Thanks for sharing your experience, Mayke! Sounds like you did a great job. I am sure there were some seeds planted regarding who?s the expert, although the existent patterns still seemed predominantly visable. Regards Thomas Herrmann
> -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > Fran: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]For Mayke Wagner, > essence > Skickat: den 1 juli 2004 10:48 > Till: [email protected] > Amne: sharing my first OS experience > > > Hello to all of you, > about a month ago, I facilitated my first Open Space in Nairobi, Kenya. I > worked with 40 engineers, medical doctors, technicians and administrators > from the field of technical health for 1,5 days and it went > really well. The > feedback from the participants was very positive. We had 6 sessions and > ended up with 32 topics. The first day of the conference was "traditional" > with one expert in front and everyone else listening. So the people really > experienced a change when the Open Space started and you could tell they > were struggling with those 2 concepts. My impression was that in the field > of developmental aid - certainly in the area I was working in - the people > felt comfortable with the idea of an expert from the North (Europe) having > the answer (and consequently the responsibility - ability to respond) for > the problems in East Africa. Open Space questioned this assumption and > invited them to acknowledge their own expertise and ability to find their > own answers for their problems. After the first 4 sessions we had the > evening news and in the discussion it became clear that the participants > were torn between the "traditional" way and the Open Space way. I > addressed > this struggle on a meta-level with the participants the next day which was > helpful to create some more discussion and insight... > >From a systemic point of view it was quite startling to see how this > "imperialism" of the European expert having the answers for the > problems of > East Africa was supported by the behavior of the European participants as > well as of the African participants. Both sides contribute their share to > keep this pattern stable which in the long run does not support > sustainable > independence... From that perspective the experience was rather > sobering for > me... > Anyway, I am convinced that the Open Space conference was thought > provoking > not only on the level of healthcare technology... > > Happy trails, > > Mayke > ___________________________________________ > essence - Beratung, Training, Coaching > Mayke Wagner > Hanser 3 > 88279 Amtzell > GERMANY > > [email protected] > Tel (+49) 07520 / 9232 02 > visit us: <http://www.t-e-a-m.org> > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected]: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
