Appreciative Inquiry
"Accentuate the positive" is the message of Appreciative Inquiry (www.iisd.org/ai/default.htm), a community development method that focuses on the positive strengths of communities, rather than reinforcing the problems or difficulties they face.
Like some other descriptions of community development practices, it claims to be a new method, but the tools will be familiar to grassroots campaigners who have used structural analysis tools from the 1980s, such as visioning and determining the steps to take towards change. However, it is very positive to see more emphasis on working with local communities on sustainable development.
The site has a good critique of some current community development practices, including the misuse of participatory methods, which tend to stress the problems a community faces and increase dependency on external researchers and social service agencies.
A case study of work with an indigenous Canadian community is a good illustration of the work being done with Appreciative Inquiry.
Integrating Aboriginal Values into Land Use and resource Management Case Study.
The Skownan First Nation worked with the Appreciative Inquiry practitioners to explore how Aboriginal people value the lands around them, both economically and culturally, and how this information could be used to change Manitoba's land-use and resource management activities.