Risk Assessment and Problem Solving (RAPS) workshop

I attended two RAPS workshops facilitated by Dr. Nayanjeet- one was with a group of students in Delhi, and another was a group of health workers in Udaipur. RAPS is an effective way of co-creating a solution when a group of people come together to brainstorm and address a challenge together.

Effecting changes in the health behavior of rural and tribal communities and empowering them to achieve control over diabetes and hypertension seemed an unsurmountable challenge. In an energy filled participatory RAPS session facilitated by Dr. Nayanjeet, a range of stakeholders including community workers, implementers, managers, and others evolved a consensual pathway to generate systemic change in community behavior and ownership in the community. RAPS is an effective tool to prioritize immediate solutions to complex problems in an equitable and participatory mode

RAPS helped us to prioritize issues which were raised at health system and patient level. We adopted change management strategy and used innovative solutions like involvement of local stakeholders, identification of champion among patients & doctors and disseminated these achievements to all the stakeholders. Dr.Nayajeet, facilitator of the whole programme, showed us the way to implement these strategies to engage the community. Three follow up workshops were also conducted to update the stakeholders on the status and evaluation of programme

The RAPS workshop was a systematic, unique and highly impactful tool to identify issues and finding its solution under any given situation. I won’t mind saying that RAPS exercise is better than any other team building exercise currently used in the corporate world. The beauty of this technique lies in its capability to pool ideas from all participants, dissolving any possibility of hierarchical influence on opinion and ideas of the participating individuals from top to bottom. The technique harnesses collective intelligence in real means and follows a robust, systematic, and scientific approach to figure out a solution for any issue. 

Finally, the proposed solution which emerges through RAPS, includes consensual agreement of all participants thereby increasing faith of each stakeholder in the proposed solution and an intent of collective effort to implement it as well.

This exercise also helps the team to reunite and synchronize their thoughts towards solving a problem. Indeed, a real team building exercise! Recommended in all situations where team effort is needed to figure out a solution to the problem in a systematic way. 

Given the rigor in this exercise, it needs a capable facilitator to facilitate the steps included in the RAPS process. I must congratulate Dr. Nayanjeet who facilitated RAPS at Udaipur (2017) where i was a participant. The ease and energy with which Dr. Nayanjeet handled the whole process is commendable. I wish him all the very best to keep spreading this tool around the world so that more and more people get benefited from it.

Had the opportunity to participate in the RAPS workshop along with my team to identify the key challenges of our project and develop possible solutions. It was indeed a one-of-a-kind experience. RAPS truly engages the audience and facilitates the process of developing solutions to complex problems systematically. It promotes consensual decision making and ownership among the participants.

I attended the RISK ANALYSIS AND PROBLEM SOLVING (RAPS) WORKSHOP by Dr. Nayanjeet Chaudhury while implementing one of the large community-based projects. The workshop helped identify critical risks and challenges within the program and mitigate them in advance so that the objectives of the program can be met without hassles. A very strategic decision to have this as part of the project as it had a great value add and benefits