What is Positive Deviance?
In every community there are certain individuals (the "Positive Deviants") whose special practices/ strategies/ behaviors enable them to find better solutions to prevalent community problems than their neighbors who have access to the same resources. Positive deviance is a culturally appropriate development approach that is tailored to the specific community in which it is used.
What is the Positive Deviance
Initiative?
The Positive Deviance Initiative (PDI) has been using the PD approach to address various and disparate issues, such as Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) eradication, Malnutrition, Education, Prevention of Girl Trafficking, Prevention of Female Genital Cutting, Business, Health Care, Public Health, and Law. Visit our projects page and our archives page to read some stories about PD projects and activities around the world.
New Stories
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Please excuse us - our site is currently under construction.
"The Palmer Method"
The video shows Jasper Palmer showing how to safely remove a gown after it has been exposed to MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Jasper has shared his technique with doctors, nurses, infectious disease experts, etc at the Albert Einstein Hospital (Philadelphia, PA) which is currently implementing a positive deveiance MRSA-eradication program. Jasper's technique has been widely promoted throughout the hosptial and is referred to as the "Palmer Method"!
New Stories
Reduction of High School Drop-Out Rates in California
Over the last several months interest in the use of the Positive Deviance approach in the field of education has continued to grow. The New Jersey Board of Education in collaboration with the PDI and Plexus Institute have begun to use Positive Deviance to improve educational outcomes. Most recently, the California Teachers Association (CTA) supported by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has begun to use the Positive Deviance Approach to address high levels of high-school drop-out rates. Please use the following links to read more about the work being done by CTA to lower drop-out rates.
"Nothing Breeds Success Like Success" link.
"End of the Dropout Epidemic" link.
