more funding community work?

[Worsley, Stuart]

Kerry

Your proposal makes perfect sense. May I recommend to you the work of
Professor Danny Burns of the University of the West of England. He has
just published a work entitled "systemic action research". I have been
involved with him in this, based on building capacity within local
organisations in Kenya towards the achievement of community defined
results.

(https://www.policypress.org.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=10032&pro
ducts_id=1007)

In this work, Danny outlines ways to connect events (such as OS
gatherings) together into a series of deliberate nodes that chart a way
forward on an action oriented enquiry around issues of concern. We use
this a lot here in  Kenya, and have found tremendous value in fostering
enquiry based emergence. OS has a clear role to play here. The technique
and approach enables there to be space for discussion. But I also mix
this in with other approaches including the use of imagery to surface
unvoiced or unarticulated agendas.

I have come to believe that it is not adherence to a sense of purity
within OS practice that makes a difference. It is the intelligent use of
OS within a set of emerging events that makes it powerful. 

I hope this is helpful

Regards

Stuart Worsley
Director, Kenya and Sudan
SNV - The Netherlands Development Organisation
Ngong Lane, Off Ngong Road
P.O.Box 30776 - 00100
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 387 3656
Fax: +254 20 387 3650
Email: sworsley at snvworld.org
Web: www.snvworld.org

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of kerry
napuk
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 2:41 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: more funding community work?

Peggy & Doug

Helpful redefinition of the question "how can we find funding sources 
to do the difficult and innovative work of bringing communities 
together?"

Maybe we should do some lateral thinking.  Traditionally, we respond to 
a sponsor with a specific problem where the application of a large 
group process, especially OS, is an effective way to bring people 
together to create a way forward or a shared future.   Perhaps we 
should turn this approach on its head by  presenting the process as a 
means for a concerned funding source to promote community building and 
participatory democracy distinct from and alternative to specific 
organisational initiatives and sponsorship.

In other words, can OS be made attractive as a generic process that a 
civil institution would support as an offering to the Community?  Is 
there something in your country like the UK's Roundtree Foundation that 
funds projects to reform or expand the political process?  Is there a 
credible and progressive think tank that shares OS values and would put 
together a programme and find funding?  If so, would it be worth making 
a proposal by a group of practitioners or even an OS institute to fund 
the generic application of OS to Communities and present it to a 
foundation or think tank?  Once the process is piloted, it can be 
rolled out to more people and places.

Public decision making and politics clearly are failing and desparately 
need to find new ways to involve more people.  Conventional approaches 
no longer work.  Rather, public decision making continues to fall into 
fewer and fewer hands and, more often than not, is hidden from "public" 
view until it is too late to change except to protest.  OS has the 
fantastic ability  to be organised quickly and involve large numbers 
who have the passion (care about an issue)  and do something about it 
(take responsibility.)

Does this make any sense?

Kind regards

Kerry
Edinburgh
www.openfutures.com

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