Looking Forward: Integrated Participation in the Process of Change

Abstract

Creating change in traditional practices or introducing service where none exists is a delicate and time-consuming exercise requiring commitment, skill, and patience by those who aspire to such goals. The record of success by those who try is limited, and many can recount their personal and professional frustrations. It seems as if the flow of history with its ebb tides of myth and practice holds more force than the power of rational attacks on clusters of problems through systematic research and development. The power of the information wrested from such efforts seems pale beside the inertia of the system which endlessly generates the issues that call for resolution. Yet change occurs, projects succeed, new techniques are adopted, and even obstinate bureaucracies evolve in response to persistent and focused efforts to force key issues and enthusiasms to the surface. Citizens involved in creative change must be prepared to labor toward small goals that only gradually yield to larger attainments. Over the past several decades of change throughout the world, a variety of lessons have been learned about such processes, and a consensus seems to be emerging that will encourage those persistent enough to remain at their stations. This paper will touch briefly on some of these lessons.