[EQ] Social Analysis Systems SAS: : A Guide to Collaborative Inquiry and Social Engagement

SAS²
A Guide to Collaborative Inquiry and Social Engagement

Jacques M. Chevalier, Chancellor’s Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Daniel J. Buckles, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Sage India/IDRC  - ISBN 978-81-7829-890-0
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) - 2008

Available online at: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-130303-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

 

“…..SAS²: A Guide to Collaborative Inquiry and Social Engagement represents a significant international effort to support the creation and mobilization of practical, authentic knowledge for social change. The guiding principle behind SAS² (Social Analysis Systems, www.sas2.net) is that group dialogue and social inquiry are crucial for local and global development. Social issues must be addressed socially and in a multistakeholder mode, not by private interests and experts alone, and the insights that emerge fully integrated into processes of knowledge production, planning, and decision-making.

Part 1 outlines the concepts and skillful means needed to support multistakeholder dialogue. It also provides detailed instructions on how to integrate and ground collaborative inquiry in the projects, plans, evaluations and activities of multiple stakeholders.

Part 2 presents a selection of techniques for collaborative inquiry and examples of real-life applications in South Asia and Latin America. The examples focus on a range of issues including land tenure, local economic development, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and organizational development. …’

“……The Earth and its varied human and ecological communities are now facing large-scale problems, from global warming and reduced biodiversity to more inequality between the poor and rich. Violence and fears of escalation are rampant. These are major challenges that require a wholesale shift in how we inquire into real life problems and mobilize, or create knowledge to address them. To survive and flourish in a world fraught with uncertainty, we must learn to think and learn differently. What is at stake is nothing less than the practice of democratic engagement in the sphere of knowledge, and its application to all levels of our 'glocal' world, from a village engaged in planning sustainable development to regional, national, or international bodies involved in health, education, governance, or peace….

“………The need for a new approach to knowledge is clear. Knowledge can no longer be generated, accredited or communicated only in scientific, corporate and university-based settings that exclude and ignore many segments of society. There is a need, more pressing than ever, to engage all human beings, without exception, in the application and co-generation of knowledge. We must draw on the information, imagination, skills, meaning, and reasoning of many people, seeing their different views and the methods they use as ''living knowledge'' that has the potential to advance the common good on a global scale. The challenge is to raise all forms of inquiry to the power of two: making the inquiry both socially relevant and doing it collaboratively or socially….” Introduction

 

Content:

 

Foreword P.V. Satheesh
Introduction
Part 1: SAS² CONCEPTS AND PROCESS

 

Social Analysis and All-Purpose Techniques
Process Management
Guidelines for SAS² Events and Process Design
Monitoring and Evaluation
SAS² Facilitation and Active Listening
Writing Guidelines

 

PART 2: SAS² TECHNIQUES AND LEARNING

Workshop and Self-study Guidelines
A.R.T. (Action-Research-Training)
Order and Chaos
Problem Tree
Force Field
Timeline
Gaps and Conflicts
Causal Dynamics
Validation
Stakeholder Identification
Social Domain
V.I.P. (Values, Interests, Positions)
Ideal Scenario
Option Domain
Competing Goals
Role Dynamics
Levels of Support
The Wheel

Conclusions

 

 

 

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