Last week I had the pleasure of facilitating a large learning event, alongside Dusit Duangsa and Thuom Nary. We had 47 participants, ranging from farmers and fishermen to local government representatives and NGO staff. About 30% were bi-lingual, the rest speaking only Khmer language. 

The experience was a rich one, and our daily AAR revealed many areas…

I wish to share with facilitators and communities around the world about the incredible strengths of the people in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. This week I have had the privilege of accompanying a new facilitation team through a process of “Visioning” in 3 villages – Santey (a farming village), Muk Wat (a fishing village on the banks of the Tonle Sap, houses raised on stilts above the water) and Peam Ta Ou (a floating village, pictured…

From 22 to 24 August 2013, 55 persons were learning together and exploring CLCP in Singapore. Leading the group were JL and Sanghamitra.  5 were residents from neighbourhoods practicing SALT, 9 from Singapore community organisations, 11 community facilitators from India, Indonesia and Belgium and   30 community workers & volunteers from Beyond Social Services.  Below is a snapshot of the SALT Visits that happened.

 

The opportunity to journey with others as they deal with…

I was so surprised when I met a lady, a member of mother club called Mami Anggun, called Vina come from my home town in Indonesia when I attended learning event on SALT and CLCP with Beyond Social Service at Singapore, 22-24 August 2013. Further, my surprising even more when I listened to Siti's stories on her life struggling as single mother on taking care of her kids who is now a chef at Australia  and a stewardess.  Another lady, whom her husband are in jail told her story while other…

Welzijnsgroep is an organisation in the Netherlands that works with young people in neighbourhoods. They organise activities for fun or around prevention and specific topics. Today their challenge is that the local government, who provides their budget, wants to cut down on spending. Therefore, they would like to rethink the way they work and stimulate local communities to take ownership of some of the activities.

One of their staff members, Gemma Van Voorst, participated in a…

What does it feel like to be a citizen on the receiving end of international aid? Here’s an analogy to try to help do-gooders understand:

Let’s say you’re moving across town. You have to be out of your old apartment by 5pm that day. You’ve got the boxes already packed and the moving van rented. All you need is some muscle to help you move the heavy stuff. You ask your friend to come over early. The plan is to…

Kahayag%201-2%2C%20rev.pdf

Learning continues we also continue to roll out the Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) program in the Philippines. Here is our second issue. Hope you all enjoy reading.

The expression ‘enter the gate’ is used in Tai Chi to denote the start of a journey. As you progress you arrive at many other gates that hopefully are the entrances to higher skill levels.

I sometimes wonder about those who enter the Appreciative Inquiry gate and where they will end up. Will the first path of their journey lead them to the:

• Band Aid Gate – where a quick fix mindset develops which usually leads to the ‘it…

Latest blog on Appreciating People work in community engagement 

Dear CLC friends, 

I am sharing with you the  newsletter we made to document our CLCP journey in the WorldFish Philippines Country Office.

We are currently rolling out a CGIAR program called the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agriculture Systems or AAS for short. This program is being implemented in five countries (Zambia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines) and aims to improve the lives of 15 million poor who are dependent on aquatic agriculture…

On this site we are sharing experiences of local responses. Someone's local experience may inspire others to action but not all ideas transfer quickly. Here is an article by Atul Gawande in The New Yorker where he shares his experience of childbirth in Indian hospitals. Read how much effort is required to encourage change and the efforts he made to check progress was being made.

This note is based on an article and a podcast by Malcolm Gladwell. I will give the links at the end of the posting. 

In the article and podcast, Gladwell asserts that when we listen we filter what we hear through our own biases. He tells the story of Konrad Kellen who is seen by Gladwell as having the gift of listening without filters. It is a fascinating story and I recommend it. The story tells of the disasters that can follow when we listen with filters and I think that he is…

When Time to Listen: Hearing people on the receiving end of international aid came out earlier this year, I was excited to see how many organizations, including my own, were interacting with the multi-year study and its authors. (See previous how-matters.org…

I attended S.A.L.T training in May 2013 facilitated by April Foster and Onesmus Mutuku.

I was very much motivated with the model and put it to action.

In June 2013 I facilitated SALT training to 30 church workers and 15 community leaders. The impact is so enormous that almost every member is using SALT and reaching out to people with SALT.

salt such a blessing.

We also started SALT Team in Kisumu. CHGN-Kenya,Western chapter.

Wednesday July 17, 2013 will remain indelibly with Autry. We initially planned to meet at 6.30 pm Belgian time. At just about 5.45, I intuitively decided to check my email and saw the email Autry, "We are coming, Liza will be there in a few with an Espa, so if you come outside, she will meet you." Well, if you know me well, I am not usually an anxious person but anxiety got the better of me here. The good thing I had just had a bath in preparation for 6.30 but I am usually always ready and…

When emotional intelligence is missing in a leader, everyone knows it. Ian Thorpe on KM on a dollar a day yesterday discussed the elements of this and the challenges in developing one's self-awareness in aid work, a subject near and dear to this blog as well.

He describes it as, "recognizing and understanding who you are and…

The Mahayahay Sogod, Southern Leyte Sojourn with CLCP

….and so they came……the women….the farmers…..the fisher folks…the students..the out of school youths, the senior citizen (the elderly) and the barangay council….all with question in their eyes….and yet all of them wearing beautiful smiles on their faces!

Their local facilitator told them they are invited to dream….I hear one of them say…..”I dream only when I am asleep! When I wake…

Des vidéos de max 2 min sur des progrès des communautés :

• Accompagnement des femmes enceintes:

• Inclure les réfracteurs dans l’équipe de facilitation:…

In 5 years of experienced we learned a lot of thing, trials and challenges. In 1^st two years we manage to enhance KABATAANG DIYUNA COMPREHENSIVE YOUTH ORGANIZATION by means of experimentation. Learning the behavior of individualism and traditions in order to create centralize attitude towards them. In which we discover the statistics of problems towards youth in where it is rooted.

1^st problems come from home through their parents. Because…