Workshop on Systematization of Experiences

Bilbao, October 24 and 25, 2003

Annex IV. Three examples of systematization

(reference material to develop own proposals)

Taken from the book:

“Para sistematizar experiencias. Una propuesta teórica y práctica”
Oscar Jara, ed. Alforja, 1998

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 Example No. 1
A popular education center wants to renew its practice.

Who systematizes

A popular education center that does community work and that, in the face of
the changes in the situation of your country, recognizes the importance of recreating
their action programs. Therefore, they decide to systematize their experiences.

Objective of systematization

Build -based on institutional experience- a work proposal

community that responds to the new challenges of the national situation.

Delimitation of the object to be systematized

The community health work experiences that you have carried out in the
urban neighborhood of La Unión and the rural communities of Palmar and San
Jerónimo during 1992 and 1993. (The early years of the new government that
it promotes a neoliberal policy, thus changing the paternalistic relationship with
the communities that have had previous governments.

The axis of systematization

Our work in health and the levels of autonomy and capacity of

proposal by the residents of the communities

Procedure to be carried out

• The process will be coordinated by the two people responsible for the work in
community health.
• All team members of community promoters participate (8 people), two
researchers from the area of reality analysis, and the director of the Center.
• It will take place over 6 months: a two-day preparatory session,
ten biweekly days of a full day, two final sessions of
two days each.
• Each sub-team (urban and rural) will carry out the reconstruction separately.
organization of your experience, which will be collectivized in the sessions
biweekly.
• Researchers will contribute advances in reflection on policies.
governmental.
• Leaders of the communities will participate in some sessions,
fundamentally to enrich the interpretation part and
conclusions.
• All available records will be used: weekly reports,
personal notebooks, team meeting minutes, schedule and
planning documents from 1992 and 1993, as well as the documents of the
annual evaluation of both years.

Historical reconstruction

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What has been done in health work, in urban experience and in the
rural experiences. Pay attention to the changes made by the
official policies throughout these two years, particularly regarding what
regarding the community sphere. Reaching a first identification of
stages.

Guide to aspects to organize and classify

• Expected objectives of the center.

• Needs expressed by the communities.
• Achievements and difficulties.
• Existing organized groups and those that arise from experience.
• Acciones generadas por los programas de salud.
• Linking community-government instances.
• People's perceptions of their capacity for action and proposal.

Guide for the critical interpretation of the process

• Have there been changes in the objectives? Why?

• Do the needs remain the same? Why?
• What is the relationship (at the different stages) between objectives and
needs, comparing rural and urban communities?
• What changes occurred in the relationship between the community and the
government? What tensions and contradictions appeared? What is it about
Should they have? Do they remain?
• What actions demonstrate that autonomy has been gained or in
propositional capacity?
• What factors (related to our work and external to it) had a greater impact
autonomy or propositional capacity? Which had a negative impact?
Did they overcome? Why?
• Based on what has been seen, how would we conceptualize: 'autonomy';
“capacidad propositiva”; “trabajo de salud comunitaria”; “política social”;
And what relationship do those concepts have with neoliberal orientations?
How do we understand neoliberalism? What does it imply for work?
community?

Formulation of conclusions

• Formulate theoretical conclusions regarding the strengthening of the

autonomy, the propositional capacity and the impact it could have on the
community work in social policies in a neoliberal context.
• Formulate a proposal for community work in the new context
national, seeking to generalize the most positive aspects of its
experience and warning about the negatives.

Communication products

• A 40-page brochure on autonomy, popular proposals and

social policy, to be used as material for reflection in
seminars and workshops, and to promote it among promoters and leaders with
similar experiences.

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• A script to prepare a theatrical performance about relationships
between community and government.
• Concrete lines for community work 1994-1995, to be discussed
and incorporated into the general planning of the center.

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 Example No. 2
A women's organization wants to train new leaders.

Who systematizes

A women's organization from low-income neighborhoods that is going through

a stage of organizational renewal that recognizes the importance of
train new leaders. That’s why they decide to systematize their experience.
organizational.

Objective of the systematization

Rescue the accumulated experience of historical leaders, to

to guide the formation of a new generation of leaders.

Delimitation of the object to be systematized

“La experiencia de nacimiento y conformación de nuestra organización,

from March 8, 1985 (when the initial core emerged), to the 20th of
December 1990 (when the first provincial congress is held).

The axis of systematization

Factors that in the early years of our organization allowed for

These companions are being trained as leaders and how the bond developed.
base leadership

Procedure to be carried out

• The process will be coordinated by a team of five colleagues: two leaders.

national and three intermediate leaders.
• Eight historical leaders and about ten grassroots women will participate.
they were in the first five years of the organization.
• The process will last eight months: one month of preparation, three months for
reconstruct and organize the process, two months for critical interpretation
and two months to draw conclusions and a training plan.
• Individual interviews will be conducted first, and then they will be conducted
collective discussion and reflection sessions. These sessions will be held
both for the ordering and for the interpretation and the
conclusions.
• Three representatives from the institutions will participate as support.
they advise the organization: one, for methodological and technical support of
the systematization and the other two to help process the content.
They will join the discussion in the collective sessions, with their
points of view. Support will also be requested from an institution of
investigation for the location of the joint during that period.
• All the minutes of the organization and the bulletin will be used as a record.
that was published in those years, newspaper clippings, and reports of
the advisory institutions.

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Historical reconstruction

Reconstruct the process from 1985 to 1990, attempting to identify the main
stages and significant moments. In individual interviews, go to
previous stages of the lives of the leaders to understand aspects of their
personal life that explains how and with what motivations they appeared
participating in the beginnings of the organization.

Do not create a detailed chronology of the context, but be aware of what was happening in
the country during the 'strong' or significant moments of the trajectory
organizational to relate them.

Guide to aspects to organize and classify

(For each stage)

• Motivations that led them to participate

• Main actions taken
• Doubts and difficulties they faced
• Aspects that helped them continue
• Objectives that were set
• Concept of leadership and organization they had
• Forms of relationship with the base.
• Opinions from the base about their role as leaders.

Guide for the critical interpretation of the process

• What type of motivations were the most common among the majority of
leaders, at the beginning? Did these change?? Why?
• What changes are observed between the objectives set in the
different stages?
• What were the main contradictions they faced in the
process, both at a personal level, between them and their families; between them and
the base; among them as leaders; between the organization and the centers
Support? How did they face it? Which ones remain?
• How did their conceptions evolve? Based on what?
• Taking into account the whole process, what aspects emerge as
essential in their training as leaders?

Formulation of conclusions

• Formulate practical conclusions expressed in a training plan of

new leaders, who consider everything learned from the rescue of the
initial experience.
• Formulate some theoretical conclusions about the relationship between leaders.
and based on the factors that influence the formation of a leader,
about the organizational characteristics of women, etc.

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Communication products

• A video about the origin of the organization, lasting 20 minutes,

and that contains a selection of testimonies and interviews.
• A series of educational brochures based on the most relevant aspects
from the systematization, to be used in the new training plan.
• Un guión de fotonovela sobre el tema : relación dirigentes-base,
recreating significant situations that appeared in the
systematization.
• A synthesis document, to be presented at the next assembly and serve
is discussed material within the organization, is disseminated in others and is
debate with the centers that advise them.

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 Example number 3
A network of institutions wants to deepen theoretically

Who systematizes

A network of fifteen institutions from four different countries (Costa Rica,

Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico), which carry out training programs for the
citizen participation. She wants to systematize these experiences because
has identified the need for greater consistency in its proposals
teóricas.

Objectives of systematization

Obtain elements from various particular experiences to

enrich their conceptual approaches to democracy and rights
citizens.

Delimitation of the objective to be systematized

Work experiences in training for citizen participation,

carried out in the period before and after the general elections in Costa
Costa Rica (June 93 to June 94), Peru (August 1989 to October 1990)
Venezuela (September 1992 to December 1993) and Mexico (January 1994-March
1995).

The axis of systematization

Contribution of our training work to the exercise of participation

citizen in everyday spaces and in campaign moments
electoral: characteristics, variants, and relationships.

Procedure to be carried out

• The process will be coordinated by a committee made up of a person in charge to

each country and a member of the executive committee of the network, highlighted for
this task.
• All training teams from the fifteen institutions will participate.
as well as a research team specialized in current affairs for
each country.
• It will take place throughout a whole year: starting from a workshop of
planning of a week, during the first six months, it will be done
reconstruction and organization at the national level; likewise, each country
an analysis of the situation of the respective period will be developed. At the end of
during this time, an international intermediate workshop will be held, to
exchange what has been advanced and clarify the interpretative questions. The
In the second semester, correspondence will be exchanged every two.
months, to socialize the national advances. Each country will prepare a
final national document that will participate in a second workshop
international, to produce joint conclusions.
• The national managers are responsible for organizing, defining and

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 coordinate the procedures specific to their country. The committee member
The network executive will be responsible for coordinating everything related to
exchange throughout the year, as well as planning the workshops
international.
• Throughout the process, other involved people must participate:
participantes de los programas de formación, dirigentes sociales y
politicians, executives from the involved institutions and the network.
• The work plans will be taken as the reference documentary basis.
national and network, the projects presented to agencies of
financing, the records of the events, minutes, and reports of
work, internal evaluations, produced teaching materials, etc.
Likewise, press clippings, political analysis documents, and others.

Historical reconstruction

Reconstruct in great detail - together with the activities

formative - the characteristics of the four national contexts in the
designated periods, as they will be crucial to identify the role and contribution of
the experiences of citizen training in each of them.

Guide to aspects to organize and classify

sort and classify into two parallel boxes - before and after the
elections - these elements).

• Educational objectives
• Actions taken and with whom
• Contenidos trabajados y por qué.
• Achievements
• Difficulties
• Existing forms of participation.
• New forms of participation generated
• Opinions on the electoral campaign
• Conception of the state, democracy, and political parties
politicians, social organizations...

Guide to the critical interpretation of the process

• What objectives, actions, contents, and results are common to the

Four experiences? Which ones are particularly different? Why?
• To what extent did the electoral campaign influence the ways of
citizen participation? To what extent did it influence the programs of
training?
• What were the main tensions in each country?
Did they confront the training programs? What tensions were there?
coincidences? What changes were there in them? How did they face each other?
• Taking into account the results of the training programs
citizen, what demands arise towards our systems
democratic? What citizens' rights appear to be more
relevant? What contributions arise in relation to the concept of participation
Citizen? What challenges do the concepts of 'democracy' face?
representative
["civil society and state","local power"]

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Formulation of conclusions

• Formulating approaches around the construction of democracy, the

citizens' rights and citizen participation, today in America
Latina.
• Reformulate the civic training programs to adapt them to the
current circumstances and challenges of each country. Program ways
concrete connections between the different programs of the different
countries, to continue mutually feeding back.

Communication products

• Writing debate articles to be published in magazines of

analysis in different countries.
• Prepare a paper for an international seminar, in which it
collect the national experiences and the Latin American projections.
• Produce a reflective document on the content and the experience
from the systematization, so that it circulates and is debated within all
the members of the network and be disclosed in other networks.
• Prepare scripts for radio programs that disseminate the
citizen education experiences from other countries and place them at
public debate on the topic of democracy and citizen participation.

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