[OSList] emergent governance

Mon May 21 13:41:31 PDT 2012

Thanks for the interest Harrison and others in this project. Here's the document with deliverables Habitat For Humanity put in their Call For Proposal and our plan for each.

http://www.haitipartners.org/wp-content/uploads/Santo-governance-project-for-web.pdf

Also, here's information about a 6-month contract we just finished with USAID that also used Circles of Change, which includes open space:
http://www.haitipartners.org/what-we-do/projects/usaid-grant-brings-circles-of-change-to-northern-haiti/

USAID was extremely pleased with outcomes and we received a wonderful letter of reference.

Thanks again for interest.

John
______________________________
John Engle - On the ground regular updates at http://www.haitipartners.org/the-blog/

Co-Director
Mobile: 202-236-6532 and 011.509.3136.6495
US Office:  772.539.8521

On May 21, 2012, at 10:29 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:

> John – Once  again you and your friends are right in the middle of something unique and productive. Well done! I would just love to be a fly on the wall as your adventure goes along. Hopefully you will keep us up to date. Please!
>  
> And having been in (or near) similar kinds of “Community Building” efforts over the years, some thoughts come to mind which I share without benefit of really knowing what you are proposing to do. This could just be a case of not wanting to be confused by the facts, in which case please just humor the old fellow.J (Please send me your proposal!)
>  
> Standard Procedure for operations such as yours is to start with the check list of “Essential Structures and Mechanisms for Community Governance” – usually prepared by some academic institution after extensive research. Step II is to create a model Governance Structure for the “soon to be Community.” Step III is to recruit and train local people to do the jobs. And Step IV is to “Push the Button.” The result is almost inevitably: a) Nothing b) confusion c) frustration d) all of the above. And everybody scratches their heads and blame the people for being stupid.
>  
> We then come to the inevitable Evaluation (usually done by the same or different Academic Institution). If the evaluators are honest and reasonably perceptive, the difficulties are not hard to specify. 1) It turns out that the model was built for the “average” community – which simply doesn’t exist. Every community, even a nascent community, is unique. 2) The model may be a great way to build an automobile (a mechanical thing), but unfortunately a community is a Living Being which grows as opposed to being assembled. And the process of growth has different needs and requirements along the way. By following the “Standard Checklist” the emergent community is saddled with a whole mess of things it doesn’t need (at that stage of growth) and may never need. The net effect is that everybody spends all of their time “running the community” with little time left for “being the community.” 3) The model was promulgated from on high rather than grown from within. This critique is often framed as, “Nobody talked to the people” – but that usually isn’t true. In fact countless surveys, focus groups, individual interviews were conducted but… the central point had been missed. It has nothing to do with “talking to the people” – the critical thing is to create the space in which the people can talk to each other. And keeping that space open so that the conversations can lead to positive solutions. Only the people are full experts on the people, and their solutions may not be “textbook perfect” – but if they work, they work. To quote an old piece of folks wisdom from the State of Maine, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
>  
> But what if it is broke, or at least not working very well? Should “we” help? A little help is always nice, but always remembering that the more we do for others, the less they will do for themselves. And the price is steep. When “we” provide the solution, the people are deprived the opportunity of working out their own solution – which may be better, or at the very least more adequate to their situation. Who knows, “we” might learn something.J
>  
> Should we never help? Of course not. If a flood overwhelms the nascent community, a few life boats are surely in order. But floods don’t happen every day, and every “problem” is not a flood.
>  
> Does all this sound hard hearted or perhaps like idealistic platitudes? Possibly, but if you think about it I believe you will see that every time we  have the privilege of Opening Space we have the opportunity of seeing in microcosm effective community building in action. And of course, none of it could or should happen… but it does.
>  
> Perhaps we can now state the 5 Principles and One Law of effective community building?
>  
> 1) Whoever comes is the right people.
> 2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
> 3) Whenever it starts is the right time.
> 4) Wherever it happens is the right place.
> 5) When it’s over it’s over.
>  
> And the Law… If you find yourself neither learning nor contributing, use you two feet. Get yourself to a place where you can learn and contribute. It is the responsible thing to do.
>  
>  
> Just thinking… and John I know you are way ahead of me!
>  
> Harrison   
>  
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
> Potomac, MD 20854
> USA
>  
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>  
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>  
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of John Engle
> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 5:23 AM
> To: Artur Silva; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Cc: Raffi Aftandelian
> Subject: Re: [OSList] emergent governance
>  
> Greetings from Haiti,
>  
> I appreciate the thread and it has me thinking about work we're doing right now with Habitat For Humanity. They've built a new village of 150 homes and will have another 150 added to it by December. The village is in the Santo area, just outside of Leogane, which was part of the earthquake's epicenter. 
>  
> With 5-7 people per home, we're talking about a new village of 1,500-2,000 people not to mention hundreds of additional people from surrounding areas that enter daily for water. Habitat For Humanity acknowledges that while they have tons of experience building homes, they don't have experience building full villages and helping community members to develop a sense of community and plan of governance. 
>  
> They fear, and for good reason, that if no measures are taken, this nice village of well designed and constructed homes could become a slum. It also has the potential to become an extraordinary community known for safety, community engagement and mutual respect. 
>  
> We have a 6-month contract with Habitat For Humanity to help members in the village nurture a culture of participatory decision-making and to create together, a governance plan. We're using our approach called Circles of Change which will include three community wide open space meetings during the 6-month period. The governance plan will likely be a bit traditional in the sense that there will be established rules and decision-making structures. But hopefully, the practice that emerges around how they govern themselves will include lots of invitation and dialogue. 
>  
> Local elected officials will be invited to participate in open space meetings and other gatherings. In Haiti, local government is typically underfunded and ineffective. Thus, for communities to run well, it's really up to the community members. This is generally true everywhere but i think some of us likely take things for granted that can help make communities run smoother, which many communities in Haiti don't have: access to potable water, garbage pick-up and sanitation, paved roads/repair of roads, effective water drainage systems, fire departments, adequate police (10,000 for a population of 10 million)
>  
> Here's more about this project with Habitat For Humanity:
>  
> http://www.haitipartners.org/2012/04/partnership-with-habitat-brings-circles-of-change-to-santo-housing-community/
>  
> Let me know off list if you'd like to receive our proposal to Habitat For Humanity, which responded to the public request for proposal (RFP) they issued.
>  
> Again, thanks for the thread!
>  
> John
> PS The name of the project went from Santo Governance Project (in Haitian-Creole: Pwojè Gouvenans nan Santo), based on Habitat For Humanity's title of the RFP to Pwojè Bon Vwazen (Good Neighbor Project), based on input from people in the village.
> ______________________________
> John Engle - On the ground regular updates at http://www.haitipartners.org/the-blog/
> 
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