Issue No 7, January 1997.

NOTICE: Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the Advice on Publications Available.

4. Book review

Ripples in the Zambezi by Ernesto Sirolli

[Dr Ernesto Sirolli has a Web site and can be contacted on sirolli@visi.com]

Dr Sirolli is the advocate of a person-centred approach to economic development that has potential for use in the development of new crop enterprises.

Dr Sirolli's approach is centred on the innovativeness and passion of the individual, rather than the assumed "wisdom" of the "expert".

The author has had some success with his approach through a Local Enterprise Initiatives Committee, based in Esperance, a small rural and fishing town, located on the southern coast of Western Australia.

Using the person-centred approach to facilitation of new enterprises, 45 operating businesses were established between 1985 and 1988, with a combined annual turnover of A$7.1 million. As well, there are at least 200 communities in Australia, New Zealan d and the USA which have a full-time "facilitator" available to them.

Dr Sirolli has drawn much of his enthusiasm for his approach to development from three authors, Fritz Schumacher, Alexander Maslov and Carl Rogers.

Economists are essentially materialistic, recognising only the existence of lower or material needs and Dr Sirolli views economics as "the skilled, exact, technological application of a totally false theory of human needs and values". He believes succe ssful development should be focused on needs other than the more basic material ones.

Dr Sirolli recommends the following in defining the role of the facilitator (paraphrasing from his book):

1. Don't ever initiate anything; do nothing.

People can ask for help, confide their problems and find a solution by simply talking about it. If the facilitator starts doing things, the community will immediately identify him/her as an expert, and they will become spectators, watching the facilita tor doing things for them.

Facilitators who succeed have no expectations, no plans of action, no targets, and no performance criteria to fulfil.

2. Try to listen with an open mind to everything and everybody.
3. Don't ever motivate anybody.

The facilitator has to start with the person who has the motivation behind the new idea. Facilitators work with "lovers", who love what they do, are committed to it and stick to it in times of adversity, and not with "tourists", who like to move around , unattached and uncommitted.

4. If people don't ask for help, leave them alone.
5. There is no good or bad technology to carry out a task - only appropriate or inappropriate technology.
6. Nothing of significance can be made without the blending of individual commitment (passion) and the physical ability to make the dream real (skill).

The skill of the facilitator is to become available to those who have the dream and to help them acquire the skills to transform it into meaningful and rewarding work.

The facilitator has to assess the potential of the idea within the parameters the client has set and then teach the client to assess the chances of their business succeeding.

7. There is a difference between a business adviser and an enterprise facilitator.
8. Enough time and care should be dedicated to the first client.

The only way for a new facilitator to be accepted and utilised by a community, is by demonstrating one's worth.

9. The facilitator's role is confidential.
10. Interpersonal skills are skills learnt from childhood and constantly refined.
11. Three areas of activity need to be taken care of:

• the technical skills necessary to produce the goods or services one wishes to sell,
• the ability to market one's goods or services,
• the ability to financially manage one's affairs.

1. It is not possible to have a database to work from.
2. The great majority of ideas are of an imitative nature.

• give up the idea of picking winning ideas
• work with those people who are team builders

1. Take care to avoid the problem of "transference", by avoiding clients who "cling".
2. Facilitators are successful people who love to see others succeed.
3. Striving for individuality is always a lonely business.

Local business facilitation works because it encourages more people to seriously think about entering the business arena.

In a community of 10,000 people, in a year, Dr Sirolli expects between 150-200 people will see the local facilitator. Out of these between 25-35 will open a new business or expand an existing one. Between 25-60 new jobs will be created with a combined annual turn over of between $5-10 million.

Many aspects of our culture take the view that the nature of the individual is such that s/he cannot be trusted - that s/he must be guided, instructed, rewarded, punished and controlled by those who are wiser or higher up in status.

Hence, the institutions, agencies and corporations which theoretically are there to serve the public often do so in an autocratic way.

Dr Sirolli's book presents a challenging proposition. It could well be of interest to those involved in the commercialisation of new crops.

Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email: r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au

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originally created by: GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF