Action Researchers Programmatic Approach and Internet

The coming months a group of five young professionals is going to do action research on the programmatic approach of the ICCO Alliance in 5 different regions. This research process intends to get an insight whether the programmatic approach is fulfilling the expectations and then especially as seen from the perspective of the actors involved in the programmatic cooperation processes. The programmes the group of researchers will work are:

• The youth and security programme in Central America
• The local market development programme in Peru (organic production)
• The food and nutrition security programme in Nepal
• The local market development programme in Burkina Faso (shea butter)
• The food and nutrition security programme in Madagascar

During these first weeks of their assignment the young professionals are involved in an intensive preparation phase at the ICCO global office in Utrecht. Beginning of February 2012 they all will start their work in the regions.I had the pleasure to work with this groups of young researchers last week.

We had a very nice day in which we discussed and experimented with a whole range of web based tools which could be of use for their communication, exchanges and documentation of their researches.
We started with the question “What role will the Internet probably have in your work?”. It became clear that they all expect to use the internet for communication with the partners they are going to work with bacause of geographical distances, but also to communicate among themselves, with the ICCO Global office and of course with their friends and families.

Become the change you want to see

We are “Appreciating the Programmatic Approach”. For two days now we have been sharing stories and experiences of what ICCO has been doing in the name of the Programmatic Approach from many parts of the world. A number of us in the group are consultants who come from those parts of the world often referred to as the “developing” world or even as “under-developed”, we come from Central Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We have been asked to study progress in the use of the programmatic approach in these parts of the world often defined by their need to develop and change.

But here we are in the ICCO compound in the heart of what is often thought of as the “developed” world. Our focus is meant to be on the ability of groups in far off countries to come together to collaborate and coordinate their efforts towards becoming more effective in their common purpose. But as we tell the stories the two parts of the world keep coming together. It becomes clear that the bigger story is not of one fixed and stable (developed) system intervening into systems that need change. The interventions are coming from a place where change is rampant, where the pain of real development is being acutely felt. It becomes clear from what is happening inside ICCO how deeply difficult it really is to let go of the old in order for the new to emerge.

In our conversations we explore themes of dependency, of power and powerlessness, of ownership and of new organisational forms. We recognise the critical role of leadership. As we draw learning from experience we are reminded of the Gandhian challenge to “become the change you want to see”.

James Taylor, CDRA - South Africa

The "luxury" of selfreflection

Today I met James. James is working within an organization, that has the courage to take regularly a week of to learn. You may say: ”Yes that is good, we should all do this occasionally, take a week of to reflect and learn. Look for feed-back, get new insights and inspiration.” In the mean time I think: Yes I try also my best to reflect every month about what will be of importance with regard to my personal and my business goals. And again, whenever I have a ‘to do’ list I often take some time to think about my intentions, related to every item. This provides me with some of the energy of the end result, instead of with the energy of ‘having to do stuff’. And yes, I need a certain discipline, but it helps me to get results and attack even the more heavier jobs. So what was so special about James?

He said: “We do this every month. It is not just an occasional reflection week.” “Wow!” I said: “Every month, one week?” and he: “Yes we call it our home week”. Later on during lunch he explained more about how they organize it, what the permanent elements are and how they bring in creativity and specific themes. I just thought that it might be worth to consider, when he said: “I cannot anymore imagine who we would be without it.” Yes indeed it is about ‘being’ not ‘doing’. We talk a lot about learning organizations, but we need to ‘become’ the change we want to create.

On my way back home, I met a friend of mine in the train, she is heading a team of teachers and she referred directly to a recent reflection activity she had with her team and what it provided. Yes it is true, we can be our own best teachers. How would our world look like, I continued to think, when we reflected on a regular basis on our behaviour, our thinking and even our paradigms behind it? We would learn more from our self than from say consultants or the WRR.

Today was the first day of the “home week” of ICCO, a week of reflection about the programmatic approach. Congratulations ICCO for spending a whole week on learning about your own experiences in programmes. You are your own best source of wisdom. Take the opportunity to participate in appreciating the programmatic approach.

Domien Bruinsma (appreciation facilitator WA Cotton Programme)

The How and What of the Programmatic Approach

On Wednesday September 17th about 85 attendants participated in the ICCO Open Space meeting about the Programmatic Approach.

At the end of this day a copy of the intermediate report was distributed among the participants. The final report including an appendix of the extra reports of this Open Space event is now available on

ICCO's Learning @Compart Wiki and was placed in the Programmatic Approach Wiki. In the sidebar of this wiki the documents are categorized under Meeting Reports

Inspiring meetings about Learning, Capacity Development and the Programmatic Approach

The past week I have been in Lima, Peru having several meetings with partner organisations. The main issue was learning, capacity development and the programmatic approach. These meetings led to some thoughts, perhaps not all new, but nevertheless I would like to share and discuss them. That’s why I am posting them on our learning blog.

• Implementing the programmatic approach implies talking about “programme development” (in the same way as we prefer to talk about “capacity development” in stead of building). Hereby I mean that it will probably not be feasible to “define” a programme because it never will be finished or ready. The ever and rapidly changing (world wide) context means that all involved in a programme will have to adapt their ideas and practices constantly to be able to respond to these changes and getting the programme further. In that sense perhaps it is good to speak and think about “programme development”. In that way we also avoid talking about building something new. In many cases - at least elements of - a programmatic approach is already being applied and the “only” thing which has to be done is develop these elements further.
• While within ICCO we all are very busy thinking on how to concretise programmes with our allies in the South we might tend to forget to follow our own thinking and doing in this process. At the same time this first phase is essential and we should put an effort in it, to learn about what and how we are doing. So we should add a “monitoring” system to this aspect of the process as soon as possible. I am not referring to something like a formal or usual monitoring system, but a system which helps us to remember why we did what, with whom and based on which assumptions. Only in that way we can learn from it and become able to improve our actions in the future.
• The question however is how to implement such a monitoring system as it has to be very flexible and truly reflecting what is happening. I mean that it should not only show the “reality” as it is interpreted by us as staff of ICCO-HQ, but also from the perspective of the ones with whom we are developing these programmes. So we will need more and different “eyes” and “ears”.
• But these eyes and ears should have a same (or at least very similar) vision on what and how we as ICCO-Alliance want to achieve with the the programmatic approach. So where and how do we find them?
• We also need to develop a common language with all involved in this process of explicitly implementing the programmatic approach, so we are sure that we have a same or very similar interpretation about all these (new or old) concepts we are talking about. Even if we do not all agree, we need to know on what we do, or do not agree. I am quite sure this is not the case yet.
• The reason for implementing an explicit programmatic approach should have little or nothing to do with doing new things, or doing different things or things different. It has all to do with adapting our doing and our (institutional) being to new circumstances and – not to forget - making maximum use of the experience of all involved, be they existing or new partners or otherwise experienced parties.

Of course there is much more to say after a week long of inspiring meetings. But I just want to leave it at this point for the moment. If you have any remarks, questions or whatever reaction, please leave a comment.