The answer lies in shifting away from economic globalization towards localization. Whereas the global economy demands monoculture, both human and ecological, localisation is a process that adapts economic activity to diversity -- a fundamental principle of life. The worldwide localisation movement, including local food and finance, ecovillages, permaculture and transition towns, demonstrate that local economies rebuild our connections to one another and to the natural world – connections that … Read more
Intergenerational Living Creating spaces for young and old to live together
By designing our communities to encourage and facilitate a wide diversity of ages and stages of life from day care and preschools to assisted living and aged care we can reclaim the extended family that is often non-existent in the modern world. Day to day mixing in town/village centres and gathering places for recreation, play, entertainment, sport, music, theatre and art can add richness and texture to our community fabric. … Read more
Intergenerational Living Creating spaces for young and old to live together
By designing our communities to encourage and facilitate a wide diversity of ages and stages of life from day care and preschools to assisted living and aged care we can reclaim the extended family that is often non-existent in the modern world. Day to day mixing in town/village centres and gathering places for recreation, play, entertainment, sport, music, theatre and art can add richness and texture to our community fabric. … Read more
School yards to fruit forests Productive multi-purpose school grounds/ greening school yards or compounds/ school food forest/ school orchard gardens
Integrated land use design (ILUD) is an inclusive and participatory process that is used by the SCOPE and ReSCOPE Programmes in east and southern Africa to green the schools and turn the bare school grounds into food forests. In the ILUD process parents, teachers and the students come together and redesign the school environment into a functional landscape that meets the needs of the stakeholders at the school. They plan, implement and monitor together the establishment of a multi-purpose and … Read more
The Practice of Forum Building transparency and authenticity in community
In the practice of Forum, we come together in ongoing groups to share deeply and authentically what is alive in us. With skillful facilitation, an atmosphere of safety is created, which enables us to step out of our comfort zone and into deeper levels of vulnerability and creativity. We also start to see ourselves as an integral part of the whole and not an isolated fragment. As witnesses, we build the capacity to hold more of the richness and diversity of human experience without being … Read more
Support groups – Women’s and Men’s C The role of support groups, in particular women’s and men’s circles
Finding a support group that meets regularly or can be activated when you need it, can make all the difference. Women’s circles Women generally meet to share about their lives, support one another, perform rituals and celebrate. In the Red Tent movement, women have time to restore themselves by spending time with other women, usually during their periods. Deep connections and a sense of sisterhood are developed in these groups, which might be important, for instance, when one needs a place … Read more
Rank Understanding how power and privilege operate within and between individuals and groups
Amy and Arny Mindell, in Process Work, have outlined 4 types of rank and power (social, psychological, contextual and spiritual) and the signals that flow from those who have ‘high rank’ and ‘low rank’ in different situations. This is married with an understanding that rank is fluid, situational and by no means fixed. Developing rank awareness then becomes a life-long, almost spiritual practice, leading to the development of mature, integrated and competent individuals and groups. … Read more
Pro Action cafe Bringing the wisdom of a group to the support of an individual’s task, project and vision
using a blend of World Cafe and Open Space processes, we can create dynamic, creative and fluid spaces in which we support each other to interrogate more deeply the plans and projects we are already working on. Focusing on questions such as, ‘What is the deeper question you are addressing?’ or ‘What is missing?’ can enable us to go deeper into the true nature of our vision. It also helps to maximise the contribution of group members, who actually love to support one another given the chance! … Read more
Conflict Transformation Theory and Practice of Working with Conflict
Welcome conflict and embrace it as an inevitable part of human experience. See the other as yourself and sense the feelings and needs that underpin the outer expression. Create a sense of safety, possibly by bringing in a facilitator, in order to hold a bigger perspective and allow win-win solutions to emerge. Bring compassions to the conflict and see it as an opportunity for learning and deepening intimacy. Would you rather be right or happy? … Read more
Community Building A process to develop authentic communication in community
Scott Peck has identified 4 phases of group development and created guidelines for skillfully navigating these that culminate in an experience of a mature, authentic community. Once we know that going through, for example, phases of pseudo-community, chaos and conflict, vulnerability and letting go of expectations, are necessary steps in the evolution of a group, we will be more willing to embrace them. The conscious practice of authenticity counters any tendency we might have to hide in habits … Read more
