VIPP_Unicef

The
Roots of
VIPP
8
In 1991, Neill McKee, having learned the techniques at DSE from roots
of Hermann Tillmann and Maruja Salas, then from the University of
Hohenheim, introduced them into the planning processes for social
mobilization and communication in UNICEF-supported programmes
in Bangladesh. Dev Basnyet from Nepal was also brought in to help
foster participatory techniques, especially in planning. The techniques
were adapted to local culture and were found to be very effective in
breaking down hierarchical relationships and engendering creative
group processes. The method became known as "Visualization in
Participatory Planning" or simply "VIPP". However, gradually the
methods found their way into regular meetings, training and other
events at various levels and the meaning of the acronym was changed
to "Visualization in Participatory Programmes".
VIPP synthesizes the approach of DSE, the visualization techniques of
Metaplan and the conscientization and empowerment approach of Freire
and Fals Borda. VIPP is applicable to any situation where a group of
people want to work together to analyze and plan development
activities or to initiate interactive learning experiences. Two aspects
are stressed: the humanistic and democratic philosophy underlying
VIPP and the central role of the facilitator who enables the generation
of knowledge and dialogue between people without manipulating
them.
Around 1980, the Metaplan visualization technique was also adapted
to another German planning method called "Goal Oriented Project
Planning" (GOPP or ZOPP in German), a technique applied widely by
GTZ and other European aid agencies. This method allows groups to
formulate problems and objectives through a logical framework
approach, originally borrowed from military planning and first taken
up by USAID for project planning in the late 1960s. Its characteristics
and analytical approach is very much appreciated by professionals
working within well-defined development projects with specific
resources. Everybody involved can intervene and contribute ideas and
aspects to the planning process. But the requirement of following a
strict logical framework makes ZOPP less adaptable to different
situations, such as planning with a broad alliance of partners, and
may hinder an integral understanding of the complexity of local
situations, especially with regard structural and political dimensions.
Nowadays visualization techniques have been very often identified with
ZOPP in development activities as GTZ has used it as a requirement
for receiving development assistance around the world.
But ZOPP is not VIPP. VIPP is a package of techniques with a
philosophical base derived from creative processes of dialogue at the
grassroots level. VIPP allows people to express themselves and to raise
questions about hierarchical decision making in a creative and efficient
way, and if applied widely and properly it has the potential of
empowering people at many levels of the development process.
THE ROOTS AND PHILOSOPHY OF VIPP