Foreword

by John T. Rigby
President, IIRR

THE RIND OF rambutan gives no clue to the richness within. I hope that the title "organizational performance and change management" encourages readers to sample the experiences documented in this publication.

There are endless variables in the process of change. No variable is more challenging, or more enriching, than the variable of human choice. Development organizations that support human choice participatory approaches whilst working with communities, know that these approaches bear their own seeds of success, along with the seeds of change and, often, constraint.

Organizations that aspire to be change agents must themselves, ourselves, become learning agents. One need only spend time at the family dinner table to appreciate the value, over time, of letting disparate voices contribute to the growth of each and all. Silent voices can be deafening.

Development organizations do not perform in isolation of one another within the same arena. Success of one of us need not come at the expense of others of us. No. We can best succeed in our missions by drawing on and contributing to the success of each other. The documented workshop proceedings gives cases for all to learn from.

IIRR, our partner workshop organizers, and the workshop participants, acknowledge a special debt of gratitude - our utang na loob - to Dr. Mary Racelis and The Ford Foundation, Philippines for the inspiration, encouragement, counsel and support that made this workshop possible. We can best discharge the debt of gratitude by putting into practice what we learned from each other.