The ‘SHIP’ Approach and its Value as a Community-based Research Method in Bali, Indonesia

SHIP stands for ‘systemic’, ‘holistic’, ‘interdisciplinary’ and ‘participatory’. The SHIP approach is a community-based applied and solution oriented workshop fostering democratic participation and ownership. Like the Zukunftswerkstätten or futures workshop it aims to generate creative energy, to enrich democracy and prioritise the interests of the community. SHIP is imbedded in the Balinese cultural and political context and had been adapted to address developmental pressures in Bali that are mainly associated with tourism. It is designed to identify long-term solutions to the re-emergence of widespread poverty and the growing insecurity accompanied the process of democratisation since the fall of Suharto in 1998. SHIP works with many of the characteristics advocated in the community development literature, notably the transformative agenda of consciousness raising and enhanced participatory democracy. Used in an international research context it facilitates the introduction of other methods and serves well as a team building exercise. It offers an excellent introduction for foreign researchers into the current local situation. However, as compared with the future workshop, it lacks focus and clear facilitation and runs the risk of biasing the developed achievements and in underestimating the asymmetrical power relations within a community of practice.