Amanda May (1), Heather Shaw (2,3), Yvonne Orlando (1)

Preferred presentation format: Refereed Paper

Affiliation(s): (1) Department of Primary Industries, Victoria
(2) Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria

(3) APEN National Executive

Title: Ms Amanda May Position: Project Officer Organisation: Department of Primary Industries, Victoria Contact email: amanda.may@nre.vic.gov.au Contact phone: 03 52264831

Keywords: social capability, participatory action research, Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems, systems thinking, soft systems theory.

This paper will discuss the application and development of participatory action research (PAR) approaches within a Victorian Department of Primary Industries project - the Developing Social Capability Project. This project aimed to enhance and develop the capability of people in the food, agriculture and natural resource management sectors as a way of increasing the development and use of new skills and technologies for sustainable, productive land management.

In 2001 the Developing Social Capability project team embarked on a trial of RAAKS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) – a PAR approach developed by Engel and Salomon (1997). Through this method, issues and solutions that would not emerge from a government or scientific perspective alone are brought to the surface and the notion of a central driver for change is broadened to encompass the possibility of a multiplicity of solutions or pathways of development and innovation. During the course of the project, the DSC project team expanded their views and shifted from RAAKS to trial project specific approaches to PAR within three existing DPI extension projects. This paper provides an insight into this journey and examples of the use of PAR approaches in a project based context. It will also discuss the challenges experienced by the project team in implementing and communicating a soft systems based project within a “hard science” based organisation. It explores the implication of this for future use of soft systems methodologies within these types of organisations. The paper will conclude by offering some suggestions on how organisations can provide support for the use of soft systems approaches.

Key learning points:

• Through the application of systems based participatory action research approaches, issues and solutions can emerge, encompassing the possibility of a multiplicity of solutions and pathways for development and innovation.
• These pathways and solutions can be both within and external to the immediate project and can be built on through the action research process.