Unearthing local forms of child protection: Positive deviance and abduction in Ethiopia
The upcoming special issue of the Action Research Journal titled “Aid, Development, and Social Transformation” investigates how action research – if more broadly adopted by change agents, communities, funders, and policy makers – can contribute to tackling some of the globes most intractable, complex problems. Ashley Lackovich-Van Gorp’s “Unearthing local forms of child protection: Positive deviance and abduction in Ethiopia” looks at one such problem: gender based violence and rights violations.
We hear a lot about the need for emergent, adaptive, iterative programming that is responsive to the hard realities and opportunities for change in complex adaptive systems. Lackovich-Van Gorp takes this further, explicitly seeking an alternative to failed projectized approaches in which the problem and its solution are predefined. She began, herself, with such an approach, assuming that childhood marriage would motivate men and women in Ethiopia’s Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region to make changes. She found little uptake: “A father choosing to marry off his daughter is not the worst thing,” said one woman. When asked what could be worse, the woman said, “when a bride is stolen.” This changed the course of the action research project entirely.
A blending of ethnography and action research, the article also interrogates the value of positive deviance in social transformation processes, arguing for greater connection between this approach – more common in public health and agriculture perhaps, but still outside the development mainstream – and action research.
Blog post written by Kent Glenzer
You are invited to learn more about this experience by reading this article HERE. Free 30-day access is available for this article beginning 19 April, 2017.
After you’ve had a chance to read this piece, please share your thoughts, ideas, or experiences with our community in the comments below so we can continue this discussion!
Columbia Embury
www.wright.edu
www.wright.edu
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