on Culture & Development - Seameo-SPAFA

18outcome does require that one begin athome, with one’s self. It is always so easy to‘blame’ others for project shortcomings, ifnot failures, but each individual has acrucial role to play and that role can bemost beneficial if we operate in aheightened state of awareness. Thisheightened state of awareness translatesas being more willing to try to convertconstraints into opportunities by beingcreative and resourceful. It translates asbeing prepared to take the blinkers off, andleave them off, thus always being open tonew suggestions and the adoption ofinnovative approaches. This combinationof accessibility, positivism, and adaptability,grounded with realism, can make fordynamic improvements.The challenge has been to try to ensurethat upon conclusion of the workshopsparticipants from very differentbackgrounds, with varied experiences andfrom such diverse areas would all havegained something of particular relevanceto them. For example, that a Cambodianpeace activist, a Burmese genderspecialist, a Filipino priest/ documentaryfilm maker, a Lao monk/ rural developmentworker, a Vietnamese researcher / healthworker, a Malaysian medicalanthropologist, an Indonesian humanitarianrelief worker, a Singaporean visual artist, aBruneian museologist, or a Thai researcheron HIV/AIDS to name but a few, would feelbetter equipped to deal with a specificproblem within their own work context.Whether viewed as promotinginclusiveness, integration, or advocatingthe adoption of community-driven, multisectoraldevelopment approaches, thisGuidelines publication is primarily intendedas a ‘guide’, not a ‘blue-print’. We, theauthors/workshop facilitators, certainly donot consider ourselves experts within all thedevelopment issues covered. In fact, thesuccess of the workshops and outcomespublished here could not have beenarrived at without the active contributions ofall the participants that provided for amutually rewarding experience.