Winter 2021 Featured Publications — Positive Deviance Collaborative

For those eager to use or curious to explore the many faces of the powerful and transformative Positive Deviance approach, you will find that the following new case studies and publications contain the many ways and sectors this approach has been applied.

Handbooks

DPPD Handbook: A step-by-step guide for development practitioners to apply the Data Powered Positive Deviance method

By Data Powered Positive Deviance (DPPD) Initiative

On November 25, 2021, the Data Powered Positive Deviance (DPPD) initiative launched the DPPD handbook. It provides step-by-step guide to applying the DPPD method — a mixed methods approach that relies on a combination of traditional and non-traditional data for identifying grassroots solutions to complex development problems.

Handbook of Development Communication: "Endogenous wisdom in action—the positive deviance approach: an alternative conceptualization of communication and social change praxis" (Chapter 9)

By Arvind Singhal, Monique Sternin, Shafique Muhammad, Lucía Durá

In this article, the key tenets and principles of the PD approach are detailed, demonstrating how communication and social change practitioners can use PD’s step-by-step method to identify and amplify problem-solving wisdom. Three applications of the PD approach are investigated: (1) combating malnutrition in Vietnam, (2) reducing school dropouts in Argentina, and (3) decreasing neo-natal and maternal mortality in Pakistan. The conclusion: PD is an inside-out and upside-down approach to communication and social change that values ordinary, uncommon, and actionable wisdom that can make an extraordinary difference.