Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a planning and evaluation tool that seeks to generate positive change within groups and communities. It focuses on the strengths and assets in a community organisation or programme, rather than the problems and deficits.
In his work in Randwick Park, Manurewa, Dave Tims has seen AI used to assist his community to grow and change. The AI approach inspires people to identify things that could be changed, get involved in the work to effect change and also to monitor the changes. Dave says that, “If you follow the process, it creates ownership and responsibility – the people own the mission and become responsible for implementing it.”
Dave will be joined by Maree Beaven who is the Programme Manager at Manu Tuktutuku Randwick Park (Sports and Neighbourhood Centre) in South Auckland. Maree has used AI with locals of all ages and found AI to be a very powerful tool for transformation. She will share her experiences of using AI to discover the dreams of her neighbourhood and will talk about the projects that have eventuated as a result of the AI process.
Suzanne Grant will be joining Dave and Maree to share her research on Critical Appreciative Processes which is a conceptual development that came out of her research on AI. In her work with Community Policing, Suzanne found that the main benefit of AI rests in the intent and philosophy informing it, rather than a strict application of the AI process. She will share her insights about the role of the researcher/practitioner in the AI process and will discuss the new approach Critical Appreciative Processes provides.
Webinar Resources (shared presentations):
In this webinar you will learn:
- The components of the Appreciative Inquiry approach;
- How AI has been used to inspire community change;
- How AI assists communities to communicate their vision for their future, both within and outside their community;
- An introduction to Critical Appreciative Processes and the role of the practitioner in facilitating AI.
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About the Presenters
Dave Tims – Dave lives in Randwick Park, Manurewa, South Auckland with his wife Denise. Dave is a trained Primary School Teacher and Counselor has worked with communities in Aotearoa for over 20 years. He and Denise have been caregivers with CYPFS and the Open Home Foundation before they joined UNOH in 2009.
“People like you, don’t move into streets like that”, said the real estate agent. Street gangs, graffiti, violence, drugs were the old narrative that belonged to Randwick Park, Manurewa. If a certain narrative is repeated, it is reinforced. Words create worlds.
In an attempt to change the narrative of Randwick Park, Dave and Denise began looking for heroes, for local people who were doing good. What they found was an abundance of amazing people concerned about what was going on in their neighbourhoods; for the state of the parks, for young people and for the problems of alcohol abuse and domestic violence.
Maree Beaven has a background in working with families and is Programme Manager at Manu Tuktutuku Randwick Park (Sports and Neighbourhood Centre) in South Auckland.
Suzanne Grant completed her PhD “A paradox in action? A critical analysis of an appreciative inquiry” at the University of Waikato in 2006, with the conceptual development of critical appreciative processes (CAPS) informing several subsequent research projects and supervisions, including work with a group of New Zealand Police Community Constables and New Zealand Red Cross. Her research interests include the areas of social enterprise, community/not for profit organisations, and organisation behaviour, and she is a current member of the Social Enterprise Journal Editorial Board. She has a particular interest and research strength in transformative methodologies encompassing action research, appreciative inquiry and critical theory perspectives. Suzanne is involved with local research and international collaborative projects. Suzanne has specific expertise working collaboratively with community organisations.
Tech questions
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