Development (Vikas in Hindi) is the
rhetoric that resonate every sphere of life including political speech and
Social work. The more you deal with the core of the topic, the more you get
into the labyrinthine arena of its uncertainty that would lead you far from any
definite conclusion of its means and ways. Like any other person involved in
development I too was indulged in the multifarious tasks of project activities with fusion of confidence,
skepticism, satisfaction, disillusionment and of course optimism that emerges
out of lessons leant from everyday experience while working with people and environment.
Such was the experience bestowed upon me and my colleagues while working with
Mr. David Syme, a veteran development consultant from Australia. He came to
Gorakhpur as the team leader of the Mid Term Review of a project that is
implemented for the mainstreaming of Persons with Disabilities. In the introductory
session of the review he termed the process of evaluation as ‘an appreciative
enquiry’ which would be participatory and looking at the positive side of whole
affairs.
I do not wish to write about the
evaluation and its outcome but about the process and an important lesson that I
could absorb as a splendid principle of development and of course life. During the
process he was very particular to ensure that diverse voices were heard during
the field visit to interact with community members especially persons with
disabilities. He interacted with them without discrimination in an atmosphere
of mutual respect and understanding. Thus all the participants could express
their view and experience freely and generously.
I was amazed to find how he
facilitated the discussion with patience and great sense of understanding. He
was not in a hurry to get the participants to reply immediately after a
question ( it was not a question, but an enquiry into their realities) but
allowed them to take time and express themselves. During the conversation he
reminded the team members “we should even appreciate their silence because we
should not expect the community members to respond immediately after a question
placed in front of them. They need to understand and reflect in their own pace
and manner.” He also reminded us we should not be in a hurry to define change
but rather we should allow people to express what they consider as change or
development. What you define as change may not be so for a community in a
different context.
Now about the splendid principle of
development that I could absorb from Mr. David was his comment during a conversation
which I consider the ‘manthra’ of development or even as a core value of human
life. He said “My duty as the leader of evaluation team is not just to throw
ideas into various stakeholders but to facilitate
them to move towards the desired direction and support them to attain it in
diverse means.” This statement really touched me as I find the absence of this
core value in various spheres of life including development activities, where
we sometime even go to the extent of coercion. The best example in development
is the way Government conceive the whole idea of eliminating open defecation
from rural and urban areas. Wide range of programmes including Total Sanitation
Programm, to Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and now Swatch Bhrart Abhiyan were Government
centric and the Government expecting the people to change towards adopting safe
disposal of human waste after constructing the toilets at subsidized rate
without even creating demand. Millions of rupees from the exchequer were
invested to construct toilets and vast majority of them are used by the people
for various purposes such as a store room and they remain dysfunctional.
As Government deal with development
issues, teachers at school, parents at home, priests at temples, churches,
mosques etc., leaders of organizations, managers of the firms, the intellectuals
in seminars and workshops play the role of reservoir of ‘progressive ideas’ and
agents of change that are more enthusiastic to make others feel inferior and
make them aware of their drawbacks. Thus blaming, paying focus on weakness along with possible
solutions becomes the central areas in the above mentioned fields of life. In
development sector one can find two groups, one the providers (knowledge,
ideas, resources) and the other at the receiving end. The providers always
believe they are infallible and its their duty to provide others solutions that
they believe the right thing to adopt. I found a bold departure in David’s
approach towards people in enabling them to become agents of change themselves.
The whole approach was not to dominate the other with his wisdom and experience
but to assist people towards the desired changes or progress. He interacted with
various stake holders especially who are key people in the project implementation
side at various occasions with the keen intention of a better project cycle
management. He was not just pointing out the errors or weakness but
facilitating all of us towards the change.
Finding faults, drawbacks, sharing solutions
and bunch of advices are a common man’s cup of tea but without a judgmental
attitude, respecting diverse views, and facilitating people towards change
without imposing an inferior feeling into the minds of others is possible only
for persons like David who are blessed with decorum, insight, and true wisdom.
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