Rural Economic Development Part 2: Using appreciative inquiry
Sep 26, 2006 2:16 PM
By Michael Holton, Center for Rural Affairs
In the last issue of American Cowman Update, we spotlighted evaluating community assets vs. needs. Here, is another positive approach toward community development using a process called “appreciative inquiry.”
Appreciative inquiry was actually brought forth in the 1980’s as a tool for community development. AI, for short, gives the community a process to look at themselves and to work with the gifts and talents they have rather than what they don’t have. AI uses a process that incorporates the 4 D’s. They are:
· Discover
· Dream
· Design
· Deliver
When working with a community, it is often important to discover when the community was at its best. Doing this means taking a step back in the past to look at the history of the community and see why the community existed. Questions that can be answered during this time would incorporate a look at the community’s historical culture.
Next, we can start the process of dreaming. This is where we answer the question, “What is our preferred future?” Dreaming or creating a vision is the most crucial stage in the AI development process. Oftentimes, vision statements are produced during this step.
The next level of development is called the design phase. This step asks the question, “What do we need in place to make our dream a reality?” This step is where resources and tools are located to begin building a new future.
The last step in the AI model is the delivery phase. In the delivery phase, communities set up goals, strategies, and hopefully, projects. The easiest thing to forget in community development is that it doesn’t have to be complicated to shape the future of the community. It just takes coordination and process.
Plato once wrote that it is easy to forgive a child for being afraid of the dark; it is not easy to forgive adults for being afraid of the light. Appreciative inquiry is like turning on the light for all of us to begin to set a future for ourselves and our communities.
Reprinted from the September 2006 Center for Rural Affairs newsletter. Contact Michael Holton at michaellh@cfra.org or 402-687-2103 x 1015 for more information.
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