Twelve days in Ethiopia: Dr. Million blogs on the Writeshop

Day -15: I met with Dr Isaac and Fikre for updates on where we are on the draft manuscripts. The update reports from Fikre, the writeshop coordinator for IIRR, was not very encouraging. We were both a bit apprehensive about the poor progress we are making on this… poor Fikre, he is doing his best! It takes a lot of patience and diplomacy to get people to write on a topic, to get a significant part of their time out of their busy schedule, and for free – he was in the hot spot! Thanks to his wide connections ….he managed it …somehow.
Day -5: some participants whom we expected to attend and make valuable contributions called off at the last minute; we all felt very discouraged and I started to grow nervous …. Would this really be successful? May be I was wrong….may be I shouldn’t have started such a nerve rending project that you can say “no problems, I will handle it myself if you can’t” when you are faced with a situation such as this. Hmm, I felt like giving up…

Day -2: I called Fikre…, to my relief he told me that he is expecting some 48 people who have confirmed to be there in the first week…some of them were those who had initially declined. It was a Friday afternoon, a final check for the papers as well….yep, we have most of the papers at hand now, only two or thee are missing and for those, we have a strong commitment from the writers that we will have them during the first week. Perfect!!!

Day 1: I entered the conference room not expecting to see such a big number sitting in a somewhat u-shaped arrangement…ha they are already here!!! Most of them, I have not even met before – government reps, people from the community, NGO reps, university, UN, research institutes, all sorts of organizations and individuals represented. A sigh of relief, I said to myself “thank God, they are already here!” After a welcome and opening address by Teklu (SC-US) and a brief intro about ECB and this project by myself, the writeshop was launched into the day’s activity. Still holding onto my reservation though.... Will this project really be successful?

What I observed, had something to tell me … there is a great diversity of knowledge and experience in the room! Ranging from people who have worked for more than 25 years on disaster management, framed the national policy on disaster management and prevention, farmers representing different geographic and ethnic backgrounds, academics, field practitioners etc…. hard not to believe that this will be successful!!

The first day was over before I knew it! I can not overemphasize the skills, wisdom, energy, contagious humor and optimism of Dr Isaac, the lead facilitator. Simply, he is an excellent facilitator!!!

Days 2 – 11: little did I realize what was awaiting me/us the participants! As for Dr Isaac and his ‘crew’, they have been through this process several times – they know what the days are going to be like. These guys, they know how to absorb the wits out of you using all sorts of techniques – and no one is ‘spared’! It reminded me of my school days…

Yet, a lot of fun! Good networking opportunities, and, and …. an excellent forum for learning! Mind you, we are working more than 10 hours a day (a conservative estimation) for 12 days. 10 x 12 = 120hrs. This is more than a semester’s course!!!

A lot of presentations, heated debates (but no fist fighting :), group works, writing and re-writing until we finally settled for a 3rd draft on the final day of the writeshop. At times, I could not help, but sit back and relax enjoying/appreciating the diversity of views and opinions on the one and same issue. But, I can not forget, Professor Okombo’s sentiment on the risk formula and Buriso’s (farmer) inspiring speeches in the middle of the sessions…it really was fun!

Day 12: last day, the crowd already thinning out … we were once again on one hot issue – the title of the book. Twenty one suggestions came on the slips, unknown to any one I managed to include two suggestions (forgive me for this ‘white’ corruption) one of which read: Leaving Disasters Behind: A Practical Guide on Disaster Risk Reduction. It became one of the three finalists…. After much discussion and deliberation, mine was favored by almost all….but, no one knew until the very last approval applause! When I announced it is mine….a second round of applause…..

One thing stood out as the way forward: the community reps stood almost unanimously for a simplified version in a language they can easily understand. Cognizant of the time constraints, no one dared to comment yes or no…. . it might still be a possibility, may be not.

Dr. Million Shibeshi, Pilot Project Manager

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A wake-up call at the Writeshop

Wednesday 6th December

Here at the DRR Writeshop in Ethiopia we listen and critique many presentations, from early warning systems to crop and livestock monitoring to community empowerment and participation. Beriso Shenge speaks up passionately on the need for communities to actually participate in risk reduction initiatives from start to finish. He wants government, INGOs and local NGOs to go a big step further than token consultation and get into real partnership with rural communities. Berisho is a farmer with 4 hectares of land and a pair of oxen. He is married with six sons and one daughter. Himself and his wife grow maize, beans, teff and sorghum. He is a good speaker and even before the translation we can see how important this is to him. He doesn’t want mere consultation, he doesn’t want to be “facilpulated”. He wants, even demands, full participation, from start to finish. His intervention is a real wake up call for all!

Maurice McQuillan, Catholic Relief Services Emergency Response Team

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More from the writeshop in Ethiopia: Maurice's birthday blog

Tuesday 5th December: It is my birthday and I am happy to be in Ethiopia where I won’t be asked what age I am! For the record I am 39 years of age – more or less!

At 8am, when I arrive at Addis airport, I am greeted by Bahhilu, the smiling CRS driver. The weather is overcast and he tells me that the short rains have been long and that it may have something to do with global warning. We discuss the weather and the climate. Baahilu knows that I have been living in Nairobi for the past two years and he asks me about the melting snow cap in neighbouring Tanzania.

We drive to the Bonita Youth Centre in Debrezeit, about 40 km from Addis. The writeshop is being run by IIRR-Africa (International Institute of Rural Reconstruction). They are familiar with the writeshop process - the principal method for producing the handbook - indeed they invented it. The process is flexible and highly participatory, which facilitates the production and simplification of materials in a short period of time. IIRR utilize the diverse skills of participants (field workers, development agents, other resource persons, editors, artists and facilitators) working under the same roof for a period of two weeks. So I am here with rural Ethiopian farmers, staff of large INGOs, university professors, staff of local NGOs working in the Ethiopian rift valley and artists/illustrators.

We discuss the writeshop process, which is new to me, and I have a good feeling about the way that IIRR wants to work. Those of us who have written papers to contribute to chapters will present and others will critique and we will amend. Where a number of us have written on the same chapter we will have to come up with an agreed version and present a second draft for further critique. In between we meet with farmers and look for practical Ethiopian examples to illustrate points being made.

I like the proposed process. I warm to IIRR’s credo of rural reconstruction:
“Go to the people
Live among them
Plan with them
Work with them
Start from what they know
Build on what they have
Teach by showing
Learn by doing
Not a showcase but a pattern
Not odds and ends but a system
Not piecemeal but an integrated approach
Not to conform but to transform
Not relief but release”

So the process looks good. I hope the end product matches it - check tomorrow for news of how we get on.

Maurice McQuillan, Catholic Relief Services Emergency Response Team

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Cloud watching in Ethiopia: Warner blogs from the Writeshop

Editor's Note: Warner and the team at the DRR residential 'Writeshop' at Debre Zeit, 45 km SE of Addis Ababa, were not about to allow something as trivial as the lack of an internet connection prevent them from blogging. Instead, just as sailors' wives would once receive a dozen letters in one parcel, so a package of blog posts arrived over the weekend from this remarkable event, as Warner made a run into Addis and the connected world. I'll post them in order over the next few days, so you have a feel of how the event developed. Now read on...

Blogging Notes from Warner Passanisi, Wednesday 5th Dec - Day 3 of 12 of the DRR Writeshop residential workshop, Bonita Youth Center, Debre Zeit, 45 km SE of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (with no internet connection).

I'm happy to have finally arrived after two sleepless nights (one of my bags containing all my DRR materials was sent not to Addis (ADD) but to Accra (ACC)!) It's great to be here and amongst some 40 people in a single room, all committed to working together over a period of two weeks to produce "Disaster Risk Reduction - A Practical Guide in the Ethiopian Context".

With a significant ECB3 investment, through Save US, of around $100,000, it is important to support this innovative approach as much as possible. I am very grateful again to the resourceful Maurice McQuillan for agreeing to participate and be a lead author on one chapter, plus to have the commitment from Save, especially through Teklu and Stanley. Hats off again to Dr. Million for being instrumental in putting this together.

Around a circular arrangement of tables sit almost 40 people. This group includes a real mixture of skill sets and backgrounds. Most are Ethiopian nationals, of course, but we also have several participants from Kenya, and one each from Nigeria, Malawi, UK, US, and Ireland, plus 2 from Tajikistan. However, there are only 2 women, a fact lamented by the group. We have 4 community farmers, plus representatives from government, UN, at least 2 universities, NGOs, and other community leaders. Whilst conducted mainly in English, there are at least 2 other languages used. The ECB turnout has also been good - 15 ECB agency staff (only IRC not involved), including 6 from Oxfam (GB, US, and Canada), 2 of which were visiting from the OGB Tajikistan program. I am really impressed with the quantity and breadth of quality of the turnout. I'm also impressed with Dr. Isaac, the lead facilitator from IIRR, who have been recruited to run this writeshop. He is a bundle of never-ending energy, optimism, and great experience. It's a pleasure to be working with him and his team.

Days are 8am to 6pm Mon 4th through Fri 15th. This is a residential workshop, using a location and formula that IIRR have used several times before. We work, eat, sleep alongside and play with our colleagues. During that time, and with much IIRR experience of leading this process before, we should have collectively completed the 3rd draft of all chapters, with much of the layout, flow, and graphics having been completed while working with the in-house artist and DTP professionals here with us. Multi-facilitated, with many editors and authors, the work is done in plenary and group sessions through an iterative process.

Interesting to see that we have only just touched upon the topic of climate change, and yet it is raining, and it is December, and as several participants have noted, no one can remember it raining in December for 30 years!! My personal favorite of the first sessions I attended was hearing from the 4 community farmers describe some traditional early warning systems, such as cloud watching, and wind tracking related to livestock and pet behavior.

Now back to the sessions.....

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