PD Bedouin Project
Positive Deviance Winter 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, Fans and Facilitators of the Positive Deviance Approach,

We hope this winter 2021 newsletter finds you healthy and hopeful for the future. Looking at what works against the odds and leveraging simple, sustainable solutions is more critical in the current state of world than ever before.

This newsletter will let you explore current use of the PD approach through different angles and in many different regions of the world. We also highlight four international organizations, with two being country-based PD networks: the oldest (Japan) and the youngest (Germany).

It is also an opportunity for us to urge the many researchers and facilitators using the PD approach to learn from each other and discuss ways to amplify the use of this timely and transformative approach. An opportunity to contribute PD ideas addressing climate change is also featured in this newsletter.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions via email.

Best wishes for the new year,
Monique Sternin
Co-founder, Positive Deviance Approach

Linh Nguyen
Manager, Positive Deviance Website
Slovakia Case Study Cover Photo
The PD Japan Network, a volunteers organization, was founded organically and spontaneously after the first visit in 2011 of Dr. Arvind Singhal, invited as a foreign distinguished scholar by the government. It was the year when the Great East Japan earthquake, yielding a massive tsunami disaster, and the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, hit Japan and the whole nation was upended. During such dark times, Dr. Singhal brought the light to our heart by introducing the concept of Positive Deviance (PD).

The organization has been active with its members consisting of professionals from diverse disciplines such as education, healthcare, international development, business and market, to spread the use of the PD approach, to conduct research and most importantly co-learn PD and the PD approach as the methodology of social innovation and organization development. It has also released and supported several books in Japanese on the Positive Deviance approach. Learn more →
Slovakia Case Study Cover Photo
Founded in March 2021, the aim of the network is to offer information, exchange and to spread ideas about Positive Deviance in the German language.

The organization wants to build a network of people, practitioners, researchers, community people, students, whoever is interested in PD and to bring PD forward. It has a generic focus on sustainability issues. It offers lectures or short inputs at institutions such as (applied) universities or even in neighborhood settings to inform about PD. One important international collaborator for the PD Germany Network is GIZ-Big Data team. Currently, they are working on a German article about PD, multi-stakeholder initiatives and sustainability. Learn more →
Slovakia Case Study Cover Photo
Data Powered Positive Deviance (DPPD) builds on the Positive Deviance approach, giving practitioners a method to use digital datasets, such as earth observation and mobility data, to identify positive deviants. Their local solutions can then be uncovered and used to inform community and policy interventions.

In 2020, a network of partners launched the DPPD initiative to test and develop the DPPD method across a number of domains and geographies, from deforestation prevention efforts in Ecuador to COVID-19 containment in Germany. Learn more →
Slovakia Case Study Cover Photo
Featured Network
Promundo
Promundo is a global leader in advancing gender equality and preventing violence by engaging men and boys in partnership with women, girls, and individuals of all gender identities. Promundo’s global reach expands around the world, with staff implementing projects or providing technical assistance in more than 25 countries. Their research, programs, and advocacy efforts show that exploring positive models of “what it means to be a man” and promoting healthy, respectful masculinity leads to improvements in the lives of women and girls, as well as in men’s own lives, and the lives of individuals of all gender identities. 

In 2014, Promundo conducted a fascinating study of “PD” men: “Men Who Care: A Multi-Country Qualitative Study of Men in Non-Traditional Caregiving Roles. Learn more →
The Climate Crisis manifests itself in many ways, most noticeable in the Global South. As new effects emerge all over the world, there is increasing attention to moving from mitigation to adaptation. There is widespread recognition that communities, as well as societies will need to take action to become more resilient.

Enter the potentials of Positive Deviance. What can a PD mindset and a PD approach offer to help communities organize to build conditions for increasing resilience, against problems not yet fully understood, with specific actions often lacking resources or even the will to take them? Learn how to contribute →
With the launch of the new official Positive Deviance Collaborative website in 2017, there continues to be development and updates on all parts of the website. We work to create a space where members of the PD community can contribute and connect with one another.

Support our work by making a donation. Have suggestions or feedback? Email us at [email protected] or reply to this email.