His audience asks him to be more specific. How exactly were the rules changed? How did he get the villagers to agree to the changes? They make notes of his answers as an artist sketches what he is hearing.
As people gesticulate with their hands, it almost looks like a play rehearsal with a performance just around the corner. This impression is not altogether wrong – this is what has become known a Writeshop, an opportunity for people at the sharp end of development to write their own stories and to have it put on record. At community level, this is the first draft of history, and it is being written by the people who are making it.
The Writeshop has been convened by WASSAN, the Watershed Network that supports WASHCost in Andhra Pradesh. By the end of four days 22 case studies have been prepared.
See Source Bulletin feature at http://www.irc.nl/page/49641.
