Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development

This article reconstructs the pilot implementation of the Livelihoods for Vulnerable Urban Communities (LVUC), a community-driven development project in the Philippines, as a living laboratory and an implicit real-life experiment. Real-life experiments aim at identifying surprising interactions betw...

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Main Authors: Saloma-Akpedonu, Czarina, Mangaser, Lorraine, Hidalgo, Candy
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Published: Archīum Ateneo 2016
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/sa-faculty-pubs/24
https://academic.oup.com/cdj/article-abstract/52/4/702/2607783?redirectedFrom=fulltext
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Institution: Ateneo De Manila University
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.sa-faculty-pubs-10232020-06-10T08:09:56Z Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development Saloma-Akpedonu, Czarina Mangaser, Lorraine Hidalgo, Candy This article reconstructs the pilot implementation of the Livelihoods for Vulnerable Urban Communities (LVUC), a community-driven development project in the Philippines, as a living laboratory and an implicit real-life experiment. Real-life experiments aim at identifying surprising interactions between the experimental system and its context, while a living laboratory not only emphasizes experimentation but also co-creation. Our goal in analysing data from a sixteen-month process-oriented assessment of the LVUC project is to explain why a development project's ability to handle surprise, or the unexpected, during implementation promotes community participation. Surprises arise because development projects inevitably involve knowledge mobilization. As a real-life experiment and a living laboratory, the LVUC project mobilized knowledge in two ways: first, by drawing on tested and accepted knowledge on how to induce community participation, and second by identifying events that occur unexpectedly and run counter to accepted knowledge about community-driven development. While often manifesting themselves as implementation difficulties, surprises can generate new knowledge and opportunities for innovation and co-creation. Many social science and development practitioners are wary of the notion of ‘experiment’, associating it with the social costs of experimenting with people. Lessons from the LVUC project, however, show that development projects must recognize the mobilization of knowledge as a component of implementation. The adoption of experimental habits and the problem-solving mode is the corollary of this recognition. 2016-01-01T08:00:00Z text https://archium.ateneo.edu/sa-faculty-pubs/24 https://academic.oup.com/cdj/article-abstract/52/4/702/2607783?redirectedFrom=fulltext Sociology & Anthropology Department Faculty Publications Archīum Ateneo Sociology
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
country Philippines
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic Sociology
spellingShingle Sociology
Saloma-Akpedonu, Czarina
Mangaser, Lorraine
Hidalgo, Candy
Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
description This article reconstructs the pilot implementation of the Livelihoods for Vulnerable Urban Communities (LVUC), a community-driven development project in the Philippines, as a living laboratory and an implicit real-life experiment. Real-life experiments aim at identifying surprising interactions between the experimental system and its context, while a living laboratory not only emphasizes experimentation but also co-creation. Our goal in analysing data from a sixteen-month process-oriented assessment of the LVUC project is to explain why a development project's ability to handle surprise, or the unexpected, during implementation promotes community participation. Surprises arise because development projects inevitably involve knowledge mobilization. As a real-life experiment and a living laboratory, the LVUC project mobilized knowledge in two ways: first, by drawing on tested and accepted knowledge on how to induce community participation, and second by identifying events that occur unexpectedly and run counter to accepted knowledge about community-driven development. While often manifesting themselves as implementation difficulties, surprises can generate new knowledge and opportunities for innovation and co-creation. Many social science and development practitioners are wary of the notion of ‘experiment’, associating it with the social costs of experimenting with people. Lessons from the LVUC project, however, show that development projects must recognize the mobilization of knowledge as a component of implementation. The adoption of experimental habits and the problem-solving mode is the corollary of this recognition.
format text
author Saloma-Akpedonu, Czarina
Mangaser, Lorraine
Hidalgo, Candy
author_facet Saloma-Akpedonu, Czarina
Mangaser, Lorraine
Hidalgo, Candy
author_sort Saloma-Akpedonu, Czarina
title Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
title_short Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
title_full Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
title_fullStr Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
title_full_unstemmed Expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
title_sort expecting the unexpected: the role of surprise in community-driven development
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2016
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/sa-faculty-pubs/24
https://academic.oup.com/cdj/article-abstract/52/4/702/2607783?redirectedFrom=fulltext
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