International applications

The Right Question Institute has worked with several individuals and organizations from countries outside of the U.S. 

Romania, Poland, and Russia

In the late 1990s, various organizations in Romania, Poland and Russia, with support from the German Marshall Fund, sent representatives to the U.S. to learn about model programs for strengthening democracy. All participants reported the great relevance of RQI to their own work and efforts back home. At the end of their tour of the U.S., several of the group members stated that RQI stood out from other programs they had seen as the most useful program to help build democracy on a grassroots level.

South Africa 

A staff member from the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA) came to the United States and participated in a RQI training. Upon returning to South Africa, she wrote us about work she was doing to set up an organization for abused women in the Pretoria area:

Their progress... was being hindered by not seeing their mission clearly. I applied RQI at a workshop I used the RQI Strategy to assist them in setting realistic objectives... the women developed very positive action-oriented objectives. It was a very empowering experience for everyone at the workshop, the group felt that they had grown and were now able to focus on the task of doing. One person said that they had developed more in one day than they had in the first eight months since their group first started.

IDASA also used RQI methodology in a leadership development course for civil society leaders in KwaZulu Natal province. The course resulted in a very rich and comprehensive definition of civil society leadership, how leaders of civil society organizations related to the community they serve, local government and traditional leadership.

Israel

The RQ Strategy has also been introduced to organizations working on civil rights, citizen participation, environmental justice, immigrant rights and general advocacy efforts in Israel.

In 2010, RQI provided a facilitator training organized by the technical assistance organization, Shatil, that is funded by the New Israel Fund. This work was funded through by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). The training was provided to participants who came from various Bedouin women’s empowerment groups in southern Israel. The women were introduced to the Right Question Strategy, which helped them develop key democratic skills. In an anonymous evaluation of the training, 100% of the participants felt that they had learned skills that were directly relevant to their own lives, their communities, and their work. They also were prepared to start teaching the skills to other women in their communities. 

One young woman, working at the Bedouin embroidery project in Lakia, commented:

I thank you both, you gave us food for the journey ahead – we will need this and we will pass it on further. The opportunity, at the end of the training, to practice what we learned was the closing of a circle; it all sounds simple, as if we all know this, but we need to learn how to make best use of it all.” Another participated talked about learning “essential and important tools. They can change and improve how I work and contribute to my society.

Yarona Ben-Shalom, Co-Director of the Beer Sheva office of Shatil, appreciated learning aboutMicrodemocracy, describing it as:

...a really important term, which in many ways may have a significant effect on democratic process and participatory democracy (and personal/ community empowerment). Sometimes, its personal affect is greater than the usual advocacy/ social change actions. 

For more information about the training, please download the report below.