Road Stories Lores

Stories from the Road
Ten stories for workers in international development
© Words and pictures: Jock Noble
Original pictures by the wonderfully talented

Armenian Artist: Anna Avetisyan
Design: Mac-Nificent, Melbourne
ISBN-13: 978-1519643827
ISBN-10: 1519643829
“A great source of inspiration and insight in equal measure” and

“Community development is complex but at its heart are some
simple concepts. This collection of stories and fables is one of the
best ways I know of communicating these simple concepts in a
way everyone can appreciate”
Paul Ronalds - CEO Save the Children Australia
It is a most welcome refreshing and humbling read, leading us
away from jargon and sophistry which complicates our daily lives
as development practitioners, forcing one to take a step back
and seek answers grounded in common sense and belief in the
wisdom of humanity.
Prashant Rana, Director South East Asia Swisscontact
Stories from the Road 3

6 Stories from the Road
Contents
Preface...........................................................................................................................5
The Abilene Paradox....................................................................................................9
The Bear who Enjoyed Reading............................................................................... 16
The Creator of Yerevan ........................................................................................... 20
The Foolish Man........................................................................................................ 26
The King’s New Clothes............................................................................................ 35
The Oracle................................................................................................................... 43
The People of Rome................................................................................................... 48
The Saint’s Tooth...................................................................................................... 52
Stone Soup.................................................................................................................. 57
Parable of the bus..................................................................................................... 62

Preface
In my international development work over the years, I have spent many
hours on airplanes, trying to make sense of experiences I had just had in
an urban slum in Indonesia, or a remote village in Kenya or Senegal. I came
to see that people, whether groups from poor communities, or groups of
development professionals related to the same stories.
So often, I found people sitting waiting with pads and pens asking me to
tell them what to do. Then like a conjurer with only one trick I have tried to
get people to see their next step lay with them, based on their belief that
this step was worth taking. I found the stores that were true for them were
true for me and all of us, and the more I worked with these stories the more
I learned about their depths.
So I have written the stories I have most often used along with some of my
reflections, in the hope that what has been so useful for me will also prove
useful for others.
The lovely original pictures were created by my friend, Armenian artist
Anna Avetisyan and they along with the formatting have been possible
through the support of my friends at Component Industries, which is the
operating arm of Gospel Resource Ltd, a charitable organisation whose
proceeds support groups helping the homeless, abused and economically
deprived young people and families.
I am also thankful beyond words to all those at World Vision who have
trusted me and given me opportunities to work with staff teams and people
who are poor and from whom I have learned to believe in myself and to be
grateful for every day.
Jock Noble November 2015

The Abilene Paradox
W e were sitting around playing cards. It was hot, almost 45 degrees

Celsius. There was me and my wife Diana, and Diana’s sister
Debbie and her husband Steve. There was almost no wind outside
and the air was shimmering like a mirage. The tar on the road in front was
shiny at the edges and beginning to melt, and the dogs were walking in
slow motion as though sticking to the sidewalk. The ceiling fan in the semi
dark room living room pushed the hot air around, greasy like molasses. We
were visiting Debbie and Steve for the first time in several years and they
were trying to make sure we had a good time.
After a card game which Debbie and I had won, Steve said, “Why don’t
we go to Abilene? It won’t take us much more than an hour to get there
and we can enjoy the mall and have an early dinner there at one of the
restaurants.” I didn’t much feel like going anywhere; I was enjoying the
cards and the lazy Saturday afternoon. But my wife spoke up enthusiastically
and said that she thought it was a great idea and would get us out of the
house. Debbie agreed it would be fun.
So I said, “Looks like we have a plan, lets go!”
We jumped in to Steve’s old Toyota Camry and set off. The air-conditioning
wasn’t working so we had the windows down, but it was still like an oven
and too noisy for conversation.
We got to Abeline and the mall was full of overweight Midwestern
couples in leisure suits, stores selling things I can’t imagine anyone needing,
upbeat piped music, and the whole place smelled of sugar donuts. We
ended up eating at a Chinese Restaurant where the food was overpriced
and all the dishes tasted the same.
On the way back none of us had much energy for conversation in the
dark on long straight roads and into the barrage of oncoming headlights. It
seemed all of us couldn’t wait to be home and there was an uneasy tension
in the car. Then Debbie said “You know, I didn’t enjoy that at all and I am
sorry I let you all talk me into it.”
My wife responded “Well I didn’t want to go but I wanted to support
Steve who was only trying to be helpful.”
And I said, “I never wanted to go but the three of you had already
decided.”

Finally Steve also spoke, “I didn’t really want to go but I just wanted to
show you all a good time. It is not often you visit and I was worried you
might be bored just sitting there playing cards.”
So it turned out that we had all taken a journey of nearly 200 kilometers,
in almost unbearable heat, none of us wanted to take in the first place to
reach a destination we weren’t interested in.
(This is a retelling of the original Abilene Paradox story Professor Jerry B. Harvey Phd, and my
reflection also draws on theory from some of his writings.)
Reflection
I find this a most fascinating story in the way it relates to international
development.
I see it occurring in groups of staff and in community groups and especially
when our staff and community groups are working together. In the last
case it is because whether it is actually true or not, the communities
we are working with often perceive us as having a plan, money and
power, and a community group essentially says; “Well if you want to go
to Abilene we will come with you.”
I have probably told this story to fifty different groups and whether it is to
villagers sitting in a mud floored church in some remote region in Africa,
or to a staff team in an office, it has never failed to cause laughter and
exchanges of knowing looks. When I ask them about the story, group
members always confirm that they have been to ‘Abilene’ many times.
In the case of international development organisations one of the
dominant considerations is minimising the risk of the donor’s money
being wasted. This has encouraged mindsets and systems where
minimising risks often seems to be a bigger priority than taking risks to
make a situation better. Over many years of development there has been
a gradual move away from inspired individuals, perhaps characterized by
the passionate or even slightly mad missionary, in favor of a professional
and scientific approach. This can lead us to a ladder of interference that
often carries within it at least one false assumption, meaning the whole
ladder is flawed.

As an example, a simple form of this thinking is:
People in the developing world are poor,
If they had money they would be happier and healthier,
What they need is money,
Money will solve their problems,
Let’s raise money.
Or in a more nuanced example, we are visiting a poor village where the
people have little money and their children are suffering. We look for data,
we notice there is no power, running water and primitive farming methods.
Then we look for more examples of how we think the lack of technology
is trapping these villagers in poverty
With this filtered view, we start to add meaning to our data based on our
own experiences and beliefs…we may think:
“If they had more technology their incomes would rise and they would
be healthier and happier and able to care better for their children.”
Then we draw conclusions based on our own experiences:
“Technology is key to my personal productivity, all these people need is
technology to increase their productivity and their incomes and be able
to care better for their children.”
We then adopt these beliefs:
“If we raise more money for technology children will benefit.”
Then we take action:
“Let’s start a fundraising appeal to solve the problems faced by these
poor villagers so they can acquire technology and their children will be
happier and healthier and have better futures.”
International development is littered with examples where a flawed
ladder of inference has led to poor results.
I raise this in the context of the Abilene Paradox because in international
development we are more inclined to hire people who can fit in, be part
of a team and work to a prescribed plan, based on a ladder of inference,
as a team of professionals, rather than proactively encouraging diverse
thinking by the people who are closest to the ground in generative
options for change. It is also true that in developing countries we are
inclined to hire personnel who share a common “compliance” worldview.

This leaves us very vulnerable to suggesting ‘trips to Abilene’ and taking
communities with us. Whether it is a villager in a poor village or one of
our staff, not going along with the plan can be perceived as disloyal,
obstructive and hurting people who are poor.
In a village there is often a hierarchy based on clan, wealth, age, power
or politics and I have often noticed, that irrespective of the discussion,
there will be one man who speaks and even though I know that many
don’t agree with his opinion they will all end up supporting him. Never
is this truer than when electing the head of a community group. I have
spoken with all the other members of a group individually and they will
all agree the person they have elected as chair is not the best person for
the job yet they elected him nonetheless.
I have also seen staff putting forward a plan, that may well be a ‘trip to
Abilene’ and everyone unanimously agrees with the plan, yet the staff
individually have doubts and don’t really have much hope the planned
results will be achieved but they feel they have no choice. And the
villagers will also say that they doubt things will go as planned but if the
development organisation thinks that this is a good idea then they are
happy to make the journey and see what happens.
What transpires is that the community group begins to show low
motivation. Members come late to meetings or miss them altogether. My
belief is that this is because the collective group embarked on a journey
that no one wanted to take, but everyone wanted to please everyone
else and there didn’t seem to be a better alternative at the time, so off
they all went to Abilene.
The Abilene trip trap begins with staff or community members failing to
clearly communicate their desires or beliefs with each other. They actually
do the opposite; expressing unfelt enthusiasm for an idea thereby leading
each other to misperceive the group’s shared beliefs. So it is natural then
that this collective misperception will lead the group to make decisions
and embark on actions that they have no heart for.
Predictably, rather than leading to strong collective action this paradox
is more inclined to lead to frustration, de-motivation, blame sharing,
undermining, anger and disassociation with the group or process. At its

core the Abilene Paradox has to do with a group’s inability to manage a
process of open communications, manage different points of view, and
manage a way to find a shared agreement.
Underlying the Abilene Paradox can be the fantasies held by group
members.
The international development staff team may believe the donor or the
organisation will not tolerate longer time frames that might be required
to manage a more complex agreement process, or that there is no way
through organisational bureaucracy, or that the team is in common
agreement…except for them as an individual.
The Community group may believe that the development organisation
has a fixed idea of what needs to happen and so try to anticipate what
they think is required of them in the situation. Either group may have a
collective belief in their own powerless.
In many cases what is likely to be at the core of the Paradox is each
member’s fear of separation from the group, of isolation, alienation or
ostracism. Members might feel that to voice their own views or feelings
will be perceived as disloyal, obstructive or not being a constructive team
player. In fact agreeing outwardly but disagreeing inwardly has the very
effect that the individual was trying to avoid. They are now frustrated
and feeling alone with a decision that they were a party to!
For me the first step of ‘bypassing’ Abilene is to understand the existence
and danger of the Abilene Paradox in the first place.
I believe it is vital to separate the process of establishing points of view from
managing the process for finding agreement. The second step is to find
ways to ensure genuine diversity of opinions is encouraged by broadening
the parameters of the discussion before becoming more focused.
One way to do this is to brainstorm twenty or thirty different points of
view before again narrowing by beginning to group them into ‘buckets’
of interests.
The next step is to try to describe the diversity of views, the multiple realities
and ‘truths’ of the situation and creating an environment that holds the
possibility for a genuine shared way forward that avoids a trip to Abeline.

The Bear who Enjoyed Reading
I n olden times bears were worshiped by humans. They were often used
as symbols of the Christian church because they were clever, powerful,
wonderful climbers and fast runners.
Because of their many attributes, there was once a man who set about
trying to teach a mountain bear to read. He spoke to the bear at length
about the advantages of reading and how the bear could earn a better living
if he could learn from books. The bear sat quietly and listened to the man.
He could tell the man was very convinced of his argument and the bear felt
sure that if he just sat quietly and pretended that he understood whatever
the man was talking about then he would get some kind of reward.
To thank the bear for listening, the man gave him a small pile of raisins.
After some time the man gave the bear a book but the bear didn’t know
what to do with it. So the man put a raisin between every page, and the
bear liked the sweet raisins so much he turned every page to find another
raisin. The man was very pleased because the bear was now holding the
book, looking at every page and then turning to the next page. The man
was sure this was just the encouragement the bear needed to begin to learn
to read. When the bear got to the last page, and the last raisin, and was
sure there were no more raisins, he threw away the book disappointed and
lumbered back into the forest to look for more food.
(This is a retelling of an old Armenian fable)

Reflection
In International Development we often find ourselves embarking on
something that someone, somewhere, seems to think is a good idea,
which will benefit people’s lives.
Mostly we focus on the external drivers and the manifestation of
concrete, visible change as the indicator of success. We assume that
seeing external change means that there is some kind of corresponding
“internal” change, a change in the way people who are poor see things
and make sense of their world as demonstrated by their actions.
But the priority of getting external change often leads to us only focusing
on doing those things that will make it seem that change is taking place.
As is the case for the man in the story, we can be blind to what is really
going on. In order to see external change the man effectively bribes the
bear to take the action he desires, as though the external action will lead
to internal change. In fact, it is almost always the reverse, and if, like
the man, you are looking for fast results and what you do is offer the
equivalent of raisins, it will be inconsequential and not contribute to the
desired change.
The only way the bear is ever going to read is if he has the capability
to read; and even if he can, he needs the motivation to determine that
learning to read seems like a genuinely better option than his other
alternatives.
Clearly, in the story, neither is the case. In International Development,
as often as not, when the project finishes and the funding runs out, a
community reverts back to what it knows, just as the bear did, because
only the external manifestations of change, driven by one form of raisins
or another, were present.

The Creator of Yerevan
W hen I arrived in Yerevan I began to construct a new city; it is very

similar to the Yerevan on my city tourist map and it is similar to
the Yerevan of the people who have lived here all their lives. But
this is the Yerevan of my creation. I have populated it with plane trees
and nineteenth century buildings of grey basalt and pink limestone; with
cobble stones and hidden courtyards spied through arched laneways; and
people in the street in their apparent boredom or beauty, each carrying
with them their hopes and fears. And me, making my way, new to this city,
thinking about the opportunities I might have here to build a life and where
I might live and how I might use this as a base to change the way we do
development in this part of the world. I have also included the elderly white
haired woman, long nosed and leather skinned in the seat on the bus beside
me. I have made her a grandmother who has seen much happiness and
much suffering under the Soviet time. And she has made her own Yerevan
that is in many ways similar to the one I have created. But it is different; the
streets in her Yerevan are longer and have more hazards; and the familiarity
of the parks where she was courted as a young woman; and above the shop
where over a dinner party in the home of her future parents in law her late
husband proposed to her amid much laughter and happiness, for everyone
had been waiting for that day. And of the house where her daughter
lives now with her grandchildren, and the house where her mother died;
these landmarks will never be in my Yerevan. And this is a world she has
constructed during her lifetime. And the young man on the seat opposite
us, coming from university. He has made a world that has very similar street
layout to the old woman’s. But the streets are shorter and his landmarks are
cafes where he and his friends meet; a lot of the detail of his Yerevan has
yet to be completed as he only has thoughts now for the bus stop and the
short walk up Mashtots Avenue, to the Retro Café and girl named Liana
who he hopes will be there with his friends.
I see Mount Ararat, snow covered stark against the blue sky and the
Mother Armenia statue, giant hard faced women, sword in hand, watching
over the city. But the elderly woman sees a Mt Ararat that is a reminder of
the land where her grandparents died during the genocide and of stories of
the trek her parents made from Van. Instead of Mother Armenia she sees

the statue of Stalin who looked over the city from that same place before
it was torn down in the early sixties. And I go on creating this Yerevan and
take it into my soul, step by step, brick by brick as I wander through the
streets of this city built nearly three thousand years ago. This Yerevan, that
last year, it did not exist to me.
(Inspired by Vasily Grossman – An Armenian Sketchbook)
Reflection
One way or another we are all creators of the universe we inhabit and
somehow we are inclined to forget that each of us inhabits a different
world of our own mental creation.
And on top of this, just as we have evolved physically so we have evolved
to make use of different ways of processing the information around us.
Our wasy of seeing any world evolved within us and now forms a lense
we look through to make sense of our environment and live in it. And
the reality is that we are not all looking through the same lense. If our
response to our environment we have evolved an orange lense then the
world seems orange to us and we make sense of it as an orange world,
if in response to our environment we have evolved to a green lense the
same whole world seems green.
In international development this reality can be overlooked and dangerous.
At one level we know that people inhabit different worlds but at the same
time we can still think that once they see our world, as we see it, they
will leave their own and join ours and our way of seeing it. And the folly
of this is identified in the story above. As author I am not burdened by
the ties of the past and see opportunity to change this part of the world,
my naïve optimism is not constrained. The elderly woman is woven into
the cloth of the place; she is an integral part of the community here and
its history in ways that I can never be. Perhaps she struggles to come to
terms with a State that is no longer as controlled and tough as times often
were then; there is no longer certainty, as there was under the Soviets,
where work, housing and food were guaranteed. And to the young man,
who at this time in his life is very focused on himself, sees many future
opportunities; what he will do and how he will make things work for him
belong to a code that he is making up as he goes along.

To make the inquiry easier I will name each of the world views in the story
above with a color and attribute the color with certain characteristics, and
for this I will use Ken Wilbers stages of consciousness as a guide[i]. We
will suppose the elderly woman’s worldviews Amber and the University
student’s as Orange and the writers way of seeing and making sense of
the world is a mix of Orange and Green.,
The elderly woman has an Amber way of seeing the world; Because of
the way she makes sense of the world she tries hard to lead a stable and
purposeful life. She sees life as having meaning, direction and purpose
with predetermined outcomes. She avoids conflict, believes in conformity
and fitting in and that it is important to sacrifice herself for a larger cause,
to do her duty, to honor what is rightfully determined by others higher up
and the laws of the state and the rules in her religion.
It is important to her that she does what is expected and she believes that
diligence leads to future rewards and in the necessity for the laws, policy,
regulations, rules and discipline to maintain order where everyone will
ultimately be better off. She believes strongly in principles of right and wrong,
black and white; being faithful, maintaining order and harmony and she has
a strong sense of personal guilt if she thinks she hasn’t done enough.
So it is worth noting here that she differs from the author in two
fundamental ways; her world in this case Yerevan is quite different from
his and the lense that she looks at this world with is also very different and
can’t just be replaced through some logical arguement.
The University student has a world view that is primarily Orange. His Orange
way of seeing the world means that he is driven by a desire for success and
personal autonomy. He sees self-interest as most important; if he doesn’t
look out for himself then who will. He is inclined to see that progress is
right and inevitable, that there are winners and losers – he wants to be
a winner and prosper. He knows he will need to take risks for this but
is optimistic that relying on himself he will succeed. He is competitive,
goal focused and believes that science will always triumph and the earth’s
resources are there for him to make use of so that he can prosper.
Ultimately for him it is results that matter, he wants to be an initiator rather
than a follower, he wants to use his time well, to be effective to build a
future in which he is the principle beneficiary. He works on being logical,

driven by data and experience and is very goal oriented.
And the writer who has a world view of Orange similar to the University
Student but is also moving away from the individualistic world view of
Orange towards the community wellbeing and consensus worldview of
Green. A Green way of seeing the world is that people can work together
as equals moving beyond self-interest to more idealistic views of shared
understandings that promote trust, justice and human rights for all and live
in harmony with nature. To do this the Green world view is quite prepared
to ignore the old rules and seek to develop new ones for the good of all.
Within International Development there are multiple dimensions where
these worldviews can collide within the organization, with stakeholders,
government and communities. For this reflection however, I will only
reference the development organization itself. We might have aspirations
constructed idealism but then the primary implementers might generally
have a “center of gravity” at Amber. This means that while the achievement
of the aspirations may require flexibility, risk and comfort with uncertainty,
ambiguity and continuous learning, the body of the organization may be
centered in conformity, policy, rules, risk minimization, control and how
everyone fits in to a similar world view. At the same time the Amber
implementers may perceive that they don’t have the requisite flair,
creativity and new thinking that Orange could provide, yet when they try
to bring Orange into the system they are inclined to stifle the life out of
it and Orange can’t survive. Green also finds it difficult to survive in the
Amber system for while it understands Amber it can become exhausted
as it continually fights for enough flexibility to survive. In this ‘Stages of
Consciousness’ way of making sense of the world, a stage can only really
understand the Stages below it and of the three worldviews described,
Green is higher, followed by Orange, followed by Amber. Green can in
principle understand both the worldviews of Orange and Amber and
Orange can understand the world view of Amber. But Amber only sees
those systems below it, not those above – in this case Orange and Green.
So when the organization’s center of gravity is Amber then it tends to
want all other worldviews to see it’s view as the highest view, which may
be sustainable in a bus company where order, maintenance and scheduling
are critical but it is a problem in something as messy and multifaceted as
International Development.

[i] The part of the reflection of the color profiles draws heavily on an excellent paper by Barret Brown:
Brown, Barrett (February 2007). An Overview of Developmental Stages of Consciousness, Integral
Institute. Based upon research by: Ken Wilber in Integral theory and Integral psychology; Clare Graves,
Don Beck, and Chris Cowan in the development of values; Jane Loevinger and Susanne Cook-Greuter in
the development of self-identity.
The Foolish Man
T here was a poor man who lived at the edge of the town in a house of
old bricks, with poorly fitting windows and a rusty steel roof. In summer
his house was very hot and in winter it was cold, when it rained the
roof leaked. The man felt he never seemed to have any luck, he had stopped
taking pride in his appearance – his hair was unkempt and his clothes ragged.
He had just enough land to grow enough food to feed himself.
The man had tried to find work but one way or another the jobs finished
and he felt he was never further ahead. It seemed the more he worked the
less he had to show for it. His wife had died after their first year of marriage
and he was childless. And though he would have liked to marry again he
thought he had nothing to offer prospective brides.
One day he resolved to go and find God and tell him of the unfairness
of his life and ask God to grant him a favor. So he set off into the forest in
search of God.
On his way he met an old grey wolf, so thin its ribs showed clearly. The
wolf growled and asked the man where he was going.
“I am going in search of God” said the man “ To tell him of my trials and
sufferings. “
“Well” said the wolf, “ Since you are going to find God, when you see
him will you please tell him there is a wolf roaming in the forest who cannot
find food and is hungry day and night. As God created me please ask God
to feed me.”
The man committed to tell God about the wolf and continued on his journey.
Not long after the man met a pretty young woman collecting small wild
flowers in the forest.
“Where are you going” she asked the man.
“I am going in search of God to ask him to help me.”
“Then” said the young woman, “Please tell God there is a pretty young
woman, healthy and rich who is not happy. Please ask God to help her.”
The man committed to tell God about her and continued on his way.
After some time the man came to a tree on a dry bank beneath which
was a flowing stream. The man sat in the shade of the tree to rest as he had
been travelling all morning.
The tree spoke to the man saying “Traveler where are you going?”

“I am going in search of God” said the man “I am going to ask him for help”
“Well” said the tree “ if you are going to ask God for help, please ask him
to help me also, please tell God there is a dried up tree on a bank whose
roots cannot reach the stream below and it is dry on the bank all year round.
Please ask God to send some water so that I may become green again.
The man promised to tell God of the tree’s plight and continued on his way.
Eventually the man found God manifesting in the form of an elderly man
with a long white beard sitting in the shade of a high rocky outcrop.
“Lord” Said the man, “I have come in search of you.”
“You are welcome”, said God, “What can I do for you?”
The man said, “Life is not fair and I want you to be fair to everyone, I work
twice as hard as many I know yet they are rich and live well and I am poor,
lonely, often hungry and unhappy.”
God though for a moment and then said, “Please go now and you will be
rich, I grant you luck, go find it and enjoy it”
“I have something else to tell you Lord” said the man, and he told God
of the troubles of the hungry wolf, the pretty young woman and the dried
up tree.
God promised he had help for them all and told the man what he must
do. The man thanked God and began his journey back, almost at a run to
begin his new life as a rich man.
On his way back he came to the tree.
“What is Gods message to me?” said the tree
“God told me that you have a pot of gold buried beneath your roots
and once it is dug out then your roots will become free and you will be
green again.”
“Wonderful” said the tree, “then you are just the man to dig out the gold,
you can keep it for yourself and then I will be green again.”
“No” said the man “I have no time now, I am in a hurry, God has given
me my luck and I must now go and find it so that I can have a happy life.”
And the man rushed off and almost ran into the pretty young woman who
had been waiting for him.
“Sir what is God’s word for me? How will I ever be happy?”
“God told me that you must find a precious friend for yourself and then
you won’t be sad anymore and your life will be joyful and you will be
happy,” said the man

The young woman gazed openly and directly to deeply into the man’s eyes
and had he looked he would have seen her tender heart, “Please! Will you
be my precious friend?” asked the young woman with much feeling.
But the man averted his eyes “No, I have no time to be your friend”
said the man, “God has given me my luck and I must go and find it and
enjoy it”. As he said these words the man was already leaving at a half-run
rushing off up the path.
The man had not gone far when the hungry wolf ran toward him on
the path.
“Traveller, does God have a message for me?” said the wolf
The man told the wolf that God had told him that the wolf would go
hungry until he found a foolish man. And when he found one he should eat
him immediately and he would be satisfied.
Then the wolf said “Where on earth am l likely to fine a man as foolish as
you?” and with that he ate the man and was satisfied.
(This is a retelling of the story “The Foolish Man” by the famous Armenian poet and writer
Hovhannes Tumanyan 1869 -1923)
Reflection
I have used this story in a variety of forms in communities who are poor
as well as with staff working in those communities, to create a discussion
about what as a community we have now and what we think is missing.
Firstly of course, is that we have the eyes to see, that there are people and
opportunities around us that we can work with to improve our condition.
If we are waiting on Government, NGOs, Head Office or others to change
our luck, the likelihood is that we will be missing those opportunities
that can be grasped in the present. This is obviously the basis of
a ‘Strengths Based’ approach or sometimes we call it ‘Appreciative Inquiry’.
I often talk about what I see as the three elements of action for change.
There is ‘I’ and what I can do, there is ‘we’ or ‘us’ and what we can do
together and there are ‘others’ such as key persons, institutions and/or
NGOs who we can approach and discuss mutual interests.
The ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘other’ dimensions align with the dimensions of our
worldviews: egocentric, socio-centric, and world-centric. These dimensions
relate as much to the way the staff of NGOs see the communities they
are working in as they do within communities themselves.

In the story of “The Foolish Man”, the poor man misses the opportunities
around him not only for wealth, but for love and happiness. It is easy for
us to miss the point that it is likely through our interactions with others
and benefiting them as well that we ourselves can find what we are
looking for or what is promised to us. It is also the case that if we don’t
have a flexible mindset that our own tight focus will also keep us from
the opportunity to unlock the power and love in others, just as the story’s
foolish man demonstrates.
I have found that more likely than not, the best outcomes appear in
unexpected quarters and our role, as facilitators of change, is to be
mindful enough to notice them and by recognizing them to make them
real in a new way. We may have a focus on value chains or small business
development, however, we are wise not to overlook the pride of a man
saying, “Before I began working for my community based organization I
was just a poor man, now I am helping change lives, my life is meaningful
and I am respected.”
Or the group that sends two representatives to local Government
meetings to voice their community’s need for roads and water who say,
“Before we were part of our committee we would never have dared to
come to these meetings and speak for our community”.
And this mindfulness is also what the man in the story lacked. In his very
focused quest for results he ignored the wider picture and missed everything
that he had hoped to gain. This not only kept him in the “individual – I”
state, but it meant that others also could not fulfill their opportunities
through his agency. And predictably he died as a result, as often does the
hope in individuals and community groups or in our own staff.
These issues of focus, unfulfilled possibility and death relate just as
much to well-meaning programs as they relate to individuals. A program
design can have a narrow view of success and staff can sometimes be
so focused on achieving the aim of the program that they not only miss
opportunities for transformation but do damage to others as did the
foolish man. Inflexibility or inert program designs or logframes can also
encourage a narrow focus or mean that we do not have a broad enough
perspective on what we measure as beneficial change.

I have found the ‘I’, ‘We’ and ‘They’ (or the ‘Other’) perspectives very useful
in focusing staff groups and communities on what can be done. It also
helps focus on the short, medium and longer-term nature of opportunities.
I always start off with “what can individuals do?” and then move to
the group. Only then do we discuss how individuals and or the group
can engage with ‘others’. Invariably if the group begins talking about
its collective neediness, what they think needs to be done, most actions
tend to end up as the responsibility of the ‘other’.
Another extension of how worldviews can fundamentally change a
situation, are the perspectives of first, second and third person. The
foolish man is stuck in the first person worldview and his interactions
with the other players in the story don’t move him to include them.
A second person perspective would open up his view to consider me and
you, the man and the maiden, or the man and the tree, for example and
what they can do together for mutual benefit.
A third person perspective would be the ‘view from the balcony’ where
the man can potentially see himself as part of a design and his place in a
broader system and see how he can potentially work differently as part
of a bigger picture of potency and opportunity.
There is always a wolf ready to pounce on the foolish. The man had the
opportunity to avoid the wolf with riches and a new wife and bring new
life to a tree and its sustainability for generations. Who knows he may
even have been able to feed the wolf.
God in this story has effectively told the man, if he doesn’t change his
perspective the wolf will eat him, the man actually gives the wolf this
message himself. Thus it is really only a change in world views that would
allow the man, or individuals in a community to ‘keep the wolf from
the door’.
Not to change is not a viable option as it makes us, as communities
or development professionals, vulnerable to the hazards that are
always present.
Often the place of God and divine intervention comes up and my response
is to acknowledge God as the fundamental giver and to say what he has
indisputably given us at this time is ourselves, each other and organisations
and institutions we can share our interests and messages with.

The King’s New Clothes
O nce there was a proud king who spent much money on fine clothes
so that all could see that he was indeed a man of great importance.
He spared no expense to maintain his reputation as someone who
always wore the finest clothes and stood out at every occasion.
One day two swindlers came to the city. They said they were fine weavers
and master tailors and knew how to make clothes beyond the imagination
of ordinary men. They said the clothes they made were so soft and fine
they might have been made of spider web, that the colors they used were
so extraordinary they may have come from the feathers of a peacock and
more amazing still, they had a unique property that meant anyone who was
stupid or incompetent could not see them.
The king, who was always looking for something new to impress the
citizens of the city, was captivated and enthusiastic to have a suit of clothes
made for the upcoming parade. Also he thought, “I will be able to tell
which of my ministers and advisors are incompetent and I will be able to tell
the clever people from the stupid ones”.
So the king paid the tailors a large deposit and they set up their weaving
looms and pretended to set to work, often ‘working’ late into the night.
After a few days the king sent his most trusted Minister to see how work
was progressing as the procession was less than a week away.
The minister went to the rooms where the swindlers were pretending to
weave the thread for the clothes but he couldn’t see a thing.
“Well” said one of the swindlers, “isn’t this the finest cloth you have
ever seen?”
But the old minister could still see nothing. “Goodness” he thought, “I
can’t see a thing, am I stupid and unfit for my position?” So he said “This
fabric is the most beautiful I have ever seen! Magnificent colors and the
patterns are superb, the king will be thrilled!” The swindlers then went into
detail naming the patterns and describing how the colors all fit together
to create an extraordinarily effect, so that they could be sure the Minister
would report all this to the King.
When the minister returned to the king he said, “Your majesty the colors
are amazing, the patterns sensational and the quality of the thread beyond
belief.” So the king was well satisfied and waited in expectation.
The king sent other ministers to follow the progress and each returned
with reports filled with words like “Amazing!” “Excellent!”, “Magnificent!”.

The night before the procession, the weavers stayed up all night
pretending to sew the garments and everyone could see how feverishly they
were working to finish them on time.
The day of the procession, the weavers carefully brought the imaginary
clothes to the king’s dressing rooms and asked him to undress. Then they
carefully set about dressing the king, firstly helping him put on the imaginary
trousers then shirt and waste coat and cape, saying as they did that the
exquisite lightness and quality of the fabric, and the care of the tailoring
may make it feel to the king that he was wearing nothing.
Then the swindlers stood back and admired the king, “Oh your majesty,
you look wonderful, the colors are amazing, the patterns, works of art, the
clothes fit you perfectly, what a luxurious outfit!” And they turned to the
king’s servants who clapped and nodded enthusiastically in appreciation.
The king looked at himself in the mirror and had to pretend that he could
see what apparently everyone else could see and he smiled and nodded with
great appreciation. The king’s servant picked up the imaginary train of his
cloak and held it up with great ceremony so as no one would suspect that
they couldn’t see anything either.
And so the king went out onto the great steps and under the canopy that
had been erected. He was surrounded by thousands of his subjects who
were also waiting expectedly to see the marvelous new clothes for all had
heard of the miraculous suit being made for the occasion.
While all the attention was on the king, the swindlers took the gold they
had been given in many payments, all the fine silks that had been provided
to them for the work with which they had hidden away and quickly left the
town without anyone noticing.
Everyone was commenting on how magnificent the king’s clothes were.
For like everyone else no one wanted to appear incompetent or stupid.
Then a small child came looked up, saw the king and called out, “the king is
naked, he has no clothes!” And suddenly everyone knew it to be true. But
the king was a proud man and he continued to march through the streets as
naked as the day he was born.
This tale, made popular by Hans Christian Andersen (1837), was originally a Spanish story
recorded by Don Juan Manuel (1282-1348). The tale also has its equivalents in Sri Lanka,
Turkey, India and England

Reflection
This story illustrates many things. Particularly how a chosen belief system,
as flawed as it may be, can survive when everyone agrees to maintain
an illusion, for in many cases the status quo makes more sense to the
people involved than their alternatives as they see them.
Often in International Development a project does not go as well as
hoped and intended. Development is a messy business and there are
so many factors that can lead to outcomes lower than expected or
circumstances which add unforeseen complexity. I have been involved
in many projects where we have all realized we need to change our
activities or approaches. The place I always start, whether it is with a
group in a community or a group of staff, is to ask what is working, what
is not working and what would we like to do differently?
Surprisingly, even though all is not going as hoped and everyone involved
can talk about the problems encountered, as often as not, people say
nothing should change and we should just give things more time and
redouble our existing efforts. In a sense this is like the king deciding to
march on naked.
It seem obvious, for us to try to make changes, we have to admit there
is something that needs changing and here the road can begin to get
sticky. To admit something needs to change means we must in some
sense admit to the at least partial failures in what we have been doing.
The king in the story had been “working with expectation” on his new
outfit for some time. When faced with the choice of changing his strategy
and admitting his assumptions and faith had in fact been stupid, and his
worst fear realized, he elected to continue with “the project” and march
through the streets naked, even though it was obvious to all that the
new clothes project was a failure.
It is interesting to surmise whether, on meeting the naked king in
the street, any of the subjects would tell him outright the new outfit
was ‘not working’. Or whether in spite of the previous disclosure of a
serious problem with the plan, everyone would inadvertently conspire to
maintain the illusion, thus nothing would change.

In this story, everyone has something to lose by admitting they made
a mistake, so in a certain way it makes sense to continue with the
illusion. Development psychologist and author Robert Kegan[i] calls this
‘immunity to change’. Kegan describes how it can often seem to make
more sense to do what we are doing even when we are failing relative to
our aspirations, than make a personal change to better meet our stated
goals or mission.
So for example, the king is proud and doesn’t want to admit he is wrong.
He decides to stick with the program and march naked. This in some
ways better meets his need to be perceived as right rather than admitting
he was wrong, changing his plan and adopting a new set of clothes.
Kegan describes how our hidden commitments or assumptions are
very often the things that drive our behaviours and the actions we take
are those that are consistent with these hidden assumptions. In many
situations the actions required to meet our lofty and genuinely held and
stated beliefs would require actions that were in fact inconsistent with
our hidden assumptions.
Several years ago in Africa I observed a displaced persons camp had
sprung up in the area the NGO was working in. It transpired that even
though there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children living in
this new village of makeshift tents, in the dry scrubby hills, the NGO was
not actively involved in doing anything to improve their lives or assist the
children attend school or their parents access basic services.
It was not through a shortage of funds; apparently nothing was being
done because it was not part of the NGO’s plan for the area. The manager
held an MBA and was bright and efficient and the staff teams committed
to the organization and morale was high.
Every morning at devotions they all read out loud the stated values of
the organization together which were pasted on the wall: “we are child
focused, we are committed to the poor, we are responsive, we value
people and their right to freedom, justice, peace and opportunity”.
At the time I asked myself, how can it be that these staff are so sincerely
committed to these values and yet are not trying to respond to this
obvious need on their doorstep?

I think the answer lies somewhere in this concept of ‘immunity to change’.
How the ‘self-identity body’ seeking self-preservation – like an immunity
reaction – can only take action when it is consistent with the hidden
commitments and assumptions or operating system of the person. So in
this case I surmise that those, who could have taken responsive action,
were working within a world view something like the following: “We
will be more successful if we stick to the plan; change often involves
risk and this may work against me; my manager and those above will
not appreciate the additional workload and changes that being more
responsive to this situation will entail; I need to show I am focused on
the existing plans”. And behind this world-view is likely to be a hidden
assumption something like: “I will succeed if I don’t take risks and
don’t leave myself open to blame”. With this hidden assumption largely
fixed and unrecognized, personal change and action, regardless of any
espoused principles, is unlikely to take place.
This concept can apply to the group of staff who will take 30 minutes and
convincingly describe what is not working in a project, and when asked:
“So what should we do? What would you like to do?” The answer, as
often as not, is, “let’s work for another three years doing the same things
we are doing now, all we need is more time”.
If the hidden assumption is, “my whole identity, standing and perhaps
future livelihood and success is given to me by this community that I
am working in”, then to take some steps that risk strong resistance by
some vested interests in the community may mean that as much as the
staff member is committed to the project’s success, his or her hidden
assumption is a stronger driver than any genuinely held but inwardly
inconsistent beliefs.
When I say inwardly inconsistent, I mean not seeking to change a project,
even though it is failing may very well be much more aligned to the
staff’s hidden assumption, than to change the project and risk having
some in the community withdraw their personal support.
I have often found myself telling this story of the proud king to groups
of staff. My intention is that until we can say that the king is naked, or
the project is broken and see that we too have a role in this story, it is

almost impossible to gain enthusiasm to make changes that may lead to
better outcomes.
The king’s foolishness was not his alone. There were many in the story of
the king who could have spoken up early and the king would have jailed
the swindlers and started again. The illusion of success was supported
by the hidden assumptions of the Ministers who feared they actually
were incompetent and whose hidden assumptions may have been, “I
will succeed if I tell the king what he wants to hear and appear clever
at all times.” If this was the hidden assumption or commitment, then
telling the king the clothes were superb against all evidence, made a kind
of sense.
Mostly, people understand our need to disclose program challenges but
when it comes to getting to our own role in that, the path suddenly
becomes steeper and rock strewn.
One staff member in Eastern Europe said they were offended by the
mental image of the naked king. Another group in Timor was in tight
agreement that the king should never have been a king in the first
place and if he was so stupid why did the subjects follow him? And in
neither case did we make much inroad into what we might choose to
do differently and what this might mean for changes in behavior of the
individual staff members involved.
I am convinced that to make real changes when a program is struggling,
the place to start is find ways in which the key players can feel safe to
explore and disclose their hidden operating assumptions. It is my view,
that these hidden assumptions are both a product of personal worldviews
and paradoxically foundational for them and, unless these change, the
likelihood of significant program changes is small.
From time to time I have seen this happen in individuals resulting in
astounding changes in the ways they do things and the results that
take place.
More often I have seen the negative consequences when, in spite of
overwhelming evidence of the need for change, things continue the
same and as king, we continue our naked march.
[i] Kegan, R. &. (2009). Immunity to Change. USA: Harvard Business School Publishing.

The Oracle
O
nce upon a time there was a village where the people were hungry
and dissatisfied with their situations and no one knew what to do.
The chief of the village summoned the strongest young man and
said, “Go over the mountains, find the wise Oracle and bring her to us;
she will tell us what we need to do”. So the young man set off and after
much hardship and many weeks he found the Oracle and brought her
back to the village.
The Oracle asked, “So I am here, what is the problem?”
The villagers replied, “Great Oracle we are hungry and unhappy!”
And the Oracle asked them, “So what is the answer to your problem?”
and the villages stared at each other in confusion and one brave
villager replied, “We are hungry and don’t know the answer to all the
problems in our village, that is why we sent for you so that you can tell us
the answers.”
And the Oracle asked them many questions about those things that
the villagers already knew about their situation and about the challenges
they were facing and the reasons, and then she said, “You know a lot
about your situation, if you can’t find the answers in what you already
know then I won’t be able to help you”. And slowly she stood up, picked
up her walking staff and without another word began the trek back over
the mountains to her home.
The villagers looked at each other in disbelief; they had expected the
Oracle to give them a simple answer that would solve their problems.
Wasn’t she the one they had been waiting for, the one they had put their
hopes on, the wise one? Some villagers were disappointed, some were
discouraged and some were even angry.
Some months went by and the poor conditions in the village had not
improved, so the chief consulted with the elders and they agreed, they
would send for the Oracle again to seek her wisdom. They agreed also
that this time when she asked if they knew the answer to their problems,
half the village would say they knew the answer and the other half
would say they didn’t and in this way they would elicit the answer from

the Oracle to what they should do to make their lives better and
more successful.
So again the young man was sent to beg the Oracle to visit and she
consented and together they slowly made the journey back to the village
of hungry people. And again she asked if they knew the answer to their
problems. And as they had agreed, half the village said that they knew
the answer and half the village said they did not know and they asked the
Oracle what they should do. The Oracle thought for a moment and then
said, “Those who know the answer tell those who don’t know.” And then
she took her walking staff and without another word left the village.
That night the chief had a dream and the next day he called everyone
together. And he said, “The Oracle did in fact give us the answer but
we didn’t have the ears to hear it. The answer is that the solution to our
problem lies within us, because we can only respond to things we already
know to be true. If they were beyond our comprehension we could not
respond, so anything we can do is within our comprehension, so the
answers to our problems are already with us.”
Reflection
I have told this story many times. On one occasion I was talking with
a group of staff in Vietnam about local value chain development.
They had been furiously taking detailed notes and I had the strong
sense that they were expectantly waiting for me to give some miracle
solution for what they should do for producers in their communities.
They all had a copy of the ninety-page local value chain manual and
they wanted copies of all available PowerPoint presentations as well.
I could feel the pressure on me to be the expert but was very aware
also that the answers were not in the notes. So I stopped and said
something like:
“Market development is easy, first you find out what buyers are buying,
then you find out what people are producing. After that, you and the
community try to figure out how the market might work better so
that producers can get more for their products, and this is generally

by assisting producers to buy inputs like fertilizers and better seed,
to supply more of what the market is demanding and increase their
bargaining power by selling collectively. Also to the extent that it is
possible, farmers work together and partner with other organizations
with which they share common interests. Then you all work together
and innovate what seems to be working so that whatever successes
have emerged can be maximized and experiences are shared about
what has been effective. At various times you take a step back to see
what the impact has been and what can be learned and discussed for
the future.”
And everyone agreed that they knew this already and that it was
helpful when it was spoken so simply. And so I told the story of the
Oracle above and then said:
“The answers are already with you. And the answers are in the
communities you work in and you must be the Oracle to them; just
as I must be the Oracle to you, the one who helps you see what you
already know. And perhaps helps you fill in some of the missing pieces
when you have decided what you want to do.”
I believe there is something we all need to learn about our tendency to
believe answers are found outside ourselves or beyond our ability to
find them, and our tendency is to believe in the power of the expert to
solve problems that only we can solve.
I think as development professionals we fall into the trap of our own
need to be useful too often, which quickly becomes us wanting to
be the experts, to hold the answers, to need to be of more value in
pitiful situations and not to disappoint the expectations of those we
are working alongside.
The People of Rome
T here was once a traveler who was on his way to Rome. It was a long
and dusty path and he had misgivings about the city. He had heard so
much, travelled so far and he was nervous about how he would make
his way in the new city. A day’s walk from Rome he reached the top of a
hill from which Rome in its glory could be seen, and sitting in the shade of
a rock sat an old man. He walked over to the man. “Wise one” he said, “I
have traveled far. Please tell me, what are the people in Rome like?”?
The old man looked at him for a moment and said, “Where are you from
brother?”
“I am from a village outside Athens sir” replied the traveler.?
“And how are the people there?”
And the traveler replied “The people from my village are generous, kind
and understanding, they welcome travelers and treat all men as equal.”?
“Well,” said the old man, “You are in luck, for the people of Rome are just
the same.”
The following day another traveler reached the top of the mountain,
looked toward Rome, noticed the old man and walked over to him and said:
“Wise one, I have traveled far, please tell me, what are the people in Rome
like?”?
The old man looked at him for a moment and said, “Where are you from
brother?”?
“I am from a village outside Athens sir” replied the traveler.?
“And how are the people there?”?
And the traveler replied, “The people from my village are mean,
unscrupulous and lack any compassion, they are suspicious of travelers and
only look after their own interests.”?
“Well,” said the old man, “I regret to tell you that the people of Rome are
just the same.”

Reflection
We often feel that a situation is bad and many times we relate this
to particular events and circumstances that seem to us unique to that
situation. However, so many times we fail to ask ourselves if we have
encountered the underlying issues before and whether it may in fact be
us who is the common element. We are inclined to take our baggage
with us.? I believe that wisdom is paying more attention to what is going
on around us than the next person and seeing our part in this; and this
includes us recognizing our part in repeating patterns. We are almost
never a neutral party in anything of which we are a part.?
Thus for International Development we must try to see how we take our
own projections into various situations, staff groups and communities.
And be aware of our own inclinations to make judgments and prophesies
based on our own assumptions and then to see how these tend to
become self-fulfilling.
Just as the travelers in the story above, we tend to see our situation as
being the result of others’ behaviors rather than of our own interactions
with others. We expect others to be open to change and have positive
mindsets when so often we fail to be genuinely open and positive
ourselves. We expect others to have self-belief when we do not believe
in our own power to be real catalysts for change. And we expect others
to take risks and be advocates for change, when we do not take risks or
challenge the authorities in our own circumstances.
Jock Noble March 2014
Jock Noble is the Lead of World Visions Economic Development Learning
Hub for the Middle East and Eastern Europe. After a career of trying to
teach turtles to fly he finally got into the water and is learning to swim
with them.
© Words and pictures Jock Noble: Original pictures by the wonderfully
talented Armenian Artist – Anna Avetisyan

The Saint’s Tooth
O nce upon a time, there was a village where the people were very poor.
There were many reasons for this. The ground was hard clay and
covered in small iron pebbles. In the dry season topsoil became a fine
dust and the hard clay on the tracks and hillsides dried and cracked. Often in
the summer months the wind picked up the dust, carried it into the people’s
huts and into everything they owned. The summer heat made thermals and
the grey dust spiraled upwards in mini tornadoes that in the local language
were called ‘the angry person’, and in the wet season the rain came in
torrents and turned the walking tracks and roads into rivers. The dust
became mud and each year more of the scarce topsoil was washed away.
Because the people were so poor they progressively cut down the trees on
the surrounding hills for fuel to cook their food and boil water. The villagers
grew as much corn and vegetables as they could and kept a few goats to
milk for their children. In the previous year the rain came early then stopped,
and the crops that had begun to shoot died and there was no time then to
replant, so now there was hunger in the village. There had also been feuds
and land disputes between villagers going back many years and the people
did not trust each other, only working together grudgingly.
The chief was a wise man and realized that the people’s lives would only
improve if they worked together and built an irrigation channel from the
river over a kilometer from the village. But the people couldn’t on agree how
to share the work and many believed that those who had land closer to the
river would stop their labor once it had reached their land. So the work was
never started.
One day the chief called on a strong young man and said “We need a
miracle if our village is to survive; I want you to go and find a holy relic and
bring it back to the village so that we can pray to it and God will bless us
and we will be saved.” So the young man went off with all the food he
could carry in search of a holy relic to bring back to the little split-logged,
dirt-floored church.
Initially the villagers were hopeful the young man would return, but several
months passed with no sign of him and soon he was forgotten.
The young man, faithful to his task travelled the county searching for a
relic from a saint, but his food had long run out and he lived by scavenging

what he could. Eventually in a barren place, weak from hunger, he tripped
and fell. And next to where he fell there was the carcass of a dog. In
desperation he pried one of the teeth loose from the dog’s jaw. In a few
days he returned to the village with the tooth. He told the whole village of
his search and his eventual success in finding the tooth of a venerated saint.
The villagers took the tooth and together built a case in which to display and
venerate it in the church.
Now when the villagers came to pray at the church, they felt they were in
an especially sacred place. Together they felt their village was now special
as it was the home of this sacred object. Some people said their prayers
had been answered and others said they had seen the tooth glowing in the
dusky half-light of the church.
The chief again called a meeting to discuss the digging of the irrigation
trench.
Now there was a different mood amongst the villagers. Seemingly there
was a certain unity as they now saw themselves as the village of the
saint’s tooth and blessed by God, where as previously they only thought of
themselves as a poor cursed village. Now they felt that they were unified as
the only village in the area that had a relic from a genuine saint.
It was not long before the chief was able to organize a team to begin
work on the channel and they decided together that they would all start the
trench from the furthest farmers land and work back toward the river. And
within a month the trench was dug, the water flowed; the villagers built
bonds of trust and friendship that had not existed before. Some said it was a
miracle made possible by the tooth of the Saint…but others wondered why
they had not been able to work together all along.
Reflection
I have told this story numerous times when trying to generate thought
and discussion as to how, when we believe that something is possible,
that it often is. This is a story about the power of faith and hope and also
how we create our own reality, whether we live in the cursed village or
the blessed one, the future is in our hands or rather our heads. It is about
the realization that we live in mystery and, in this mystery, the hope that
we can make a difference in our own situation.

On one memorable occasion I told it to a group of poor Muslim farmers
in Senegal and they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. I
remember well my colleague at the back of the room looking up at me
from her laptop and I could see she was thinking, “can’t wait to see you
get out of this one”.
As is my habit I kept digging myself a deeper hole for a while before
just giving up in front of the very respectful but perplexed audience. I
think what I had failed to do was to make the link between their current
situation as they saw it, their fate, and the possibility that a different
future was possible. This required a shared belief, and, based on that
belief, a shared hope; what could be their Saints tooth?
It is a fact that some towns or neighborhoods prosper and others in similar
situations struggle socially and economically and even disappear. What
is it about their faith and how this links to hope and then action for a
future which results in success? Believing in something outside ourselves
is generally called faith and often it is this faith that allows us hope and
in turn the motivation to work towards a different or better future. I am
always encouraged by the following words by the esteemed late Czech
playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician Vaclav Havel.
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction
that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something
makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. In short, I think that the
deepest and most important form of hope, the only one that can keep us
above water and urge us to good works, and the only true source of the
breathtaking dimension of the human spirit and its efforts, is something
we get, as it were, from “elsewhere.” It is also this hope, above all, which
gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in
conditions that seem hopeless as ours do, here and now.”[1]
[1] Václav Havel in Disturbing the Peace: A conversation with Karel Hví??ala, (Knopf, 1990), p. 181.
Originally published 1986. Translated from the Czech by Paul Wilson. Also available in The Impossible Will
Take a Little While: A citizen’s guide to hope in a time of fear by Paul Rogat Loeb, (Basic Books, 2004),
p. 82.

Stone Soup
O nce upon a time there was a traveler who walked all day without food
and arrived at dusty village; two rows of small stone and mud walled
houses with broken tiled and tin roofs each side of a stony potholed
dirt track.
It was hot in the early afternoon and the village smelled of charcoal fires
and cow dung. The villagers sat on split log benches pressed hard against
the walls of the houses or squatted in the pools of shade under the few
trees in the central common near the village well. The flies were thick
and tried to find moisture in the corners of the kid’s eyes and mouths and
around the goats that looked for the last blades of grass and weed. Into this
village the hungry visitor made his way.
The first person the traveler met was a woman walking with two small
children and when he approached they clutched her skirt and moved behind
her, peering at him around the folds of tattered fabric. The traveler said,
“Mother, I am hungry, can you spare a few mouthfuls of food?”
But the woman said, “We too are hungry uncle and no one here has any
food to spare, I can’t even properly feed my own children.”
The traveler knocked at the door of one hut and then another but the
villagers who came to the door said the same. The visitor was travel-weary,
tired and hungry he took rest for a while under one of the trees.
In the cooler part of afternoon he went to where the well was and
spoke in a voice loud enough to be heard through the whole village. “I see
everyone is hungry, and so I am going make a big meal and feed everyone,
please come and join in the feast, this evening we will all eat well today.”
The visitor asked for the biggest pot in the village and someone brought
it, he asked for some firewood and the kids collected what they could. The
man asked the children to fill the huge pot with water and he then put it
on the fire. When the water was boiling he took out a large polished stone
from his bag and announced. “I will now make stone soup!”
After some time the visitor took out a spoon from his bag and took a
mouthful of the steaming liquid. “Ah it is coming along well, I think it just
needs a little salt, can anyone spare a little salt?” And someone brought
some. And the pot bubbled and the villagers chatted amongst themselves
and waited expectantly. The visitor again tasted the liquid. “Oh wonderful”

he said, “Its coming along well, all we need are one or two onions, can
anyone help with two onions?” And the onions were supplied. And so the
soup bubbled and every so often the visitor would taste the broth ask for
one more ingredient, one time carrots, the next potatoes, and the next some
chili and the next some corn and finally a chicken.
And when the soup was ready everyone had more than they could eat and
there was plenty left over.
(The story of Stone Soup has no known author, is apparently some
hundreds of years old and is retold in many countries in many forms, from
nail soup in Scandinavia, to Axe soup in Russia)
Reflection
After telling this story I ask participants what they think this story is
about. And someone generally says, “It shows how when everyone works
together there can be more than any one person working alone.” And
typically everyone nods. And I ask what else? And sometimes someone
will say something like “The traveler had to trust and believe that the
villagers had it within them to respond, otherwise all they would have
had was hot water with a rock in it and the visitor would have to run for
his life.”
And that to me is the is the wonder of this story. A visitor to a community
would be prepared to risk himself or herself not based on a belief that
their job was to be an expert or to own a success but to take a risk
that others could be shown they have the answer. To have faith in the
possibility that has ignited belief in one person might be the beginning
of fire and change a world. And this is unlikely to ever happen through
a log frame for soup or a professional Power Point presentation, or some
action learning or evidence building activity.
The shadow in the story is the voice of the skeptic, what in fact is the
traveler really offering? We all have our own answers to this but certainly
he is offering his belief in people and he is trusting in people’s curiosity
to take a leap of faith towards something, in this case a never-before-
heard-of soup. There is a magic in this and he is the catalyst of it. And
the magic is performed through the courageous belief of the traveler. Of

course he is hungry for a result and keen to meet his own objective to
eat a meal. He is not a neutral player. And neither are we as development
professionals. We all need each other and the leap of faith taken by the
communities we work in to succeed.
The traveler holds a vision. He cannot be sure how the soup will progress
or what the community will be able, or prepared, to offer. And yet in the
story, as in life, something can manifest from very little.
It is also significant that the traveler is the only one who is potentially
putting his life on the line. He has more to lose than the villagers. They
are only offering what they can actually spare. The traveler, like the
development professional, is offering himself, his credibility, his future in
that village, perhaps even his life; he is raising hopes with no certainty of
the outcome.
Yet by his faith alone, in himself and in the community’s not being
different in essence from his own character, humility and brokenness, he
is able to build and generate the trust that brings about something none
of the participants could have done on their own.
In the international development context, my view is that this story is
more about the courage and unshakable belief needed by development
professionals than it is about communities being able or obliged to work
together.

Parable of the bus
T his is the parable of two committees that each wish to reach a

destination. One committee takes care about how it prepares
itself for the journey, establishing a clear destination, carefully
choosing leadership, developing a plan, attracting others and having
clear expectations of members . They also decide how they will develop
the power to influence others who may be able to assist them overcome
obstacles on their way, as well as ensuring they have the required resources
for the journey. The other committee is not as clear about their destination,
the means of getting there and this has clear implications for sustainability
and the likelihood of their success.
The reason I conceived this story was that over many meetings, with
many different committees, I found that often committee members
seemed to see each of the aspects of organising and running a successful
committee as being separate and unrelated, so I wanted a way to show
how each aspect of a successful committee was a key part of every other
aspect. I wanted one story that contained all the different elements of
a successful committee and was flexible enough to adapt to different
situations in different counties
The bus parable contains a structure to stimulate discussion and is able
to link all the key elements that a committee is likely to encounter in one
story. For example a committee without a clear goal will likely flounder
or they may have a clear goal but weak leadership or governance or
strong governance but no agreed action plan or map. The aim is really to
convey that a committee is only as strong as their weakest element. I also
found that when individual problems arose, I needed a way to be able to
place whatever was happening in the moment within a bigger context
and within one story and show its relationship to other aspects of their
committee life.
Every country on earth has buses, by different names: Matatu’s in Kenya,
Bis in Indonesia or Marshotni in Armenia and all communities seem to
readily identify with them and a the concept of the journey. I have chosen
what I have found to be the most important elements of the “journey” and
throughout there is the parallel between running a bus company and taking
a road journey and the journey of the committee to its particular destination

or goal. At the same time the ‘container’ of this analogy is so rich that there
are any number of improvisations that can be added depending on the
situation at hand.
But we are also inviting on to our vehicle other community members.
They are not the bus company but they can board the bus and reach
the same destination but on certain conditions, and they don’t have the
decision rights roles and responsibilities of the committee. It may be that the
advantages of being a member means that they pay a discounted price for
events that are run but still we don’t exclude the community at large, but
it may be they have to pay a different price or receive lesser benefits than
members.
The Bus
The bus is used as a metaphor for the committee themselves. They are the
vehicle, they are the fuel and they are the bus company. They decide the
route and maintain the vehicle. One of the key elements of this part of the
storyis the question, “Whose bus is this?” I have found myself reverting
back to this question time and time again as the journey progresses.
It is often tricky for the facilitator, who is usually part of an NGO and who
very well may have initiated the initial committee meeting, not to own or be
perceived as owning the journey. This becomes more complex if the NGO
provides the venue, refreshments and maybe also provides assistance with
transport costs. In almost every society the host is the one who bears the
expense and therefore it is their event. The questions of “Whose bus is this?
Whose journey is this? Who is it that wants to get to the destination and
must pay the price to get there?”, helps to clarify the separate roles and
separate agendas of the NGO or facilitator and the committee. I sometimes
portrayed myself as a bus company consultant, to position my place more
clearly in the picture.
The Destination
Committees form for a number of reasons and there will generally be
several external goals that are stated. Of course committees are only a
collection of individuals and each individual will also have a number of
underlying reasons for being part of a committee and hidden assumptions
for what they may gain from being part of the committee. An individual’s
primary motivation could be ego-centric to meet needs of status, power, the

expectations of others or the perception that there will be handouts along
the way. It could be an individual’s primary motivator is socio-centric, a
sense of belonging and the power that a committee has collectively to do
things that the individual cannot. This would typically apply to people who
think that they will benefit from their membership of a self-help group. A
member’s motivation to join may also be more world-centric, in this case
it is not just for “us” the group but for “all of us” our community, our
children our future. In this case the member’s primary desire is to better
the local community in the knowledge that if the community does better
they too will do better as well. The likelihood is that the reason a person is
willing to join a committee is a combination of these three aspects; me, us
and all of us.
If we think of our stated committee goal(s) as the destination, then it is
likely that there can be broad agreement. But when we take into account
the interior aspects of the committee members it is likely that on the way to
the destination there are a number of things that each is seeking to satisfy.
And if we are not explicit about this “internal” aspect of the committee
and the journey then we may find ourselves taking detours on the way
to meet individual passengers’ needs and as a result may never make our
destination. Members may become impatient with the journey and get off
the bus, or the bus may become lost or bogged or hijacked by bandits.
It is not so much that all the different agendas that individuals have for
making the journey may not be voiced but the facilitator can make all the
potentially different reasons for joining a committee in the me, us and all us
perspectives explicit. And having done that, we now have a way for naming
what might come up, in a new way. It is also easy to relate to the story of
the bus. Everyone has their own reasons for taking a journey and they may
or may not share these with others but if the bus is to reach its destination
it needs to stay on course and generally the needs of individuals are not part
of that destination. And that is the reason for having a clear destination,
a good map and a strong driver or leader. So, for the journey, individual
agendas are fine but if they risk taking the bus off course then we need to
see if their individual need is on the route the bus is taking or whether they
may be better to take another bus. So at this early stage we can embolden
the committee to ask at any time, “are we still on course or are we taking
a detour?”

As part of this scene setting we can make the comparison between two
buses: Good Bus and Bad Bus. The Good Bus has a clearly marked sign as
to where it is going. As a result, everyone on board is happy and confident,
from the driver who is sure where he needs to steer the bus, to the
passengers who can relax and enjoy the ride, confident that the destination
is clear.
Compare this with the Bad Bus. The sign has fallen to the ground, no one,
least of all the driver or chairperson, has clarity as to the destination. As a
result, there is a lack of confidence that the bus will reach any destination;
people pointing in different directions as to where they think the bus should
go next. Others are moving away from the bus, having separate meetings in
small sub-committees, concerned, uncertain or afraid of what is next. .

Because of the anxiety and confusion it is likely that many passengers
have lost their motivation for the journey; some will drift away or just simply
return home. This may also mean they are much less likely to want to take a
similar journey in the future. It is also impossible to see how the bus
will attract new passengers, which will be necessary if the vehicle is to
remain viable.
The Passengers
The committee is the bus, the vehicle, they are also the fuel and energy and
it is them who set the destination. And they are also the passengers; the bus
they have brought into reality is their vehicle for reaching the destination
they have decided on.
But they also want to attract other passengers as this will increase the
viability of the bus line and make it more sustainable into the future. They
want the NGO on the bus, and other NGOs, they want funders on the bus
and government; and they also want other community members to join
them on the journey as the more people who pay the fare the more viable
the operation and the more chance they will reach the destination for
themselves and others.

But they can only attract other passengers if the destination is clear and
that all the other passengers see that the price they pay is less than the value
of getting to the destination. And this is one more reason why it is so crucial
to fix a clear destination. We don’t take a bus that takes us somewhere near
a city, we take one that delivers us to an exact location.
Everyone knows that there is a price to pay for taking a bus journey. In the
case of our bus the prices differ. For the organizing committee the price will
include their time, the risk of raising, and perhaps not fulfilling, expectations
in their community, the use of their mobile phone, the cost of getting to
meetings and refreshments. So the question for the committee is, are they
willing to pay this price and to them is the price worth paying to reach the
destination?
In addition to the committee itself there are different prices for the
different types of passengers. For community members the price might be to
pay a monthly membership fee or be involved in certain activities. For NGO’s
the price will be higher, and may include financial assistance for projects
or staff expertise. For the Government the price may be representing the
community’s needs within local government or providing various forms of
endorsement, expertise or meeting venues.

One thing is clear, if you are taking the journey you have to be prepared
to pay the price and people or organizations making the journey have to
be clear about the price before they join. If they don’t pay, then as much
as we might value them, we need to kick them off the bus! If we don’t
then it raises the question, “Why should anyone pay?” and soon there is
dissention, dissatisfaction and mistrust among all passengers proposing to
make the journey.
One of the real benefits of this part of the story is that it again positions the
NGO and the facilitator as part of the journey, as entities which need to pay
a price but are still clearly separate from ownership of the venture. Essentially
the committee is using them to assist them in making the journey more viable.
Another benefit in talking about passengers and who are needed on the
bus is that it can stimulate discussion as to the need for a world-centric
perspective. There is always a danger that a committee that originally sets
itself up to benefit the whole community reverts back to being a “self-help
group “just focusing on the needs and interests of the committee members.
Now, it is possible to cut transport costs and reach a destination by a
committee hiring a minibus for their own ends. And there is a legitimate
place for this. But if the communication of the committee is to ask for wide

community support as well as support from NGOs and other organizations
and then they take this support and invest it in their own minibus journey
then those other passengers who also paid the fare but were left behind are
not going to be happy or supportive in the future.
This area of passengers also leads into the other issues of why passengers
might want to get on this bus in the first place. And this opens up discussion
as to the need for a good map, a good driver, a roadworthy bus and clear
communications from the conductor.
Road Map
In the context of the Parable of the Bus, the map is the plan of what route
or process the bus will take to achieve its destination. It needs to be clear
and unambiguous to everyone. We all know there could be unforeseen
events that we will need to contend with, blockages on the road, flooding,
a flat tyre and even sickness on the bus. All the same we are setting off with
a clear path in mind. The map gives passengers confidence, it means that
only those passengers interested in the route will join, it clarifies the benefit
of paying the price as the route has been well thought through and it gives
the driver a clear picture of where he or she needs to steer the bus – or in
another way, how to steer the committee to achieve the stated destination.
The lack of a clear and agreed map means that at every crossroad, the
journey needs to be renegotiated. Again the confusion and energy that this
process entails causes a lack of confidence among the passengers and may
well cause them to abandon the journey.
Leadership
Leadership in this story of the bus is represented by the driver but also
takes into account all the office holders of the committee, the secretary, the
treasure, and the heads of any subcommittees.
I have found that it is good to use the committee to spell out how they see
the job descriptions of these positions and what is expected before people
are voted into the roles. This can be difficult as the committee will probably
want to make the election of officers their first task. The challenge is that
until we know the road the bus will take, it is difficult to know who will be
best to lead the process . So I generally suggest that we have an interim
committee of office bearers and then to have fresh elections once the
destination and the map have been agreed.
Of course, what we are looking for is leadership that has the full support
and confidence of the passengers. What can help keep this on track and
jump the hurdle of who committee members think will suit them best from
a “me and us “perspective is to keep the destination and map very firmly to

the front of the discussion and to ask the question of who will be the best
driver, or leaders for “all of us” for this particular task.
I believe it is useful to discuss the possible scenarios depicted above. What
if no one wants to really take responsibility for leadership? What if there is
a continual fight as to who should lead and confusion over their authority
and the potential loneliness of having to be leader and not always please
everyone? Having firmly set the expectations for the roles of leadership,
while the positions are still vacant, I think it is helpful to talk about scenarios
that could lead to problems. What if elected officers don’t attend meetings,
what if they don’t do what they have agreed to do, what if the committee
loses confidence in them, what if they are trying in some way to unfairly
take advantage of their position and how often will officers be elected? And
then to allow for hypothetical discussions on what action the committee will
take if these situations arise.
This is also the place to discuss the various levels of involvement: what
is the role of the officers of the committee and what are we hoping for in
support from the larger community? For some reason this element can be
unclear. How do they explain their role on the committee as distinct from
general membership of our organisation and our engagement with the
wider community?
Again we can use the bus analogy. We are passengers but we are also the
bus company, setting the destination, deciding the route, deciding the price
of the journey.

Communication
The issue of communication is critical particularly in the early honeymoon
stages of the committee’s formation. If the committee exaggerates what
it is proposing to do then it creates a problem managing community
expectations as it moves forward, it potentially straitjackets committee
members to advocating for things they have promised. It creates stress if
community members pay a monthly membership subscription only to find
what they thought they would receive in return is not on the immediate
agenda of the committee. And the committee chairperson or driver cannot
meet everyone’s expectations.
The analogy from the bus story is that it is the conductor’s role to lean
out the bus door and shout out the destination. If there are more than one
“voice” it will create chaos if one voice is shouting Nairobi and the next
one Cape town. Clear ‘single voice” communication is key to getting more
passengers on the bus and keeping harmony once the passengers’ board.
Roadworthiness
If one is going to board a bus and the journey may take several years then
it is important that the bus is well maintained and that we don’t wait for
breakdowns to fix a problem. Typically a breakdown will happen when
we are not expecting it and at times of stress, like bumpy roads and steep
hard hills, we need to be on the move. A well maintained bus is continually
checked to make sure it is safe and up to the journey ahead. I ask
committee members to make a list of all the things that they would want
to make sure is working on the bus: the horn, the indicators, the brakes
etc. and then to make a list of all the things that they think would be a
good roadworthiness test for a committee. Typically the group will come up
with expectations for the driver and what a good chairperson will look like,

how they will show respect to one another, how they will be accountable
to follow through on what they commit to, how they will attend regular
meetings and so on. Then I try to have them honestly score themselves
between 1 and 10 on how they see themselves now against this set of
standards. This then forms a benchmark for improvement and there usually
follows an agreement to keep checking back regularly on the health of the
vehicle, in this case the rules of the committee. I have found committees
tend to have an exaggerated view of how well they are performing and so
it it useful to talk about how a score of five might look and what would we
see in a committee that scored a perfect ten.
There is wisdom also in having discussions about the opposite, the bad
bus, in each of the aspects above and particularly the roadworthiness
aspect. What will happen if we don’t have a good map, what will happen
if our communications are confused and what will happen if we take things
for granted and don’t keep the bus in this case the committee in good
shape for the journey.
Registration
Depending on the country and applicable laws it is important that the
committee has the appropriate registration. This will be important if they are
to own property, have a bank account and apply for grants. I have found
that most committees are aware of the necessary registration requirements
but it is always good to make sure that they check the legal structure they
are proposing is the best from the available options. Otherwise they may
find legal restrictions placed on their activities. I think it is important that the
committee raises the money for registration themselves; after all it is always
their bus and their journey.
Good Bus: The right registration means no problems for the journey
Bad Bus: The wrong registration can mean real problems as the journey
unfolds

Advocacy
If a bus, like the committee, is well maintained, is meeting a need and has
the support of the community, then when there are issues, the committee
is in an excellent position to advocate for change. Government in particular
are often not used to unified community groups with a clear purpose and
destination and are surprisingly humble in response.
Our Goal (at the end)

If the map is good we can always find out where we are on the journey, we
can measure our progress, tell the story of our journey and how far we have
come. We can celebrate as we progress and we have a sense of how far we
have to go. In many ways the actual road unfolds as we take the journey.
The map is just a map and should never be confused with the landscape.
But with a clear destination in mind and common purpose the end is
actually always in sight.
From my experience there is no right time to raise issues in the story. I
generally try to tell the whole story in one sitting and then we focus on
where the committee is at a particular time and what is the most important

aspect to focus on. When formation stages, challenges or problems are
brought forward in subsequent meetings we try to use the bus story to solve
them so that we have one consistent thread that can endure long into the
life of the committee rather than making everything up based on who has
the floor or what the expert says.
I know from many experiences that the story of the bus is sticky and when
revisiting a committee even after a gap of several years, when I ask what we
talked about last, someone will always say, we talked about the bus, and
our journey and how we were travelling.
The Final Element

The final element of the Parable is how this metaphor relates to
development practitioners and staff working in NGOs. From the NGO
perspective there are three key elements. In order to make a particular
journey with a group, the NGO staff needs to be a competent driver and
licensed to drive, the vehicle must be capable of making the journey and
the roads need to be appropriate to the particular vehicle. So thinking

about the interior of NGO itself, the vehicle refers to a particular model or
approach that may be chosen in order to guide, or make the journey with a
group; it could an approach for a sector such as an approach to economic
development, health, water, agriculture or education. Or it could be an
approach that is designed for a target group such as a group of framers,
women, youth or and people with a disability. The driver needs to have the
competence or appropriate license to drive the approach, which means they
have to be given the necessary training and support or be licensed by the
organization to drive the vehicle safely. And finally the organization itself
needs to have created the necessary enabling environment and internal
pathways to be able to drive the approach. If any of these three elements
are missing or mismatched the chances are that the driver will come to
“A great source of inspiration and insight in equal measure” and
“Community development is complex but at its heart are some simple
concepts. This collection of stories and fables is one of the best ways I know
of communicating these simple concepts in a way everyone can appreciate”
- Paul Ronalds - CEO Save the Children Australia grief and often he or she
will be a casualty along with those they are taking with them.

Road Stories Lores

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Road Stories Lores

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Stories from the Road

Ten stories for workers in international development

© Words and pictures: Jock Noble

Original pictures by the wonderfully talented

Design: Mac-Nificent, Melbourne

“A great source of inspiration and insight in equal measure” and

Stories from the Road 3

The Abilene Paradox....................................................................................................9

The Bear who Enjoyed Reading............................................................................... 16

The Creator of Yerevan ........................................................................................... 20

The Foolish Man........................................................................................................ 26

The King’s New Clothes............................................................................................ 35

The People of Rome................................................................................................... 48

The Saint’s Tooth...................................................................................................... 52

Parable of the bus..................................................................................................... 62

Stories from the Road 7

Jock Noble November 2015

8 Stories from the Road

W e were sitting around playing cards. It was hot, almost 45 degrees

Stories from the Road 9

10 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 11

12 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 13

16 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 17

W hen I arrived in Yerevan I began to construct a new city; it is very

20 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 21

22 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 23

26 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 27

30 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 31

34 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 35

36 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 37

40 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 41

42 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 43

46 Stories from the Road

48 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 49

52 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 53

56 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 57

60 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 61

T his is the parable of two committees that each wish to reach a

62 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 63

64 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 65

66 Stories from the Road

Stories from the Road 67

68 Stories from the Road

70 Stories from the Road

72 Stories from the Road

74 Stories from the Road

76 Stories from the Road