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Participatory Learning and Action - Current
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Participatory Learning and Action 57: Immersions: learning about poverty face-to-face Guest-edited by Izzy Birch, Raffaella Catani with Robert Chambers IIED, December 2007, 160pp. Price $32.00 Order No: 14558IIED Order from Earthprint Contents and selected articles to download for free
Different models of immersion are being developed: some are more structured than others, often around a specific theme; others are more experiential and open-ended. They have been organised for a wide range of groups, from political leaders and officials in Europe to senior donor, government, and NGO staff working in the South. This issue aims to capture this diversity. But their common denominator is a concern to bring immersion participants face to face with ordinary people, giving them the chance to test old assumptions, develop new perspectives, and strengthen their commitment to the challenge of poverty eradication. In a sense immersions are a way of compensating for the shortcomings of the aid system. The approach has been challenged, for example on ethical grounds; there are also concerns about the extent to which individual participants can really influence their employers’ priorities and ways of working on return, given underlying organisational biases and power dynamics. The impact of immersions is only now being tested, and this issue of PLA explores both their limitations and their potential. But a critical mass of interest is now gathering around the idea, among major donors (DFID, Sida, the World Bank) and civil society groups. This issue is a timely reflection of an emerging trend in development practice, as well as an opportunity to start drawing together the richness of immersion experience in a more coherent way. The issue is guest-edited by Izzy Birch, a freelance consultant with a strong background in immersions, and Raffaella Catani, currently working with Praxis India on the promotion and networking around immersions at both national and international level. They are supported by Robert Chambers, Institute of Development Studies, UK who has written about and practised participatory approaches extensively since the early 1980s, and is interested in the potential of immersions to allow the voices of the poor and powerless to be heard, and to bring about personal and professional change in those working with the poor. THEME SECTION
4. Exposure and Dialogue Programmes at SEWA 6. The World Bank’s Village Immersion Programme in South Asia 7. Immersions in ActionAid
8. Host familes 9. Not your usual facilitator... 10. Interpreters 11. Reflections by participants on the interaction with their hosts SECTION 3: PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
12. Extract from immersion report: Funsi, Ghana 13. Reflections on an immersion: Funsi, Ghana 14. Personal reflection on Funsi immersion: ActionAid Ghana 15. Reflections on my immersion in India 16. The salt of the earth 18. Legends of Choar Mumtaz: Saleiha Chachi smiles
20. How SRIJAN uses immersions as part of its recruitment process 21. How SEWA uses Exposure and Dialogue Programmes (EDPs) for 22. The Global Journey: a quest for reality
28. Reality Checks: first reflections 29. The impact of Exposure and Dialogue Programmes (EDPs) on German
parliamentary work and decisions 30. With the strength of the powerless: using immersions for processes of structural
change
31. Immersions and face-to-face learning: reflections on practice
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