Port Hardy, BC
While traveling up to Port Hardy here I ran into my friend Art Mercer who is charge of Economic Development for the Nisga’a Lisims Government. Art is one of the members of the Counsel on BC Aboriginal Economic Development, a group I have worked with a fair amount over the years. The Counsel is a body that is challenging the status quo with respect to economic development in First Nations in Canada. For the past two years they have been hosting an annual conference called “Strategic Conversations” named for the strategic plan we wrote together in 2002. The Counsel firmly believes in the power of conversations to transform the current mental models that limit many First Nations and government approaches to economic development. By encouraging strategic conversations with community members, economic partners, governments and markets, new models of sustainable economic and community development can emerge for First Nations.
We talked a little today, as we always do, about some of the amazing work going on out there, and Art pointed me to a report published by the Skeena Native Development Society called “Masters in our Own House.” The report came out of a think tank of the same name, looking at new models of wealth creation, prosperity, governance and development for First Nations. Clarence Nyce, who was one of the conveners writes in the preface of the report:
Over the course of the term of the Think Tank, we firmly arrived at the conclusion that there are definite identifiable elements that lead to economic prosperity in a free market. Conversely, there are also factors that inhibit and are destructive to economic growth. Common to such factors includes mixing politics with business, having an ill defined governance structure where little or no rules exist, having an absence of private property, assuming that all politics is equal to good economic sense, and having a system that is replete with high transaction costs. In short any model that encourages and creates dependency creates high expectations, instability, and discourages investment and business growth.
While there is tremendous resistance to change, it is imperative that we define ourselves outside of, and away from the Indian Act. While there may be some merit to retaining some aspects of our ?fiduciary relationship? with the federal government, it, nevertheless, remains our challenge to construct economies of prosperity that takes a different road then in the past.
The report itself is a combination of deep economic theory and straight forward practical tools and is worth downloading and reading if you are involved in economic development for First Nations or any small, rural and isolated community.
More evidence of how much good stuff there is right here under our noses.
Share:
Victor Yushchenko gave his victory speech on January 23 after Ukranians finally and officially elected him to office. It stands in stark contrast to other inaugural addressess of recent days. In it, he lays out an optimistic and idealistic program for Ukrainian progress that talks about how he will meet the expectations his people have of him. Mostly he talks about honesty. After all, how can one respond to such profound living in truth without pledging to maintain the standards set by millions of his people?
Two months ago millions of people came to this Maidan, to the squares and streets all over Ukraine. Our brothers and sisters, parents and children, friends and neighbors were standing day and night in the cold. Ukraine was devouring every word sounded here. The heart of Ukraine was beating here. Free people of the whole world, our compatriots dispersed in distant lands, were standing shoulder to shoulder with us. On Independence Square Ukrainians have risen as a modern Ukrainian nation.
Stubborn resistance has stirred up our souls. All of us feel we are citizens. Our decency, generosity and kindness have awakened. Armed with faith and will the people won a glorious victory. This is a victory of freedom over tyranny, law over lawlessness and the future over the past.
Share:
And speaking of 100bloggers, the chapter I am in will also feature Michael Herman and Andy Borrows, both of whom met the other day in London and blogged about each other.
Ain’t that cool?
Share:
Folks, I need some advice, and I feel a little sheepish, not wanting this to turn into some kind of cheesy vanity post.
I’ve been invited to participate in the 100bloggers book project, and I’ve scoured my archives for what I think have been the most interesting posts. I count them this way largely because of the comments I have received on them. I have settled on eight posts and I’d be most grateful, if you are so inclined, for your advice on which to include.
So here they are:
- Blogging as dreaming
- Creation stories
- Process and results
- Living in truth
- Consultation philosophy
- Opening as a practice
- Sonny’s teachings
- A new way to strike
I have a chance to revise the one I pick, so I’ll do that. If there are others that strike you as interesting, send them along. In the meantime, have a read through some of the other bloggers that are involved in the project. There is some amazing writing out there.
Technorati Tags: 100bloggers
Share:
Prince George, BC
Peter Lindberg blogs Elliot Eisner’s types of creativity:/eisner
- Boundary Pushing (the rules are too constraining)
- Inventing (bring things together in a new way)
- Boundary Breaking (the rules are the problem)
- Aesthetic Organizing (order and beauty from chaos)
Over the past couple of days I have been working here in Prince George conducting a 1.5 day Open Space meeting with literally hundreds of people from the Prince George urban Aboriginal community. We have had upwards of 275 people coming and going over two days and all four of these forms of creativity have shown up.
The theme of this event is “Planting the Seeds of Change” and the idea is to invite the community to create the projects that are needed here right now. With a pretty good media campaign behind them, the organizing committee attracted 275 folks to help be part of the answer.
The process began yesterday as we opened space and 55 topics were posted. From there, 42 groups met and produced reports on a huge range of topics. There were agencies, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal here, tons of regular citizens and a couple of dozen Elders. The dialogues were spirited and engaging and the proceedings book, written by the participants themselves, was 80 pages long. Topics covered ranged from holistic healing, media presence of Aboriginal people and stories, recreation, political struggles and community safety. The conversations were spread all over these four types.
Today, in the morning, the group reconvened and we invited people to come forward to turn their dialogue into action and to take an hour and half to find their mates and create project teams. Twenty one action groups emerged, led mostly be regular citizens with the support of some of the service agencies in town. Most of these project teams have action plans that involve at least one meeting in the next two weeks. I’ll be back here again on the 15th of February to work with the project champions to find an emergent way of coordinating all of this work and holding open a container of conversation so that the projects, agencies and funders can continue to talk to each other.
The great response we got was due largely to the fact that federal government is putting up $250,000 a year for two years to support this process as the Urban Aboriginal Strategy. Because that funding is largely to be used at the discretion and direction of the community and also because there was very little naysaying here, the four types of creativity bloomed in the dialogues and project planning conversations.
It’s all about loosening up I think. People freed themselves up to connect with others, to extend existing projects into new areas, to reconfigure partnerships to serve better, to bring together previously unmet companions around an issue of passion. I think a healthy and vibrant community or organization has these forms of creativity thriving because they grow out of nutrient ground of passion and responsibility and no one saying “you can’t do that.” The creativity that flowed created all kinds of work arounds for existing constraints and helped to bring together conversations that will leave a lasting and robust set of relationships that can deal with barriers and obstacles and challenges as they arise.
Technorati Tags: creativity, openspace, PrinceGeorge