Soft System Methodology in the Management of Agroecosystem Health and Sustainability Concerns of a Tropical Highlands Agroecosystem - Integrated Assessment of Health and Sustainability of Agroecosystems - page 139

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Key

Solid arrows = agreement; Dashed arrows = disagreement

fIGuRe 5.8 Changing perspectives of various stakeholders on the flooding and access
road problem in Kiawamagira village. See CD for color image.

the intervillage monitoring and evaluation program. Plate 5.10 shows an intervillage
evaluation meeting in Githima village. Included in this meeting were officials of the
International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) as observers.

5.4 dIscussIon

5.4.1 s of f t s y s t e m m o D e l s
The rich pictures were instrumental in helping communities to see the different per-
spectives that existed on a problem situation. In many cases, they elicited laughter
and a softening of stance by the various protagonists. By creating root definitions
based on the various perspectives, researchers were able to make communities focus
on the strength and weakness of each perspective, thereby generating an opportunity
for synthesis, negotiation, and compromise.
The main difficulty with the process is that it took time to build the rich pictures
and root definitions, while the communities preferred to start with the implementa-
tion process almost immediately after the initial village workshops. Many of these
attempts resulted in failure and frustration on their part. How the process can be