Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action

Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action


APPA was developed by The Mountain Institute (TMI) building upon the ideas and field experiences of TMI staff, NGOs, communities and government partners in the Himalayan region. Qomolangma Conservation Programme (QCP) uses the APPA approach throughout the process of identifying, designing, executing and monitoring and evaluating its field activities.

APPA can be applied in a variety of contexts and with a wide range of participants. Its primary value lies in its emphasis as a process of lasting engagement and dialogue among stakeholders. APPA combines the framework of Appreciative Inquire and the tools of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA). Its objective is to find and emphasise the positive, successes and strengths as a means to empower communities, groups and organisations to plan and manage development and conservation.

AI focuses on valuing the skills available within people; the factors motivating individuals and groups to success; on identifying and releasing individual and group capacities; and on mobilising resources, capacities and skills from within the participants involved to achieve ´what could be´. Its focus is therefore ´doing more of what works´ instead of ´doing less of what doesn’t work´. The second focus can be illustrated by the conventional problem-solving tree, whereas the first focus used in AI is more comparable to a possibility tree. Another key principle is the focus on collective inquiry and action. AI uses the cycle of the 4D´s:
• Discovery, the act of appreciation: the best of what is and what gives life to the community, group or organisation
• Dream, envisioning and impact: what might be, creating a positive image of a preferred future
• Design, co-constructing the desired future: what should the ideal be, a process of dialogue, consensus and further inquiry
• Delivery, sustaining: how to empower, learn, adjust and sustain.
APPA also focuses on participatory approaches that emerged out of dissatisfaction with mainstream development models characterised by an authoritarian, top-down policy initiatives in which economic growth is pursued at considerable environmental and social cost. The primary aim of participatory approaches is that local people become active subjects of the development effort rather than passive recipients. Participatory learning in the 4D cycle both generates information as well as empowers the participants. The starting point is that a glass is half full (people have capacities and gifts to be made into something) rather than a glass is half empty (people have deficiencies and needs that have to be overcome).
Principles of APPA include:
• Finding success factors and building on them.
• Participatory leaning.
• Sustainability

In QCP, APPA is used in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Village Conservation and Development Programmes (VCDPs). Success of any conservation initiative depends largely on the support of local communities. Local support can be attained only if livelihood improvement programs complement conservation initiatives. Considering this fact, QCP identifies the village level projects that are conservation friendly complemented with livelihood improvement of local people with their participation and likes to call these programs as VCDP. Actually, VCDP is a village grant program to co-finance small village projects designed to improve local livelihoods as well as conservation. These projects are identified and selected by local community on the basis of ecological, economic and social soundness coupled with linkage in biodiversity conservation.


Methodology and Tools

Discovery

Discovery is the first of the 4Ds in the APPA approach: participants identify the characteristics of the community that are strengths and positive, and recognise strengths and skills that can contribute to a better future. Components are:
• Discovering and valuing strengths
• Learning about the broader environmental, political and institutional context
• Initial identification of success factors
• Developing skills and empowering communities through participatory learning
Tools
QCP most commonly uses in this phase are mean to show the community what they have and thus making it easier for them to discover their assets:

Social/community/resource mapping: the community lays out a map using sticks, stones, pieces of paper etc. showing everything they consider important in and around their community, such as households, grazing grounds, agricultural land, monasteries, water sources etc. This gives them a better comprehension of their environment and prepares them to think about which strengths they have and on which strengths they can build further. For example, if they realise they have good grazing ground but it is rather far away from the village, and not so good (overgrazed) pastures closer to the village, it might lead them to environ later that they can improve the pastures close to the village for example by fencing or temporarily moving livestock to the other grazing grounds. A discovery map shows the current situation, whereas a dream map (made in the dream phase) shows the desired future situation.

Mobility mapping: the community quantifies and plots the movements of people, food, money and resources to and from the community. This can for example reveal to them opportunities for increasing local benefits by passing middleman taking a considerable profit, or acquiring more products from neighbouring villages instead of the local town.

Venn diagram: to identify community organisation and institutions, their roles and linkages in order to reveal the important linkages and constraints in the participants own institution or with other institutions.

Seasonal calendar is used to identify the seasonal habits of the community: when they sow, when they harvest, when the religious festivals take place, when cattle moves to winter and summer grazing ground etc. It can make clear that there are opportunities for example encouraging tourists to come when the festival takes place. It can also show vulnerabilities and stress, such as fodder shortage during snow fall in winter.