How to facilitate a vision workshop

Cory Whitney

I found this in a document about food sovereignty called 'How to facilitate a vision workshop'. It is from a piece by Trevor Hancock in the Healthcare Forum Journal, 1993.

We tried it in two villages during our work in Uganda 1-14 and found it very helpful and moving. Take seven people from the large group and bring them to the center and give them all paper and markers and ask them to take the journey described below and then draw (don't write words but draw) their vision.

Next time you have a 15-minute break, try this exercise:

Find a quiet place, take a moment to relax, close your eyes, and take a journey into the future:
It is the year 2024 and you are hovering in a balloon above your own community. During the past 20 years, it has transformed itself into an ideally healthy community. Imagine yourself floating down to the center of this place, where you climb out of the balloon and move around the community.

Take your time as you go into and out of stores ... workplaces ... streets ... parks … .neighborhoods ... houses ... healthcare and educational settings. In what way are the places you visit and the people you see healthy? What makes them healthy? Notice the colors and shapes and textures around you.

What sounds do you hear? What smells do you notice? Pay attention to how people move from place to place. Observe the settings where ill people receive care and the places where people learn. Take the time to experience this community at different times of day and night. At different seasons.

Try to imagine yourself as an elderly person living in this environment ... as a child ... as a woman ... as a man ... as a disabled person. Now spend a few minutes revisiting places you have seen that struck you most forcibly or that you liked the best, then re-enter the balloon, ascend back into the sky, and return to the present.

References

1. Marocco, Irene, Edward Mukiibi, Richard Nsenga, Piero Sardo, John Wanyu, Irene Marocco, Edward Mukiibi, John Wanyu, and Cory W. Whitney. Uganda from Earth to Table; Traditional Products and Dishes (Second Edition). Bra, Italy: Slow Food International, 2018.
2. Whitney, C., and E. Luedeling. “How Governments Can Monitor Progress towards Better Nutrition.” Agroforestry World, 2018.
3. Whitney, C. W., D. Lanzanova, C. Muchiri, K. Shepherd, T. Rosenstock, M. Krawinkel, J. R. S. Tabuti, and E. Luedeling. “Probabilistic Decision Tools for Determining Impacts of Agricultural Development Policy on Household Nutrition.” Earth’s Future 6, no. 3 (2018): 359–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000765/full.
4. Whitney, C. W., K. D. Shepherd, T. S. Rosenstock, M. Krawinkel, and E. Luedeling. “Modelling the Impacts of Uganda’s Vision 2040 Policy on Household Nutrition.” ICRAF Policy Brief 39 (2018): 4.
5. Whitney, Cory. “Agrobiodiversity and Nutrition in Traditional Cropping Systems - Homegardens of the Indigenous Bakiga and Banyakole in Southwestern Uganda.” University of Kassel, 2018. https://kobra.uni-kassel.de/handle/123456789/2018090356388.
6. Whitney, Cory W., Joseph Bahati, and J. Gebauer. “Ethnobotany and Agrobiodiversity; Valuation of Plants in the Homegardens of Southwestern Uganda.” Ethnobiology Letters 9, no. 2 (2018): 90–100. https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.503.
7. Whitney, Cory W., D. Lanzanova, and Eike Luedeling. “Bayesian Networks for Impact Modeling of Development Interventions.” edited by Ana Maria Carvalho, Manuel Pardo de Santayana, and Rainer Bussmann, 131. June 2: Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Centro de Investigação de Montanha & Society for Economic Botany, 2017.
8. Whitney, Cory W., D. Lanzanova, Keith Shepherd, and Eike Luedeling. “Nutritional Impacts of Transitioning from Homegardens to Industrial Farms in Uganda.” edited by E. Tielkes, 275. Cuvillier Verlag, 2017.
9. Whitney, Cory W., Denis Lanzanova, Caroline Muchiri, Keith D. Shepherd, Todd S. Rosenstock, Michael Krawinkel, John R. S. Tabuti, and Eike Luedeling. “Probabilistic Decision Tools for Determining Impacts of Agricultural Development Policy on Household Nutrition.” Earth’s Future 6, no. 3 (March 1, 2018): 359–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000765.
10. Whitney, Cory W., and Eike Luedeling. “Agricultural Development Interventions on Household Nutrition in Kenya and Uganda,” 55. July 9-13: Agriculture, Nutrition, Health Academy (ANH), 2017.
11. Whitney, Cory W., Eike Luedeling, Oilver Hensel, John R. S. Tabuti, Michael Krawinkel, Jens Gebauer, and Katja Kehlenbeck. “The Role of Homegardens for Food and Nutrition Security in Uganda.” Human Ecology 46, no. 4 (2018): 497–514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-0008-9.
12. Whitney, Cory W., Eike Luedeling, John R. S. Tabuti, Antonia Nyamukuru, Oliver Hensel, Jens Gebauer, and Katja Kehlenbeck. “Crop Diversity in Homegardens of Southwest Uganda and Its Importance for Rural Livelihoods.” Agriculture and Human Values 35, no. 2 (2018): 399–424. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-017-9835-3.
13. Whitney, Cory W., L. Mâis-Tomé, S. Nshutiyayesu, C. Kabuye, and R. Omondi. “Conservation Planning and Livelihoods Derived from Lake Victoria’s Native Floristic Diversity,” 1. May, 2-5, 2017.
14. Whitney, Cory W., John R. S. Tabuti, Oliver Hensel, Ching-Hua Yeh, Jens Gebauer, and Eike Luedeling. “Homegardens and the Future of Food and Nutrition Security in Southwest Uganda.” Agricultural Systems 154 (2017): 133–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.03.009.