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This handbook is the outcome of a
long process of struggle to understand - and help others
to understand - the changes taking place in the domain of
our public life. This struggle began in 1990, when our statesmen
and macro-economic experts began to prepare the ground for
acceptance of the "grand prescription" of the World Bank
and the IMF for economic renewal. Our effort was to understand
the implications of this prescription from the standpoint
of ordinary people.
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As popular educators, we were in the
category of "generalists". We continued our struggle to
evolve a 'pedagogy' that could help people at the "baseline"
comprehend the dynamics and nuances of macro-economics.
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During every workshop we organised
or participated in, between 1993 and 1996, we found participants
expressing their desire to understand changes taking place
at the macro level. We struggled to respond to this over-riding
concern with all the means and materials available to us.
We experimented with several ways of explaining these phenomena,
with varying degrees of success.
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Initially we saw this
process as a programme of "economic literacy", but as we went
along to try it out at the field level in collaboration with
the participating organisations, our perceptions began to
change. During the course of our initial interactions at the
level of community groups, we realised that what was unfolding
was a process of helping people to articulate their own economics,
rather than trying to understand macro economics through simplified
reading materials or through other means of communication.
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This process was also
helping us to learn about 'people's economics' from their
own standpoint. We could foresee that once people became able
to articulate their own economics, they would be better equipped
to see linkages with many other macro- factors and phenomena.
Accordingly, we changed the name of the process from 'economic
literacy' to "APPEAL"
(Action Programme for People's
Economics and Allied Literacy). |
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The process of
APPEAL as
presented in this handbook is the result of joint exploration
by a variety of players in different locations. The activists
of the participating organisations were at the frontlines
in this effort as partners with the facilitators. The facilitators
in turn have drawn a lot from the experience and expertise
of the advisory committee and from the queries, questions
and apprehensions raised at the consultative forums. |
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This
handbook is a collection of ideas on: |
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strengthening ongoing
educational/analytical processes in the communities with whom
you work; |
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a
process which can help people to articulate their own economics; |
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helping
people to explore linkages between their own economics and
macro-economics.
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This
handbook contains: |
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a
set of field notes; |
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a
set of exercises; |
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a
set of field experiences and |
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a
set of reading material. |
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These may
help you to kick off and sustain the process of APPEAL. |
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The
exercises in this handbook can be used selectively to match
the requirements of your ongoing work with the community,
or in the sequence in which they are presented here. |
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