Following the “Project” Around: The Vision and Practice of SEARCA School Gardening Project in the Philippines

• In Event: The Will to Improve, The Vision of Future-Making, and Innovations for Development - I

Abstract

This paper focuses on a particular development project titled “School Plus Home Gardening Project” carried out by a collaboration of a regional agricultural development agency, agricultural and nutritional scholars in a public university in the Philippine, and officials from a local division of the Philippines government. I trace the development and trajectory of the project and analyze the interaction between, on one end, the continuous formation of rationales and problem-at-stake underlying the project, and, on the other end, how the project is being operated, implemented, and presented. I collect data from semi-structured interviews, participatory observations, direct involvement of certain components of the project, and secondary data including official reports and news articles. Overall, I begin the analysis by considering this kind of development projects as a unique format for knowledge production in the context of the international development field. Specifically, I highlight three aspects of the process of knowledge production. First, I examine how problem-defining is associated with vision-generating and future-making during the design of this project. Second, I foreground the performative aspect of the project when it is presented in different occasions, including conferences, meetings, and printed publications, and investigate how this performative aspect is related to the idea of vision-making. Third, I investigate the types of knowledge they produce and how the project relate these knowledges and evidences to the vision and problem they claim to focus. To conclude, drawing from the concept of “the will to improve,” I argue that vision-making and problem-defining serve as an indispensable component of development projects that are obligated to and have the impulse for creating a better future.

Author

• Shun-Nan Chiang, University of California, Santa Cruz