Dear PD Friends and Fans,

In this spring 2021 newsletter, we are highlighting the ever-expanding use of the PD approach to new countries like Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia, Slovakia and Greece, and new sectors like gender equity, farming, waste prevention in business organizations, open defecation in rural setting, and health care.

We also share responses to the most frequently asked questions and new publications on PD.

We hope you will be inspired by the video on the UN Women and UNDP Kyrgyzstan Fireside Chat about the Positive Deviance Approach and how it helps solve migration challenges and improve gender equality in families. Watch UN women and UNDP managers from Kyrgyzstan genuinely share their challenges and success in using the PD approach.

As one Kyrgyzstani practitioner explains: PD is like “a diamond on the rocky land.” They confide that it is easier to engage communities in talking about problems but very difficult to focus on what works and people with unique solutions.

Maha Abusamra, Programme Specialist Gender Equality and Women Empowerment at UNDP confides that “transformational change starts with oneself,” and PD practitioner Mark Munger explains that what brought him to PD was failure to get people to act on external solutions presented to them.

As for me, what brought me to PD is its intrinsic sustainability component and through the development of a unique process the practice of true democracy.

Be well and safe.
With peace,

Monique Sternin
Co-founder, Positive Deviance Approach

Linh Nguyen
Manager, Positive Deviance Website

UN Women and UNDP Kyrgyzstan Fireside Chat on Positive Deviance

In 2020, the UN Women and UNDP Kyrgyz country offices and their local partners Roza Otunbayeva Initiative (ROI) and the Community Development Alliance (CDA) kickstarted and spearheaded a series of social innovation initiatives and experiments to explore how the Positive Deviance Approach and the Adaptive Leadership model could solve migration challenges, improve gender equality in families and women’s political participation.

In addition to programmatic use of the PD approach, the goal was to explore how the new national ten-year gender equality strategy could be informed by regional and local successful practices in those domains. The experiences so-far are very interesting and the stories appealing.

Take this opportunity to watch and listen to the fireside chat that we organized with our Kyrgyz colleagues, and positive deviance practitioners and facilitators: Maha Abusamra, Mark Munger, and Monique Sternin. Click to watch the fireside chat →

What is the role of a facilitator? How do you get trained in Positive Deviance work? Why is the PD approach not better known and widely applied given its positive record?

Click to read the answers from Monique Sternin and Lars Thuesen →

Official Video Release: What is the Positive Deviance Approach?

This official animated video visually explains the Positive Deviance approach in under 3 minutes. It features real-world examples and modern strategies on how to use the PD approach in your own community. Click to watch →

Featured Case Study: Slovakia
Conditions for School Success of Young People from Marginalized Roma Communities (MRC) in Slovakia- Looking for Positive Deviance Practices
By: Mgr. Estera Kövérová, PhD. Slovak Academy of Sciences and Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

Researchers use the Positive Deviance approach to try to find out which conditions and circumstances in life stories of young people from marginalized Roma communities (MRC) are supportive and lead to success in formal education. Click to learn more →

Featured Case Study: Bedouin
Bedouin Society in the Negev PD Project
By: PD Israel

Watch how PD Israel uses the Positive Deviance approach and edutainment to address child abuse in Bedouin society. Click to learn more →

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