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Toolbox home References 7 short descriptions

A number of different approaches are described in the table but they share common characteristics. They are based on trust and co-operation between a wide variety participants that encourages creativity and new thinking. Participants create strategies and action plans together and take responsibility for implementation through realising the need for change by noticing the gap between current reality and a shared vision.

These processes are designed to engage everyone with a stake in the issue and all are equally involved in the strategic planning process. Thus there tends to be a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the plan that results. Issues that have previously been hard to talk about are discussed and by having a clear and complete picture of current reality, more effective decisions can be made. There is also a tendency to focus on a positive vision of a desirable future rather than fixing ‘problems’ that have gone wrong and this creates energy and optimism.

‘By bringing new voices together, new conversations can happen, new perspectives can emerge, new passions can be aroused and new possibilities for the future can emerge’ (Leith, 2004).

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Exemplary methods and tools

Name	Description	References
Open space	Open Space Technology is a way to enable people, in any kind of organization, to have focused and inspiring meetings and events with effective outputs. In Open Space events, participants create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around an agreed central theme. Open Space works best when the issues are complex and urgent, there are diverse ideas and agendas and the desire for a resolution (and the potential for conflict) is high as this helps to focus people’s minds on having conversations that matter. It is structured in a way that allows a great deal of flexibility to allow to new ideas that may emerge through the process. It can be used at at an organisational, project, network or sectoral level (or higher) with groups of 5 to 2000+ people in many different contexts e.g. working in one-day workshops, three-day conferences, or the regular weekly staff meeting	For more information go to: http://www.cointelligence.org/P-Openspace.html An example of how open space can be used in meetings and organisations and for creating visions of a better future http://peopleandplanet.org/goinggreener/skills/using-open-space
World café	The World Cafe is a creative process in an informal and relaxed setting, like a real café with people seated around small tables perhaps with tablecloths and drinks. The aim is to encourage more relaxed and open conversations to take place. Participants are provided with pens and are encouraged to record their conversations on the paper tablecloths through drawings. Choosing the right question to address is a crucial part of the process as it frames the discussion and should inspire and enthuse. It is often a good idea to engage participants in working the questions. World Cafe is good for engaging large groups and generating input, sharing knowledge, and stimulating innovative thinking around urgent and relevant issues. It is also good for exploring different perspectives of e.g. key challenges or opportunities. The process can build capacity through giving a group a sense of their own knowledge and insight. The method has been used with groups from a few to over a 1000 participants.	for a concise explanation http://www.theworldcafe.com/pdfs/cafetogo.pdf for more information http://www.theworldcafe.com/ Putting Knowledge into Action: Tapping the Institutional Knowledge of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regions 2 and 8 to Address Climate Change http://www.fws.gov/southwest/Climatechange/docs/Knowledge_into_Action_FINAL%5B1%5D.pdf
Action Learning Sets	Action Learning Sets are groups of between 4 and 7 people, who meet regularly to support one another in their learning in order to take purposeful action on work issues. There is a set facilitator, either an external person or a peer, who enables the set members to ask searching questions and the problem holder to reflect on the actions to be taken, facilitates the meetings. The learning comes from the type of questions used (as well as learning to ask better questions) and the space for reflection on action that allows you to notice patterns and overcome blocks.	http://www.barefootguide.org/BFG2/images/Resources/action_learning_setsbfg2_resources.pdf http://www.adb.org/Documents/Information/Knowledge-Solutions/Action-Learning.pdf
Action inquiry	Action inquiry starts within a small group or possibly at a large event like a workshop and usually with an open question e.g. what are the climate risks for our community? Or an over arching problem. The inquiry is then continued by a motivated group. The stages of the process are then to: allow the issues to emerge; surfacing of different perspectives on them; building up of a systemic picture to contextualise them; going deeper into them and sufacing issues that are usuallly considered to be 'undiscussable'. Action leads to further insight and new questions. The issues identified at the initial stages may prove not to be the 'real' issues and these may emerge later in the process. At the early stages understanding of different experiences and perspectives is greatly enhanced if time is allowed for telling 'stories' (accounts of experience of the system) as these hold information that cannot easily be accessed through more formal, official accounts.	For more information go to: community.eldis.org/.599426f4 Example of use: British Red Cross Vulnerability Project. The British Red Cross had been interested in refocusing its services and profile to support people who were particularly vulnerable for some time. Ten years ago they commissioned a report on the subject, but little changed within the organisation. So they decided to commission an action research programme. SOLAR developed action research in three phases. Phase one involved setting up 12 inquiry groups to explore perceptions of vulnerability and perceptions of the British Red Cross ability for respond to vulnerability. Phase 2 looked at the implications of these for the organisation and Phase three started to work on implementation issues, including how the work would stream into their UK services´strategy.
Future search conference	Future search conferences bring different groups of people together (e.g. those with resources, expertise, formal authority and need) to identify and develop their capacity for joint action relating to a particular issue. It is a very task-focused bringing together 60 to 80 people in one room (or hundreds in parallel rooms). In the formal version, participants meet for up to16 hours spread across three days. People tell stories about their past, present and desired future. Through dialogue they discover their common ground. Only then do they make concrete action plans	For more information go to: http://www.futuresearch.net/method/whatis/index.cfm Account of an Aboriginal Future Search in Australia: http://www.futuresearch.net/method/applications/world/oceania/aboriginal_fs.cfm
Systemic action research	A strategy for whole system change that works with live social and organisational issues to uncover their complex dynamics in order to identify interventions and action to support whole system change. Consists of a set of concepts and approaches to extend action research beyond the individual and group level to organisations, governance systems and networks	Evaluation in Complex Governance Arenas: the Potential of Large System Action Research http://hls.uwe.ac.uk/research/Data/Sites/1/docs/SOLAR/EvaluationinComplexGovernanceArenas.pdf
Citizens Juries	Citizens juries are based on the rationale that given adequate information and opportunity to discuss an issue, a group of stakeholders can be trusted to make a decision on behalf of their community, even though others may be considered to be more technically competent. Citizen’s juries are most suited to issues where a selection needs to be made from a limited number of choices. The process works better on value questions than on technical issues. The jury is made up of a number (12-24) of stakeholders (with no special training) who listen to a panel of experts (‘witnesses’) who are called to provide information related to the issue. The stakeholders are chosen at random from a population appropriate to the scale and nature of the problem. Selection is based on several characteristics largely gender, education, age, race, education, geographic location and attitude to the question in hand. The group is supposed to represent a microcosm of the community including its divers interests and sub groups. Experts are chosen by a panel with no interest (or stake) in the outcome. They represent a several points of view and additional experts can be called by the jurors to clarify points or to provide extra information.	Raita Teerpu intends to bring farmers, especially women, Dalits and indigenous people from different parts of Karnataka on a single platform to assess the benefits of ongoing Agricultural Research in India. It would help them to debate and analyse the relevance of the emergent research developments to small and marginal farmers.  http://www.raitateerpu.com/