Home About Us Book Catalogue Online Bookstore
VIPP Community of Practice > How was VIPP developed?
How was VIPP developed?

VIPP is derived from two traditions–one from Latin America and the other from Germany. In the 1960s, Paulo Freire established an approach aimed at conscientization of the powerless and oppressed in Brazil and Chile. The methods galvanized people to organize themselves in order to articulate their needs and defend their rights. This approach involves groups of people in an iterative process of Action–Reflection–Action. It was adopted or adapted by many other progressive individuals and NGOs in many Latin American countries. Another Latin American root of VIPP is the work of Orlando Fals Borda in Colombia who applied the method of Participatory Action Research (PAR), the principles of which comprise a part of VIPP's philosophy today.

However, the second main root of VIPP is the visualisation approach of Metaplan in Germany which began with the work of Eberhard Schnelle and his Quickborn Team. These practitioners designed training methods in which decision makers and those affected by their decisions visualise their problems, needs and solutions together, so as to prepare for common action. In Germany, the first “Manual for Moderation Training” appeared in 1973. Since then, different scholars and trainers who work as consultants for German private industries and public administration have promoted such facilitation methods. The central characteristic of the methods is the role of a moderator or facilitator who helps groups give birth to collective ideas which are visualised on cards and paper of different sizes, shapes and colours and placed on pin boards throughout the group process. Colleagues of Schnelle built up ComTeam and published Moderations Methode in German in 1980, the first ample handbook on these methods. The methods were further developed at the German Foundation for International Development (DSE), headed by Carl Kohlbach, with participation of the University of Hohenheim.

Then in 1991, Neill McKee, having earlier been exposed to the methods at DSE by Hermann Tillmann and Maria Angelica Salas, then from the University of Hohenheim, introduced these methods into the planning processes for social mobilization and communication in UNICEF-supported programmes in Bangladesh. Salas and Tillmann worked with McKee in Bangladesh and they named the methods, “Visualisation in Participatory Programmes” or “VIPP”. VIPP synthesizes the approach of DSE, the visualisation techniques of Metaplan and the conscientization and empowerment approach of Freire and Fals Borda. VIPP is applicable to any situation where a group of people want to work together to analyse and plan development activities or to initiate interactive learning experiences. Two aspects are stressed: a humanistic and democratic philosophy underlying the processes and the central role of the facilitator who enables the generation of knowledge and encourages visualization in dialogue between people.

 
What is VIPP?
How was VIPP developed?
How is VIPP used?
List of applications
Planning and revising projects and programmes
Communication materials development and storyline planning
Putting research into action
Community-level development work, including PRA/PLA
Training workshops
Training of facilitators and trainers
Curricula development
Running conferences and information markets
Management, human resource planning and team building
Business meetings
Getting started
Clients or organizers
Time
Inaugurals and closings
Difficult participants
Diversity (gender, cultural, racial, socio-economic)
Logistics
Inexperienced Co-facilitators
Documentation and Reporting

Other issues

VIPP Online Discussions
VIPP Materials
VIPP facilitators and institutions?
Links to Related Websites
Useful VIPP Forms
Click here to return to the VIPP Community of Practice home page

HOME | ABOUT US | BOOK CATALOGUE | ONLINE BOOKSTORE
Southbound books on participatoty development communication and ICT for social change.
© Southbound Sdn. Bhd., 2020. All rights reserved.