Learning To Unlearn Exercise

This document reports on a 24-hour exercise held in a village in India as an appraisal for a watershed project. Areas identified for discussion with villagers were time consciousness, future development plans, culture and social life and land use pattern. The paper reports the findings relating to each topic, such as the histories of the village's founding by migrants and past livelihoods; dissatisfaction at not having been granted title deeds for cultivated land and housing; demand for improved irrigation and education facilities; religion, marriage practices, diet, social activities; changing agricultural practices, crop variety preferences and food availability. The paper contains comments on the importance of not lecturing to villagers and of women's participation in diagramming and discussion. It ends with reflections on the benefits of the exercise for 'learning to unlearn', and the role expectations of assistance may have in facilitating discussion.