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Questionable experiences in Cambodia

by Enda Moclair

Questions can be like coins tinkling in our pockets. They have their own currency and we can never be quite sure how far our money will get us. Some are needed for purchasing immediate clarity, others are more suited for long term investment, and a few should be buried in the ground and dug up only on rainy days. In our capacity building work with local NGO’s in N.W. Cambodia, we used the metaphor of currency to help us gain, promote and trade understandings. In this much tilled and disrupted neck of the woods, three separate and different currencies are used. Thai bath, US dollar and Cambodian Riel. To understand why 3 currencies in such a small area encourages an understanding of history and the different and competing truths which make it up. Questions are like mountains, there’s always another one over the horizon. Much discussion takes place daily over fluctuating and changing exchange rates: what does that translate as in such a such a currency. Such coin/questions usually are two sided: leading towards clarity and confirmation or confusion and confrontation. The flip side of the clarity coin however, if traded without care, is that it might be perceived as a gift or soft loan instead of as a transaction, the entering into of a relationship and the potential of a fruitful partnership. Confrontation is not in itself a bad thing as a bit of ‘hard sell’ can often be warranted. Often it was necessary to exchange our unique currency into understanding vouchers, travellers cheques. Sometimes it was good to have a purse full of question coins and other times it was better to be flat broke, and to banter and barter instead.

Questions are invitations. To what depends on the way they are asked. They are like grappling hooks that allow us to begin the slow ascent of Mount Understandings flanks and ridges. In Cambodia, our most important challenge, before meeting with partners, was to prepare and select a varied and flexible quiver of questions. We needed time and confidence to be comfortable and inventive asking many different questions depending on each unique person and situation. To try and put appropriate questions necessitated frequent gauging of the situations and the ability to amend and adapt there and then. Before each meeting we would develop different scenarios and questions, select suitable metaphors and common experiences and link to local lore. We would think about all those attending, put ourselves in different shoes and try empathising with their experiences and background: ‘Who were they? What was their story? What had their life experiences to date been? How might this colour or influence the way they perceive their situation, how might our own responses influence responses?" In this light we would re-evaluate our questions and try and mould questions which would encourage conversation.

To do this we ourselves we had to have an understanding of our own motivations and of responsibility. We had to consciously avoid the temptation of employing formulae and prescriptions and the urge to provide answers and be clear ourselves what were the parameters and non-negotiables of facilitation. This was very difficult for all parties as there was often an expectation of us, from our partners and from ourselves, given our physical resources, cultural norms and the privilege of education, that it was more expedient to give direction. (I used to have a friend and she, albeit in a slightly different context, used to call this compulsion: MAS - ‘Male Answer Syndrome’). In Battambong, in western Cambodia, we examined how we learn, where we all first learned and its effects on how we learn as adults. Using mime we explored different styles of learning and ways of asking questions and looked at responses and the feelings generated. Which manner and style of questioning encouraged shared understanding, ownership and ‘movement’

To acknowledge the subtle vines of these expectations/ norms required us to budget and fight for time to look, using varied processes, and surface our own experiences, expectations, baggage, denials etc. Review sessions afterwards would ask ‘Why did I not let her finish then?' or ‘Why did I get angry then?’ or ‘What if next time, I ask the question in this way?' Or ‘If such and such a person has been a soldier for the last twenty years might they be used to asking such questions?’ What can we do to begin to help accommodate and encourage change? Without attempting to adhere to these basic principles daily, in ourselves and our work, our relationships risked descending into dependency and our effectiveness as facilitators was diminished.

Questions are like children. With a little guidance, time and love they should be free to explore and learn and open doors by themselves.

[Enda Moclair has worked in Rwanda and Cambodia - the last three years he worked extensively with fledgling Cambodian NGOs]

 

Working with Questions

by Paulien Fopma

Learning and change happen around a question. A question means an issue that is un-resolved; that an individual or organization needs to work with. It is upon realizing what we are struggling with and what occupies our minds that we begin our search for meaning. Tuning in to our questions makes us explore and focus on the situation at hand and what it might imply for our own situation.

Challenging oneself with strategic questions supports self-development as it focuses attention towards issues that are relevant for a particular person at a particular moment. It helps to identify the individual concerns that people bring with them, for example to a workshop or training. When those questions are shared with the group, the group will become aware of what moves them, as individuals and as a group.

When facilitating development, " the question" is a tool. The use of questions can be applied in a particular way to achieve specific results in the development process of an individual or organization. For example, questions can be used to stimulate learning from specific experiences by challenging people to analyze what happened, to distill lessons from the event and to identify the implications of those lessons for the future.

Questions as a means of intervening in a development process are used at various levels. There is the level of clarification, which is concerned with picture building, i.e., important details, context or sequence. Questions here help to understand the situation and the dynamics involved; it is a tool for ‘listening’. It invites people to analyze and scrutinize a situation or event, laying the foundation for drawing meaningful conclusions.

The different perspectives on the situation held by individual group members, when not sufficiently shared and debated, often become a source of conflict and misunderstandings. A thorough understanding and discussion of these views facilitate the emergence of a comprehensive picture that is understood and accepted by the whole group. When applied in group situations, these type of questions can help to generate a shared understanding of the situation within the group.

At another level questions can work towards finding meaning: " What does it say …..". This type of question is only applicable after a fair amount of reflection on the situation or experience. It draws out the key issues that lie behind the facts or details of reflection. These types of questions are helpful at the point where insight, consciousness and emotion must come together in order to challenge to action or change.

[Paulien Fopma has worked in Tanzania in organisation development as well as Uganda and Thailand]

Strategic Questioning

Fran Peavey

Strategic questioning is the skill of asking the questions that will make a difference. Formulating and asking strategic questions is an effective way of facilitating learning and is most effective when the answers are not known.

Good strategic questions:

• Create movement.
• Create options rather than limit them.
• Dig deeper.
• Avoid asking "why" as it tends to result in defensiveness and rationalisation.
• Avoid eliciting “yes or no” answers.
• Are empowering.
• Ask the unaskable.

When facilitating social change questions can be used to:

• Get ideas and potential solutions to emerge from the people affected.
• Create a neutral and common ground for collaborative effort.
• Create respect and value for the experience of others.
• Listen to people’s pain.

There are a range of questions that can help people gain greater insight into and understanding of their own situation, create a vision of a preferred situation in the future, and start planning the change. The following is a list of the type of questions that can facilitate this process. Under each question type an example/s of a question is provided. They are only examples, practitioners should devise their own questions that are appropriate to the situation.

1. Focus questions.
   What aspects of your community life concern you?
   
2. Observation questions.
   What do you see? What do you hear?
   
3. Analysis questions.
   What do you think about…? What are the reasons for…? ?
   
4. Feeling questions.
   How do you feel about the situation?
   
5. Visioning questions.
   How would you like it to be?
   
6. Change Questions.
   How can the situation change for it to be as you would like it?
   
7. Questions to explore alternatives.
   How could you reach that goal? Are there any other ways?
   
8. Considering the consequences.
   How would each of your alternatives impact on others?
   
9. Considering the obstacles.
   What keeps you from doing what you intend to do?
   
10. Personal involvement and support.
    What will it take for you to participate in the change? How can I support you?
    
11. Personal action questions.
    Who do you need to talk to?
    How can you get others to work on this with you?

(Extracted and very slightly adapted from – Peavey, Fran By Life’s Grace, New Society Publishers, Philadelphia, 1994 )

About the Community Development Resource Association (CDRA)

The Community Development Resource Association (CDRA) was  established in 1987 as a non-profit, non-governmental organisation (NGO) to build the capacity of organisations and individuals engaged in development and social transformation. We are based in Cape Town, South Africa and work mostly in Southern and East Africa.

Email: vernon@cdra.org.za Webpage: http://www.cdra.org.za
P.O. Box 221, Woodstock, 7915, South Africa
Telephone: -27 -21 462 3902
Fax: -27 -21 462 3918