Hat thinking: Community Development

community development

Transforming the mind by wearing hats!

Agriculture, Business and Community Development Programme (ABCD) Christian Outreach. Cambodia

" You cannot easily change the damage caused by the war, or caused by the systematic breaking of relationships, or the loss of dignity. You cannot easily reverse the situation "lack of food". You cannot easily change the damage done by the meetings held in fear, or the meetings at which people were harangued by propaganda. The mind is paralysed by such things so the way forward is slowly carefully "
Meas Nee, a Khmer.

Introduction

The Agriculture, Business and Community Development Programme (ABCD) started in 1992 in the rural district of Prey Veng, Cambodia. Despite its name it does not emphasise physical change in agriculture and business but it is focused on the transformation of the participants thinking. Dr Simon Batchelor, working for Christian Outreach, authored the programme. The team of CO in Cambodia has changed over the years and the success of the programme is due to the contribution of too many people to name.

The programme is funded by a number of donors including the British DFID, Tear Fund UK, Tear Fund (Holland).

This unofficial summary is made by Dr Batchelor in order to share the experience, and to encourage similar approaches in other Third World Development Programmes.

Key Strategy:- "to increase peoples ability to initiate change and make choices in an environment of loving relationships". The strategy has been an emphasis on facilitating the people's thinking (knowledge, skills and attitude). It seeks to break the "forces of passivity" by building relationships, trust and initiative *(See footnote 1)

Background (Country Profile) genocide by the Khmer Rouge in late 70's intellectuals killed, minds numbed by cruelty low level civil war for next ten years, centralised socialism UN brokered elections in 1993, new start but still limited war fragile food production inadequate water supplies poor health system

Method of working

Open meetings and dialogue with a village committee of 5 persons (include at least 1 woman)

"Walkabout", animators working alongside, drinking tea, making relationships throughout the village

Strong emphasis on relationships between animators and village

Asking many open questions to help people think

Some seed capital from the organisation for revolving fund projects, often credit in kind to the poor and widows, total management by the village committee

Frequent animation to challenge the village to think through their problems and find solutions.

Phased reduction of time spent by animator in village

Tools of animation *(See footnote 2)

Animation is a skill. The programme encourages techniques for maximising the effect of animation:-

friendship - relationships are very very important, the animator must cultivate friendships

start with the peoples own concerns, not a pre-set agenda

open questions - as opposed to closed questioning

hat thinking * (See footnote 3 below) - a simple model of thinking. Staff are encouraged to ask blue, green and yellow hat questions

mapping - as a means of monitoring for both village and staff

learning games - games with hidden meanings *(See footnote 4 below)

listening exercises

trust exercises

codes to stimulate dialogue

Hindrances

corruption can be a problem, but at village level the open social accountability prevents abuse of funds.

violence is a constant threat to the programme. Every household has a gun. Workers have been threatened by drunks. Domestic violence is currently a theme of the programme.

What helped it to succeed?

Clear and defined objectives regarding expectations of social and people transformation

Clearly defined indicators of achievement leading to effective monitoring

Flexible method of working to take into account individual situations, but based on clearly defined principles to allow workers to decide actions

Objectives that leave room for the people to set their own agenda regarding physical change

Emphasis on relationships rather than projects

Strong but participatory leadership in the early days of the programme, including planned handover to local staff

Willingness to fail and not be embarrassed

Planned end to the programme.

Bringing Good News to the Poor - Impact Indicators

Minds that are like solid compacted ground from years of killing are changing

ABCD has ploughed that solid ground so people can choose, setting captives free

Participants are showing compassion to the poor and each other by sustainable means

There is social mobilisation to improve well being

The committee of Meneung Leur village took an extraordinary and exciting action completely independently of CO input. They had had some discussion in the animated sessions about the health problems in the village and in particular the expense involved in getting good treatment. Without reference to programme staff, the committee called a village meeting. They suggested that the village form three associations. Membership would be voluntary. If a family was a member of the association and became sick (or died), everyone else in the association would give 100R and a bowl of uncooked rice. This would provide a sort of health insurance for the sick. The village agreed and over 90% now belong to one of the three associations. Note:- the idea has some background in the 1960s but for death only. The initiative of the this committee and the level of social organisation that this action represents is very exciting!

* (Foot Note 1) It is thought that the rural people of Cambodia are generally passive towards change for three reasons - I) Politics. The Khmer Rouge killed the intellectuals and anyone who stood out from a crowd, people were made numb by the constant threat of death. The centrally controlled socialism that followed did not encourage initiative. II) Rural life. Rural people the world over tend towards a reaction to change rather than being proactive. In many rural societies people tend to follow the lead of the group, planting similar crops to their forefathers, and following the timing set by the majority. III) Religion. The rural people are predominantly followers of Teravada Buddhism syncretised with animism. While it can be argued that Buddhism can be a force for change, the animism side of their folk religion encourages people to "keep their heads down and hope that the spirits don't notice them". For instance it is the custom not to draw attention to babies by saying how beautiful they are, so that the bad spirits wont notice a good looking baby. Back to text

* (Foot Note 2) Many of these tools (with the exception of the hat model) are found in the books Training for Transformation. Back to text

* (Foot Note 3) hat thinking is a tool for ensuring comprehensive analysis of a situation, using both logical and intuitive thoughts. Its originator is Edward de Bono Back to text

* (Foot Note 4) the programme had an evaluation, bringing together 100 committee members. Drawings were used to help the committees describe what was happening in their village and games were played for three days. The impact was evident as many committees showed new innovative thinking. They then called village meetings and used games to communicate, even creating new games themselves. Some meetings seemed chaotic with children running around - but the feedback showed that the peoples acceptance of the status quo was challenged and new ideas came forward. Back to text

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