistician, and public speaker. He was the Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute] and was the co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation. He held presentations around the world, including several TED Talks in which he promoted the use of data to explore development issues. He died on 7 February 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling

He…

Reflections on our shared dream, "What makes us human?"

Chapter 3: Before I was a radio: now I am a recorder

My title is not metaphorical. Jean-Louis describes a visit to a group of sex workers in Matadi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everyone there was expecting another lesson from experts and the seating had been arranged accordingly. Under the shade of a mango tree, a high table was covered with a beautiful sheet and was enhanced with a bouquet of flowers. The chairs…

Here is The Constellation 2016 report!

The theme of the report is: “Community to Community Transfer of Local Response”.

“If communities own the…

Celebrating the Local Response as an Important Resource for the Community

– a SALT approach for the transfer of local response

Beyond Social Services, Singapore

December 2016

Our Reflection

Everything has a life span. All groups and their endeavours who wish to remain relevant would do well to picture themselves within a life cycle from inception to closing. Stages in between would be development, maturity and redefining relevance.  We…

Gender fight, seeing the future and development: The story of Mazah in Nigeria.

[This story emerged during group work in the Community Development Journal Conference in July 2015 at Edinburgh. The session was flagged off by Jacqueline Shaw and Graham Jeffery’s presentation titled -Between Potential and Reality: negotiating participatory cultural processes towards community emergence

Group members: Oga Steve Abah, Walter Arteaga 
Jo Howard, Erika Lopez Franco and Rituu B…