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CAPACITY BUILDING USING THE APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY APPROACH:
THE EXPERIENCE OF WORLD VISION TANZANIA
Dirk Booy and Sarone Ole Sena
Editor’s Note: Both authors are employees of World Vision Tanzania (WVT), Dirk Booy
serving as national director and Sarone Ole Sena as director for capacity building. Together,
they have more than thirty-five years experience in community development, authoring
numerous papers on the topic. In a paper appearing in the 1997 GEM journal, Dirk and
Sarone discussed WVT’s perspective on community development and how it has evolved over
the years, presented an overview of the Appreciative Inquiry approach to community
development, and discussed WVT’s experimentation with that approach. This paper updates
World Vision Tanzania’s efforts in community capacity building, sharing some ways
appreciative processes have been applied to staff and organizational capacity building.
Around the world nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations,
international agencies, governments, universities, and donors are discovering an inescapable
lesson: the fight against poverty and environmental decline requires new approaches, new
opportunities, new initiatives, and an alternative community development path. Indeed, for
most development agencies the focus of the nineties now rests upon developing local
capacity. Caroline Sahley1 captures that focus with these words:
Building local capacity for social and economic development, rather than merely
transferring resources, or filling technological and financial gaps, is now recognized as
the key to sustainable development.
Since 1995, World Vision Tanzania has been implementing capacity-building interventions
using Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The appreciative approach to capacity building is
empowering, assuming that every person, every community, every organization has some
capacity. It focuses on positive things about the organization or community that are tangible
sources of hope and learning. Appreciative Inquiry builds community capacity upon the
foundation of what works, what empowers, what gives motivation, hope, and inspiration. It
builds upon the small accomplishments of communities, encouraging them to reflect upon the
conditions that produced the successes.
With AI, the community moves through a process of dialogue about the following questions:

What do I value most about my community?

When in our community’s history did we experience a high point?

What do I want my community to pass on to future generations?
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What image of our community do we want to promote?
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What traditions do we value most?

What has worked well for me and for my community, and why?
If people can see where they have succeeded in the past and understand why, and if they can
use this consciousness to imagine a better future, they may be able to attain greater success.
Appreciative Inquiry is generative by nature, reaching toward the new vision that can be
created out of the best of current practices.
The World Vision Tanzania Experience
WVT has developed a capacity-building model that seeks to celebrate the rich potential
existing in organizational life, to help organizations realize the full potential of organizational
expression, and to assist organizations and communities in making dreams a reality. In a
recent study involving over one hundred partner nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) identified six critical principles of
capacity building:

Begin with partnership. Capacity building requires mutually beneficial
partnerships that build capacity in both partners.

Practice appreciation. Create an environment that celebrates the possibilities of
capacities and enables dreams to be realized.

Contextualize everything. Not every situation is the same. Capacity building needs
to be contextualized in each new environment.

Think organically. Because organizations are organic systems, capacity-building
interventions are enhanced when organic references are used.

Emphasize learning. The ability to learn from success and from error greatly
increases organizational development.

Create systems of mutual accountability. All partnerships need to be built upon
mutual trust and accountability that focus on achieving results.2
Combined, these principles make for a powerful tool. In the next sections, we will show how
we have applied it in WVT at the community, staff, and organizational level.
Community Capacity Building
Although WVT’s experience of using an AI approach to create a model for community
capacity building has been encouraging and empowering for our staff and beneficiary
communities, WVT staff do face challenges.
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Because the development paradigms are still steeped in a problem-solving mentality,
communities find it difficult at first to identify their strengths and capacities, insisting that
they are needy or even making their problems seem worse in order to receive funding. But
things are changing.
Beginning our work with the discovery step of the AI process, we ask the community
members a number of questions:

As a people of Kagera Region, what are you most proud of?

Please share some stories concerning your most valued traditions.

What practices serve you best in farming?

Why have you been so successful in formal education and schooling?

What core factors make life in Kagera possible?
At first the villagers stare at us, wondering where this is heading. Then one teacher stands to
say that the villagers have many problems: “There is too much death. Our children are dying
of measles, and our young people of AIDS. The old people of our village struggle and
sacrifice to raise grandchildren whose parents have died of AIDS. Mothers here have no
access to prenatal services. And many fathers in the village can’t scrape together enough
money to pay school fees for their children!” Other villagers chime in to add more and more
problems to the teacher’s list.
After listening to their stories attentively and sensitively, we ask them if anything is working
in the community: would they focus for a moment on the community’s assets and capacities
rather than on what is absent, or what is problematic, or what the community needs. To our
surprise, the mood changes to one of laughter and clapping. One after another the villagers
begin to narrate the good-news stories of the proud people of Kagera.
In an earlier paper we wrote that it was still too early to assess “the tangible fruits of the first
harvest”; today, however, we are excited to report that in the communities where the AI
approach has been in use for more than two years, the method is helping people develop four
important competencies that seem to support the unfolding of an ongoing appreciative
learning culture:
Affirmative competence. A community’s capacity to focus upon what has gone well in
the past and upon current ongoing accomplishments.
Generative competence. The ability of community members to experience the impact
of their contribution toward a higher purpose.
Expansive competence. The quality that challenges community members to go
beyond familiar ways of thinking.
Collaborate competence. The power of dialogue to transform systems.3
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Staff Capacity Building
In WVT we like to say that staff are our most important resource. Over the past three years,
management has tried to introduce an encouraging environment built upon the following
principals:
Appreciation. We are committed to appreciating staff and upholding their
contributions. We want to celebrate their respective gifts and talents.
Empowerment. We are committed to empowering all staff to be the best they can be
by maximizing their skills and abilities. In so doing, staff also increase their overall
value to our ministry.
Competition. We commit ourselves to competitive salaries and benefits in comparison
with our peers within the local environment. We strive for fewer but higher-paid staff
capable of greater contributions.
Stewardship. Recognizing that our resources are not our own but have been entrusted
to us, we are committed to acting responsibly and with high integrity regarding
compensation. We encourage a transparent and clearly understood human resources
strategy that builds ownership and commitment from all staff.
These principles have helped to build staff capacity and overall morale. Here are some
examples of how we manage implementation.
Positioning
WVT has developed an organizational structure that seeks to promote horizontal as opposed
to vertical thinking [see “Organizational Structure,” further on]. Each functional category
encompasses positions similar to those of the other categories, in terms of job responsibility
and overall value to the ministry. A Position Matrix, which outlines expectations for the
position and indicators for performance and competency, guides each position.
This structure has helped staff to feel they are a part of a whole system. It encourages staff to
work together to expand not only individual but also team performance. It has helped create
mutual accountability for results. And finally, staff now have more promotional opportunities
within their categories, instead of only up the ladder. When staff feel valued and appreciated,
morale increases.
Performance Appraisal
Positive feedback leads to motivated staff. Using a 360-degree format, which includes all
those around the staff person (supervisor, peers, and support), WVT has developed a
participatory appreciative appraisal format. Designed to produce positive feedback to staff in
critical areas, this format seeks to highlight best practices. Appreciative questions include the
following:
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What do you appreciate most about this person?
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How has this person positively developed your capacity in this area?

Please give examples of how this person has contributed in this area?

How would you encourage this person to continue to grow?
Performance is shown using an agrarian model similar to the one used in communities. This
model attempts to substitute growth indicators for the practice of rating performance
according to numbers. The emphasis lies upon developing oneself for greater performance
and thus higher value to the organization. Staff who have used the format feel more
encouraged and less threatened by the process. Moreover, the format has led to a morefocused training program for staff capacity building.
Training
WVT has developed a comprehensive staff-development policy designed to empower staff
with the necessary skills, knowledge, abilities, and attitudes to achieve our mission. This
empowerment takes place partly through a participatory training program based upon a
contractual plan the staff member and organization create for developing agreed-upon
capacities. The staff-development policy seeks to celebrate and build upon proven capacities
within staff and to develop them further for even higher performance. Priority is given to
developing women at all levels within the organization. Here are two exciting examples:
Accredited Development Studies (ADS). Together with the East Africa Region, World
Vision has begun an ADS program that will grant up to a Master’s degree from a
recognized university in England to successful candidates. Based upon distance
learning, the program involves modules taught by accredited professionals. WVT has
seven students now in the program, with an additional seven entering in late Fall.
Capacity-Building Associates Program. WVT has established an intern program for
Tanzanian university graduates. Spanning a year, the program gives graduates an
opportunity to build field experience within a WVT program. Participants, who are
provided with a living stipend, progress through an appreciative action/reflection
learning experience designed to qualify them for future positions in WVT or other
development organizations.
Organizational Capacity Building
Another component of WVT’s capacity-building model is the organization itself: its systems,
procedures, structure, and style. WVT has worked at a number of levels to build its
organizational capacity, using Appreciative Inquiry with good success. Here are four
examples:
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Management/Leadership Style
Probably one of the most important ingredients in using Appreciative Inquiry has been an
encouraging management and leadership style. WVT has encouraged managers and leaders
to—
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See situations as challenges and opportunities instead of problems.
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Identify the positive potential in every person and every situation.
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Respect and value uniqueness and individual differences.

Communicate recognition of individual progress and contributions.
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See themselves as equal to others in worth and dignity and therefore to treat
bosses, colleagues, and subordinates as equal participants in the process.

Provide positive performance reviews.
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Communicate in a language of equality through collaboration, cooperation,
agreement, and win-win relationships.

Facilitate open communication of short- and long-term organizational goals.

Commit to giving and receiving feedback and to communicating openly and
honestly.4
Management and leadership must learn not only how to practice an encouraging style but also
how to model it for others to follow. WVT’s senior management team has done this by first
building the skills/abilities/attitudes within itself and then promoting them in others.
Language can make a big difference in overall performance. The image we create based upon
the language we use has a direct impact on the action we take: positive image leads to positive
action. An AI approach to leadership and management requires an appreciative language that
seeks to build opportunities. Our attitudes have a similar impact: it has been said that life is 10
percent what happens to us and 90 percent the way we react to it.5 Our attitudes make the
difference. An appreciative attitude by management and leadership can lead to positive action
and results within the organization.
Organizational Structure
The WVT structure encompasses a horizontal set of networks and relationships, with the
emphasis on decentralization and pushing accountability as close to the level of
implementation as possible. We focus on functions (or cross-functions) rather than on
positions. Teams are the critical component of WVT. Such a structure promotes and
celebrates the contribution of each member and team as a valued part of the whole. In addition
it empowers staff toward accountability and ownership for results. Using this approach, WVT
has managed to decrease its overall staff while doubling its outreach.
Board Development
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Because a local board of trustees governs WVT, board development has been a high priority.
A board-development plan has been designed and agreed upon that features such activities as
focused training programs, site visits, participation in World Vision partnership events, and
involvement in WVT activities. An AI approach to board development has increased the
board’s capacity and contribution to our ministry. Our board is deeply committed to this
process and in fact dedicates an extra day each time it meets for board-development activities.
Fundraising
One of WVT’s goals is to increase its ability to attract and harness local funds for
development programs. Last year it raised 15 percent of its total budget locally and has set
this year’s goal at 25 percent. World Vision Tanzania uses a unique fundraising strategy,
developed by Jim Lord, that is based on Appreciative Inquiry.6 This approach rests upon the
premise that fundraising is a process not only of raising money but also of providing
opportunities for involvement. Thus, the focus is on the donor as well as on the donation. Our
goal is to provide rich experiences for the donor that lead to transformative commitments. Our
fund-raising process seeks to build common ground in terms of values and goals, working
toward what is possible.
So far, WVT has attended and led workshops on this new approach to fundraising. Our
admittedly limited experience has been that donors respond very favorably to an approach that
seeks to celebrate them as well as their giving. And we have seen that when the fund-raising
process focuses on possibilities for partnerships, funding commitments usually follow. The
approach has worked well with both individual and major bilateral/multilateral donors.
Learnings
Here are some things we at World Vision Tanzania have learned from our AI capacitybuilding journey:

Appreciative Inquiry is not so much a tool or methodology as an attitude or approach. It is
therefore very flexible and can be used in many different situations. Persons using AI
should seek to contextualize the basic principles and adapt them for their own needs.

The basic assumptions of AI have proven true in the process of community development.
Although AI was originally developed as an OD intervention, it can be applied to local
community development.

Capacity building requires a three-pronged approach of organizational, community, and
staff development, for it is the synergistic relationship of these three components that
leads to a holistic approach.

In order to develop capacity in others, an organization must itself be involved in a process
of internal capacity building. It is when change is being promoted from within that change
can take place on the outside. Development organizations must reflect the same
transformational changes they hope to promote within local communities.
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
Organizations and communities develop at different speeds and at different levels. There
needs to be a process of self-evaluation that identifies critical indicators of capacity and
helps to identify priorities for growth. Mutual accountability is critical to the process, and
this should be managed regularly through commitments and reporting.
Future Plans
We are very much encouraged and committed to continuing the learning process. Our future
plans include a variety of activities. One of these is the introduction of a management
information system that tracks the progress of our capacity-building model at all levels.
We will be promoting AI and capacity building in other organizations within Tanzania,
especially local NGOs, the church, and government. Already, we facilitate an NGO forum
called CABIN (Capacity-Building Information Network) in Tanzania that seeks to promote
AI among local NGOs. We will be conducting an AI/Future Search workshop for leaders in
government, NGO, and donor communities. As well we will be promoting AI within World
Vision. Already WVT has interacted with a number of partner offices and participated in joint
learnings/sharings. We have produced numerous materials that we are sharing within the
organization, and we intend to lead workshops and invite others to come and learn.
WVT plans to create a community-development practitioner manual on AI/capacity building
for community-level interventions. Such a manual would be a practical learning tool for those
wishing to develop their skills and abilities in community development.
Finally, we will ourselves continue learning about how to use Appreciative Inquiry. Although
WVT has been practicing AI for over three years, we still need to build more AI skills and
abilities within our staff and systems. Because AI is still a relatively new concept, it needs
continued research and development. WVT is committed to this process.
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END NOTES
1
Sahley, C. 1995. Strengthening the Capacity of NGOs. Oxford: INTRAC.
2
CRWRC. 1997.
3
These ideas are from Creating Appreciative Learning Cultures, by Frank J. Barrett.
4
Dinkmeyer, D. and Daniel Eckstein. 1996. Leadership by Encouragement. Florida: St Lucie Press.
5
Charles Swindoll has been credited with this statement.
6
Lord, J. G. 1995. The Plilanthropic Quest. Cleveland: Philanthrophic Quest International.
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