In January 2012 Elien Rogaar undertook an inception visit to Bujumbura, Burundi, to start working with four local NGO’s that are involved in the Peace under Construction programme, an initiative of The Hague Academy and Care – The Netherlands. The goal of the program is to explore their learning needs and to prepare them for the capacity building programme.
Part of the visit was a one-day interactive orientation workshop on Appreciative Inquiry, the guiding approach for the organisational strengthening. The participants, small group of key members of each NGO, learned about Appreciative Inquiry, practised Appreciative Inquiry interviews, adopted the principles of Appreciative Inquiry and each core group of the NGO’s came up with a positive theme and related subjects as a central focus to strengthen their organisation. The participants were enthusiastic about this new approach and were looking forward to the next steps in the programme.