Worldview analysis: a multi-dimensional approach to community realities

This brief paper gives an introduction to the worldview approach and its application in facilitating creation of wholistic baselines, understanding community perceptions, collating Participatory Learning and Action profiles, analysing community survival strategies, and developing community level development plans. The paper introduces the technique, giving details of what is required to get started, and as an example, describes a recent field application of the Wholistic World View Analysis (WWVA) method as developed by the author. The method integrates information from standard PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) exercises including livelihood analysis, problem analysis and uncertainty analysis, through the creation a multi-level circular diagram. The innermost circle in the diagram represents areas in the control of the community, while the middle circle represents areas influenced by outsiders connected to the community, and the outer circle areas under the influence of outsiders that are not connected to the community. The inner circle will then show the capacities of the community while the outer circle will represent the vulnerabilities of the community. The author found the method useful when tested in remote rural villages in several parts of Asia, where villagers had no difficulty in understanding the method and were eager to participate. The estimated time for undertaking a WWVA is estimated to two hours, and the author stresses the need for facilitators to seek triangulation in the perceptions put in the diagram as to avoid overlooking smaller groups.