This book 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.
This book will be of use to researchers, facilitators and activists working with people to solve problems and support inclusive inquiry and decision-making. It will also be useful to scholars and academics studying and teaching participatory action research in the Social Sciences.