SHEP’s policy position is to support the development and wider uptake of the FEST (Facilitation for Empowerment and Social Transformation) approach.
FEST has been developed by Sahakarmi Samaj, our partner in Nepal.
The FEST (Facilitation for Empowerment and Social Transformation) approach which is based on a belief that people themselves can bring real change to their lives and that the role of a supporting NGO is to create an enabling environment. Within this approach, communities independently analyse problems, make plans, and implement responses appropriate to their situations.
Distinctive commitments of FEST
1. Prioritising the marginalised and disadvantaged
2. Combating dis-empowerment
3. Building deliberative capacity
4. Building organisational capacity
5. Developing an enabling environment
6. Promoting sustainability
FEST does not provide a blueprint to be directly replicated in all situations. Instead it suggests a range of understandings, values, and principles that must be respected in the design and implementation of programmes designed to bring about empowerment of the marginalised and wider transformation in society. Related approaches have been used by other organisations in other settings