According to FSG, Appreciative Inquiry is “the study and exploration of what gives life to human systems when they function at their best.” It can be employed with communities – involving as few as six people, or much larger groups – to discover the best strategies employed in response to crises, by focusing on prominent examples of success from the community’s history.

This approach can help you to reframe your problem through the lens of successes in other contexts. By using examples of success this activity encourages positive discussion on potentially difficult topics, and facilitates creativity through a participatory, systems-thinking approach. Participants then explore the unique factors (eg, leadership, relationships, culture, structure, rewards) that made those successful moments possible.

FSG’s Guide to Appreciative Inquiry includes a cumulative four-phase process. At this stage, we recommend that you focus on the Inquire and Imagine phases of this approach. Use the FSG guide to plan sessions for each phase before bringing together members of the community in a workshop setting.

The Inquire phase involves participants getting into pairs and interviewing each other for 7–20 minutes, before sharing and discussing their experiences. This is where you should be able to identify what is working and whether there are solutions already being used within the community.

The Imagine phase involves individual reflection on a future scenario followed by group discussion of the themes that emerge. In this section, we recommend that if there is a solution being used, you spend time imagining how you could increase its utilisation in the community and beyond.