My Blog

Agenda Item - Dadamac matching up Coalition of the Willing with Fantsuam KRC Attachab etc, February 12, 2011

Hi Nikki and (and readers of my open letters at http://dadamac.posterous.com )

CotW and project matching

We need to respond to this project matching work, which will create an opportunity to find collaborators who have a shared concern for climate change issues and action.

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I think you may need to log in to the slideshare site before you can see the slides below - the link is http://www.slideshare.net/sureshf/project-matching-summary040211final-6843146

What it's about

It's a bit like a dating site and is being set up by Coalition of the Willing - (CotW). 

The people who sent us greetings on Dadamac Day were all part of the core group of CotW - see "Dadamac Day - These messages of support received with thanks "   http://dadamac.posterous.com/dadamac-day-these-messages-of-support-receive

Their focus is specifically climate change so we need to think about  our integrated approach to development and learning and decide what parts are most appropriate to their interests and then express them in a similar way to the example below.

Example

  • Organizational Mission: eg… ‘We will reduce CO2 emissions in Canada by 40% within 10 years!”
  • Specific Goals: ‘We will organize a conference on reducing CO2 emissions in Canada in September 2011!”
  • Needs: ”We need… $10,000, a drupal programmer, a graphic designer…”
  • Offers: ”We can offer 1 desk in our office and we can host and manage websites….”

For us it's not as simple as it seems

I don't think it's easy for us to be that specific with respect to our integrated approach to development - but of course our work is taking place in the context of climate change and we have various related concerns especially:

  • local food production and security - and impact of climate change
  • development issues - appropriate technology - raising living standards while keeping carbon footprint low
  • enabling online knowledge sharing and creation
  • effective cross-cultural collaboration.

Given we have such big obvious areas of overlap why am not racing to fill in their "dating profile"?

I am struggling to find a way to explain my problem (even to myself). I wonder if I am just "being difficult" or "intellectually lazy" - I know that I hate any kind of form feeling and I have that kind of sinking feeling as I look at CotW's little list.

I'm trying to find the right jargon to explain (and justify) this difficulty. I think it is something to do with the fact that - from a learning point of view (and for much of the development work too I think) we are more "process oriented" rather than "product oriented"  (which is why we always find anything that involves forms with boxes to tick so difficult  and uncomfortable).

In educational terms "Goals" seem to related to set learning targets and examinable  content for accreditation - but as you know - I don't go about learning in that way. I recognise a personal learning need or interest (without defining it) and then I go out foraging until I have satisfied that particular hunger for knowledge/learning/understanding. Even at the end I would be hard pressed to define "my curriculum" - or even the "faculty in which my studies had been placed". You know me and my multi-disciplinary approach and insatiable appetite for learning new things about ... who knows what.... life in general and how things fit together ;-)

I have a similar problem with defining goals for CotW - I had better learn how to - and soon.

I think that Donella Meadow's work on systems is relevant to this problem. I have in mind a couple of things she wrote but only have the reference to one now "Dancing with Systems" by Donella Meadows. The complete article was at http://www.sustainabilityinstitute.org/pubs/Dancing.html

John's work on the ground

I think there are similarities between my "non goal oriented learning" and John's work on the ground.at Fantsuam Foundation through the Knowledge Resource Centre, Attachab and so on
Links:


With John it is more a case of - there is a need, so he responds, and then the details fall into place as he goes along - faster or slower depending what resources and other help he can pick up along the way.

For instance with Sickle Cell Disease and the health centres that he is working on now. It didn't really begin with "I will open this many clinics" (although that has probably always been part of his vision).  It started more with "We have to do something about helping support this person/family/wider group who are suffering because of sickle cell disease. Let's at least share some information on how to recognise the disease and the most basic steps to make it more bearable."

Of course once you get started on anything then you soon get to see possible next steps, and what you need in order to be able to take any of them. Then you see what you can actually pull together at that moment in time - which influences the next step you choose. That next step in turn provides different options for what "the now next possible steps" will be.

Goals and goal posts

Hmm - is it the issue of "static-ness" that is the source of my discomfort and reluctance to fill in the specific goals and needs? Do I have a feeling that by the time I have found what I asked for in order to satisfy "those" specific goals then things will have moved on - and so "those goal posts" might be pulling me back into a "game" which is not exactly the one I am now "playing". Is it that I prefer it when the goal posts are moving?

Goals and teams

What if I take that analogy further? Do I want the game to be movable - not fixed goal posts on a marked out football pitch - more the kind of goal posts that you make by making them with people's jumpers (Hmm - sudden cross-cultural quirky thought - I'm thinking "UK soccer type" football here - and the dominant culture in CotW is USA - and probably "American Super Bowl style" football).

Anyhow, back to exploring my analogy. If it's the kind of improvised goals made out of jumpers then that is fine - you can move the game as you need to. It's not really the goals posts that are the important thing it's creating the teams. I guess teams collect around people who seem likely to be scoring goals - or at least people like to join teams that they will enjoy playing in (some do want to on the winning team and moving up league tables, some just like to get out and play for the exercise and sociability).

Back to CotW dating

Anyhow - if we could get our heads around the CotW "dating" kind of approach then we would be able to link in with a great group of people, and some formidable talent and vision. We could certainly do with connecting with more energy and resources - not just for the intiatives we are already working on - but for all the potential ones that are always buzzing around in our thoughts and hopes.

Areas of overlap

I wonder what elements of our work and vision we might pull out to this format. I guess it would be from the Knowledge Resource Centre and the work the John is co-ordinating through it on the ground relating to Attachab and Zittnet and the integrated initiatives on appropriate technologies, agriculture, permaculture, etc. Then on the Internet side "in the cloud with Dadamac.net" we have all kinds of emergent things relating to how we share knowledge and help people on their "learning journeys".

There is huge overlap, if only I can pull our vision out in the ways they will understand and relate to, but I don't know if I have the time and energy to do it. On the other hand - can I afford not to?

Ways forward

The thing is obviously to collect the team. Reference the list

  1. Organizational Mission:
  2. Specific Goals:
  3. Needs:
  4. Offers: 

Maybe if I start to the bottom "4 Offers" - then choose some of our "3- Needs". I can then define one (or some) of the "2-  Specific Goals" that could be achieved, and finally define a suitable "1 - Organizational Mission": that is an appropriate "climate change subset" of the integrated learning and development programmes that we are doing.

I feel in need of a cultural mediator to help me ;-)

Presenting to John and to CotW

Nikki  - I started this email thinking I'd write it to John about the CotW dating - but decided I need to do some more work on possible connections before I trouble him with it. Similarly I am hanging back from CotW because I have too much "off topic" stuff with me when I go there and don't want to cause confusion and possible alienation.

If we can get the right collaboration with the stream of energy and talent within CotW then all kinds of things become possible. However  I don't want to waste John's time by bringing it to him in a way that seems too "off the side" of his main concerns. I need to bring it to him as a possible solution - not an additional task. This means we need to raise the focus on climate change and offer the dating site idea in ways that more obviously overlap the local issues that he has more urgently on his mind.

Steps already taken

We have already made some steps towards pulling out the overlap with climate change and on the ground action by responding to Call for Proposals - Case Studies on ICTs, Climate Change and Development - http://www.niccd.org/casecall.htm
and we have submitted

Next steps

Let's add this CotW dating site stuff  to the Wednesday agenda, and then you and I need to rub minds on it on Tuesday. 

There is a CotW skype meeting about it tomorrow evening (UK time) which I hope to attend.

Pamela