| | Hypotheses
- Together with other experts from the Extension Services in
Omatjete, the SARDEP programme has already successfully brought across
to its constituencies the notion of development as a process of
negotiation and thus of participation. This is reflected in the
discussions and negotiations on the three levels of experts, Community
Development Committees/the Tjohorongo-Kondjee Farmers’ Association and
local communities. We may for instance expect to find elements of
meta-language or meta-communicative reflection. It will be of
particular interest to find out to which extent meta-communicative
competence derives from learning processes taking place through the
cooperation with and exposure to SARDEP’s methods and to what extent
such competence draws on group-internal and culture-specific ressources.
- Due to this explicitly communicative approach to development in
the SARDEP setting, participants are aware of the need to recognize
conflict and the need for conflict management. Therefore we expect to
be able to record and observe communicative processes of conflict
recognition and resolution. Notwithstanding the presumed heigthened
awareness of conflict potential, we expect to be able to observe
strategies of indirection and inferencing.
- During the exploratory trip to the region in September 2002 the
local actors on several occasions expressed their awareness of
communication gaps and potential misunderstandings as well as of their
social consequences in development work. However, it also became clear
that they do not have conscious knowledge of repair strategies. We
expect participatory research to lead to identify local resources such
as the ”host principle”, the reconstruction of local knowledge
concerning conflict resolution, culture specific forms of conflict
management, and meta-communicative devices.
- The change of social roles and hierarchies is more plainly
noticeable in the non-verbal aspects of communication than in
discursive (i.e. mainly verbal) behaviour (my own observation in
Omutiuanduko, 18 Sept 2002). In Herero-society, non-verbal behaviour is
first affected by changing social roles and hierarchies. However, it
remains to be seen which influence verbal and non-verbal behaviour have
on social change.
- Local, national and global issues of development play a role in
the local negotiations on sustainability. This pertains to the local
perception and interpretation of terms such as ”culture”, ”gender”,
”history”, but also of developments on the international (i.e. Southern
African) and global markets (see also Namibia Natural Resources
Consortium 2002).
- SARDEP seems to be very well integrated and accepted at all of its
operational levels. Therefore we expect to be able to find out and make
explicit reasons for the acceptance enjoyed by SARDEP and to inventory
and describe successful communication strategies at all levels of
organisation and interaction. While a final evaluation of
sustainability will have to wait until after its termination in 2004,
the project is advanced enough to establish significant correlations
between communicative processes and what can be expected in this
regard. This presupposes participatory research which includes a common
reflection on what precisely sustainability means in the local context
and on how this can be reached.
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