The positive path: using appreciative inquiry in rural Indian communities

This document was produced during a two-and-half-year partnership project involving Canada's International Institute for Sustainable Development, the UK's Department for International Development, and MYRADA, an Indian development agency. The purpose of the project was to field-test Appreciative Inquiry, an innovative approach to organizational and social development. Appreciative Inquiry moves beyond participatory problem/needs analysis by identifying peak moments within a community and then discovering and reinforcing the conditions that made them possible. Through fieldwork with over five hundred community groups in southern India, the project team was able to determine the most effective methods of using Appreciative Inquiry in different social and economic circumstances. The guide is divided into three sections: the first presents a summary of the project; the second presents the rationale for, and the stages of, an appreciative approach; and the third provides a summary of the theory behind appreciative inquiry as well as a list of useful resources. The information synthesized in this document will be of particular interest to individuals seeking alternatives to deficit-based approaches to project planning and implementation.