My interest to Some Innovative Approaches & Collaborative Action Research Program

Since September 2004- to September 2009 I engaged myself in PhD study under Department of Tilburg University, Netherlands . As part of the study I conducted 18 month participatory action research and developed my thesis. My main area of study and research was to apply Relational Construction approach in Promotion of Self help in development and Social Change ( http://www.relational-constructionism.org) . I stated that the promotion of self-help requires: a shift in focus from building individual capacity to what we can do together; genuine people’s participation and interaction; space for multiplicity - for local creativity and for different ways of learning; a learning culture that encourages community and change agents/ workers to be co-learners and co-constructors, and; working towards opening-up new possibilities. This is only possible through non subject-object ways of relating. Based on my experiences of past practices and on published studies I have suggested that the flaw of existing self-help promotion endeavour is its residency in subject-object discourse. Despite talks and emphasis on the principals of participation, traditional self-help promotion conceptualizes stakeholders (involved in self-help promotion) as autonomous change entities thus unit of analysis and actions are targeted towards those entities. This conceptualization constructs the paradoxical relation and sustains subject-object relationship in which one party tries to promote independence of another Through exploration of the possible relevance of a relational constructionist discourse, I concluded that its centering of inter-action as both the ‘unit of analysis’ and the ‘locus of transformation’ offers us a way to promote self-help in development and social change. I strived to learn how to facilitate self-help in development in non subject-object ways of relating. I explored both problem solving and appreciative inquiry in relation to how they construct relational realities and, in particular, how they might construct subject-object and non subject-object possibilities

In relation to the study question -- ‘what centres and fosters multiple interaction processes as unit of analysis and locus of self-help promotion’; I have experienced that AI demonstrated better performance that PS. I would like to tell change workers committed to promote self-help, to apply AI instead of PS. However, it is my humble submission that it’s not the method itself in separation but effectiveness of AI to promote self-help would require its co-constructive movement with non-subject ways of relating. Successful facilitation of AI towards self-help in development and social change would largely depends upon our (the change workers) ability to construct a non subject-object participation; which I believe is the most important. If we forget about this non-subject ways of relating then even in AI process there may be a danger of subject-object construction; we may become AI experts and expect people shaping according to us and forget to co-change ourselves.

While going though this journey of learning I have learnt that instead of entities, bringing interaction processes as both unit of analysis and locus of change is fundamental in promotion of self-help. Unfortunately, in the field of development and social change not many organizations, institutions and development practitioners are aware about it. I think there are ample literatures on social construction at the level of academia but probably not much on relational constructions processes of social constructions. Little is known to practitioners in the community on how to approach and facilitate this concept of relational construction processes in the field of development and social change. As a grassroots development practitioners I think it is important to have a critical understanding at intellectual community but more importantly I think of spreading the practice among many practitioners of development and social change. Linkage between concepts, practices, and better results in the life of community needs to be established. I believe that relational constructionist approach to development and social change offers us a vista of opportunities in finding better ways of doing things and learning continuously. I dream of the situations in which thousands of grassroots social change workers would be engaged in learning and practicing AI with relational construction ways of doing. I urge scholars, development thinkers and practitioners, policy makers and donor agencies to extend their hand of cooperation for a better construction in development and social change.

I am very much interested to be part and facilitate in developing programs and capacities of community development organizations and their staff on :

• Application of Appreciative Inquiry in non-subject-object ways of relating
  
• Conflict transformation and peace promotion though the application of Appreciative Inquiry Cycle .
• Promotion of local innovation and multiple reactivities in development and social change
  
• Application of narrative and story telling methods in development
• Use of Appreciative Inquiry approach to knowledge sharing and organizational learning