A facilitator pays attention to "hospitality of local people" and their "art"

Parvin Pakzadmanesh is a local facilitator. In her weblog Community Gender Empowerment, she has posted an extraordinary series of photos - coming from various community-based projects that seem to be invaluable. Also she introduces two important notions of community-based activity: local people's hospitality and local art. Do not hesitate to have a look at these photos. 

A glance at the definition of "group" from a facilitator's point of view

To have a clear definition of "group" is a necessary part of work for any professional facilitator. Before starting to think about the definition, let's see why such definition is important. Any facilitator works with groups of people; a mentor may be with one mentee (Wikipedia definition: mentorship is a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person), but a coach, a facilitator or even a social worker work with groups of people. If a facilitator can have a clear definition of group, then this will help him/her a great deal in "group-building", since he or she knows what part of the group has to be strengthened to help the group to shape. For instance, if we say that a group "is a two or more people who have one common goal", during facilitating the work of a group, our mind automatically or even consciously goes towards "defining a common goal" since based on the definition, this is the common goal which is the most important element of the definition. One may ask whether there are other definitions or not ?

In my workshops on facilitation, this is always among the starters. I always begin the training workshop with the definitions and request the participants to think about these four major concepts: "human being", "group", "community" and "participation"; sometimes, I divide the participants into three groups and I request each group to think about the definitions of "group", "community" and "participation" (the definition of "human being" will be done later in a public discussion). I would like to say that participants always emphasize on this element that a group should have a common goal. But for a facilitator this is not important.

I always ask the participants, whether those standing in a bus stop are a "group" or not. If you think that a group should have an aim, then these people who are in bus stop and all of them would like to take the bus, should be a group, since there is a goal, a common goal. But we know that this is not a group. By the time there is not 'interaction" among them, it is not a group. Interaction means that they have to talk to each other, they have to listen to each other, there should be some kind of interconnection among them.

There are so many examples that clarify why "interaction" is a necessary element. To my point of view, this is the way to create the group. Participants in a group talk to each other; they try to find common ground, they try to search for those things that can be used as resources; they listen to each other; and they can know and understand. This has to be done in a respectful environment. A facilitator can play a major role in creating such environment.

People come together, shape a group through interaction, and create an identify for the group; such identity or group identity helps them to be more connected to each other; a relationship based on "trust" shapes among them. They define certain values and regulations. Gradually they find their way and define their goal. They use their own resources and recognize their own differences. In this way, they experience a process of empowerment within the group. All these happen because of "interaction".

See the following slide on "power"; There are only ten slides, but it is going to connect the concept of "power" and "empowerment" based on a definition of group with an emphasis on "interaction".

http://www.slideshare.net/saeidnourineshat/power-saeid-nourineshat

All techniques, the process, and all a facilitator does, have to contribute to "interaction".

See also this presentation (updated on first of September 2013):

http://www.slideshare.net/saeidnourineshat/how-does-a-facilitator-look-at-group

Biodiversity Products

GEF/SGP has a global online portal for biodiversity products. Biodiversity “products” are any consumable, usable, artistic, or medicinal remedy created from the wealth of biodiversity. One of the foundations for sustainable development is acknowledging biodiversity’s value for local communities and the global community. 

When I was working in Touran villages as a facilitator, a series of products were produced and now these products have got "online" in the portal and I am happy. I thought it would be good if I share this happiness with you and to put their links here so that you can have a look at them. 

All these products are made by hands, they are environment-friendly and produced by rural women who work together in their own cooperatives. 

For the wall carpets see the following link:
http://www.biodiversity-products.com/products/iran/asiatic-cheetah-wall-carpet/

Courtesy of GEF/SGP - Iran

For kilims, see the following link:
http://www.biodiversity-products.com/products/iran/traditional-kilims/

Coutesy of GEF/SGP - Iran

For gourds with designs of Asiatic Cheetah, see the following link:
http://www.biodiversity-products.com/products/iran/asiatic-cheetahs-on-gourd-carving/

Courtesy of GEF/SGP - Iran

Two more products recently added:

1) Integrated Pest Management Rice:
http://www.biodiversity-products.com/products/iran/integrated-pest-management-rice/

2) Art & Conservation: Patterns for making cloth animals of sensitive and endangered species.(Emperor Spotted Newt/ Lorestan Mountain Newt/Neurergus - Iran
http://www.biodiversity-products.com/products/iran/art---conservation:--patterns-for-making-cloth-animals-of-sensitive-and-endangered-species.(emperor-spotted-newt--lorestan-mountain-newt-neurergus/

I hope many other biodiversity products from Iran can be posted to this global portal.

Visit to Kuala Gula ! A friendly village, three hours far from Kuala Lumpur

I had a great chance to be with Mehdi Almasi and Parvin Pakzadmanesh, both PhD students, to go to Kuala Gula to help Mehdi to fill his questionnaires on SWOT analysis of the participatory management of Matang Mangrove Forest. Kuala Gula is a fishing village near the sea and most of its inhabitants are involved in fishing.
For several reasons, I found that these people are really hospitable. When we arrived to the village, we went to a coffee shop which seems to be managed by a woman. Everybody was very kind to us. First of all, there was a Chinese Malaysian who really explained about the village, they even invited us to Ice-Lemon-Tea, and after being with them for some time and explaining about our work (while some people filled some of the questionnaires), we left the village to Kuala Sepetang (another village), and then they seemed to be waiting for us, as we told them that we would come back in the afternoon.

One strange thing was that again a Chinese man living in the village invited us to dinner and even bought for us a dinner (Nasri Goreng Sayur Sayuran). They really helped us in filling the questionnaires. There was one young lady who acted like a facilitator and was explaining about the questionnaire to others who were sitting round a table. In summary the behavior of the community members towards these three students who were trying to connect to these people were much friendly. Do not forget that we had the language barrier too. Not so many people talked in English, while their Malay was not good. Anyway, we had really a good time and a fruitful experience over there.
I wrote these lines as an appreciation to what they did to us today. These people were really hospitable and we really enjoyed ourselves.

But this visit gave me a good opportunity to think more. When communities are somehow far from cities, when the people within the community are more close to each other, the community seems to enjoy from a solidarity that can help its members. I do not know and it is very difficult to say it without evidence, but I am sure those people whom we met today - who are not rich people - are living in peace. I am sure they have a good life since they seemed to be happy. That's something I found over there.

Microfinance under scrutiny!

On Friday (22nd March 2013), I attended a seminar on micro finance entitled "'Evaluating' Microfinance: Academic irrelevance" by Professor Salim Rashid who is the visiting professor of the department of development studies in the Faculty of Economics and Administration in the University of Malaya. In the abstract provided before the seminar, the professor has explained that the choice of Microfinance (MF) by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as the primary means of poverty alleviation should have brought clarity to the role and functioning of MF, but instead it seems to have generated a fog. It is desirable to take a fresh look and start from first principles to clear the air. Microfinance is microfinance --- it is finance writ small. If finance works, microfinance works. Much of the difficulty has been created by academics and arises from scholars treating MF as though it is some new economic phenomenon. With a series of specific questions, and with the Bangladeshi case in mind, it will be argued that many of the interesting and constructive questions have not been on the research agenda. Instead, the attempt to rely on randomized controlled trials is serving to distract.

Before giving more details about the seminar, first let me clarify why I have added this text on microfinance here in this blog. When I was working in villages, the micro finance was one of the choices we were focused in certain areas where sustainable livelihood was targeted. However, the way we were working was based on "group initiatives" rather than individual endeavor. In our model, there is always a group as an entity that will be involved in micro finance. As a facilitator of group activities, I think this works better than the individual initiatives for various reasons.

Professor Salimm said that microfinance requires special attention. He also mentioned that it is culture and context oriented. It means that those applying for finance, they have to have certain habits (such as to be organized); without these habits they cannot easily enter business to generate money. He said most of the time, the people use finance as consumption loans. They use the money for other necessary things in their life and then for returning the money, they might apply for another loan. Here the story starts and never ends. Loan after loan. In fact, people have to use the money in an income-generating business with a good profit to be able to return the money and the interest to the Micro Finance Institute. The professor gave a series of examples to clarify the issue. He said that there is not enough empirical data on success of microfinance, especially there seems to be a lacuna in intertemporal research.

To my point of view, group activities (based on group facilitation) where people can share their own experiences and resources - is very important in micro finance, especially when people earn "hot money". Loans are only "cold money" that cannot generate money. They can complete the capital, but what is more important is the "hot money" generated by the group in a well-defined business with defined role for every member of the group.  

Days before the New Year: not a good time for a meeting

New Iranian year starts with the “spring”. That is a good sign for a country of four seasons like Iran where “spring” as a season is a time for flowers to flourish, for trees to boast of their attractive and colorful blossoms, and for the sky to rain on mountains, deserts and plains (we call it "spring rain" or "baran bahari"). For families, the days ending to the New Year is a time for a full-fledged cleaning as we call it in Iran “khaneh tekani”. All family members have to participate in such a tedious work. Families may rush to bazaars to buy new clothes and shoes, suits or other new things; With the new year to start, everything can become new and fresh (I hope people do not fall into a culture of consumerism and try to use and reuse those things are still usable). The municipality cleans towns and cities (not every year, of course). In certain communities, people come together to clean the community too. Also it is the time for planting young saplings. Many environmental NGOs plan sapling-planting programmes starting from two weeks before the New Year when the cold weather gradually finishes.

With all these events and ceremonies, there is always another expectation: this is a time for evaluation. This is a good idea and I really welcome that. However, in practice, the story is different. Why? Because, nobody has enough time for a group meeting. People in villages are busy with their own local activities for the New Year; some people are thinking to have trips to other places; and as I explained many people are involved in pre-Norouz activities; therefore it could be an over-expectation from the members of a group to have meeting before the New Year. As a facilitator, even me, I have always been busy before the New Year and then I could not be in a community or in a village to facilitate a meeting. There is not even a good time for evaluation workshops. Therefore, my suggestion, based on my experience, is to forget all about a meeting before the New Year.

Norouz creates a time of refreshing, and while we take distance from all our group activities, it can be an appropriate time to think about new things, creative ideas and effective changes in the group. All group members may be requested to think about these issues, and the first meeting after the new year, could be a meeting of brain storming about such ideas.

However, when a “year” ends, there is a tendency to produce “annual reports” or "evaluation meetings" and as I told, such reports or meetings are really necessary. This will help to the scale-up of the community empowerment. But they should not be done during the days of “Norouz-busy-time”. The framework could be designed months before, and the information and data to be collected beforehand. Even an evaluation meeting is necessary to be held by the group one month before the year ends. 

In certain cases, where it seems required to have a meeting before the new year, then "facilitating a diachronic meeting" could be a good choice. The facilitator has to dedicate much time for contacting the group members without holding a meeting. The feedback and comments are transferred to the members of the group while it seems a dialogue is on-going. The facilitator has to be much talented to go through this time-consuming process. However, the output may be existing. This is exactly like discussions under a message or an image in the facebook. Those online put their message while others may become online afterwards and read the discussion and give their comments. There might be some synchronized inputs but mostly people contact each other in a diachronic way. In a diachronic process, there is no need for a meeting, while the facilitator tries to manage the interaction.

At the end of this short comment, I would like to say: Happy New Iranian Year 1392.

Go in search of your people, Love them; Learn from them...

Today, I was surfing in the Internet trying to find more about the notion of "neighborhood", I found this famous Chinese proverb. I have seen it in many places - in the newsletters, in offices of NGOs, and in trainers' training slides on community-building:

Old Chinese Verse:

Go in search of your people,

Love Them; Learn from Them;

Plan with Them; Serve Them.

Begin with what they have;

Build on what They know.

But of the best leaders,

when their task is accomplished,

and their work is done,

The people all remark:

"We have done it ourselves."

A leader is not the owner of the whole work, but these are the community members who own the input, the process, and the output. It's their right to decide, and it is with them to say: okay we know what to do; and when they do it, they are the real owners. 

I searched the web to find out who has said these Chinese words : I found it: Lao Tse, but I am not sure. However, when I went after Lao Tse, I found this wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi; it seems he is an inspiring philosopher. Also I found the following picture : 

Photo：Lao Tzu's "Go in search of your people" drawn by David Werner
courtesy of "http://blog.livedoor.jp/share_jp/archives/51265344.html"

I was trying to see if Lao Tse has been a leader of his own time or not. The only thing I found was from Wiki on his life (taken from Morgan, Diane (2001). The best guide to eastern philosophy and religion (1st ed. ed.). Los Angeles, Calif.: Renaissance Books): 

Lao Tzu was born in the village of Chu Jen in the Kingdom of Ch'u. (He may have been born sometime in the sixth century B.C.E. [Before the Common Era]. Traditionally, he is said to have lived at the same time as Confucius, but recent scholars place him about two centuries later.) Lao Tzu spent most of his life as an archivist in the library of the Zhou Dynasty court, a boring job that gave him lots of time to think. He quit when he saw things were getting corrupt, and then went into exile. Lao Tzu became disturbed by the corruption he saw everywhere around him and decided to take the easy way out- literally, and leave the country. He traveled west on a water buffalo to reach the great desert. At the westernmost gate, a guard who recognized him, demanded that he write down his teachings, unrecorded until this point. The collected teachings became the Tao Te Ching.

 If this is from Lao Tse, he had to have experiences in empowerment of people, something that has been ignored in his life. Maybe he had been in search of his people when he left the country... 

Participation is not a "dream" !

Today, I had a very hard discussion on community-based facilitation. The person, who was challenging me, told me that community-based facilitation is not possible by the time there is a strong centralized system. Without a democratic political system, you cannot talk about facilitation. A decentralized system is needed; democratic institutions are needed; an active civil society is a must; and then you need people with a culture of group activities, active listening and cooperation. When such things do not exist, you cannot even talk about “facilitation”. Since the system will stop you, the institutions and civil society are not there to support you, and people are not cooperative. Without all these, how you can facilitate a group at local level.

That was a very hard question; in response, I raised so many arguments. Here, I refer to one of them and I will try to add my other points in the coming posts. People in Iran have had a strong culture of cooperation and participation. It cannot be denied; during the history, you can easily find many traditional models of participation in villages and even in towns. For instance “Varehgari” is a form of traditional participation. Goats were milked altogether (during milking season) and given to one person or one family (whose turn was to be given the milk). In this way, the person or the family could have enough milk to use or to make cheese or yoghurt. There were certain rules and regulations to manage the process. Also, it has had other functions too; a research paper published in “Ensanshenasi Journal” (Anthropology, vol. 2, No. 4, pages 243-255) in 2003 shows that such tradition has been like a “cooperative” for economizing the process of livestock livelihood. The author claims that this tradition is still being used in certain villages.

There are other forms of cooperation at rural level and some of them are still on-going. When I was working in Freydounkenar, Damgahdari was another form of cooperation and local participation. In Damgahdari, rice cultivators come together to create a secure place for migrant birds to hunt a percentage of the coming birds in Fall and Winter; of course, our project was to work with damgah owners to decrease their hunting and to see if they can use such a cooperation for bird-watching rather than hunting them.  In Ezbaran, and Sorkhroud (in Freydounkenar – near Babolsar), it is more than 300 years that they are doing that. Without a group activity, it is not possible to create such a damgah.

Also, other traditions in villages such as marriage or even mourning were done (and are being carried out) with cooperation, which I think, it needs more research. Parts of this culture still exist in towns too. In fact, I said that "participation" is not a "dream". It was a part of our culture (which was somehow weakened by modernization policies) and still it is there... 

A life style far from the real environment

I had a chance to visit a village near Nahavand (in Hamedan Province in Iran) called Tavaneh. To my surprise, it was a village of people who give more considerations to their life inside the house. There were not so many trees outside the houses, while the village was located in a very special place (enough water, good weather especially for walnut trees). I was really astonished. Why? Most of the villagers, I was told, were construction workers in Tehran where they have possibly learnt to have good houses. In one house, I saw that the yard was from cement, and I said to myself: why shouldn't there be a green space inside the house. When I asked the householder whether you have a hen and rooster, I was told that these animals are not clean ones. "We have to put time to clean the house". A teacher from the local school told me that people are forgetting their local games and children do not play local games; Most of the students take nap in the school, since they sit awake to watch TV. Cement, TV, and sleeping are taking the place of green trees, hens and roosters, and local games.

I talked to some people and warned them that the life style they are following here in nature contradicts the environment they are living in. They have to come together and think more about their future. Personally I do not like such life. I know that there are people in that village that agree with me and they do not love that too.

For such a village, where poverty is not the real risk, but the life style is threatening the collective life, the best would be village gatherings every now and then. The best would be a series of gatherings by the village council. I am sure that the council can take the initiative and hold constructive meetings with people. They can build a green village, if they would like.

I met an old lady from that village with high potentials in weaving. I was astonished why such old lady cannot act as a teacher for younger women to train them on how they can weave beautiful gelims. I am sure they can  do it, if such training can be organized.

And the last thing is the tourists, especially eco-tourists who can come to the village (which somehow will help to the economy of the village too) and find certain attractions. I think such attractions can be defined. When you look at the village from a further distance, you can easily find out that this village is located in a very special place - then why don't the village residents focus on their attractions! 

Just a report: traditional knowledge

I lost the first lecture of the second day of the forum at PICC by the Malaysia Science Academy and it was a loss. I was late and could not listen to Dr Martin Abraham, a knowledgeable leader in the field of community-based empowerment. The second talk was about Orang Asli's traditional knowledge by Dr Colin Nicholas, who is the founder and the coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) based in Subang Jaya in Malaysia. He said that the knowledge they are using, is related to their subsistence, well-being, culture and identity, especially when it comes to medical plants, living in nature and artistic works (Orang Asli heritage). The whole knowledge is collectively owned, transmitted orally, mixed with rituals and cultural values. There are plenty of evidence to prove that "it is the knowledge" that can be considered sustainable. Reference to many books published; also reference to the Semai way of conflict resolution and the ancient wisdom (how they understand environment) transmitted orally through story-telling (reference to a book of Orang Asli animal story). What is not working is the imposition of western paradigms on their culture and power structure. As the lecturer mentioned, there seems to be a great difference between the way Orang Asli looks at the forest and the way the Western-supported attitude towards the forest. For Orang Asli, the forest is the center of the world. Also there is a challenge of the state's rights to the forests versus Orang Asli's ownership of the forest. If their habitat is touched or they are moved to another place or their life is negatively influence, depression would govern on their life. The lecturer referred to a series of threats such as policies of development and globalization.

The third lecture was presented by Margarita Naming from Sarawak Biodiversity Center about the role of local communities in conservation of useful plants. She explained about the traditional knowledge and as an activity to preserve the knowledge, she referred to community gardens, as an interesting and useful method to empower communities in Sarawak in conservation of biodiversity. The first stage is to talk about the traditional knowledge and its importance. The second is a workshop in the village to set the vision and mission. The third would be to choose methods to document the traditional knowledge. Also, people in the community are trained how to create a community garden (where they can learn more about the plants) - through in-situ conservation (there was a show case in the powerpoint slides about a garden in Long Iman in Mulu) - this creates additional income for community too through tourists visiting the community garden. However, there are challenges: traditional knowledge is fast disappearing; it is mostly orally transmitted; people in communities are highly protective of their knowledge and not willing to give it to others or next generation; at the same time, the younger generation is not interested to continue with the traditional knowledge; there is a low priority in documenting, with no monetary benefits, decreased community livelihood, and more important plant resources are depleting. In total, the programme seems to be effective, since communities under this programme, become more aware of the importance of documenting and conserving their traditional knowledge as their heritage before it is lost with the passing of the older generation.

In the Panel, there was a discussion about an action plan. Following are the points raised that I thought they were important:

Dr Colin Nicholas:
mindsets of the policy-makers have to change; words are beautiful but not understood by the people; the key to maintaining traditional knowledge is to recognize the right of the local people to their own knowledge; they do not want to be moved to another place, since it is their own traditional land;

Dr Martin Abraham:
Policies are important: Once it has been done for oil (nationalizing) why not for trees;
Mainstreaming TK is necessary; students in schools have to learn about TK;
In communities, there is no "I", there is only "we", everything is collective; they have collective rights too;

Dr Rita Manurung:
Political environment is very important in this regard (since the policies come from there)
Sarawak Biodiversity Center has been established by a government ordinance. The government feels that the communities should maintain their own traditional knowledge and that's what we have been doing during the past decade. We have encouraged communities to do so; a very recent activity, has been establishing community gardens; A data base has been set up under SBC's Traditional Knowledge Documentation Programme (the only systematic collection of traditional knowledge).

NGOs
- Mainstream the biodiversity in all sectors (more important than traditional knowledge) (it has been mentioned in action plans)
- Pressure of modernizing is tempting for communities
- Why we don't have one law for all states in Malaysia? Malaysia should guarantee indigenous people's right

Participants:

• Our local communities have more things than only traditional knowledge; do not commercialize them; it is a culture that has to be preserved. 
• Young generation is not interested; it seems that they do not care even to go to school; what would be an appropriate attitude regarding such reluctance.
• A personal experience: children do not talk in the language; they do not practice the traditional knowledge; new religion aspects; good spirits have become bad spirits; 
• Funding much needed 

There were some other discussions at the end that I am not adding here. Sorry for late publication. This report should be read with the first part of the report (that is about the first day of the seminar) and has been posted before this one.