Have you ever noticed that when you go looking for problems, more problems tend to appear?

It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion and chopping it. It’s never-ending and your eyes water in the process.

The same goes for conducting community needs assessments. When designed to identify the pressing needs of a community, they often focus on deficits, which doesn’t do much for community morale. Continuous focus on the problem increases the likelihood of seeing the problem everywhere. This isn’t to say that communities should turn a blind eye to what’s happening, but there’s something to be said about raising awareness of this practice, as it can immobilize communities to create change.

A while back, I wrote a blog post on asset mapping as a tool for community organizing and engagement. One reason why asset mapping and similar strengths-based tools are growing in popularity is due to an increasingly mindset shift away from solely deficits-based to identifying community strengths. Whereas deficits-based practices are problem-focused, needs driven, and questions what’s missing, strengths-based practices are opportunity-focused, strengths driven, and identifies what is currently available that can be built upon.

Today, let’s look at another strengths- based practice, appreciative inquiry.

What’s appreciative inquiry?

Appreciative inquiry (AI) is strengths-based approach, developed by Dr. David Cooperrider in the 1980s. First used in organizational development and change, AI has helped institutions worldwide integrate the power of the strength-based approaches to multi-stakeholder innovation and collaborative design. It quickly gained ground in program evaluation following the 2006 release of Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry by Hallie Preskill and Tessie Catsambas.

AI focuses on identifying what is working well, analyzing why it is working well and then doing more of it. In other words, AI teaches us that an organization will grow in whichever direction that people in the organization focus their attention.

If this can be done in organizations, why not apply it to community change?

Here’s what you need:

  • If doing one-on-one interviews, two chairs. If doing as a group, a collection of chairs
  • A way to capture what’s being shared (tape recorder, flip chart paper, markers, pens, paper, etc.)

The steps:

Let’s build on the scenario shared in the asset mapping blog post. The scenario centers on an advocacy group wanting to promote the health benefits of vegetarianism. You attend a community town hall where residents speak their concerns over what’s occurring in the community and request resources that can benefit the community. While there you quickly discover that the community is more concerned about the lack of available fresh fruits and vegetables. As a solution, the community is interested in expanding their access to fresh foods, with farmers markets and community gardens being two avenues they’re interested in taking.

After working with community members to conduct a community asset map, you assemble more residents and some of your advocacy group members to help identify community assets, with a stronger emphasis on food sources.

There are two key components of AI: The positive core and the 5-D Cycle.

The positive core is what makes up the best of an community and its people. Based on the results of the community asset map, what are some hidden and underutilized community strengths that could make way for the community to realize its goals of creating community gardens and bringing a farmers market to the community?

The 5-D Cycle is the five-step process of AI. Using our scenario of access to fresh fruits and vegetables, let’s go through the cycle:

Definition: A positive topic that is important to the organization or group

Question to ask:

  • What do we care about most?

Discovery: Focuses on positive moments, share stories and identify the what’s working well.

Questions to ask:

  • Based on the community asset map, what are the community’s strengths and resources?
  • What are the community’s past and current successes? What has made these successes significant and meaningful?
  • How has the community come together to identify their needs?

Dream: Takes the past and current successes in the Discovery phase and identifies dreams of what could be.

Questions to ask:

  • How does equal access to fresh fruits and vegetables help the community thrive?
  • In what ways does equal access to fresh fruits and vegetables positively impact our community?
  • How can the community’s current resources help to realize the goal of equal access to fresh fruits and vegetables?

Design: Ties the stories from the Discovery phase with the imagination and creativity from the Dream phase.

Question to ask:

  • What is a visual representation of how our community would look like with access to fresh fruits and vegetables?

Destiny/Delivery: This is the commitment phase. It identifies how the design is delivered, and how it’s embedded into groups and communities, and  recognizes and celebrates successes that move the community towards their new vision.

Questions to ask:

  • What are the identify next steps in bringing a community garden and a farmers market to the community?
  • Who are community allies and supporters that can help to bring community garden and a farmers market to the community?

Key takeaway

Appreciative inquiry is not a liner process. It’s flexible and the positive core to the dream of what could be, and the action steps to take to realize that dream. Try this exercise and let me know how it goes.

RAISE YOUR VOICE:  What are some examples of how to use appreciative inquiry? How have you used (or would like to use) this process? Share below in the comments section.

Like this post? Subscribe to the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive resources, advice, and tips to help you raise your voice for women and girls of color.

Sign Up