The Power of ‘Positive Deviance’

Mathijs Euwema

International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI)

Connecting Youth with Society Conference, Antwerp 9 December 2011

What is Positive Deviance?

Solutions before our very eyes

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The Premise:

In every community there are certain individuals whose uncommon practices/behaviors enable them to find better solutions to problems than their neighbors who have access to the same resources

Positive Deviance (PD) Approach

What enables some members of the community(the “Positive Deviants”) to find better solutionsto pervasive problems than their neighbors who have access to the same resources?

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• Identifying Solutions to Community Problems Within the Community Today

The Key Question?

PD Inquiry

Establishes community behavioral normsnorms related to the problem to beaddressed

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Uncovers successful uncommonuncommon behaviors/ strategiesbehaviors/ strategies practiced by the Positive Deviants

Analyzing PD Findings

PDI findings are passed through PDI findings are passed through a conceptual “accessibility sieve”a conceptual “accessibility sieve”

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Only those behaviors/strategies accessible to all are kept

The rest are “TBU,” True but Useless (i.e. not accessible to all) and are discarded

PD

Behavio

rs

PD

Behavio

rsst

rate

gies

stra

tegi

es

pract

ices

pract

ices

Accessible to All

Accessible to All

Focus on PD Focus on PD BehaviorBehavior

We can’t (yet) clone people

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• But we can adopt their successful behaviors/strategies

PD Focus on Practice rather than knowledge

“It’s easier to ACTACT your way into a new way of THINKING, than to

THINK your way into a new way of ACTING”

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PD enables us to act TODAY

The presence of Positive Deviants demonstrates that it is possible to find successful solutions TODAY before all the

underlying causes are addressed!

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Although most problems have complex, interlinked underlying causes . . .

PD Inquiry is an “Ends” PD Inquiry is an “Ends” as well as as well as “Means”“Means”

To discover successful, replicable PD behaviors

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MEANS

ENDSTo empower community to discover and “own”

their own solution, based on their own resources

ICDI’s Positive Deviance project in Netherlands 2010

Funded by Ministry of SZW as part of the European year to fight poverty and social exclusion

Our idea: mainstream non formal leisure time activities can support integration of children and youth with a migrant background.

(we coined the term ‘yomics’ and ‘yomacs’; youth from minority and youth from majority cultures)

What we did

-Interviews and focus groups with youth who participate or have participated in mainstream non formal leisure time activities

-Similar interviews with youth workers/experts etc.

-Draft a discussion paper based on these interviews and desk research

-Seminar to bring stakeholders together and to generate enthusiasm for the Positive Deviance approach

Seminar

Some quotes

“Kinderen hebben mensen nodig die in hen geloven.” Lilia, teenage moeder, nu HBO student

“Het zou zo goed zijn indien we wat meer met elkaar konden praten, dingen konden bespreken en konden doen. Met de gemeente, met ander jongerenwerkers, met ouders, met jongeren. Samen.” Salim, jongeren opbouwwerker

“Ik heb daar geleerd hoe ik me zelf kan verwoorden en hoe ik sneller contact kan maken met anderen. Ik heb er meer zelfvertrouwen door gekregen.” Umut, deelnemer aan studentenmentorprogramma

Important notions

-Don’t focus on what goes wrong, focus on what works;

-Positive deviant adults play a crucial role;

-Listen to positive deviant youngsters and involve them in activities (even better: let them design, initiate and lead activities);

-Stop the well meant but ineffective little “sexy” youth participation projects; instead use the PD approach to stimulate and develop community based initiatives;

“Action” Plan (using the

Positive Deviance approach)

Step 1: You, municipal policymaker, youthleader, trainer, teacher, parent, etc., you make an inventory in your street, neighbourhood or municipality, of people and organizations that organize non-formal leisure activities for childrend and young people.

 

Stap 2: You engage in conversations with people organizing such activities. You also look closely at where already is being worked with mixed groups of Yomics and Yomacs.

Stap 3: You invite the different organizations and individuals for exchange meetings. During these meetings you will try and create enthusiasm for the idea of involving more Yomics in their activities. Together you formulate strategies to make this happen.

 

Stap 4: More Yomics are being involved in non-formal leisure time activities. You oversee this process and regularly organize follo-up meetings with the stakeholders. Succes stories are being collected and shared with the media and community.

Discussion

-Can it be this simple?

-What is your opinion of the usefulness of the Positive Deviance approach to stimulate integration of migrant youth (or for other youth issues)?

-Other things?

More info

www.icdi.nl

mathijs@icdi.nl

www.positivedeviance.org