Happy New Year! In this issue you’ll find an exciting calendar of upcoming learning events to take advantage of; learn about the power of collective impact; and discover a useful how-to manual for strengthening organizations and sustaining social change. We also highlight the growing role cities are playing in poverty-reduction efforts - which will be explored more fully throughout 2011. Happy learning!
~ Paul Born
In this Issue...
- TLC Growing into 2011
- In Search of Collective Impact
- Emerging Patterns in Social Innovation
- Canadian Cities Reducing Poverty
- 500 Voices: Exploring Identity
- Social Change the Barefoot Way
Featured Articles
TLC Growing into 2011 [By: Paul Born]
The Tamarack Learning Community (TLC) has become an active and thriving group. If you receive Engage!, we consider you a member of the TLC. In 2010, more than two thousand people registered for our tele-learning events....more than ever before. One hundred and fifty people attended the week-long Communities Collaborating Institute (CCI) last fall. Again, this was 50% more than ever before. We crossed the country many times and headed to far away as Australia delivering different custom workshops and saw many of you there.
2011 promises to be an even more dynamic year. We’ve created a fun agenda with loads of different learning events planned across the country (see our preliminary schedule here) and we are moving the Communities Collaborating Institute (CCI) to a new province in 2011 (which we’ll announce in February). Lastly, and maybe the most exciting feature for the learning community, we are pleased to announce that work is now underway to build a new CCI website using the latest in web 2.0 technologies.
Thank you so much for being a member of the TLC, for subscribing to Engage! and for your work to make our communities across the country better.
Related Links:
- Access the TLC’s 2011 Preliminary Schedule here
- Visit the 2010 CCI Home Page to rediscover a wealth of learning
- Contact us with feedback and questions on the TLC Preliminary Learning Schedule
In Search of Collective Impact [By: Mark Cabaj]
What do a region-wide effort to strengthen watershed management in Virginia, improving farming practices and farmer incomes in Cote-d’Avoire, a comprehensive initiative to prevent childhood obesity in Massachusetts and a campaign to improve student achievement in Ohio have in common? They are all examples of collective impact initiatives that work across multiple sectors to generate powerful results in addressing complex social issues.
John Kania and Mark Kramer, the authors of Collective Impact, argue that mobilizing a diverse set of community actors in search of community level change, is an approach that is more promising than non-profit organizations and their public and philanthropic funders working together on single-purpose interventions focused on addressing discrete but isolated elements of a community problem.
The authors provide some helpful distinctions between different types of community impact initiatives: i.e. funder collaboratives, public-private partnerships, social sector network, multi-stakeholders and collective impact initiatives. They also describe the major functions of a community impact initiative, including developing a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing initiatives, continuous communication and backbone support organizations.
This article also lays out a concrete challenge for funders: in addition to funding the planning, evaluating, and communicating activities critical to a community impact process, take responsibility for assembling the elements of the solution; create a movement for change; include people and solutions from outside the sector; and, use good research and knowledge to shape strategies and improve group performance.
Kania and Kramer do not explore the day-to-day challenges of starting and sustaining a successful community impact effort. It is tough work to develop a common agenda and to surface, start-up and stick to strategies that make a difference. Research by community change observer Jeffrey Luke, for example, suggests that one-half do not make it out of the planning phase while those that do typically experience implementation challenges. The authors, however, are not unaware of the tough nature of the work and refer to their other helpful articles on “adaptive leadership” and “catalytic philanthropy” published earlier in the Stanford Social Innovation Review where this article is found.
Earlier this month, Capacity Waterloo Region hosted a webinar with authors John Kania and Mark Kramer inviting them to expand on the insights they’ve shared in this article and why they believe it’s an approach that is proving effective in generating - and sustaining - large scale social change.
While many steeped in the work of community change will disagree with the authors’ statement that community impact initiatives are new - it’s easy to point out similar efforts from as early as the 1980s - they will agree that Kania and Kramer provide a succinct and compelling account of one the very few ways people can work together to generate the scale of change on many of our most vexing community issues.Related Links:
- Download Collective Impact
- Visit the Stanford Social Innovation Review website
- Read more on Catalytic Leadership by Jeffrey Luke
- Read more on Collaboration by David Chrislip
- Visit the Vibrant Communities website for more on multi-sector collaboration to reduce poverty
- Visit the Capacity Waterloo Region website
Idea's We're Following...
Emerging Patterns in Social Innovation [By: Sylvia Cheuy]
The term “social innovation” is often used broadly and can encompass the effort, the method, the end result and/or the change that is produced. In Patterns, Principles and Practices in Social Innovation, Stephen Huddart, of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation examines the field of social innovation from three perspectives: patterns and trends; principles shaping social innovation; and, practices – which includes a review of new social innovation tools and processes.
The role and impact of information technology (IT) for enabling social innovation is one pattern and theme noted by Huddart. IT allows a level of collaboration and learning which has facilitated tremendous progress in how we adapt to complexity and work together to find solutions. It also offers the possibility for information from a variety of sources to be brought together to support a richer understanding of complex issues that, in turn can influence decision-making and resources allocation.
Changing attitudes and approaches to volunteering marks another pattern influencing social innovation. Traditional forms of volunteering are declining in Canada. However, new school and work-based social innovations – such as university-based community service learning projects and Changecamp events encourage citizens to contribute ideas and volunteer time to government or public agencies. These innovations are creating “blended-value” enterprises where people’s work and volunteer lives are merging.
A final pattern noted is the blurring of boundaries between sectors – particularly the community and private sectors. Greater public sector participation in social innovations is identified as the “next great step forward” in social innovation work.
Huddart reviews successful social innovations from three different sectors to distil a set of twelve principles to guide the effectiveness of social innovations. These include: the value of multi-sector collaboration, reflection and trust; anticipating long timelines; the importance of including vulnerable people (those we are trying to serve) in our efforts; and, sharing information and effectively using media.
New tools and processes to facilitate successful social innovation are also identified and profiled. Networks, social innovation hubs - like Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation, Capacity Waterloo Region and the Halifax Hub – and clusters, which bring together diverse players such as funders, organizations, visionaries and artists who share a passion for a particular issue, are all structural tools that enhance social innovation. Facilitation techniques such as Open Space and World Café are cited as examples of social process tools that encourage effective small and large group dialogue. Developmental Evaluation and Tactical Mapping, are examples of tools that help social innovators to adapt their strategies in response to the innovation’s scale and phase of development.
In today’s turbulent times, social innovation will play an increasingly important role in helping us to adapt our social and economic systems to current realities. And, this in-depth analysis of the current state of social innovation is an important contribution to this emerging field.
Related Links:
- Download Patterns, Principles and Practices in Social Innovation
- View the latest issue of The Philanthropist
- Read the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s research on Accelerating Social Innovation
- Find more about sustaining social innovation on the Tamarack website
- Visit the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation website
Canadian Cities Reducing Poverty [By: Liz Weaver]
There is a movement growing in Canada. As provinces and territories adopt poverty reduction strategies, an increasing number of municipalities are also focusing on their role and contribution to poverty reduction. Vibrant Communities Canada is pleased to launch a five-part tele-learning series which will explore the important role that cities can play in poverty reduction.
Our first call, occurring on January 27, 2011, will profile Federation of Canadian Municipalities CEO Brock Carlton who will discuss FCM’s latest research paper, Mending Canada’s Frayed Social Safety Net: The Role of Municipal Government. Additional calls in the series will feature municipalities with poverty reduction strategies and specific municipal policy changes that are enhancing the lives of people living in poverty. The critical role of local, community-based approaches to poverty reduction will also be highlighted.
Related Links:
- Register here for the upcoming tele-learning seminar on Canada’s Frayed Social Safety Net
- Read the FCM’s paper, Mending Canada's Frayed Social Safety Net: The Role of Municipal Government
- Learn more about VC’s Strategic Dialogue on Place-Based Poverty Reduction
- Listen to Community Roles in Policy an audio seminar with Caledon Institute’s Sherri Torjman
- Visit the Federation of Canadian Municipalities website
500 Voices: Exploring Identity in Community [By: Paul Born]
What is the relationship between identity and community and how do they influence each other? This is the sixth question explored in a comprehensive survey of 500 members of Tamarack’s Learning Community (TLC) who shared their perspectives on the many facets of community and its meaning. In May, we began to release this data - one question at a time. Below find the results for the question:
What does “identity in community” mean to you?
“Living in a place where two things are going on at the same time:- I have an individual identity; and,
- I have a community identity - and how both of these evolve over time through community (global) responses to change.”
The responses to this question fell into three main categories. When considering identity in community, many people wrote about the relationship between the self and the community - the fact that participating in a community could influence who you are as an individual. An almost equal number of people referred to a sense of belonging and self-identity. They wrote about feeling recognized for their contributions and about a feeling of reciprocity within their community. Somewhat fewer people referred to the connection/shared vision and values within a particular community. These responses tended to focus on commonalities of certain community groups, such as cultural, religious, sports, etc. The high response in the “other” category seems to indicate that quite a few people were confused by the question and answered ambiguously.
CATEGORY |
% |
DESCRIPTIVE EXAMPLES |
|---|---|---|
Relationship between self and community |
38% |
|
Mutual Connections, Belonging/being known/self - identity |
35% |
|
Connections/ shared vision/ commonality |
19% |
|
Geographic |
2% |
|
Other |
11% |
|
Related Links:
- Download the survey results for: What does “identity in community” mean to you?
- Read Paul’s article on Belonging and Meaning
- Access the 500 Voices: Meaning of Community Survey Process for more on how this survey was conducted
- Listen to Tamarack’s online audio seminar series Seeking Community in Chaotic Times
- Visit the Seeking Community website to further explore the power of communities
Social Change the Barefoot Way [By: Sylvia Cheuy]
The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organizations and Social Change is a comprehensive how-to manual for leaders and facilitators whose work includes “helping organizations to function in more healthy, human and effective ways as they strive to make their contributions to a more humane society.” It is free to download and does an impressive job exploring a broad range of the issues and challenges that emerge when humans are working together on tough social issues.
The guide’s seven chapters cover a comprehensive range of relevant, inter-related topics which include:
- New ways of looking at organizations and social change;
- People, individual development and leadership styles;
- Relationships and power;
- Key principles and practices in organizational development
- Methods for facilitating change within organizations
- Thoughts on supporting, grounding and sustaining organizational change;
- Ideas for fostering learning and innovation within organizations
Within each chapter, concepts, stories, activities and “questions to work with” are woven together to quickly but effectively offer users an overview of the topic and related factors as well as possible starting-points for action. The Guide’s supporting website invites and shares new tools and resources developed by users to ensure that the topics within the guide are regularly updated.
The guide was developed by team of collaborating practitioners and activists from around the world who call themselves the Barefoot Collective. Why barefoot? The term reflects the principles which the authors have tried to capture in the guide’s approach...natural, grounded, treading lightly, transparent, non-expert, simplicity. Their hope is that the guide will “be useful to anyone interested in fostering healthy human organisations in any sphere of life.” They’re certainly off to an impressive start!
Related Links:
- Download The Barefoot Guide to Working With Organizations and Social Change
- View a chapter-by-chapter overview of the Guide
About Engage!
Engage! e-magazine is published by Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement, to bring you inspiration, ideas, and resources to envision and create vibrant communities. We would love your ideas to help us improve our new format. Please send comments to: paul@tamarackcommunity.ca. Photo used in top banner courtesy of Carl Hiebert.
