Asking questions

You can understand your working environment better simply by asking the right questions about it. This is a useful tool for generating discussions in a small group, but it will only work if the questions are formulated in a way that will make it easy to find a solution.

Suppose, for example, that harassment by local authorities has become a problem. If you phrase the question as: “What should be done to reduce the harassment?”, you may find yourselves simply looking for a remedy to a symptom, i.e. the harassment.

But if you phrase the question to point toward a solution, you may be on your way to finding a real solution. For example, if you ask: “Is our socio-political environment safe enough for doing our work?”, there can be only two answers – yes or no.

If the answer is yes, you will need to formulate another question that can help you pin-point and properly understand the critical issues at stake for maintaining your safety. If, after proper consideration of all available activities, plans and resources, as well as legislation, negotiations, comparisons with other defenders in the area, etc, the answer should turn out to be no, this in itself will amount to a solution to your security problem.

Using the asking questions method:

• Look for questions that will help you pin-point and properly understand the critical issues at stake for maintaining your safety
• Formulate the questions in a solution-oriented way
• Repeat this process as many times as necessary (as a discussion)

Some useful questions to be asked:

• Which are the key issues at stake in the socio-political and economy arena?
• Who are the key stakeholders in relation to these key issues?
• How might our work affect negatively or positively the interests of these key stakeholders?
• How might we react if we became targeted by any of these actors due to our work?
• Is our socio-political environment safe enough for doing our work?
• How have local/national authorities responded to previous work of rights defenders related to this issue?
• How have the key stakeholders responded to previous or similar work of rights defenders or others related to these issues?
• How have the media and the community responded in similar circumstances?
• Etc.