Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights

A Quick Reference Guide

Carefully Channeling Our Time, Energy, and Money Can Overcome Even the Most Profound Challenges by Stefan Pasti, Resource Coordinator Community Visioning Initiatives Clearinghouse Community Teaching and Learning Centers Clearinghouse (146 pages; November, 2012)

Title Page Notes: 1) There are two Table of Contents provided for this document. One is a shorter version (p. 4), to provide a quick overview of the topics covered. The second, a longer version (p. 5-18), adds quotations and excerpts which are representative of the articles, website material, etc highlighted in this document, to create a more detailed outline of the topics covered. The longer version Table of Contents can therefore serve as a kind of Executive Summary. 2) Thecompilation of excerpts style is used in this document because it highlights key sources, which readers can explore in more detailand because this writer believes that providing the observations and insights from key sources in their own words strengthens the Executive Summary provided in the longer Table of Contents.

Contact Information Stefan Pasti, Resource Coordinator Community Visioning Initiative Clearinghouse www.cviclearinghouse.net Community Teaching and Learning Center Clearinghouse www.ctlcclearinghouse.net P.O. Box 163 Leesburg, VA 20178 (USA) stefanpasti@ipcri.net (703) 209-2093

Introduction
This document Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights is offered as an indication that we have the resources to overcome the challenges of our times. It would be demoralizing, from this writers point of view, if visitors to the CVI Clearinghouse website and the CTLC Clearinghouse website were overwhelmed with information and analysis about critical challenges ahead without also providing sufficient evidence that we can overcome such challenges. But even more so, on the positive side, it can be very inspiring to accumulate information about the efforts of people and organizations who have already (for decades) been working on appropriate responses to the critical challenges of our times. This writer highly recommends that readers skim through the longer Table of Contents for this Key Organziations, Initiatives, and Insights document. This writer advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives responses to the challenges of our times. Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs) can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. Workshop curriculum contributed (for example) by Gaia Education, BALLE, Fairtrade, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, United Religions Initiative, Global Network for Women of Faith, Sister Cities International etc. can guide Socially Responsible and Sustainable Investing, and can lead to a careful and deliberate channeling of time, energy, and money in the marketplaceto support Community Visioning Initiatives, Community Teaching and Learning Centers, local currencies, Food Sovereignty, Ecovillages, and a just transition from dysfunctional systems which are very complex to functioning systems which are much less complex. The sharing of Community Visioning Initiative experiences and Community Teaching and Learning Center experiences through the clearinghouse websites would be a key (if we will use it) to making the most of learning experiences worldwideand such sharing would surely contribute much to transforming the many challenges ahead into inspiring experiences of collaboration, peacebuilding, and community revitalization. Still, even with all this potential, this writer is aware that there may be people in the community who regardless of the difficulties and urgencies associated with resolving multiple criseschoose to focus their attention of trying to make money by preying of peoples fears, manipulating peoples trust, and/or encouraging people to abandon hope in higher aspirations, and indulge in unhealthy, or immoral behavior. Such behavior is clearly counterproductive to the building of caring communities; it can be very dangerous for community morale, and it can become a crippling obstacle in times of crises. By using a combination of preliminary surveys, Community Visioning Initiatives and Community Teaching and Learning Centers, there can be a signal to all participating that eventuallyeventually.the educational process will succeed, the danger signals flashing will be accepted as common knowledge, and the collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding approach will be appreciated as a 2

means of building skills necessary for cultural sustainability. As such positive realizations spreads, and time, energy, and money is re-directed away from people who are preying on peoples fears, manipulating peoples trust, and encouraging people to abandon hope in higher aspirations, those people will discover that they will have less and less resources supporting their misguided efforts until most of them too, realize how much we really do need to be on the same side, helping each other. It is because there is so much opportunity (through the use of Community Visioning Initiatives) for actually arriving at such positive realizations, that this writer advocates the idea of using .2% of public funds for military preparedness and military interventions to carry out 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives. This writer believesand hopes that soon many other people will share his beliefthat we can build peace and ecological sustainability through a careful and deliberate re-channeling of our time, energy, and money that we can do this through a combination of preliminary surveys, Community Visioning Initiatives, and Community Teaching and Learning Centers and the resulting accumulation solution-oriented activity can be so inspiring that even the most profound challenges can be overcome. This writer believes we can learn to fill in the blank in the statement below: In the best of times, even the most profound challenges can be overcome; for in the best of times, ____________________ is/are nurtured, supported, and sustained by family, friends, teachers, mentors, elders, and the everyday influences of community life and cultural traditions. If many people could see and feel the practical value of carrying out similar forms of Community Visioning Initiatives, such collaborative, solution-oriented activity could become a common experience a common cultural tradition a cultural tradition which can link many diverse communities of people together, in a fellowship of people working towards the greater good of the whole and a cultural tradition which can help pass on to future generations the best ideas humans have accumulated in more than 5,000 years of human history.

Table of Contents
(shorter version)

I. Preliminary Surveys (as Preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives). II. Community Visioning Initiatives. III. Community Teaching and Learning Centers IV. Ecovillage Design Education and Permaculture V. Food Sovereignty. VI. Socially Responsible Investing VII. International Human Service Organizations VIII. Interfaith Peacebuildng. IX. Sister Community Relationships.. X. Key International Funding Networks. XI. Inspiring Role Models.. Appendices Appendix A Introduction to the Clearinghouse Websites and the Four Key Documents (titled New Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving and Citizen Peacebuilding) Appendix B 125 Related Fields of Activity Appendix C A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative Appendix D 9 Sample Questions for Preliminary Surveys.. Appendix E Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections?.. Appendix F A List of Ten Critical Challenges.....

19 25 32 46 51 75 86 91 95 98 102

107 113 115 133 138 146

Table of Contents
(longer version)

I. Preliminary Surveys (as Preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives)..

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A. Results from well thought out preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from many different fields of activity in the community) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative.. 19 B. Responses and summarized results from Preliminary Surveys will provide: a) evidence from local leaders of the need for a re-assessment of current priorities.. 19 C. refined questionnaires can do much to maximize citizen interest and participation in integrating new knowledge and new skill sets into the community.. 20 D. Some of the challenges of our times are at the very core of the difficulty of being human beings, and are challenges which people have faced since the beginning of time(thus) it would be of great assistance if as many people as possible were bringing forth their best suggestions on how to move towards solution-oriented activity 20 E. Nine Examples of Preliminary Survey Questions (see Appendix D) F. Identifying 150 Key Leaders in Community (to be Recipients of Preliminary Surveys). 21 21

1) These are the people in your community whose opinions are respected, whose insights are valued, and whose support is almost always needed to make any big changes... 21 2) Influential people may be able to let you know what concerns are held by people in the community. 21 3) The cross country torch relay for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) began April 27 in Los Angeles and ended July 19 in Atlanta. Of the approximately 10,000 torch-carriers, about 5,000 were community heroes selected by local United Way panels based on nominating essays... 22 4) If most ordinary citizens are going to have meaningful roles in an ongoing transition from dysfunctional systems which are very complex to functioning systems which are much less complexthere will need to be local institutions which they can trust to provide common points of reference... 23

II. Community Visioning Initiatives..

A. The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 500 words) Excerpts:

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Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. This approach to problem solving emphasizes personal and civic responsibility, maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges and solution-oriented activity, giving people an opportunity to become actively involved in a solution-charged environment, and minimizing the risk of transformation unemployment; and is especially appropriate to the building of close-knit communities of people communities with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges and communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings. B. The IPCR Initiatives Constellation of Initiatives Approach to Challenge Resolution, Peacebuilding, and Ecological Sustainability (A Seven Point List for Accelerating and Maximizing Solution-Oriented Activity).. 26 C. The IPCR Initiative and Community Visioning Initiatives (Models and Proposals). 1) The IPCR Community Visioning Initiative Model (A 15 Step Outline).. 28 28

2) The 1000 Communities2 Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature..29 a) There are many people who will be very appreciative when they find that they have an important role to play in the work ahead. Leaders should guide citizens so that they can discover how they can do their part to contribute to the greater good of the whole. 29 b) The IPCR Initiative advocates organizing and implementing Community Visioning Initiatives in 1000 communities... around the world... 30 c) Cost Estimate-- This writer believes that a significant majority of people surveyed would say they support shifting .2% (point 2 percent) of public funds currently used for military preparedness and military interventions to carry out 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives 31 D. The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages).. 31

III. Community Teaching and Learning Centers

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A. As a multi-purpose support center for implementing Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs), Community Teaching and Learning Centers can function as.. 32 1) information centers, resource centers, and clearinghouses (on how residents can deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of ways of earning a living which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges) 32 6

2) locations for workshops on topics suggested by the Preliminary Survey (for more about Preliminary Surveys see the next section of this document), and as determined by the Community Teaching and Learning Center Coordinator. 32 3) practice sites for the development of teacher-leaders. 4) community centers for meetings, both planned and informal.. 33 33

5) locations for Community Journals (which are collections of formal and informal input which may be contributed to or accessed at all times) 33 6) locations for Final Version Document submission (voting) as part of Steps 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 of the 15 Step Community Visioning Initiative (see A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative).. 34 7) locations for Summary of Community Visioning Initiative Process to Date Notebooks (for latecomers, and as an information resource for media) 35 8) central locations for listings of employment opportunities.. 35

9) as a special form of community education, which can respond quickly (by changing the emphasis of workshop content) to new urgencies as they arise 36 B. as a neighborhood meeting place and workshop center. 1) Where neighbors can go to learn how they can work together.. 37 37

2) Workshop Center-- Besides workshop content suggested by preliminary surveys (see above multi-purpose support for CVIs), and workshop content relevant to the challenges identified by the actual CVI process, CTLCs will be seeking to provide workshop content which meets the basic needs. 37 3) Affordable Workshop Rates.. C. As a low cost lifelong learning education system. 38 38

1) Turning tragic irony into virtuous cycle (commentary) (becoming informed in this way needs to be very affordable.).. 38 D. The Hunger Projects Epicenter Strategy. 42

1) The Epicenter Strategy is integrated and holistic. It achieves synergy among programs in health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), education, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming and food security, microfinance, water and sanitation, and building community spirit with a momentum of accomplishment involving the entire population. (Community Centers for Meeting Basic NeedsThe Hunger Project). 42 7

E. A key role which can be played by philanthropy

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1) Using state-of-the-art architectural plans initially drawn by professors at Tuskegee Institute, the Rosenwald Fund spent over four million dollars to help build 4,977 schools, 217 teachers' homes, and 163 shop buildings in 883 counties in 15 states, from Maryland to Texas. .. 43 F. The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 502 words) G. The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 65 pages).. 44 45

IV. Ecovillage Design Education and Permaculture.

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A. While drawing upon best practices within ecovillages and transition settings worldwide, Gaia Education works in partnership with universities, ecovillages, government and non-government agencies and the United Nations. (Ecovillage Design EducationGaia Education) 46 1) Gaia Education works in partnership with universities, ecovillages, government and nongovernment agencies and the United Nations.... 46 2) Since 2006 Gaia Education has successfully supported the delivery of more than 135 programmes on five continents. 46 3) In four weeks you get an overview of all you need to know to design sustainable settlements all over the world. 46 4) Sample Coursework: Gaia Education Design for Sustainability - Training of Trainers Incorporating Transition Towns Training (13 October - 9 November 2012 at Findhorn Community, Scotland). 47 B. Global Ecovillage Network.. 48

1) The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridge different cultures, countries, and continents. 48 2) We envision an expanding network of communities, businesses, NGOs, media, educational institutions, governments, foundations, writers, researchers, educators, students, and citizen activists exchanging information and experiences globally. 48 C. Permaculture.. 49

1) It should be possible to design land use systems which approach the solar energy harvesting capacities of natural systems while providing humanity with its needs. 49 8

2) The transition from an unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy back to a solar-based (agriculture and forestry) economy will involve the application of the embodied energy that we inherit from industrial culture. 49 3) Carefully observing natural patterns characteristic of a particular site, the permaculture designer gradually discerns optimal methods for integrating water catchment, human shelter, and energy systems with tree crops, edible and useful perennial plants, domestic and wild animals and aquaculture. 49 4) A Directory of Permaculture Projects Worldwide, at http://permacultureglobal.com/projects lists 602 projects............................................................................................................. 50 D. Gaia University 50

1) you will emerge from your program with clear ideas about ways you can contribute of the diverse and inspiring global worknet of innovative non-profits, micro-enterprises and community development projects focused on positive ecological and social change. 50

V. Food Sovereignty

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A. Definition: Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies, which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. 51 B. La Via Campesino 51

1) .La Via Campesina launched the idea of food sovereignty at the World Summit on Food 1996. This gave rise to a global grassroots movement focused today by a variety of social sectors such as urban poor communities, associations of environmental protection and consumer protection, women's organizations, traditional fishing, to pastoralists and many others.51 2) The Seven Principles of Food Sovereignty.. 52

3) La Via Campesina comprises about 150 local and national organizations in 70 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. In all, it is about 200 million farmers and peasants.53 C. IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development).. 54

1) IIED is one of the worlds most influential international development and environment policy research organisations . 54 D. Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source). 54
1) Table of Contents for Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems..55

2) most international and national social, economic and environmental policies envision fewer and fewer people directly dependent on localised food systems and their environments for their livelihoods and culture.. 56 3) A striking feature of all these reports is the lack of recognition of the past, present and possible future role of local organisations in meeting fundamental human needs and sustaining the environment. 57 4) Yet many of the local organisations that are central to poverty reduction and environmental sustainability are those that are formed and managed by low-income householdsfor instance subsistence farmer organisations, co-operatives of women food processors, savings and credit groups, and the federations formed by the rural and urban poor... 58 5) The exclusion of local organisations from shaping the future thus leads to a neglect of different ways of satisfying human needs. Many rural and urban development schemes have overlooked the importance of locally specific ways of meeting needs for food, health, shelter, energy, education and other fundamental human needs... 59 6) Food sovereignty is an alternative paradigm for food, fisheries, agriculture, pastoralism and forest use that is emerging in response to this democratic deficit. This alternative policy framework for food and agriculture is also a citizens response to the multiple social and environmental crises induced by modern food systems everywhere. 60 7) In this vision for transformation, collective and individual autonomy can only be achieved through a radical dispersion of power, with communities of citizens as the basic units of political, social, economic life and as key actors managing ecosystems and environmental processes... 61 8) the food sovereignty movement has developed a broad policy vision and discourse (that) identifies a range of policy shifts and directions for national governments and other actors who seek to implement food sovereignty within their societies. 61 9) Throughout Latin America and in much of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, farmers, pastoralists, women, indigenous peoples and migrants are organising, linking together with their counterparts in the North. They are gaining support from scholars, activists, consumers and progressive policy-makers.. 63 E. Oxfam 64

1) The purpose of Oxfam is to help create lasting solutions to the injustice of poverty...64 2) Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. 64

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3) The results show a clear opportunity to harness the immense power of the individual, in particular women who make the majority of the decisions about the food their families eat and control around $12 trillion or 65% of the worlds annual consumer spending. (From Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food FutureOxfam) 65 a) What we do in the supermarket or in the kitchen does matter, said Roche. Small actions taken by enough people add up. Together we can make a big difference to the lives of people who are struggling to feed their families across the globe. 65 b) Every time you open your fridge and food cupboards, you step into the global food system. 66 F. Food First 68

1) an effort to build bridges between food justice and food sovereignty movements, and reach across rural-urban and local-global divides.. 68 2) Food Firsts activity areas are designed to link our programs in ways that support processes of reflection-action-reflection and work to integrate local, national and global efforts for justice and food sovereignty. 68 3) Many organizations, both local and national in scope, have developed tools, informational resources, or successful model policies that support an integrated, sustainable and equitable food system at the city or regional level. We have collected a sample of those experiences and resources to provide community advocates with practical tools and ideas for creating local food policy change. (From Food First Policy Brief #19 Cutting Through the Red Tape: A Resource Guide for Local Food Policy Practitioners and Organizers).. 70 G. Maine Town Passes Landmark Local Food Ordinance 71

1) On Saturday, March 5 (2011), residents of a small coastal town in Maine voted unanimously to adopt the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance, setting a precedent for other towns looking to preserve small-scale farming and food processing. 71 2) We recognize that family farms, sustainable agricultural practices, and food processing by individuals, families and non-corporate entities offers stability to our rural way of life by enhancing the economic, environmental and social wealth of our community. As such, our right to a local food system requires us to assert our inherent right to self-government.. 71 H. Over the last decade, world grain reserves have fallen by one third. World food prices have more than doubled, triggering a worldwide land rush and ushering in a new geopolitics of food... 72 1) the sad fact is that very few if any of these land investments benefit local people or help to fight hunger. Two thirds of agricultural land deals by foreign investors are in countries with a 11

serious hunger problem. Yet perversely, precious little of this land is being used to feed people in those countries. 72 2) .Fearing they might not be able to buy needed grain from the market, some of the more affluent countries, led by Saudi Arabia, China, and South Korea, then took the unusual step of buying or leasing land long term in other countries on which to grow food for themselves. These land acquisitions have since grown rapidly in number. 73

VI. Socially Responsible Investing.

A. From Open Letter from Worldwatch Institute to U.S. Secretary of Education..

75
75

1) .Transforming our nation's economic, energy, and environmental systems to move toward a green economy will require a level of expertise, innovation, and cooperative effort unseen since the 1940s to meet the challenges involved. 75 B. Socially Responsible Investing. 76

1) Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $3.07 trillion out of $25.2 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. 76 2) Many investors understand that the ways people spend and invest can dramatically influence both the fabric and consciousness of society. We recognize that corporations may have either a positive or negative impact on people, communities, and our natural environment. 77 C. Fair Trade.. 78

1) We believe the rise of the Conscious Consumer will cause a fundamental shift in the way companies do business and create a historic opportunity to reward companies that embrace sustainability.. 78 2) There are now 827 Fairtrade certified producer organizations in 58 producing countries, representing over 1.2 million farmers and workers. 79 D. BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. 79

1) The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies(BALLE) is a growing North American alliance of nearly 60 fully autonomous local business networks with their own names, missions, and initiatives, representing about 20,000 US and Canadian entrepreneurs... 79 2) Living economy communities produce and exchange locally as many products needed by their citizens as they reasonably can, while reaching out to other communities to trade in those products they cannot reasonably produce at home. These communities value their unique character and encourage cultural exchange and cooperation... 80 12

E. Green America

81

1) At Green America: we mobilize people in their economic rolesas consumers, investors, workers, and business leaders; we focus on economic strategieseconomic action to solve social and environmental problems; we empower people to take personal and collective action.. 81 2) Helping socially and environmentally responsible businesses emerge and thrive. Learn more about Green America's National Green Pages, our directory of green businesses coast to coast.. 81 F. About New Economics Institute (formerly the E.F. Schumacher Society).. 1) The work of the New Economics Institute includes the Berkshares Local Currency Program G. Community Visioning Initiatives, Job Fairs, and Local Currencies 1) Local Currency and a Just Transition to More Solution-Oriented Employment a) The purpose of a local currency is to function on a local scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scalebuilding the local economy by maximizing circulation of trade within a defined region.. 82 b) The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process advocated by The IPCR Initiative provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities .. 83 c) One aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. 83 2) More about local currencies.. 83 82 82 82

a) Since local currencies are only accepted within the community, their usage encourages the purchase of locally-produced and locally-available goods and services. 83 b) Launched in the fall of 2006, BerkShares had a robust initiation, with over one million BerkShares having been circulated in the first nine months and over 2.7 million to date. Currently, more than four hundred businesses have signed up to accept the currency.. 84 13

c) Ithaca Hours is a local currency system that promotes local economic strength and community self-reliance in ways which will support economic and social justice, ecology, community participation and human aspirations in and around Ithaca, New York. 84

VII. International Human Service Organizations.

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A. Every year, Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) provides emergency medical care to millions of people caught in crises in nearly 60 countries around the world.... 86 B. Teachers Without Borders connects teachers to information and each other to create local change on a global scale. 87 C. Heifer International.. 87

1) Every family and community that receives assistance promises to repay their living loan by donating one or more of their animal's offspring to another family in need. This practice of "Passing on the Gift" ensures project sustainability, develops community and enhances self-esteem by allowing project partners to become donors... 87 2) Heifer International Gift Catalog--Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. 88 D. iDE (International Development Enterprises) 1) Most of the poorest individuals on our planet, more than 800 million, are subsistence farmers who survive by farming small plots of land. We work with these populations in order to make a significant impact on global poverty... 2) creating opportunities for small farmers to increase their income. Small farmers comprise 70 percent of the world's 2 billion poor people.. 88

88 89

3) Example Success Story: we noticed a lack of access to water in rural villages, and believed that manually powered irrigation pumps could solve the problem and allow farmers to increase productivity. 90

VIII. Interfaith Peacebuilding..

A. Religions for Peace.

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91

1) Religions for Peace is the largest international coalition of representatives from the worlds great religions dedicated to promoting peace. 91

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2) Global Network of Women of Faith-- Religions for Peace recognizes that women of faith around the world have enormous capacities for leadership and effective action in all areas of human development. At present, the Global Network includes more than 1,000 Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Indigenous, Sikh and Zoroastrian religious womens organizations.. 91 B. United Religions Initiative 92

1) Since the signing of our charter in 2000, we have touched the lives of millions of people of different faiths around the world through a network of 527 interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs), whose members number half a million... 92 2) Interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs)build cooperation among people of all faiths and traditions to address the most pressing issues facing their collective communities, including poverty, religiously motivated violence, environmental degradation and more... 92 3) CCs share perspectives from different traditions; offer humanitarian relief; organize music festivals; clean rivers, offer hospice counseling; develop educational programs; create opportunities for intercultural encounter and interfaith reflection, and a host of other activities. 93 C. The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative. 93

1) The beliefs that there is a critical need for an exponential increase in compassion for our

fellow human beingsand that at no other time in history has there been more potential for such an increasehave urged and inspired The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (www.ipcri.net ) to explore how such potential might be realized... 93

2) Key Documents include: IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report, Many Danger Signs Flashing Red and Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights.. 94 3) Community Good News Networksfor the purpose of bringing to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how may ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help as well as to those who receive it.. 94

IX. Sister Community Relationships.

A. The IPCR Initiative and sister community relationships

95
95

1) It is in the context of the leanings of human aspirations regarding human moralityand in the context of emphasizing the need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beingsthat The IPCR Initiative encourages communities (with the resources to do so) to enter into sister community relationships with communities in other countries where there has been well documented calls for assistance with basic human needs. 95 15

B. There are many communities in the world who already have sister community relationships with communities in other parts of the world. 1) About Sister Cities International...

95 95

a) The organizations global network is comprised of 600 U.S. cities partnered with 2,000 communities in 136 countries. Sister Cities International works through longterm, grassroots city-to-city partnerships that address international development projects, sustainable development, economic development, youth and education, arts and culture, and humanitarian assistance... 95 b) Sister Cities International creates relationships based on cultural, educational, information and trade exchangesthat provide prosperity and peace through person-to-person citizen diplomacy... 96 c) Services provided to communities joining Sister Cities International include: eligibility to apply for seed grants to support sister city projects, access to information and how-to guides, mentoring and staff consultation.. 96
C. Ten Examples of Humanitarian Aid Which Can be Explored Through Sister Community Relationships.97

X. Key International Funding Networks.

A. Global Fund for Women

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1) Numerous studies have demonstrated that educating women and girls is the single most effective strategy to ensure the well-being and health of children, and the long-term success of developing economies. 98 2) GFW has been both seeding and supporting indigenous womens funds in every continent around the globe. Research on 1,000 womens organizations by Association of Womens Rights in Development (AWID) found that womens funds are the main source of income for the majority of these organizations, many of which have annual budgets of less than $5,000.. 99 3) Global Expertise: our board and advisory council include local activists who know the realities facing women and the operational challenges for women's rights organizations. B. Womens Funding Network 1) Women's Funding Network is the largest philanthropic network of women's funds dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls around the world.. 2) Only 37% of countries have achieved gender parity in secondary education. 16

99 100 100 100

XI. Inspiring Role Models.

A. Key Insights from Mahatma Gandhi.

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1) Gandhi advocated for small, local and predominantly village-based technology to help India's villages become self reliant . 102 2) Swadeshi avoids economic dependence on external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. It also avoids unnecessary, unhealthy, wasteful, and therefore environmentally destructive transportation. The village must build a strong economic base to satisfy most of its needs, and all members of the village community should give priority to local goods and services... 102 3) Gandhi said, A certain degree of physical comfort is necessary but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help; therefore the ideal of creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them, seems to be a delusion and a trap. The satisfaction of one's physical needs must come at a certain point to a dead stop before it degenerates into physical decadence... 103 B. Key Insights of J.C. Kumarappa 103

1) In 1935, the India National Congress formed the All India Village Industries Association (AIVIA) for the development of (the) rural economy (in India), with Gandhiji as President and Kumarappa as Secretary and Organiser. 103 2) every article in the bazaar has moral and spiritual values attached to it hence it behooves us to enquire into the antecedents of every article we buy. (Yet this) is an arduous task, and it becomes almost impossible for ordinary persons to undertake it when the article comes from far off countries. Therefore, it is that we have to restrict our purchase to articles made within our cognizance. This is the moral basis of Swadeshi.. 103 3) If we feel it is beyond us to guarantee the concomitant results of all our transactions, it necessarily follows that we must limit our transactions to a circle well within our control. This is the bed rock of swadeshi The smaller the circumference, the more accurately can we guage the results of our actions, and (the) more conscientiously shall we be able to fulfill our obligations as trustees... 104 C. Key Insights from Booker T. Washington 104

1) From the very beginning, at Tuskegee, I was determined to have the students do not only the agricultural and domestic work, but to have them erect their own buildings. My plan was to have them, while performing this service, taught the latest and best methods of labour, so that the school would not only get the benefit of their efforts, but the students themselves would be taught to see not only utility in labour, but beauty and dignity.. 104

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2) The supplying of them to the people in the community has had the same effect as the supplying of bricks, and the man who learns at Tuskegee to build and repair wagons and carts is regarded as a benefactor by both races in the community where he goes. The people with whom he lives and works are going to think twice before they part with such a man. 105

Appendices
Appendix A Introduction to the Clearinghouse Websites and the Four Key Documents (titled New Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving and Citizen Peacebuilding) Appendix B 125 Related Fields of Activity.. Appendix C A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative.. Appendix D 9 Sample Questions for Preliminary Surveys. Appendix E Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections?. Appendix F A List of Ten Critical Challenges.......... 107 113 115 133 138 146

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I. Preliminary Surveys (as Preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives)

A. Preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from a variety of fields of activity) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative. Organizations and communities of people often use questionnaires and surveys to identify problems and solutions, and to build consensus for collective action As stated in Section III. The IPCR Constellation of Initiatives Model for. ,The IPCR Initiative advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives responses to the challenges of our times. Preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from a variety of fields of activity) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative, and Appendix Dincludes 9 Sample Preliminary Survey Questions. [Many additional suggestions for questions are offered in 39 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives) (32 pages)]. B. Responses and summarized results from Preliminary Surveys can providestarting points for public discourse about the importance of the CVI; starting points for CTLC workshop content. Preliminary surveys for Community Visioning Initiatives could be as simple as asking 150 key leaders in the community what they think of as the most critical challenges, and what they think are the best solutions to those challenges. However, there is much more which can be accomplished through careful design, implementation, compilation of responses, and summary processes associated with preliminary surveys. Step 3 of that 15 step outline suggests creating a Preliminary Survey, and sending such a survey to 150 key leaders who represent a variety of fields of activity in the community. Responses and summarized results from Preliminary Surveys can provide: i) evidence from local leaders of the need for a re-assessment of current priorities ii) examples of local leaders stepping up in support of CVI iii) starting points for public discourse about the importance of the CVI iv) starting points for CTLC workshop content v) starting points for some participants as they develop Final Version decisions (votes) on challenges, solutions, and action plans vi) an aid to mobilizing a high level of interest in the CVI, and a high level of citizen participation vii) an initial sense of support or non-support for the sister community element

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C. refined questionnaires can do much to maximize citizen interest and participation in integrating new knowledge and new skill sets into the community. This writer recognizes that although most of the key leaders (referred to above) could contribute something as a response the 9 sample questions in Appendix D, many residents of a given community may not contribute responseseither because it would take too much time, or because the questions explore complex subjects they are not familiar with. It is very important for communities of people to become aware that there are very difficult challenges ahead, and these difficult challenges will require some very significant learning experiences before we are able to resolve them. Refined questionnaires, with questions which most of the residents can quickly respond to, can be developed from responses to preliminary surveys sent to 150 key leaders; and the refined questionnaires can do much to maximize citizen interest and participation in integrating new knowledge and new skill sets into the community. D. Some of the challenges of our times are at the very core of the difficulty of being human beings, and are challenges which people have faced since the beginning of time(thus) it would be of great assistance if as many people as possible were bringing forth their best suggestions on how to move towards solution-oriented activity. As an example of some of the difficult concepts which may need to be brought up in surveys to 150 key leaders, consider the following commentary: 1) Were I to have the least bit of knowledge, in walking on a Great Road, its only going astray that I would fear. The Great Way is very level; but people greatly delight in tortuous paths. (Lao Tzu) 2) One of the most persistent ironies in life is that with so many opportunities to provide real assistance to fellow human beingsand with the potential for such assistance to result in happiness to those who extend help as well as to those who receive itthere are still many, many people in this world who cannot find a way to earn a living providing such assistance. 3) Some of the challenges of our times are at the very core of the difficulty of being human beings, and are challenges which people have faced since the beginning of time. Some of the challenges are circumstantial: during times when there is much prosperity many people may not recognize these fields of activity as problematic and yet, such activities may contribute much to the persistent irony mentioned above. And some of the challenges may be considered the result of a kind of spiritual sickness: people with clear opportunities for walking on a Great Road are instead greatly delighting in tortuous paths. Commentary: In a time of many critical challenges, it would be of great assistance if as many people as possible were bringing forth their best suggestions on how to move towards solution-oriented activity. Questionnaires can be created which will accumulate information, suggestions, etc. that can be of critical importance in resolving the above mentioned irony.

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E. 9 Sample Preliminary Survey Questions (in Appendix D, p. 133) F. Identifying 150 Key Leaders in Community (to be Recipients of Preliminary Surveys) 1) These are the people in your community whose opinions are respected, whose insights are valued, and whose support is almost always needed to make any big changes. From the webpage Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative, at the website for Community Tool Box (see http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1083.aspx )(paragraphs 1-4) So much of what we do in community work involves attempts to influence people --to continue healthy behaviors, to stop (or at least cut down on) unhealthy behaviors, to volunteer their time or make a financial donation, to attend our events and fundraisers, and so on. When someone has influence, he has some level of ability to sway or induce people into doing what he wants them to do. Influence is something we're always trying to gain. Luckily for us, we can often find people who already have this strange and wonderful quality and use their influence to our own advantage. Every community, no matter what size it is or how long it's been around, has its influential people --elected officials, business people, religious leaders, or just ordinary citizens --who have a lot of influence when it comes to what decisions get made and how things happen. What do we mean by influential people? These are the people in your community whose opinions are respected, whose insights are valued, and whose support is almost always needed to make any big changes. Generally, they're regarded as having a finger on the pulse of the community, able to express the point of view of the public (or some significant portion of the public) and usually having some influence over community opinion. An influential person may be a formal leader, such as a city commissioner or a well-respected minister, but may also be someone whom people in the community look up to and respect, like the owner of a well-loved local restaurant or a young mother whose activism has earned the trust of the people in her neighborhood. As you might imagine, there are many benefits having people like these supporting your initiative. 2) Influential people may be able to let you know what concerns are held by people in the community. From the webpage Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative, at the website for Community Tool Box (see http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1083.aspx )(paragraph 5) So what are the advantages of involving influential people?

Influential people may be able to let you know what concerns are held by people in the community. Influential people may be able to let you know how the community will react to your initiative. Influential people may have access to community history you're unaware of that might affect the course of your initiative. 21

Influential people may be able to garner participation in and acceptance and support for your initiative in the community. Influential people may lend some credibility to your cause by being associated with you and your group. Influential people may help you work out specific problems you're having in the community. Influential people may be able to convince people who might otherwise be against your group to support it. Influential people may have access to resources like people, space, equipment, etc. that you might otherwise have difficulty getting.

3) The cross country torch relay for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) began April 27 in Los Angeles and ended July 19 in Atlanta. Of the approximately 10,000 torch-carriers, about 5,000 were community heroes selected by local United Way panels based on nominating essays. a) How do you identify and meet the influential people in a community? Some key people are obvious. Particular political figures--state representatives, mayors, etc.--become key figures as a direct result of their positions. Other politicians--town councilors, for instance--may be more or less influential, depending upon their constituency and their political savvy. Sometimes it's the politician's aide, rather than the politician herself, who makes important decisions and really has an effect on public opinion. And what about community activists, or members of the business and financial community? How do you tell the players from the bystanders? And how do you get to know the players? There are certain people in any community--some of whom may be influential themselves-who are likely to know just where the power and influence lies. Among these are, in no particular order:

Directors of human service and government agencies Legislative aides Grassroots activists Religious leaders Business leaders and people active in service clubs (Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, etc.) or the Chamber of Commerce, who are usually members of the business and financial sector United Way directors and Board members Senior citizen activists

b) In the Greater Washington D.C. area (USA), there are: approximately 2,400 places of worship; well over 1,200 non-profit human service organizations (with services ranging from food and clothing supplies for needy, homeless shelters, alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation, healthcare, employment assistance, etc. From the section We Have the Resources to Overcome the Challenges of Our Times in the IPCR document Peacebuilding in Its Most Compassionate Form (41 pages; August-November, 2007) (at http://www.ipcri.net/3_Peacebuilding_in_its_Most_Compassionate_Form.pdf ) (see p. 5) In the Greater Washington D.C. area (USA), there are: approximately 2,400 places of worship well over 1,200 non-profit human service organizations (with services ranging 22

from food and clothing supplies for needy, homeless shelters, alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation, healthcare, employment assistance, etc.) well over 1,000 civic associations and advisory neighborhood commissions over 1,000 public and private schools over 350 continuing care retirement communities, independent living retirement communities, assisted living/group homes, nursing care facilities and home health care agencies for elders over 200 mens and womens service clubs over 125 fire departments and rescue squads over 50 hospitals over 50 central and district police stations over 50 universities, community colleges and theological seminaries over 30 boys and girls clubs a multitude of businesses large and small and many, many local, state, and federal government offices and agencies (from a database compiled in 1996 by this writer) c) The cross country torch relay for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) began April 27 in Los Angeles and ended July 19 in Atlanta. Of the approximately 10,000 torch-carriers, about 5,000 were community heroes selected by local United Way panels based on nominating essays. From the section We Have the Resources to Overcome the Challenges of Our Times in the IPCR document Peacebuilding in Its Most Compassionate Form (41 pages; August-November, 2007) (at http://www.ipcri.net/3_Peacebuilding_in_its_Most_Compassionate_Form.pdf ) (see p. 5) The cross country torch relay for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) began April 27 in Los Angeles and ended July 19 in Atlanta. Of the approximately 10,000 torch-carriers, about 5,000 were community heroes selected by local United Way panels based on nominating essays. Thirty-seven of the eighty-five torch-carriers in the Greater Washington D.C. area were community heroes. A graphicin the newspaper article referenced for this informationlisted all thirty-seven community heroes. (see the Washington Post on June 13, 1996) What follows are some of the brief descriptions, included in that graphic, of those community heroes. 4) If most ordinary citizens are going to have meaningful roles in an ongoing transition from dysfunctional systems which are very complex to functioning systems which are much less complex there will need to be local institutions which they can trust to provide common points of reference From document titled Much Unrealized Potential for Community Service, which was part of IPCR Outreach 2012 (all materials used in IPCR Outreach 2012 accessible at http://www.ipcri.net/IPCROutreach-2012.html ) If most ordinary citizens are going to have meaningful roles in an ongoing transition from dysfunctional systems which are very complex to functioning systems which are much less complexthere will need to be local institutions which they can trust to provide common points of reference to provide some kind of moral compasses which people can rely on through a time of constantly changing cultural landscapes. There is now a need for those local institutions which can provide such leadership to do so. Some suggestions: 23

a) Universities and Community CollegesPreliminary surveys in preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives, the actual implementation of Community Visioning Initiatives, and affordable and accessible education in support of Community Visioning Initiatives (at Community Teaching and Learning Centers) can result in apprenticeships, internships, volunteer opportunities, and training in key fields of activityall of which would minimize transitional unemployment. Administrators at universities and community colleges can recognize the urgent need for restructuring educational systems, and mobilize extraordinary levels of human effort in the above fields of activity. b) Local and Regional NewspapersThere are many opportunities for local newspapers to contribute very valuable community services. Some examples: a) advocate for the implementation of Community Visioning Initiatives b) be directly involved in making Preliminary Surveys accessible, provide in-depth coverage of the response compilation process to assure credibility, and provide a variety of summary and analysis of the responses c) provide ongoing public information of each stage of the Community Visioning process d) provide ongoing public information about workshops and other educational experiences at Community Teaching and Learning Centers e) report on inspirational role models and organizations in key fields of activity, which will assist the process of creating apprenticeships, internships, volunteer opportunities, and training. c) Local Places of WorshipAt a time when there is a urgent need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings, people associated with religious, spiritual, and moral traditions have critical decisions to make. Such people can demonstrate what is possible along the lines of wisdom and compassion, provide genuine instruction when sincere efforts to learn are being made, illustrate what is meant by contributing to the greater good of the whole, and help restore confidence in the higher values of life. In addition, Community Faith Mentoring Networks can create ongoing opportunities for people of one particular faith community or cultural tradition to experience the highest ideals of all local community specific and regional specific faith communities and cultural traditions, as representatives of such ideals are better appreciated, more easily recognizedand more numerous in the everyday circumstances of community life. When preliminary surveys are sent to 150 key leaders in a variety of fields of activity in local communitiesas preparation for Community Visioning Initiativesordinary citizens are going to look very carefully at the responses such leaders make.

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II. The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives

A. The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 500 words) There are many critical challenges ahead. An essential question is how to address the uncertainty which is causing much hesitation at a time many may regard as one of the most critical crossroads in history. Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. The IPCR Initiative advocates for Community Visioning Initiatives which are time-intensive, lasting even as long as 1 years (18 months)and which are supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (concept created by the Teachers Without Borders organization) (modified and expanded by The IPCR Initiative). Having as many as 20 Community Teaching and Learning Centers (CTLCs) per 50,000 residents would provide many accessible locations for people to learn important details about an ongoing Community Visioning Initiative. The CTLCs could function as information and resource centers, locations for workshops, centers for the training of teacher-leadersand locations where residents vote (identify and prioritize challenges, solutions, and action plans). Results from well thought out preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from a significant variety of fields of activity in the community) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative, and for many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (CTLCs)and help determine the topics to be covered by workshops in the CTLCs. The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities. One possible addition to this kind of citizen participation approach can be that people (especially unemployed people) who deliberately direct their investments of time, energy, and money towards assisting the Community Visioning processand supporting and sustaining the solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiativecould receive, as encouragement, local currency. Such local currency can, in its turn, be spent in ways which are particularly helpful to building stable and sustainable local economies. This approach to problem solving emphasizes personal and civic responsibility, maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges and solution-oriented activity, giving people an opportunity to become actively involved in a solution-charged environment, and minimizing the risk of transformation unemployment; and is especially appropriate to the building of close-knit communities of people communities with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges and communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings. 1000 time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives, in communities around the world, would create an exponential increase in solution-oriented investment, an exponential increase in solution-oriented employment, and an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times. 25

B. The IPCR Initiatives Constellation of Initiatives Approach to Challenge Resolution, Peacebuilding, and Ecological Sustainability A Seven Point List for Accelerating and Maximizing Solution-Oriented Activity [From Section VII. Solutions (see subsection A.) in IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report (444 pages; January, 2012) (with updates August, 2012)] 1) Identifying a Consensus Building Narrative. A central focus of The IPCR Initiative is its advocacy for a combination of Community Visioning Initiatives, "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" with ongoing workshops, and "sister community" relationships as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times. The narrative being identified here is time-intensive-and-place-specific community education, brainstorming, and problem solving with the goal of identifying challenges, and accelerating solution-oriented activity. I believe this approach is not imposing an ideology; I believe it is a straightforward application of relevant tools and resources towards critical problem solvingand in the context of community visioning, its the residents at the local community level who identify and prioritize problems and resources. 2) Develop and send out preliminary surveyscompile and share the results. Results from well thought out preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from many different fields of activity in the community) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative, and for Community Teaching and Learning Centers. [For more detail, see Section VI. The Importance of Preliminary Surveys and Appendix D 9 Sample Questions for Preliminary Surveys]. 3) Create many local resource centers and workshop locations. The concept of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (created by the Teachers Without Borders organization) (modified and expanded by the IPCR Initiative) is about creating many local community points of entry which function as information and resource centers, locations for workshops, and locations for the training of teacher-leaders (see Section V. The Importance of Community Teaching and Learning Centers for more detail about valuable contributions which can be made by Community Teaching and Learning Centers). Creating many Community Teaching and Learning Centers in a community carrying out a Community Visioning Initiative would have positive multiplier effects in the areas of education (workshop participation), participation (in identifying challenges, and actualizing solution-oriented activity), reducing polarization on issues (through an emphasis on the need for fellow citizens to rely on and support each other), and in building close-knit communities communities with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challengesand communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings.

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4) Maximize Citizen Participation. Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. [Note: The IPCR Initiative advocates for time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives, which may last as long as 18 months.] [Special Note: The 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (The IPCR Initiative model)(in Appendix C) is an example of collaborative problem solving at the local community leveland an example of the kind of problem solving which requires that each of us (not just those in power) actualize in our own lives practices and processes which turn polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (which make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has). There are difficult challenges ahead. We will need the best efforts we can make at working together to overcome such challenges.] [For more detail about Community Visioning Initiatives, see also Section XII. Summary Statements About the Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives] 5) Hold job fairs at the end of the Community Visioning process. The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities and thus assisting with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solution-oriented activity to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solution-oriented activity. 6) Make good use of the Sister Community model. Sister Community relationships provide whole communities with opportunities to assist other communities with such a just transition. In addition, such community-to-community relationships create service work capable of uniting diverse communities of people, and a variety of opportunities for person-to-person peacebuilding (as can be seen by the work of organizations such as Sister Cities International.). 7) Re-invent the community service element of local newspapers. This constellation of initiatives approach to maximizing citizen participation in solution-oriented activity also provides many opportunities for local newspapers to contribute very valuable community services. (For example: making preliminary survey results accessible; highlighting inspirational role models and service-oriented initiatives associated with the Community Visioning process; describing workshop activity in the Community Teaching and Learning Centers; providing accountability reporting relating to the planning, implementation, evaluation, and sharing the lessons stages of the Community Visioning Initiative; etc).

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C. The IPCR Initiative and Community Visioning Initiatives (Models and Proposals) [Special Note: Many cities and towns in the United States have carried out visioning initiatives or strategic planning exercises (see Google results for the key words community visioning); however, this writer does not know of any particular examples which are meant to be responses to most of the critical challenges highlighted by the IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report (444 pages) which was the inspiration for this CVI Clearinghouse website. Hopefully, one of the results of this CVI Clearinghouse website will be to increase use of CVIs as effective approaches to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding.] 1) The IPCR Community Visioning Initiative Model (A 15 Step Outline) [Full Disclosure Note: The Compiler for this Key Organizations document is also the founder and outreach coordinator for The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (at www.ipcri.net )]. As stated in the Introduction section, The IPCR Initiative advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives responses to the challenges of our times. Preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from a variety of fields of activity) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative, and the need for many Community Teaching and Learning Centers [more discussion in Section V. The Importance of Preliminary Surveys and many possible questions offered in 39 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives (32 pages)]. The IPCR Initiative offers a Community Visioning Initiative model in a 28 page document titled A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (also included in this document as Appendix C). The 15 Step. document provides sufficient detail for any community of people to understand the potential of this approach to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solutionoriented activity. Approximate Time Required: 1 year and 6 months (18 months) Approximate Cost: 3 million dollars (per initiative) The 15 Steps are: Step 1Steering Committee Selection, Administrative Assistant Selection (and Securing Volunteers for Advisory Board) Step 2Initial Preparation Step 3Preliminary Surveys Step 4Secondary Preparation 28

Step 5Workshops, Meetings, and Voting associated with the question: What are the challenges which require our most immediate attention? (Or What are the challenges with the greatest potential to de-stabilize economic systems, community life, and basic survival in community, regional, national, and international settings?). Step 6Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Prioritizing the List of Challenges Identified created in Step 5 Step 7A Two Week Interval from the Publication of the Challenges Prioritized Summary List to the Beginning of Step 8 Step 8Workshops, Meetings, and Voting to Brainstorm Solutions to the Challenges Prioritized Summary List Step 9Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Prioritizing the List of Solutions Identified created in Step 8 Step 10Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Developing Action Plans to Implement Prioritizing Solutions Step 11A Six Week Interval for Completion of Lists to be Published and Completion of Summary Reports for Upcoming Presentations in Step 12 Step 12Summary Presentations and Job Fairs Step 13Evaluating the Process Step 14An Eight Week interval for Compiling and Summarizing the Evaluation Surveysand for Printing the Final CVI Summary Reports (pdf files accessible on websites will be the preferred form of sharing this report) Step 15Sharing the Lessons, Carrying the Lessons into the Future 2) The 1000 Communities2 Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature a) There are many people who will be very appreciative when they find that they have an important role to play in the work ahead. Leaders should guide citizens so that they can discover how they can do their part to contribute to the greater good of the whole. From Open Letter for Outreach Package for IPCR Outreach 2008, part of an Educational Materials Outreach Package (all materials in Outreach Package accessible at http://www.ipcri.net/Earlier-IPCROutreach-Efforts.html ) which introduced The 1000Communities2 Proposal There are many difficult challenges ahead. Bringing solutions to light at the local community level is going to require critical thinking and significant action from both responsible citizens and young people working hard to become responsible citizens. There is much which leaders could be asking from the people who respect their leadership, both as a matter of civic duty, and as a matter of necessity; unfortunately, there are many important initiatives which are critical to resolving the challenges of our times, but which are not quite coming through the mist as much as they should be. There are many people who will be very appreciative when they find that they have an important role to play in the work ahead. Leaders should guide citizens so that they can discover how they can do their part to contribute to the greater good of the whole.

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b) The IPCR Initiative advocates organizing and implementing Community Visioning Initiatives in 1000 communities... around the world. From document The 1000Communities2 Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature (document which was used in IPCR Outreach 2008) (at http://www.ipcri.net/1000Communities2-forOutreach-Package-B.pdf )
[Note: The following is a one way of describing the potential of implementing 1000 of the kind of Community Visioning Initiatives described in the 15 Step Outline above.]

The IPCR Initiative advocates for organizing and implementing Community Visioning Initiatives in 1000 communities (communitiesor segments of rural areas, towns, or citieswith populations of 50,000 or less) around the world --which are time-intensive, lasting even as much as 1 years (18 months), so as to give as much importance to developing a close-knit community as it does to i) accumulating and integrating the knowledge and skill sets necessary for the highest percentage of people to act wisely in response to challenges identified as priority challenges ii) helping people to deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of ways of earning a living which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges iii) assisting with outreach, partnership formation, and development of service capacity for a significant number of already existing (or forming) organizations, businesses, institutions, and government agencies iv) helping to build a high level of consensus for specific action plans, which will help inspire additional support from people, businesses, organizations, institutions, and government agencies with significant resources --which expand on the concept of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (created by the TeachersWithout Borders organization) so that such local community points of entry function as information clearinghouses, meeting locations, education centers for ongoing workshops (on a broad range of topics related to the Community Visioning Process, and building the local knowledge base), practice sites for developing teacher-leaders, a location for an ongoing informal Community Journal, a location for listing employment opportunitiesand provide a means of responding quickly (by changing the emphasis of workshop content) to new urgencies as they arise --and which suggest (as a way of emphasizing the need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings) that communities (with the resources to do so) enter into sister community relationships with communities in other countries where there has been well documented calls for assistance with basic human needs. [Note: The above proposal was part of a key document used in IPCR Outreach 2008 (descriptions of all documents used in IPCR Outreach 2008 at http://www.ipcri.net/Earlier-IPCR-Outreach-Efforts.html ). The key document which highlighted the above 1000Communities2 proposal was titled The 1000Communities2 Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature (see http://www.ipcri.net/1000Communities2-for-Outreach-Package-B.pdf )]

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c) Cost Estimate-- This writer believes that a significant majority of people surveyed would say they support shifting .2% (point 2 percent) of public funds currently used for military preparedness and military interventions to carry out 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives. This writer has estimated (roughly) that one Community Visioning Initiative (involving a community of 50,000 for 18 months time) would cost $3 million. One of the central proposals of The IPCR Initiative advocates for collaboration on carrying out 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives as a way of creating many positive multiplier effects and much solutionoriented momentum. If one Community Visioning Initiative would cost $3 million, 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives would cost $3 billion. $3 billion is only .2% of $1,531 billion (total military expenditures worldwide in one year-2009). This writer believes that a significant majority of people surveyed would say they support shifting .2% (point 2 percent) of public funds currently used for military preparedness and military interventions to carry out 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives. Why does he believe this? Because it is clear to himand he believes it would be clear to most other people, if they were askedthat such a shift would be a transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to the challengesdiscussed in the associated document Many Danger Signs Flashing Redto patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to these challenges. It is also clear to this writer that such a shift in what people consider valuable and important would result in an exponential increase in opportunities to provide real assistance to fellow human beings. And it is clear that similar shifts from patterns of investment associated with greed, corruption, and overindulgence could be achieved so that time, energy, and money could be rechanneled towards more solution oriented activity. If many readers of this paper were in agreement with this writer that many of the challenges cited in the document Many Danger Signs Flashing Red were critical challengesand that such challenges were so serious that all of us have important responsibilities associated with resolving these challenges in the months and years aheadsuch shifts in the allocation of public funds, and such transitions in patterns of investment could be carried out. D. The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages) One of four key documents offered at both the CVI Clearinghouse and the CTLC Clearinghouse, when these websites went online in November, 2012. The four documents: 1. 2. 3. 4. "Many Danger Signs Flashing Red" (62 pages) (Nov. 2012) "The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages)" (Nov., 2012) "The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 65 pages) (Nov., 2012) "Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights" (146 pages) (Nov., 2012)

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III. Community Teaching and Learning Centers

This CTLC Clearinghouse document highlights the potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers in this way: A. as a multi-purpose support center for implementing Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs) B. as a neighborhood meeting place and workshop center C. as a low cost lifelong learning education system A. As a multi-purpose support center for implementing Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs), Community Teaching and Learning Centers can function as 1) information centers, resource centers, and clearinghouses (on how residents can deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of ways of earning a living which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges) Example 1: Residents jumping in at Step 6 Residents in the community with a CVI in progress will have many opportunities to become informed results of preliminary surveys to 150 key leaders, newspaper commentary on those survey results, local website blogging on those results, meetings and workshops in their neighborhood CTLC, etc.of the progress of the CVI. By referring to Appendix C, readers can see that Step 6 (p. 124) in the outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (CVI) is Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Prioritizing the List of Challenges Identified created in Step 5. Even residents who have been out-of-the-loop during the 30 weeks (7 and a half months) that the CVI has been in-progress could now jump in to the process by visiting their neighborhood CTLC, and reading a few key documents (or even attending a workshop which is preparation for Step 6). Even this much effortand some quick update discussion with neighborswould be enough preparation for submitting a Final Version document (voting) in accordance with Step 6 that is, submitting a document which highlights that residents opinion on how the challenges identified in Step 5 should be prioritized. 2) locations for workshops on topics suggested by the Preliminary Survey (for more about Preliminary Surveys see the next section of this document), and as determined by the Community Teaching and Learning Center Coordinator Example 1: Results from preliminary surveys translating into workshops It is possible that the preliminary surveys to 150 key leaders in a community will illustrate the following results to Question #3 (on difficult challenges ahead; see Appendix D): a high degree of consensus that the combination of global warming and the end of the era of cheap energy will require a transition from highly energy intensive mega-cities to more sustainable small cities and towns. While this may seem to be a very complex challenge, there are many, many organizations and initiatives which have been working for many years on these subject areas. Some of those organizations and initiatives are highlighted in the CTLC document Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights. Residents who studied the results of the preliminary surveys to 150 key leaders, and wished to attend a workshop at their 32

neighborhood CTLC on how they could contribute to such a transition would surely find workshops scheduled on that topic. 3) practice sites for the development of teacher-leaders Commentary 1: Workshops for teachers, experiential learning (by facilitating workshops), and professional mentoring can result in an accelerated program for developing teacher-leaders. In the Introduction section of this document, this writer referenced the work of the organization Teachers Without Borders. Specifically, (from website content no longer accessible), part of their capability statement went as follows: We help to grow teachers. We identify talent and find a way of attracting, retaining, and supporting cohorts of teachers from all sectors of local communities. We find mentors for teachers to ensure subject-matter mastery and teaching technique, and then provide opportunities at our community teaching and learning centers for emerging teachers to practice. Teachers Without Borders is one of many organizations which has the capacity to assist with the development of teacher-leaders at the local community level. Teachers and workshop facilitators at CTLCs can receive professional mentoring and attain subject matter mastery on-the-flythat is, while they are also assisting with workshops at the CTLCs. Workshops for teachers (see Gaia Education Design for Sustainability - Training of Trainers - Incorporating Transition Towns Training 13 October - 9 November 2012 references in the CTLC document Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights), experiential learning (by facilitating workshops), and professional mentoring can result in an accelerated program for developing teacher-leaders. 4) community centers for meetings, both planned and informal Commentary 1: Knowing our neighbors in case of emergency Currently, most neighborhoods in many towns and cities around the world do not have a community center where residents can go for information, resources, workshops, meetings, etc on any number of community-specific topicsor more wide ranging topics. Yes, it is true that there has never been more access to informationas televisions and computers with Internet access can provide news and other kinds of information from all parts of the world, and many people in even remote parts of developing countries have cellphones with access to the Internet. There are, however, downsides to the availability of highly individualized choices for where and what we regard as informationmany people are losing the personal skills necessary to work with others towards common goals. In addition, many people may be thinking that there are less and less common goals we need to concern ourselves with. There will come a time when we will need to work together with our neighborsregardless of who they are, and who we areto overcome critical challenges, whether it be a response to a natural disaster, or to challenges which have been neglected in public discourse for too long. When this happens (not if), those of us who already have established CTLCs will be glad that we had the foresight to do so. 5) locations for Community Journals (which are collections of formal and informal input which may be contributed to or accessed at all times) Commentary 1: A Community Journal would make it possible for many insights and observations which could be helpful to identifying challenges, and sharing ideas for solution-oriented activity.

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This writer has had three different experiences with Community Journals (all of them positive). First, at a youth hostel on the Appalachian Trail, he read entries in a journal that had been there for years, and learned about many peoples hiking experiences (and other stories which they were inspired to contribute). Second, an instructor at the University of New Hampshire (in the Department of Outdoor Education) had a farm near the university, and had constructed a yurt on the property. Many individuals and groups had visited the yurt, and/or stayed overnight in the yurt. There was a journal inside the yurt, and this journal had many, many fascinating entries, from people of all ages, and from many children. Third, this writer rented a room in an 8 bedroom house with 7 other housemates, at one time in his life. Most of the other people living in the house were part of a Community Theater group. The extended family associated with the Theater People in the house had been keeping Community Journals for years, and were on Volume 3 during this writers stay at the house. The journal received all kinds of entries, including many entries during Halloween Parties, when the Theater People were very creative about the costumes they wore for such parties. It is therefore easy, for this writer, to imagine that having a Community Journal accessible at all times in a CTLC could be a very valuable form of informal educationwhich would make it possible for many insights and observations which could be helpful to identifying challenges, and sharing ideas for solution-oriented activity. 6) locations for Final Version Document submission (voting) as part of Steps 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 of the 15 Step Community Visioning Initiative (see A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative) Commentary 1: CTLCs and Step 10 Step 10 of the 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (see Appendix C) is: Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Developing Action Plans to Implement Prioritizing Solutions. Specifically, one suggested goal is that residents submit specific outlines of relevant, practical and doable steps for implementing prioritized solutions, so that as many residents as possible can understand how to use their time, energy, and money in ways that will resolve the challenges of our times. In addition, residents are encouraged to work at home, in informal groups, and/or through meetings, workshops etc. at the CTLCs, to arrive at point by point answers to the following questions a) Who would they like to see as the lead organization, agency, institution,, etc. for implementing which solutions? b) How would they like that organization, etc. to proceed? c) What are the most practical and doable steps in such an action plan, and how can they be clearly stated so that they can be understood by as many people as possible? d) How will the general public know if the desired results are being achieved? Most of us may believe that the challenges ahead relating to the economy or health care or financial institutions are being sufficiently managed by the many experts there are in those respective fields of activity. However, there are a growing number of people who believe that there are many difficult challenges ahead, and the challenges are such that they will not be resolved by the experts while the rest of us are doing something else. When a significant minority of people in a given community become aware how many critical challenges are not receiving the attention they should (see the CTLC Clearinghouse document Many Danger Signs Flashing Red), and also begin to appreciate the valuable assistance which can be rendered by Community Visioning Initiatives and Community Teaching 34

and Learning Centers, there will be organizations, initiatives, and key documents which can help them to move to an accelerated level of problem-solving that CVIs and CTLCs can offer (for one example, see the CTLC document Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights). 7) locations for Summary of Community Visioning Initiative Process to Date Notebooks (for latecomers, and as an information resource for media) Example 1: Helping a community do its best to hold together As highlighted in Section V. Special Emphasis on the Importance of Local Newspapers, there are many opportunities for local newspapers to contribute very valuable community services in the planning, implementation, evaluation, and follow up stages associated with Community Visioning Initiatives. Here is a list of some of the community services local newspapers could contribute: a) provide information about the potential of Community Visioning Initiatives b) advocate for the implementation of Community Visioning Initiatives c) be directly involved in making Preliminary Surveys accessible, provide in-depth coverage of the response compilation process to assure credibility, and provide a variety of summary and analysis of the responses d) provide ongoing public access to details of each stage of the Community Visioning process e) provide ongoing public access to details of workshops and other educational experiences at Community Teaching and Learning Centers f) provide in-depth coverage of the all response compilation processes to assure credibility g) provide a variety of summary and analysis of the responses at each stage of the process h) provide follow-up coverage of the projects and initiatives which spin-off from the action plans receiving significant community support i) encourage citizen input as a way of further evaluating the successes and failures of the process While it is true that much information travels through electronic media, in times when there is a heightened need for neighbor to neighbor assistance, over a long period of time, accessing updates from an actual CTLC in an actual neighborhood can provide first-hand experiential results of what person-to-person efforts have created and those efforts will be recorded in Summary of Process Notebooks to encourage people to come to the local neighborhood CTLC. In the education and planning of an unprecedented transition over a long period of time, this writer believes that it is going to be the actual people-to-people assistance of one another in neighborhood CTLCs which helps a community do its best to hold together. Electronic media can help in many, many ways with logistics and communication, but working out the people related issues in the lives of each resident as an unprecedented transition takes place is going to involve peacebuilding skills, and a community center which encourages the development of such peacebuilding skills. 8) central locations for listings of employment opportunities Example 1: (All such activities) job fairs, facilitating new employment opportunities, residents volunteering time, energy, and money towards solution-oriented activity, receiving local currency, and spending local currencycan be coordinated through neighborhood CTLCs. The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process advocated by this website provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, 35

organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities and thus helping with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges. And one aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. Such local currency can, in its turn, be redeemed in ways which can be particularly helpful to people transitioningfrom less solution-oriented employment to more solution-oriented employment. All of the above described activitiesjob fairs, facilitating new employment opportunities, residents volunteering time, energy, and money towards solution-oriented activity, receiving local currency, and spending local currencycan be coordinated through neighborhood CTLCs, so that maximum benefits can accrue throughout the community. 9) as a special form of community education, which can respond quickly (by changing the emphasis of workshop content) to new urgencies as they arise Commentary 1: This writer sees many Community Teaching and Learning Centers as a key to working together. If there was a financial crisisdue to the limits of economic growth imposed by global warming and the end of the era of cheap energy, and the overleveraged condition of many systemically connected banksthere may need to be emergency education of a kind that was not even undertaken during the Great Depression (in the United States). We have the tools and the resources to carry out such emergency educationeven if there were disruptions to the electronic grid which we are so dependent on now. But with all the resources we have individually, if we continue to think individually, even during a crisis, much of the resources may not reach the people who need them, when they need them, and that could lead to a disorderly unraveling of the current social support systems. If, on the other hand, people are thinking collectively; that ishow can we best work together to get from where we are to the end of the crisis, all of us will have a better chance of upholding social support systems. This writer sees many Community Teaching and Learning Centers as a key to working together. Special Note: On Establishing a Sufficient Number of CTLCs for a successful Community Visioning Initiative Establishing a sufficient number of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (CTLCs) is a critical prerequisite to going forward with Community Visioning Initiatives of the nature described in this proposal. Identifying and securing somewhere near 20 public access buildings (per community area with a population of 50,000) which can function as described in the beginning of this sectionand which can (thus) accommodate as many as 300 people per day coming in and out at different times for an extended period of time (possibly a year, or more) (with associated parking considerations) (and with, hopefully, no rent associated with it)narrows the possibilities to a point that probable requires a sense of shared urgency among many members of the community. 36

Unfortunately/fortunately, such a sense of shared urgency may be approaching. In the time period preceding such urgency, word may get around about Community Visioning Initiative approaches (such as the one described in this proposal) through the efforts of people who believe that we can overcome the challenges ahead, and are ready to go forward with visioning based constellation of initiatives approaches. Such people may, by their efforts in advance, prepare the way for a sufficient number of CTLCs to be established on short notice. The importance of CTLCs is so critical (at least from this writers point of view) that without a sufficient number of assurances relating to CTLCs as a prerequisite, there will be no advantage to initiating the 15 Step Community Visioning Initiative process advocated by this website. B. as a neighborhood meeting place and workshop center 1) Where neighbors can go to learn how they can work together If the responses to preliminary surveys to 150 key leaders in a specific community (or geographic area of no more than 50,000 people) is published and draws much positive attention, many people may become aware of the potential good which Community Visioning Initiativessupported by many CTLCscan provide. Then, as CTLCs are established, and the CVI process begins, community residents will begin to see that CTLCs provide a kind of neighborhood meeting place that many people have wanted all along a place where people can go to learn with their neighbors how they can work together to a higher common goal. 2) Workshop Center Besides workshop content suggested by preliminary surveys (see above multi-purpose support for CVIs), and workshop content relevant to the challenges identified by the actual CVI process, CTLCs will be seeking to workshop content which meets the basic needs of the community it is serving. If that community of people is in any way becoming engaged on the most critical issues of our times, those subject areas are likely (as highlighted at the CTLC Clearinghouse website) to include:

Agrarian Reform Alleviating Hunger Alternative Gifts Apprenticeships Appropriate Technology Carbon Footprint Child Sponsorship Community Economics Community Land Trusts Community Supported Agriculture

Job Fairs Local Currency Local Stock Exchanges Open Courseware Permaculture Questionnaire Development Renewable Energy School-Business Partnerships Service Learning Sister Communities

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Community Visioning Initiatives Composting Toilets Cradle to Cradle Ecovillages Fair Trade Food Autonomy Food Co-ops Holistic Health Care Inspiring Role Models

Socially Responsible Investing Swadeshi Village Industries Water Supply and Management Womens Rights Zero Waste

3) Affordable Workshop Rates It is possible to imagine workshops being offered at a rate of $100 for a 2 hour workshop (Note: This
example is scaled for readers in the United Statescost and currency would vary according to the country participating), with the number of teachers and participants varying. An important part of cost

accessibility is that as the number of participants goes up (towards a reasonable limit) the cost per participant would go down. Thus, if there were two teachers and 25 participants for a two hour workshop, the participants would only pay $4 each, and the teachers would earn $50 each. (And even the $4 cost to the participants could be paid in local currency, if there was a process by which residents could earn local currency by making solution-appropriate investments of time, energy, and money in their local community.) C. As a low cost lifelong learning education system 1) Turning tragic irony into virtuous cycle (commentary) (becoming informed in this way needs to be very affordable.) Consider the following two observations: --Again and again, in references to the debt crises, there is mention of the need for economic growth. Unfortunately, the kind of economic growth which is most often being referred to includes a vast array of enterprises which require the continued exploitation of flaws and weaknesses in human nature, fragile ecosystems, and already significantly depleted natural resourcesand which are much of the reason why cultures of violence, greed, and corruption have become so common that most people believe they are inevitable [see Section IV Cultures of Violence, Greed, Corruption, and Overindulgence in IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report (444 pages; January, 2012 (with updates August, 2012)] --Most economic development and growth strategies encouraged rapid accumulation of physical, financial and human capital, but at the expense of excessive depletion and degradation of natural capital, which includes the endowment of natural resources and ecosystems. By depleting the worlds stock of natural wealth often irreversibly this pattern of development and growth has had detrimental impacts on the wellbeing of current generations and presents tremendous risks and challenges for the future. The recent multiple crises are symptomatic of this pattern. 38

Existing policies and market incentives have contributed to this problem of capital misallocation because they allow businesses to run up significant, largely unaccounted for, and unchecked social and environmental externalities. To reverse such misallocation requires better public policies, including pricing and regulatory measures, to change the perverse incentives that drive this capital misallocation and ignore social and environmental externalities. From Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication United Nations Environment Programme 2011; from the Introduction, p. 14-15 (full report accessible at http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/GreenEconomyReport/tabid/29846/Default.aspx ) (press release dated November 16, 2011, accessible at http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_press_16nov11_en.pdf )(confirmed October 19, 2012) Commentary There seems to be a kind of tragic irony in the approaches to economic growth favoring for-profit capital investment strategies when many such strategies require highly specialized and expensive education, are more beholden to stockholders than local communities, apparently cannot reward stockholders and resolve high unemployment at the same timeand require the continued exploitation of flaws and weaknesses in human nature, fragile ecosystems, and already significantly depleted natural resources (which are much of the reason why cultures of violence, greed, and corruption have become so common that most people believe they are inevitable). There have been times in the past when predominantly for-profit capital investment strategies were part of financing advances in manufacturing, medicine, transportation, technology, etcand during those times such strategies were given much credit for creating a higher quality of life for many, many people. But predominantly for-profit capital investment strategies are not the only way such advances could have occurred. And nowin our current circumstancesthe only way the above mentioned kind of economic growth could be considered a positive contribution to quality of life is if we dont really understand what we are doing. Consider: a) Everyone is involved when it comes to determining the markets which supply the ways of earning a living. b) The ways we invest our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the ways of earning a living that are available. c) The investments of time, energy, and money that each of us make in our everyday circumstances becomes the larger economy. The problem: people who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and investing their time, energy, and moneyvotingall the time. Consider also: 39

a) Were I to have the least bit of knowledge, in walking on a Great Road, its only going astray that I would fear. The Great Way is very level; but people greatly delight in tortuous paths. (Lao Tzu) b) One of the most persistent ironies in life is that with so many opportunities to provide real assistance to fellow human beingsand with the potential for such assistance to result in happiness to those who extend help as well as to those who receive itthere are still many, many people in this world who cannot find a way to earn a living providing such assistance. Some of the challenges of our times are at the very core of the difficulty of being human beings, and are challenges which people have faced since the beginning of time. Some of the challenges are circumstantial: during times when there is much prosperity many people may not recognize these fields of activity as problematic (in IPCR Critical Challenges Assessement 2011-2012: Summary Report, see Section V. Cultures of Violence, Greed, Corruption, and Overindulgence) and yet, such activities may contribute much to the persistent irony mentioned above. And some of the challenges may be considered the result of a kind of spiritual sickness: people with clear opportunities for walking on a Great Road are instead greatly delighting in tortuous paths. This writer does believe that the challenges ahead of us are unprecedented; and that we will need problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before. The great tragedy would be that with all the knowledge and wisdom of 5,000 years of human history, and with all the communication technology available now which provides pathways for sharing that knowledge and wisdom in ways that would contribute to the greater good (ecological stability for our planet, and peace and goodwill among the greater majority of its inhabitants)that many of us continue to follow tortuous paths, and the persistent irony of many, many people who still cannot find ways to earn a living assisting their fellow human beings remains an unfortunate legacy which we continue to pass along to future generations. There are so many benefits which would accrue if most of us took a more constructive and solutionoriented path towards the problem solving we need to do. This writer believes that communities around the world will soon need ways to fully utilize all the knowledge, tools, and resources accessible to them for the highest good possible in every area of capacity building (physical, ecological, medical, spiritual, educational, social, economic, technical, political, etc.). And he does not see how such full utilization can be realized without an increase in local community points of entry which provide ongoing, affordable, and neighborhood-friendly workshops. This is why he advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders, time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives. The Community Visioning Initiative Clearinghouse website and the Community Teaching and Learning Center website (and the associated documents The Potential for Community Visioning Initiatives (in 97 pages), The Potential for Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 57 pages), and Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights) attempt to demonstrate how we can mobilize our human resources so that we we can approach full utilization. The collaborative peacebuilding efforts of many 40

Community Visioning Initiatives (supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers) could contribute much to the building of close-knit communities of people with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, and close the gaps on the challengessolutionstrainingemployment sequence. Maximum citizen participation in identifying challenges and solution-oriented activity would generate many sustainable economic, ecological, cultural, and community investment pathways, create many low cost training programs, and result in higher levels of employmenta virtuous cycle. Significant parts of the above mentioned economic growth approach might be very costly all around; a combination of CVIs and CTLCs might be least costly of all. These insights are what inspires this writer to advocate for CVIs and CTLCs. Yes, most of the challenges ahead are very complex, and thus it will be best if people making decisions at the local community level sift through some of the evidence (with the assistance of local teacherleaders). But their motive for sifting through some of the evidence need not be understood as part of studying for a Ph.D on the subject, or as part of deciding how to vote for a particular candidate in elections. From this writers point of view, it would be best if their motive was so they can make informed decisions regarding how they invest their time, energy, and money in the everyday circumstances of their daily lives. Again: a) Everyone is involved when it comes to determining the markets which supply the ways of earning a living. b) The ways we invest our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the ways of earning a living that are available. c) The investments of time, energy, and money that each of us make in our everyday circumstances becomes the larger economy. The process of citizens sifting through some of the evidence relating to the complex challenges ahead, so they can make informed decisions needs to beand can bevery affordable (Ex: $100 for a 2 hour workshop, with the recommended number of participants for workshops is 5-15 people., and a sliding scale as follows: if there are 5 participants for a 2 hour workshop, the cost would be $20 for each participant; if there are 15 participants for a 3 hour workshop, the cost would be $10 for each participant. Somehow or other, we need to sort through information associated with these complex challenges, and we need to do so in a way that helps us to realize how much we need to be learning so that we can be part of the solutions and how much we really need to be on the same side, helping each other. Making workshops at CTLCs is one way of encouraging people, neighborhoods and whole communities to share resources, and help each other learn at this time of so many critical challenges. In addition, the job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process advocated by this website provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities and thus helping with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to 41

prioritized challenges. And one aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. Such local currency can, in its turn, be redeemed in ways which can be particularly helpful to people transitioningfrom less solution-oriented employment to more solution-oriented employment. This writer hopes that it is clear how the development of CTLCs, and the development of teacherleaderswhen linked to Community Visioning Initiativescan contribute directly to all four of the primary goals (see below) associated with using a Community Visioning Initiative approach to create multiplier effects of a positive nature (for full length description, see p. 30): The IPCR Initiative advocates for organizing and implementing Community Visioning Initiatives in 1000 communities (communitiesor segments of rural areas, towns, or citieswith populations of 50,000 or less) around the world --which are time-intensive, lasting even as much as 1 years (18 months), so as to give as much importance to developing a close-knit community as it does to a) accumulating and integrating the knowledge and skill sets necessary for the highest percentage of people to act wisely in response to challenges identified as priority challenges b) helping people to deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of ways of earning a living which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges c) assisting with outreach, partnership formation, and development of service capacity for a significant number of already existing (or forming) organizations, businesses, institutions, and government agencies d) helping to build a high level of consensus for specific action plans, which will help inspire additional support from people, businesses, organizations, institutions, and government agencies with significant resources This writer does understand thatinitiallymany of the teacher-leaders which are created by this approach will not be experts in the emerging knowledge areas and skill sets needed to respond to the challenges of our times. However, what they will be is very important: they will be links to expert resources, and will function as facilitators for integrating just such knowledge into the local community as quickly, and in as affordable a process, as possible. D. The Hunger Projects Epicenter Strategy 1) The Epicenter Strategy is integrated and holistic. It achieves synergy among programs in health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), education, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming and food security, microfinance, water and sanitation, and building community spirit with a momentum of accomplishment involving the entire population. (Community Centers for Meeting Basic NeedsThe Hunger Project) From the Community Centers for Meeting Basic Needs webpage, at The Hunger Project website (see http://www.thp.org/what_we_do/key_initiatives/community_centers/overview )

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The Hunger Project's Epicenter Strategy In Africa, The Hunger Project's methodology is implemented through epicenters: clusters of rural villages where women and men are mobilized to create and run their own programs to meet basic needs. After several phases over a five- to eight- year period, an epicenter becomes self-reliant, meaning it is able to fund its own activities and no longer requires further investment from The Hunger Project. The Hunger Project has mobilized more than 100 epicenter communities in eight countries in Africa. Twenty-one of those epicenters are self-reliant. The Epicenter Strategy is integrated and holistic. It achieves synergy among programs in health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), education, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming and food security, microfinance, water and sanitation, and building community spirit with a momentum of accomplishment involving the entire population. It is economically sustainable. The primary resources for the strategy come from the local people themselves and by making existing local government resources more effective. Income generation is built into the strategy from the start. Within five to eight years, our epicenters require little or no financial support from The Hunger Project. They are entirely self-reliant. The Epicenter Strategy is environmentally sustainable. People at our epicenters learn composting and small-scale, environmentally sound irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation. At the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2005, The Hunger Project announced one of its most ambitious initiatives: to demonstrate that the Epicenter Strategy can be taken to full national scale. We have undertaken our first scale up program in Ghana. E. A key role which can be played by philanthropy 1) Using state-of-the-art architectural plans initially drawn by professors at Tuskegee Institute, the Rosenwald Fund spent over four million dollars to help build 4,977 schools, 217 teachers' homes, and 163 shop buildings in 883 counties in 15 states, from Maryland to Texas. Here it will be most appropriate to provide some inspiration relating to the key role which can be played by philanthropy, in both creating education systems, and in the just transition to more solutionoriented employment: (Note: Specifically, this writer believes that if there was anything resembling the kind of philanthropy described below directed to the support of Community Visioning Initiatives and/or Community Teaching and Learning Centers, there could be much momentum generated towards resolving the challenges of our times.) In this regard, the work of Booker T. Washington (and of the philanthropists who recognized the value of the work he was doing) is most inspirational: [from the Wikipedia page for Booker T. Washington (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington )(see sections Career Overview and Julius Rosenwald] Washington's philosophy and tireless work on education issues helped him enlist both the moral and substantial financial support of many major white philanthropists. He became friends with such selfmade men as Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers; Sears, Roebuck and Company President 43

Julius Rosenwald; and George Eastman, inventor and founder of Kodak. These individuals and many other wealthy men and women funded his causes, such as supporting Hampton and Tuskegee institutes. Each school was originally founded to produce teachers. However, graduates had often gone back to their local communities only to find precious few schools and educational resources to work with in the largely impoverished South. (from section Career Overview, paragraphs 9-10) In 1912, Rosenwald provided funds for a pilot program involving six new small schools in rural Alabama, which were designed, constructed and opened in 1913 and 1914 and overseen by Tuskegee; the model proved successful. Rosenwald (then) established The Rosenwald Fund. The school building program was one of its largest programs. Using state-of-the-art architectural plans initially drawn by professors at Tuskegee Institute, the Rosenwald Fund spent over four million dollars to help build 4,977 schools, 217 teachers' homes, and 163 shop buildings in 883 counties in 15 states, from Maryland to Texas. The Rosenwald Fund used a system of matching grants, and black communities raised more than $4.7 million to aid the construction. These schools became known as Rosenwald Schools. The local schools were a source of much community pride and were of priceless value to African-American families when poverty and segregation limited their children's chances. By 1932, the facilities could accommodate one third of all African American children in Southern U.S. schools. (from section Julius Rosewald) F. The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 502 words) The Community Teaching and Learning Center (CTLC) Clearinghouse website has been created to advocate for, assist in the development and support of CTLCs which function 1) as a low cost lifelong learning education system 2) as a neighborhood meeting place and workshop center and 3) as a multipurpose support center for implementing Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs)--specifically Community Visioning Initiatives which maximize citizen involvement in identifying challenges, and in solutionoriented activity. Workshops at such neighborhood meeting places, on topics identified as most relevant by preliminary surveys (sent to 150 key leaders in the community), could contribute to the collaborative problem solving potential of Community Visioning Initiatives, contribute to the building of close-knit communities of people with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, and close the gaps on the challenges-solutions-training-employment sequence. Maximum citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity, would generate highly relevant investment, identify fields for solution-oriented training, and result in higher levels of employmenta virtuous cycle. And becoming informed in this way needs to be very affordable. Suppose there is a $100 cost for a 2 hour workshop, with the recommended number of participants for workshops is 5-15 people. There could be a sliding scale which works as follows: if there are 5 participants for a 2 hour workshop, the cost would be $20 for each participant; if there are 15 participants for a 3 hour workshop, the cost would be $10 for each participant, etc. Making workshops at Community Teaching and Learning Centers affordable would help create local learning networks, with neighbors sharing what they learned, so that workshop lessons reached the maximum number of residents. In addition, the job fairs element of the Community Visioning Initiative process would provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, citizens, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare 44

of the community by investing our time, energy, and money in ways that create solutions to challenges prioritized in the Community Visioning Initiative process. Finally, people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. Such local currency can be used to acquire the job training necessary to qualify the new ways of earning a living created by the Community Visioning Initiative. Encouraging as much formal and informal meetings with other people in the local neighborhoods for discussion, information sharing, mutual support and encouragement, fellowship and friendship can contribute to creating a close-knit community of people with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, and a well developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges. As this CTLC Clearinghouse becomes an aggregator for ideas, discussions, questionnaire development, Community Teaching and Learning Center workshop ideas, model project descriptions, project details, etc, many people who may not have understood the potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers may begin to see more and more examples of that potential being realized. G. The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 65 pages) One of four key documents offered at both the CVI Clearinghouse and the CTLC Clearinghouse, when these websites went online in November, 2012. The four documents: 1. 2. 3. 4. "Many Danger Signs Flashing Red" (62 pages) (Nov. 2012) "The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages)" (Nov., 2012) "The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 65 pages) (Nov., 2012) "Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights" (146 pages) (Nov., 2012)

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IV. Ecovillage Design Education and Permaculture

A. While drawing upon best practices within ecovillages and transition settings worldwide, Gaia Education works in partnership with universities, ecovillages, government and non-government agencies and the United Nations. (Ecovillage Design EducationGaia Education) Ecovillage Design EducationGaia Education 1) Gaia Education works in partnership with universities, ecovillages, government and non-government agencies and the United Nations. From the homepage of the Gaia Education website (at http://www.gaiaeducation.net/ ) Gaia Education promotes a holistic approach to education for sustainable development by developing curricula for sustainable community design. While drawing upon best practices within ecovillages and transition settings worldwide, Gaia Education works in partnership with universities, ecovillages, government and non-government agencies and the United Nations. 2) Since 2006 Gaia Education has successfully supported the delivery of more than 135 programmes on five continents. From the Gaia Education, Sustainability Education, UNDESD webpage at the Gaia Education website (see http://www.gaiaeducation.net/index.php/en/gaia-education.html ) Since 2006 Gaia Education has successfully supported the delivery of more than 135 programmes on five continents. Internationally, the number of four-week long intensives and other course formats are increasing steadily along with a sharp increase in the number of applicants and participants of these courses. These vocational courses are open to a diverse group of people with a wide range of professional and academic backgrounds who are interested in taking an active role in the sustainability transition. With regard to higher education and academically accredited courses Gaia Education has so far endorsed a series of semester-long undergraduate programmes offered by Living Routes and the University of Massachusetts which are taught at various ecovillages worldwide. 3) In four weeks you get an overview of all you need to know to design sustainable settlements all over the world. From the Ecovillage Design Education webpage, at the Global Ecovillage Network website (see http://gen.ecovillage.org/education/ecovillagedesigneducation.html ) The Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course is a program of a GEN partner, Gaia Education. This new initiative was launched at Findhorn in October 2005 by a group of Ecovillage educators calling themselves The GEESE (Global Ecovillage Educators for Sustainable Earth.) The key program is a UNITARendorsed 4 week holistic introduction to designing sustainable settlements based on the GEN living and learning principle. In four weeks you get an overview of all you need to know to design sustainable settlements all over the world. 46

4) Example Coursework: Gaia Education Design for Sustainability - Training of Trainers - Incorporating Transition Towns Training (13 October - 9 November 2012) at Findhorn Community, Scotland) From an introduction to Ecovillage Design coursework at the Findhorn Foundation website: (at http://www.findhorncollege.org/programmes/ecovillageeducation/designforsustainability.php ) [Note: also accessible at that webpageA 7 minute video titled Gaia Education: At the Cutting Edge of Sustainability] Gaia Education Design for Sustainability - Training of Trainers - Incorporating Transition Towns Training 13 October - 9 November 2012 presented by the Findhorn Foundation in partnership with Global Ecovillage Network and Gaia Education Based on Ecovillage Design - an official contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Facilitated by: Pracha Hutanuwatr - Director, Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand May East - Director, Gaia Education Michael Shaw - Director, Ecovillage International Iain Davidson - Lecturer, Findhorn Foundation and Findhorn Ecovillage experts You are invited to join this four-week comprehensive programme based on the four core pillars of the Ecovillage Design: the social, worldview, ecological and economic dimensions of sustainability. The programme content draws on the experience and expertise developed in a network of some of the most successful ecovillages and community projects across the Earth. Design for Sustainability Training of Trainers is an advanced course based at the Findhorn Ecovillage providing a practical forum for learning and developing skills needed to work effectively with design for sustainability at all levels. It comprises four separate week-long modules, which may be attended as a whole or separately. Social Design - Week 1: Oct 1319 Building Community & Embracing Diversity Communication Skills and Feedback Facilitation and Decision-Making Processes Conflict Facilitation Personal Empowerment and Leadership Celebrating Life: Creativity and Art Economic Design - Week 2: Oct 2026 Shifting the Global Economy to Sustainability 47

How Money Works: Community Banks and Currencies Right Livelihood Social Enterprise Legal and Financial Issues Ecological Design - Week 3: Oct 27Nov 2 Whole Systems Approach to Ecological Design Appropriate Technology: Water Organic Agriculture and Local Food Appropriate Technology: Energy Green Building & Retrofitting Worldview - Week 4: Nov 39 Holistic Worldview Listening to and Reconnecting with Nature Awakening & Transformation of Consciousness Personal Health, Planetary Health Socially Engaged Spirituality and Bioregionalism The EDE is being introduced to the world at this time to complement, correspond with, and assist in setting a standard for the United Nations' Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 20052014. B. Global Ecovillage Network 1) The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridge different cultures, countries, and continents. (from the About Us section, at http://gen.ecovillage.org/about-gen/aboutgen.html ) (paragraph 1) The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridge different cultures, countries, and continents. GEN serves as umbrella organization for ecovillages, transition town initiatives, intentional communities, and ecologically-minded individuals worldwide. 2) We envision an expanding network of communities, businesses, NGOs, media, educational institutions, governments, foundations, writers, researchers, educators, students, and citizen activists exchanging information and experiences globally. (from the Vision and Mission section, at http://gen.ecovillage.org/about-gen/vision-mission.html ) (paragraph 1) We envision an expanding network of communities, businesses, NGOs, media, educational institutions, governments, foundations, writers, researchers, educators, students, and citizen activists exchanging information and experiences globally to enhance our individual and collective capacity for living sustainably in community, at the present and for future generations. 48

C. Permaculture 1) It should be possible to design land use systems which approach the solar energy harvesting capacities of natural systems while providing humanity with its needs. From the article Energy and Permaculture by David Holmgren, co-creator of the permaculture concept) (article first written in 1990, published in Permaculture Activist Issue #31 May, 1994) (see Agriculture and Forestry section)(at http://www.permacultureactivist.net/articles/holmgren.htm ) (confirmed October 13, 2012) 2) The transition from an unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy back to a solar-based (agriculture and forestry) economy will involve the application of the embodied energy that we inherit from industrial culture. From the article Energy and Permaculture by David Holmgren, co-creator of the permaculture concept) (article first written in 1990, published in Permaculture Activist Issue #31 May, 1994) (see Mollison section)(at http://www.permacultureactivist.net/articles/holmgren.htm ) (confirmed October 13, 2012) The transition from an unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy back to a solar-based (agriculture and forestry) economy will involve the application of the embodied energy that we inherit from industrial culture. This embodied energy is contained within a vast array of things, infrastructure, cultural processes and ideas, mostly inappropriately configured for the solar economy. It is the task of our age to take this great wealth, reconfigure it, and apply it to the development of sustainable systems. 3) Carefully observing natural patterns characteristic of a particular site, the permaculture designer gradually discerns optimal methods for integrating water catchment, human shelter, and energy systems with tree crops, edible and useful perennial plants, domestic and wild animals and aquaculture. From Introduction to Permaculture section of the Permaculture Activist website at http://www.permacultureactivist.net/intro/PcIntro.htm#Defined Carefully observing natural patterns characteristic of a particular site, the permaculture designer gradually discerns optimal methods for integrating water catchment, human shelter, and energy systems with tree crops, edible and useful perennial plants, domestic and wild animals and aquaculture. Farming systems and techniques commonly associated with permaculture include agro- forestry, swales, contour plantings, Keyline agriculture (soil and water management), hedgerows and windbreaks, and integrated farming systems such as pond-dike aquaculture, aquaponics, intercropping, and polyculture. Gardening and recycling methods common to permaculture include edible landscaping, keyhole gardening, companion planting, trellising, sheet mulching, chicken tractors, solar greenhouses, spiral herb gardens, swales, and vermicomposting. Water collection, management, and reuse systems like Keyline, greywater, rain catchment, constructed wetlands, aquaponics (the integration of hydroponics with recirculating aquaculture), and solar aquatic ponds (also known as Living Machines) play an important role in permaculture designs. 49

In developing an awareness of the importance of relationships in the design of self-reliant systems, two statements in permaculture literature and teaching have been central: a) each element performs many functions b) each important function is supported by many elements. 4) A Directory of Permaculture Projects Worldwide, at http://permacultureglobal.com/projects lists 602 projects. D. Gaia University 1) you will emerge from your program with clear ideas about ways you can contribute of the diverse and inspiring global worknet of innovative non-profits, micro-enterprises and community development projects focused on positive ecological and social change. From Welcome Letter at the website for Gaia University (at http://www.gaiauniversity.org/welcomegaia-university ) (see paragraph 6) (confirmed October 29, 2012) We are not a school that grooms you for jobs in the corporate marketplace. You join us because you expect to make a living engaged with projects that you know are needed on the planet right now. As a Gaia University associate you will learn how to identify leverage points for effective leadership and action and develop a wide range of skill-flexes in project design and management. These are much sought-after abilities in the job market today, and the evidence that you have developed these skills to a high degree will be visible in the in-depth documentation of your projects that constitutes your Gaia University ePortfolio. Like the graduates who have gone before you, you will emerge from your program with clear ideas about ways you can contribute of the diverse and inspiring global worknet of innovative non-profits, micro-enterprises and community development projects focused on positive ecological and social change.

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V. Food Sovereignty
A. Definition: Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies, which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. From the Food Sovereignty page of Grassroots International (Funding Global Movements for Social Change) (see http://grassrootsonline.org/issues/food-sovereignty ) (confirmed October 29, 2012) Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies, which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to foodproducing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies. Food Sovereignty: A Right For All, Political Statement of the NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty, Rome, June 2002 B. La Via Campesino 1) .La Via Campesina launched the idea of food sovereignty at the World Summit on Food 1996. This gave rise to a global grassroots movement focused today by a variety of social sectors such as urban poor communities, associations of environmental protection and consumer protection, women's organizations, traditional fishing, to pastoralists and many others. From the What is La Via Campesina?: The voice of farmers and peasants of the world webpage, at the website of La Via Campesina (see http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/organisation-mainmenu44/quest-ce-que-la-via-campesina-mainmenu-45 ) (paragraphs 1, 2, and 6-8) .La Via Campesina launched the idea of "food sovereignty" at the World Summit on Food 1996. This gave rise to a global grassroots movement focused today by a variety of social sectors such as urban poor communities, associations of environmental protection and consumer protection, women's organizations, traditional fishing, to pastoralists and many others. Food sovereignty is recognized by several institutions and governments. Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced with sustainable methods, and the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts at the heart of food systems and policies aspirations, needs and livelihoods of those who produce, distribute and consume food, rather than the demands of markets and multinational companies. Food sovereignty prioritises production and local food consumption. It develops a model that promotes sustainable farm production communities and their environment. It also gives countries the right to protect their producers and producers of cheap imports and it allows them to control their food production. It ensures that the rights to use and manage lands, territories, water, seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those who produce food and not under the control of the food industry . The implementation of a genuine agrarian reform is one of the main priorities of the peasant movement. 51

2) The Seven Principles of Food Sovereignty From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems Michel Pimbert Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereigntyreclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 3.2. Food sovereignty: an alternative paradigm for food and agriculture, p. 43-44) Box 3.2. Food sovereignty: a future without hunger During the 1996 World Food Summit, La Va Campesina presented seven mutually supportive principles that define an alternative paradigm for food, agriculture and human well-being: 1. Food A Basic Human Right Food is a basic human right. Everyone must have access to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain a healthy life with full human dignity. Each nation should declare that access to food is a constitutional right and guarantee the development of the primary sector to ensure the concrete realization of this fundamental right. 2. Agrarian Reform A genuine agrarian reform is necessary which gives landless and farming peopleespecially women ownership and control of the land they work and which returns territories to indigenous peoples. The right to land must be free of discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, race, social class or ideology; the land belongs to those who work it. Smallholder farmer families, especially women, must have access to productive land, credit, technology, markets and extension services. Governments must establish and support decentralised rural credit systems that prioritise the production of food for domestic consumption to ensure Food Sovereignty. Production capacity rather than land should be used as security to guarantee credit. To encourage young people to remain in rural communities as productive citizens, the work of producing food and caring for the land has to be sufficiently valued both economically and socially. Governments must make long-term investments of public resources in the development of socially and ecologically appropriate rural infrastructure. 3. Protecting Natural Resources Food Sovereignty entails the sustainable care and use of natural resources, especially land, water, seeds and livestock breeds. The people who work the land must have the right to practise sustainable management of natural resources and to preserve biological diversity. This can only be done from a sound economic basis with security of sustainability demands a shift away from dependence on chemical inputs, on cash-crop monocultures and intensive, industrialized production models. Balanced and diversified natural systems are required. Genetic resources are the result of millennia of evolution and belong to all of humanity. They represent the careful work and knowledge of many generations of rural and indigenous peoples. The patenting and commercialisation of genetic resources by private companies must be prohibited. The WTOs Intellectual Property Rights Agreement is therefore unacceptable. Farming communities have the right to freely use and protect the diverse genetic resources, including seeds and livestock breeds, which have been developed by them throughout history.

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4. Reorganising Food Trade Food is first and foremost a source of nutrition and only secondarily an item of trade. National agricultural policies must prioritise production for domestic consumption and food self-sufficiency. Food imports must not displace local production nor depress prices. This means that export dumping or subsidised exports must cease. Smallholder farmers have the right to produce essential food staples for their countries and to control the marketing of their products. Food prices in domestic and international markets must be regulated and reflect the true costs of producing that food. This would ensure that smallholder farmer families have adequate incomes. It is unacceptable that the trade in food commodities continues to be based on the economic exploitation of the most vulnerablethe lowest earning producersand the further degradation of the environment. It is equally unacceptable that trade and production decisions are increasingly dictated by the need for foreign currency to meet high debt loads. These debts place a disproportionate burden on rural people and should therefore be forgiven. 5. Ending the Globalisation of Hunger Food Sovereignty is undermined by multilateral institutions and by speculative capital. The growing control of multinational corporations over agricultural policies has been facilitated by the economic policies of multilateral organisations such as the WTO, World Bank and IMF. Regulation and taxation of speculative capital and a strictly enforced code of conduct for transnational corporations is therefore needed. 6. Social Peace Everyone has the right to be free from violence. Food must not be used as a weapon. Increasing levels of poverty and marginalisation in the countryside, along with the growing oppression of ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, aggravate situations of injustice and hopelessness. The ongoing displacement, forced urbanisation, repression and increasing incidence of racism of smallholder farmers cannot be tolerated. 7. Democratic Control Smallholder farmers must have direct input into formulating agricultural policies at all levels. The United Nations and related organisations will have to undergo a process of democratisation to enable this to become a reality. Everyone has the right to honest, accurate information and open and democratic decision-making. These rights form the basis of good governance, accountability and equal participation in economic, political and social life, free from all forms of discrimination. Rural women, in particular, must be granted direct and active decision-making on food and rural issues. Source: La Va Campesina, 1996 3) La Via Campesina comprises about 150 local and national organizations in 70 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. In all, it is about 200 million farmers and peasants. From the What is La Via Campesina?: The voice of farmers and peasants of the world webpage, at the website of La Via Campesina (see http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/organisation-mainmenu44/quest-ce-que-la-via-campesina-mainmenu-45 ) (paragraphs 1 and 2) La Via Campesina is an international movement which brings together millions of peasants and farmers, small and medium-sized producers, landless, women and rural youth, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers ... It defends sustainable agriculture, small-scale as a means of 53

promoting social justice and dignity. It is clearly opposed to industrial agriculture and multinational companies that destroy people and the environment. La Via Campesina comprises about 150 local and national organizations in 70 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. In all, it is about 200 million farmers and peasants. It is a movement autonomous, pluralist and multicultural, non-political, economic or otherwise. C. IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development) 1) IIED is one of the worlds most influential international development and environment policy research organisations . From the About Us section of the IIED website (at http://www.iied.org/about-us ) IIED is one of the worlds most influential international development and environment policy research organisations. Founded in 1971 by economist Barbara Ward, who forged the concept and cause of sustainable development, we work with partners on five continents. We build bridges between policy and practice, rich and poor communities, the government and private sector, and across diverse interest groups. We contribute to many international policy processes and frameworks, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the UN conventions on climate change and biological diversity. D. Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-foodsovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) [Note: At the time chapters from Towards Food Sovereignty were published (January, 2010), Dr. Michel Pimbert was Principal Researcher and Team Leader for Agroecology and Food Sovereignty at the UK based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED www.iied.org ). An agricultural ecologist by training, he previously worked at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India, the University Franois Rabelais de Tours in France, and the World Wide Fund for Nature in Switzerland. He has also done research for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), The World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Dr. Pimbert has been a Board member of several international NGOs working on food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture and human rights. He is currently the Deputy Chair of the Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) of The World Conservation Union (IUCN). Michel's work centres on food sovereignty and citizenship, sustainable agriculture and livelihoods, the political ecology of natural resource and biodiversity management, as well as participatory action research and deliberative democratic processes.] [From Speakers Biographies for Policy Opportunities for Agroecology conference (January, 2012; Magdelen College, Oxford)(at http://www.ukfg.org.uk/orfc2012/ )] 54

1) Table of Contents for Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I (Chap. 1 - 3): ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE (Download PDF) Chapter 1. Local food systems, livelihoods and environments 1.1. Food systems and livelihoods 1.2. The ecological basis of food systems Chapter 2. The making of multiple crises in food, agriculture and environment 2.1. The social costs of modern food systems 2.2. The environmental costs of modern food systems Chapter 3. Food sovereignty: a citizens vision of a better world 3.1. La Va Campesina and the concept of food sovereignty 3.2. Food sovereignty: an alternative paradigm for food and agriculture Enabling national policies and legislation Enabling global multilateralism and international policies PART II (Chap. 4) : LOCAL ORGANISATIONS AT THE HEART OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY (Download PDF) Chapter 4. The role of local organisations in sustaining local food systems, livelihoods and the environment 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Local adaptive management of food-producing environments 4.2.1. The use of sophisticated environmental indicators to track and respond to change 4.2.2. The use of diversity to reduce risks and mitigate impacts of natural disasters and long-term environmental change 4.3. Local organisations and peoples access to land and food 4.3.1. Locally-developed rules for resource access and use 4.3.2 Local organisations and access to land 4.3.3. Local organisations regulating access to food 4.4. Nested organisations and the management of dynamic complexity 4.5. Federations, networks and organised policy influence 4.6. The need to strengthen local organisations for food sovereignty 4.6.1. Beyond the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4.6.2. Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and international conservation 4.6.3. Concluding remarks PART III (Chap 5 - 9): TRANSFORMATION FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY (Chap. 5 and 7 available) Introduction Chapter 5. Reclaiming citizenship: empowering civil society in policy-making (Download PDF) 5.1. Learning from history to re-invent active forms of citizenship 5.2. Building local organisations 5.3. Strengthening civil society 55

5.3.1. Building upon synergies between the government and society 5.3.2. Collaboration between local and external civil society actors 5.3.2. Independent pathways from below 5.4. Methodologies for citizen participation in policy processes 5.5 Nurturing citizenship 5.5.1. Learning to engage in high quality processes of deliberation and inclusion 5.5.2. Ensuring safeguards for quality and validity 5.5.3. Learning to expand information democracy Chapter 6. Social inclusion and building countervailing power (Forthcoming) Chapter 7. Transforming knowledge and ways of knowing (Download PDF) 7.1 Transforming knowledge 7.1.1 Beyond reductionism and the neglect of dynamic complexity 7.1.2 Overcoming myths about people and environment relations 7.1.3 Decolonising economics 7.2 Transforming ways of knowing 7.2.1 Inventing more democratic ways of knowing 7.2.2 Re-enchanting the world through self-reflective and holistic ways of knowing 7.2.3 Enabling contexts for social learning and action Chapter 8. Agro-ecology and eco-literacy as a basis for the design of resilient food systems (Forthcoming) Chapter 9. Deepening democracy and freedom from want (Forthcoming) Conclusion: some final reflections Notes: Remaining chapters and the fully referenced multimedia book will be published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in 2011. Extracts from this book may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes without permission, provided full acknowledgement is given to the author and publisher as follows: Michel Pimbert (2009). Towards food sovereignty: reclaiming autonomous food systems. IIED, London. (Note from Compiler of this Key Organizations. document: I have not been able to find any indication that the book Towards Food Sovereignty. by Michel Pimbert was published in its entirety.) 2) most international and national social, economic and environmental policies envision fewer and fewer people directly dependent on localised food systems and their environments for their livelihoods and culture. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chpt. 1, Introduction, p. 5-6) 56

Second, much of the Millennium Development community sees development as a process in which there will be a reduction in the number of people engaged in farming, fishing and land/water-based livelihoods. It is assumed that small-scale food producers, rural artisans, food workers and many of the rural poor will inevitably migrate to urban areas and find new and better jobs. And indeed, most international and national social, economic and environmental policies envision fewer and fewer people directly dependent on localised food systems and their environments for their livelihoods and culture. Encouraging people to move out of the primary sector and get jobs in the largely urban-based manufacturing and service sectors is seen as both desirable and necessaryregardless of the social and ecological costs involved. This modernist development agenda and the corporate thrust for radical monopoly control over the global food system are mutually supportive elements of the same paradigm of economic progress. This view of progress assumes that history can repeat itself throughout the world. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a direct relationship between the vast increases in productivity achieved through the use of automated technology, re-engineering, downsizing and total quality management, and the permanent exclusion of high numbers of workers from employment, in both industry and the service sector. This erosion of the link between job creation and wealth creation calls for a more equitable distribution of productivity gains through a reduction of working hours, and for alternative development models that provide opportunities and local autonomous spaces for the generation of use values rather than exchange values (Gollain, 2004; Gorz, 2003; Latouche, 2003). Regenerating autonomous food systemswith, for and by citizensis a key challenge in this context. Reclaiming such spaces for autonomy and well-being depends on strengthening the positive features of local food systems and on large-scale citizen action grounded in an alternative theory of social change. These themes are explored in this book. 3) A striking feature of all these reports is the lack of recognition of the past, present and possible future role of local organisations in meeting fundamental human needs and sustaining the environment. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 4.6 The need to strengthen local organisations for food sovereignty, p. 51) The international community and governments have recently produced a number of global assessments on increasing malnutrition and food insecurity, the widening gap between the rich and poor, climate change, biodiversity loss and the collapse of ecosystem goods and services (MA, 2005; FAO, 2007; UNDP, 2008; IPCC, 2007). A striking feature of all these reports is the lack of recognition of the past, present and possible future role of local organisations in meeting fundamental human needs and sustaining the environment. Moreover, proposals for corrective action and policy responses to these multiple crisis mainly call either for more market or more technocratic state interventions. Citizens and their local organisations are barely mentioned in this context. The 57

exclusion of indigenous peoples from the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is typical of this trend (Box 4.20). 4) Yet many of the local organisations that are central to poverty reduction and environmental sustainability are those that are formed and managed by low-income householdsfor instance subsistence farmer organisations, co-operatives of women food processors, savings and credit groups, and the federations formed by the rural and urban poor. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 4.6 The need to strengthen local organisations for food sovereignty, p. 51 and p. 53) Reflecting on the lack of attention given to local organisations in the MDG process, the editors of a recent critical report (Bigg and Satterthwaite, 2005) argue that: Most of the local organisations that benefit and represent poorer groups are invisible to development assistance. Yet many of the local organisations that are central to poverty reduction and environmental sustainability are those that are formed and managed by low-income householdsfor instance subsistence farmer organisations, co-operatives of women food processors, savings and credit groups, and the federations formed by the rural and urban poor. The problem is not that pro-poor, representative organisations do not exist but that they are so often invisible to external experts and international agencies. Whilst successful development is intensively local, most development actions and investments are planned, implemented and evaluated centrally by national governments and international agencies. The institutional structures of official aid agencies and development banks are largely incapable of supporting diverse local processes that really deliver for the poor. In large part, this is the legacy of the 1950s conception of development assistance (capital to help national governments invest in productive activities and infrastructure). Although the understanding of what development should be has changed greatly since the 1950s, the basic structure of how funds are transferred from official donors to recipient governments has not. The actual structures of most official development assistance agencies are still largely to provide national governments with large lumps of capital (as loans or grants). This is now being reinforced by the large transfers made direct to national governments (the official justification is that this is to support recipient government priorities, when in reality it is much linked to the convenience and low staff time needed within the international agencies to manage them). International agencies need to shift away from seeing the poor as clients or targets to which development and environmental management must be delivered, towards recognising low income groups as partners and active citizens with knowledge, resources and rights to influence how donor assistance is used.

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 Monitoring should provide the information needed to track progress towards meeting the MDGs, such as eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1) and ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG 7). An important part of monitoring is supporting discussion and learning within each locality that involves both those whose needs the MDGs are meant to be meeting, and the local organisations that contribute to meeting these needs. 5) The exclusion of local organisations from shaping the future thus leads to a neglect of different ways of satisfying human needs. Many rural and urban development schemes have overlooked the importance of locally specific ways of meeting needs for food, health, shelter, energy, education and other fundamental human needs. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 4.6 The need to strengthen local organisations for food sovereignty, p. 53 and p. 55) For Bigg and Satterthwaite, securing the MDGs is best done when local organisations are fully involved in environment and development. However, local organisations can do much more than simply enhance the efficiency with which the MDGs are met. Through the voice and agency of their members, local organizations can indeed challenge dominant development paradigms, offering radically different definitions of the good life and sustainable living. By building on their knowledge, aspirations, values and cosmovisions, local organisations often end up questioning the fundamental assumptions behind the MDGs by offering alternative definitions of human well-being. Indeed, many organisations of food providers explicitly or implicitly challenge the deep rooted belief in development as an ever increasing commodification of nature and social relations (Rist, 1997). However, there are few safe policy spaces where these local organisations can deconstruct the assumptions of development thinking. As a result, the usual Western hegemonic programme, cloaked in the name of universalism, prevails (Rist, 1997 and 2006). The exclusion of local organisations from shaping the future thus leads to a neglect of different ways of satisfying human needs. Many rural and urban development schemes have overlooked the importance of locally specific ways of meeting needs for food, health, shelter, energy, education and other fundamental human needs. Non-local professionals and planners all too often fail to see the difference between fundamental human needs and the ways and means of satisfying these needs. Whilst fundamental human needs are universal, their satisfiers vary according to culture, region and historical conditions (Max-Neef, 1989). Despite some remarkable exceptions, agricultural developments, resettlement housing for displaced people, healthcare, changes in tenure laws and other externally-driven activities have, implicitly or explicitly, adopted the dominant cultural model of industrial society. In industrial societies fundamental human needs are almost exclusively catered for by satisfiers that must be bought in the market and/or produced industrially.

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Subsistence farmers, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk and artisanal food processors are thus seen as poor if they wear home-made garments of natural fibre rather than synthetics. They are perceived as poor if they live in houses constructed from natural materials like bamboo, thatch and mud rather than concrete. They are backward and poor if they farm without hybrid seeds, chemical fertilisers and weed-free monocultures. The ideology of development declares them to be so because they neither fully participate in the market economy nor consume commodities produced for and distributed by the market, even though they may be satisfying their fundamental needs themselves. This neglect of human ingenuity and diversity ultimately reinforces the dominant model of development based on uniformity, centralisation and control. Re-defining a non-ethnocentric agenda for the future thus requires putting the voices of local organisations and citizens at the core of discussions on human well-being and the environment. This theme is further discussed in chapter 5. 6) Food sovereignty is an alternative paradigm for food, fisheries, agriculture, pastoralism and forest use that is emerging in response to this democratic deficit. This alternative policy framework for food and agriculture is also a citizens response to the multiple social and environmental crises induced by modern food systems everywhere. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 3. Food sovereignty: a citizens vision of a better world, p. 38-39) Many development programmes are motivated by the belief that those subsistence producers who continue to farm, fish, rear livestock and harvest forests and common property lands should modernise as quickly as possible. They should become fully commercial producers by applying industrial food and agricultural technologies that allow for economies of scale (Desmarais, 2007). Those who cannot make this transition should move out of farming and rural areas to seek alternative livelihoods. This modernisation agenda is seen as both desirable and inevitable by most policy-makers, donors, development scholars and several mainstream NGOs. However, this neo-liberal path to growth is but one of several possible development models and political choices for the future of food, farming, environment and development. The extinction of farmers, food workers and indigenous peoples is therefore not inevitable. The idea that small-scale producers and indigenous peoples as a group are bound to disappear reflects just one vision of the futureit is a political choice that relies on specific theories of change that can be disputed and rejected. The knowledge, priorities and aspirations of small-scale producers, and other citizens whose livelihoods depend on food provisioning, are rarely included in policy debates on the future of food, farming and development (Edelman, 2003). When governments do decide to hold public consultations to help guide their decisions, policy experts as well as representatives of large farmers and agri-food corporations are usually centre stage in these debates, rather than small-scale producers, food workers, small food businesses and other citizens. Similarly, when policy think tanks and academics organise discussions to 60

inform the choices of decision-makers it is striking that the voices of farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, food workers and indigenous peoples are largely absent from such processes (Pimbert et al., 2006). Food sovereignty is an alternative paradigm for food, fisheries, agriculture, pastoralism and forest use that is emerging in response to this democratic deficit. This alternative policy framework for food and agriculture is also a citizens response to the multiple social and environmental crises induced by modern food systems everywhere. Indeed, many proposals for food sovereignty directly seek to reverse the socially and ecologically destructive nature of industrial farming, fisheries, forestry and livestock management, and the wider food systems they are part of. Self sufficiency and autonomy are now political demands,well rooted in the experience of millions of Indians, campesinos, urban marginals and many other groups in the southern part of the globe. Rerooting and regenerating themselves in their own spaces, they are creating effective responses to the global forces trying to displace them (Esteva and Prakash, 1998). 7) In this vision for transformation, collective and individual autonomy can only be achieved through a radical dispersion of power, with communities of citizens as the basic units of political, social, economic life and as key actors managing ecosystems and environmental processes. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 5.1. Learning from history to re-invent active forms of citizenship, p. 18) Reclaiming such active forms of citizenship is a key challenge for the food sovereignty movement. Indeed, the reversals described in Table 3.1 put local communities, municipalities and citizens assemblies at the heart of the governance of food systems. In this vision for transformation, collective and individual autonomy can only be achieved through a radical dispersion of power, with communities of citizens as the basic units of political, social, economic life and as key actors managing ecosystems and environmental processes. In this context, the regeneration of diverse local food systems partly depends on strengthening local organisations and nurturing active forms of citizenship. 8) the food sovereignty movement has developed a broad policy vision and discourse (that) identifies a range of policy shifts and directions for national governments and other actors who seek to implement food sovereignty within their societies. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 3.2. Food sovereignty: an alternative paradigm for food and agriculture (Subsections: Enabling national policies and legislation and Enabling global multilateralism and international policies, p. 50-53)

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Like any other policy framework, food sovereignty implies a purposeful course of action taken by social actors to address particular issues and advance towards specific objectives. In this regard, policies for food sovereignty pursue three types of objectives: Equity: securing the rights of people and communities, including their fundamental human right to food; affirming and celebrating cultural diversity; enhancing social and economic benefits; and combating inequalities, such as the ones responsible for poverty, gender discrimination and exclusion. Sustainability: seeking human activities and resource use patterns compatible with ecological sustainability. Direct democracy: empowering civil society in decision-making, and democratising government institutions, structures and markets. Ideally, these objectives should be pursued in an integrated and coherent fashion, avoiding piecemeal approaches. So far, the food sovereignty movement has developed a broad policy vision and discourse (A policy
discourse is an ensemble of norms, rules, views, ideas, concepts and values that govern practice and behaviour, and help interpret social and environmental realities.). And rather than presenting a fixed menu of policy instruments, it

identifies a range of policy shifts and directions for national governments and other actors who seek to implement food sovereignty within their societies. These are listed below and further discussed in the third part of this book. Enabling national policies and legislation

Equitable land reform and redistribution of surplus land to tenants within a rights-based approach to environment and development. Reform of property rights to secure gender-equitable rights of access and use of common property resources, forests and water. Protection of the knowledge and rights of farmers and pastoralists to save seed and improve crop varieties and livestock breeds, for example banning patents and inappropriate intellectual property right (IPR) legislation. Re-introduction of protective safeguards for domestic economies to guarantee stable prices covering the cost of production, including quotas and other controls against imports of food and fibre that can be produced locally. Policies that guarantee fair prices to producers and consumers, safety nets for the poor. Re-direction of both hidden and direct subsidies towards supporting smaller-scale producers and food workers to encourage the shift towards diverse, ecological, equitable and more localised food systems. Increase in funding for, and re-orientation of, public sector R&D and agricultural/food-sciences extension towards participatory approaches and democratic control over the setting of upstream strategic priorities, the validation of technologies and the spread of innovations. Broad citizen and non-specialist involvement in framing policies, setting research agendas and validating knowledge, as part of a process to democratise science, technology and policy-making for food, farming, environment and development. Mechanisms to ensure that the real costs of environmental damage, unsustainable production methods and long-distance trade are included in the cost of food and fibre.

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Clear and accurate labelling of food and feedstuffs, with binding legislation for all companies to ensure transparency, accountability and respect for human rights, public health and environmental standards. Enabling global multilateralism and international policies Re-orientation of the end goals of trade rules and aid so that they contribute to the building of local economies and local control, rather than international competitiveness. Supply management to ensure that public support does not lead to over-production and dumping that lower prices below the cost of production, harming farmers in both North and South. International commodity agreements to regulate the total output to world markets. Creation of regional common agricultural markets that include countries with similar levels of agricultural productivity. Forexample: North Africa and the Middle East, West Africa, Central Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe. Protection of the above regional common markets against the dumping of cheap food and fibre, using quotas and tariffs to guarantee fair and stable prices to marginalised small-scale producers, food processors, and small food enterprises. Prices should allow small-scale producers, artisans and food workers to earn a decent income, invest and build their livelihood assets. Restrictions to the concentration and market power of major agrifood corporations through new international treaties, competition laws and adoption of more flexible process and product standards. International collaboration for more effective antitrust law enforcement and measures to reduce market concentration in different parts of the global food system (concerning seeds, pesticides, food processing and retailing, for example). Co-operation to ensure that corporations and their directors are held legally responsible for breaches in environmental and social laws, and international agreements. Transformation of the current international investment law regime by challenging corporate investor rules. The expansion of current foreign investment rules should be blocked and arbitration processes should be reformed to ensure transparency and fairness. Alternative rules should also be constructed and implemented, focusing on the responsibilities of international investors to ensure sustainable development and enhance environmental, labour and human rights protection. An independent dispute settlement mechanism integrated within an international Court of Justice An international Convention to replace the current Agreement on World Trade Organisation (WTO). Within an international policy framework that incorporated rules on agricultural production and trade of food this Convention would implement the concept of food sovereignty and the basic human rights of all peoples to safe and healthy food, decent and full rural employment, labour rights and protection, and a healthy, rich and diverse natural environment. Multilateral co-operation to tax speculative international financial flows (US $1,600 thousand million/day), and redirect funds to build local livelihood assets, meet human needs and regenerate local ecologies 9) Throughout Latin America and in much of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, farmers, pastoralists, women, indigenous peoples and migrants are organising, linking together with their counterparts in the North. They are gaining support from scholars, activists, consumers and progressive policy-makers. From Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems by Michel Pimbert (a very important source) Accessible from IIED website (International Institute for Environment and Development) London UK 2009 (see Table of Contents and downloadable chapters at http://www.iied.org/towards-food-sovereignty-reclaiming-autonomous-food-systems ; book 63

incomplete, only some chapters accessible) (in Chapter 3.2. Food sovereignty: an alternative paradigm for food and agriculture (Subsections: Enabling national policies and legislation and Enabling global multilateralism and international policies, p. 53) It is acknowledged that policies for food sovereignty cannot be specified in detail for all people and places. They have to take into account local history and culture as well as the unique social and ecological contexts in which food systems are embedded. In this context, democratic participation and citizen empowerment are seen as crucial for the process of policy-making (who makes policy and how it is made) and the implementation of policies. As Patel puts it, the food sovereignty movement argues for a mass re-politicization of food politics, through a call for people to figure out for themselves what they want the right to food to mean in their communities, bearing in mind the communitys needs, climate, geography, food preferences, social mix and history (Patel, 2007). This point will be more fully addressed in the subsequent and closing parts of this book. The search for food sovereignty is thus part of a wider affirmation of the right to self-determination and endogenous development. New social movements for food self-reliance in the context of endogenous development are arising worldwide. Throughout Latin America and in much of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, farmers, pastoralists, women, indigenous peoples and migrants are organising, linking together with their counterparts in the North. They are gaining support from scholars, activists, consumers and progressive policy-makers (Cohn et al., 2006). The more radical social movements among them are not working for inclusion in existing political structures and the dominant culture. Instead they strive to transform the very political order in which they operate (Alvarez et al, 1998). In this process of transformation, radical social movements are creating alternative identities, new solidarities, alternative social spaces, and alternative political cultures (Eschle, 2001). Critical social movements are thus seeking new meanings and ways of being in the world. Together, they are reframing food, agriculture and the good life in terms of a larger vision based on radical pluralism and democracy, personal dignity and conviviality, autonomy and reciprocity, and other principles that affirm the right to self determination (see, for example, Box 3.7: Towards a Consensus of the Peoples). E. Oxfam 1) The purpose of Oxfam is to help create lasting solutions to the injustice of poverty. From the About Us section of Oxfam International website (at http://www.oxfam.org/en/about ) 2) Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. From the About Us section of Oxfam International website (at http://www.oxfam.org/en/about ) Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. We work directly with communities and we seek to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them.

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3) The results show a clear opportunity to harness the immense power of the individual, in particular women who make the majority of the decisions about the food their families eat and control around $12 trillion or 65% of the worlds annual consumer spending. (From Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food FutureOxfam) a) What we do in the supermarket or in the kitchen does matter, said Roche. Small actions taken by enough people add up. Together we can make a big difference to the lives of people who are struggling to feed their families across the globe. From Press Release for Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food Future (at http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/pressroom/pressrelease/2012-07-18/mothers-want-helpfix-our-broken-food-system ) (same link goes to webpage for free download of whole publication)

What we do in the supermarket or in the kitchen does matter. Colin Roche Oxfam spokesperson Published: 18 July 2012 (whole press release reproduced here) Mothers across the world want to know what changes they can make to the way they buy, store and prepare food to help the environment and tackle hunger, according to a new global survey released by Oxfam today. Oxfam has outlined five simple changes we can all make to help fix a broken global food system that leaves nearly a billion people hungry every day. Overall, 73 per cent of mothers living in urban areas questioned in the six country survey said they wanted to know how to make a difference when they shopped for food. 83 per cent said they wanted to know how to use less energy when cooking and over three quarters of women also said they were happy to make other changes such as feeding their family a meat free-meal once a week. The results show a clear opportunity to harness the immense power of the individual, in particular women who make the majority of the decisions about the food their families eat and control around $12 trillion or 65% of the worlds annual consumer spending. (this writers emphasis) Women across the globe are concerned about the way food is produced and the people who produce it, said Oxfam spokesperson Colin Roche. They want to know what they can do to make a difference and together they are a powerful force for change. Oxfam has come up with five simple actions - from cutting waste to using less energy when cooking that anyone can take in order to help put the global food system back on the road to recovery. 5 practical actions A new Oxfam report, The Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food Future, sets out five practical actions which if enough people around the world take would help poor farmers feed themselves and their communities, help tackle climate change which is undermining agricultural production, and help ensure valuable agricultural resources such as water are not wasted: 65

Mothers want to help fix our broken food system

Eat less meat: If urban households in the US, UK, Spain and Brazil were to eat a meat free meal once a week for a year, using lentils or beans instead of beef, the greenhouse gas emissions saved would be the equivalent to taking 3.7 million cars off the road. Reduce food waste: In the six countries surveyed one in six apples ends up in the bin, thats around 5.3 billion apples every year. The greenhouse gases produced in growing, trading and decomposing these apples is equivalent to burning 10 million barrels of oil. Only buying the apples we need and storing them in the fridge will help cut this waste. Buy Seasonal: A lot of energy is wasted growing food in the wrong place at the wrong time of year. We can save energy and cut greenhouse emissions by eating more of whats in season grown near us. Support small-scale food producers such as buying Fair Trade: If consumers in Brazil, UK, USA and Spain bought two Fair Trade chocolate bars each month instead of their usual brand it would add up to over 12.5 billion chocolate bars a year. This action could help transform the lives of people who live and work on 90,000 small scale cocoa farms across the globe. Cook smarter: Simple actions, such as putting a lid on your pan, can cut the amount of energy we use in cooking by up to 70 per cent.

Together we can make a big difference What we do in the supermarket or in the kitchen does matter, said Roche. Small actions taken by enough people add up. Together we can make a big difference to the lives of people who are struggling to feed their families across the globe. If enough people act, the reverberations will be felt right along the food chain. Governments and the global mega companies that prop up our broken food system will be forced to change the way they do business. The survey of over 5100 mothers living in towns and cities in Brazil, India, Philippines, UK, USA and Spain also shows that women in developed countries feel less connected to food producers and less knowledgeable about how their food choices impact on people and the planet than their counterparts in developing countries. For example 86 per cent of mothers in the Philippines feel they know how the food choices they make affect the wider world compared to just 46 per cent in the United States and 60 per cent of women surveyed in India felt a connection to food producers compared to just 23 per cent in the UK. b) Every time you open your fridge and food cupboards, you step into the global food system. From Introduction to Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food Future Oxfam International July, 2012 (44 pages) (at http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/pressroom/pressrelease/2012-07-18/mothers-want-help-fix-ourbroken-food-system ) (p.2-3)(whole publication accessible for free download) Every time you open your fridge and food cupboards, you step into the global food system. Sounds odd, but its true. The system is an enormously complex web of all the people, businesses, organizations and governments involved in the production, distribution, sale and consumption of food. Irrespective of 66

who we are, or where we are on the planet, the food we eat is made available by this global food system. Here, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, this system is not working properly. It is a system that leaves nearly one billion people hungry every day. It is a system that has led to over 50 per cent of the population in more than half of industrialized countries becoming overweight. It is a system characterized by volatile prices that make life hard for small-scale producers as well as consumers; a system that is increasingly dominated by a small number of immensely powerful corporations; and a system that is contributing significantly to climate change as well as being highly vulnerable to its impacts. It is a system that is unfair, and unsustainable. It is obvious that the food system needs fixing. It is much less obvious how this should be done. The sheer size and complexity of the system can seem overwhelming; and the power of some of the corporations and governments involved is daunting. They can and must take urgent action to change the policies and practices that play a huge part in the broken food system. Corporations and governments are not the only power in the system, however. Those of us that buy, cook and eat the food are more powerful than we might think. If, together, we say we want this rather than that, we become a force that affects the system. If enough of us say we want this rather than that, the existing powers cannot ignore us: they can either adapt to meet our demands, or someone else will fill their place. The power that we have is invisible to us, much of the time. As individual households, we already have a lot on our plates: the household budget, the health of our families, the juggling of all the things we need to get done. It is hard to think about the big picture. It is hard to think of all the other millions of people, just like us, struggling with the same challenges. With this report, we will bring this big picture down to a more manageable size. We will show the connections between the global food system and the things we do every day. We will show how households, acting together, can make a difference. To do this, we explore a series of what ifs. We ask what if? households were to take a few small steps to start doing things differently when shopping, cooking and eating. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, we calculated the impact that this would have, and what it would mean for the global food system. By doing this, we begin to show how, by acting together, people really can change the system. The main body of this report is devoted to introducing, explaining and interpreting these what ifs, and to showing how initial small steps can lead to even bigger changes in the future. To keep the big picture to a manageable size, we focus on households in just a handful of countries. We chose six: three developed countries and three developing countries. The countries Brazil, India, the Philippines, Spain, the UK and the USA are not representative of the world, but they are illustrative. We look in particular at households in cities and large towns. In urban areas around the world, some of the injustices of the global food system are most apparent. In the cities of developing countries, many struggle to have enough to eat, but, globally, towns and cities are also where spending power tends to be greatest. The choices of affluent households in these places can have a significant impact on the food system. Yet it is also these affluent urban households for whom the disconnection from the 67

producers of food is most acute. This disconnection may be a key part of why the food system is not working properly even if people want to know how or where their food is produced, it can be difficult to find out. We also wanted to know what people in these six countries think about these issues. Across the world (including in our six chosen countries), women make most of the decisions about what food gets bought and how it gets cooked. Compared to men, nearly twice as many women cook, and women spend nearly four times as long preparing, cooking and cleaning up after meals. This inequitable distribution of household responsibilities is not right and needs to be tackled, of course, but at the moment it is the worlds women who make the majority of household decisions and so they have incredible power to help change the worlds food system. We therefore conducted a survey of the key decision makers women with families who live in towns and cities in our six countries, and we asked them a few questions about food. F. Food First 1) an effort to build bridges between food justice and food sovereignty movements, and reach across rural-urban and local-global divides. From Food First webpage Purpose and Programs (at http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/149 ) Food First Programs: A Three-pronged Approach In an effort to build bridges between food justice and food sovereignty movements, and reach across rural-urban and local-global divides, Food First divides its work into three Program Areas. To learn more, go to the three links.

Building Local Agri-Foods Systems Forging Food Sovereignty with Farmers Democratizing Development: Land, Resources and Markets

Food Firsts activity areas are designed to link our programs in ways that support processes of reflection-action-reflection and work to integrate local, national and global efforts for justice and food sovereignty. Given that most social movements, communities (and many activists) are busy dealing with their immediate struggles, Food Firsts contribution is to provide information and analysis that informs action and advocacy. Our activities are an integrated mix of research, publication, training and organizing. 2) Food Firsts activity areas are designed to link our programs in ways that support processes of reflection-action-reflection and work to integrate local, national and global efforts for justice and food sovereignty. From Food First webpage Purpose and Programs (at http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/149 ) Food Firsts activity areas are designed to link our programs in ways that support processes of reflection-action-reflection and work to integrate local, national and global efforts for justice and food 68

sovereignty. Given that most social movements, communities (and many activists) are busy dealing with their immediate struggles, Food Firsts contribution is to provide information and analysis that informs action and advocacy. Our activities are an integrated mix of research, publication, training and organizing. Activities conducted to advance the (above mentioned) three program areas include: Research and Education a. Research & Analysis The goal of Food Firsts applied research work is to generate information and analysis for food sovereigntylocally and worldwide. We also carry out Participatory Action ResearchPAR with community organizations to help them generate their own information and analyses. The combination of our applied and participatory research produces real-time, information and insights that influences broader development debates from the perspective of community-based food sovereignty struggles. b. Presentations Our publications focus on emblematic struggles, issues and experiences in the U.S. and the Global South, highlighting new paradigms for social change. We share our information and analysis regularly in conferences, radio interviews, and public forums. c. Publishing Books, Backgrounders, Action Alerts, etc. Food First is known for these products. We actively pursue titles, subjects and experiences that inform activists and academics about current food sovereignty struggles. We also produce other communityfriendly forms of communication (e.g. performing arts, video-documentaries, popular materials etc.). Our latest book Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice exposes the root causes of the global food crisis and gives voice to the grassroots solutions to hunger. We are busy working on the sequel, Breaking Through the Asphalt: Strategies to Transform our Food Systems. Training, Organizing, and Advocacy This activity area is the Food First interface with community advocacy, organizing and alternatives. Our collaboration aims to cultivate the leadership and solidarity of low-income, people of color in the U.S. and disenfranchised communities in the Global South. Activities include cross-visits, reality tours, direct mentoring, participation in campaigns, forums, conferences, seminars and other events. Food First actively supports networking, capacity-building and advocacy. a. Training & Mentoring These activities actively reach out to low-income youth of color in the U.S. and to rural families in the Global South to provide training and internship opportunities in the field and within Food First. Interns and trainees will learn to generate and communicate critical information on food systems and will engage in hands-on research, training and advocacy activities (e.g. food policy councils, farmer-tofarmer workshops, etc.). b. Networking, Tours & Cross visits This area builds horizontal linkages between communities and activists between and within the U.S. and the Global South. Food First arranges 10-day educational tours for activists, funders and community 69

representatives, and short informational/training visits between communities working on food sovereignty issues. c. Campaigning and recommending policy These activities focus both on formulating policy for equitable, sustainable food systems, and ensuring their implementation buy creating political will through broad-based campaigns. Food First targets local-global issues capable of generating international support such as food justice, the U.S. Farm Bill (and its impact on farmers and consumers worldwide), the African Green Revolution, Biofuels, GE-Free agricultural zones and urban neighborhoods, land reform, and farmers rights. d. Providing Project support Food First is partnering with several emblematic projects that are advancing community-based alternatives for food sovereignty and food justice (e.g. US-Mesoamerican sustainable agricultural networks and Alternative Food Security in Africa, U.S. food justice campaign). We will be highlighting these projects, channeling support, and opening up dialogue between people in these projects and the public at large. Food First has an ambitious agenda reaching all the way from local to global. Given resource constraints, Food First uses two main strategies to maximize our impact - 1) We collaborate with both academic and community-based colleagues on joint efforts, and 2) We rely extensively on the assistance of interns and fellows for both research and outreach. 3) Many organizations, both local and national in scope, have developed tools, informational resources, or successful model policies that support an integrated, sustainable and equitable food system at the city or regional level. We have collected a sample of those experiences and resources to provide community advocates with practical tools and ideas for creating local food policy change. From Food First Policy Brief #19 Cutting Through the Red Tape: A Resource Guide for Local Food Policy Practitioners and Organizers by Beth Sanders, MPH Intern, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy and Annie Shattuck Research Fellow, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy December 2011 (at the Food First Policy Briefs webpage: http://www.foodfirst.org/en/publications/policybriefs ) (p. 1, paragraphs 1-4)(all Policy Briefs accessible for free download) Efforts to create a fair and sustainable food system are underway across the U.S. While large-scale policy change at the national level has failed to adequately address growing hunger, diet-related disease, economic inequality and structural racism in the food system, many local initiatives are gaining ground on these issues. Increasingly, the food system is seen as an engine for local economic development and community health, as well as a platform for social justice. Levers of change exist in municipal and county governments around the U.S. Community organizations are using local policy to develop a better food system through farm to school programs, local business incubation and food policy councilscitizen advisory boards to city and state governments. This document is a collection of resources for local food policy assembled from groups across the U.S. Many organizations, both local and national in scope, have developed tools, informational resources, or successful model policies that support an integrated, sustainable and equitable food system at the city 70

or regional level. We have collected a sample of those experiences and resources to provide community advocates with practical tools and ideas for creating local food policy change. Long-time activist and expert on food policy councils, Mark Winne describes local food policy as the actions and in-actions by government that influences the supply, quality, price, production, distribution and consumption of food....what government doesnt do, whether by design or neglect, is as much a policy as a specific action like a city regulation that prescribes the location of farmers markets or a state statute that protects farmland. What local governments do or do not do can make or break community efforts at food system change. Local policy changes are multiplying around the country as innovative food policies focus on issues ranging from reducing waste to increasing the accessibility of fresh food in under-served communities. The advocates and policy makers engaged in this movement hail from a variety of backgrounds, such as anti-hunger, labor and social justice activists; sustainability, public health and city planning experts; or farmers, restaurateurs, chefs, nutritionists and schools. G. Maine Town Passes Landmark Local Food Ordinance 1) On Saturday, March 5 (2011), residents of a small coastal town in Maine voted unanimously to adopt the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance, setting a precedent for other towns looking to preserve small-scale farming and food processing. From press release MAINE TOWN PASSES LANDMARK LOCAL FOOD ORDINANCE at the website Food For Maines Future (paragraph 1)(see http://savingseeds.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/maine-townpasses-landmark-local-food-ordinance/ ) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2011 MAINE TOWN PASSES LANDMARK LOCAL FOOD ORDINANCE Sedgwick becomes first town in Maine to adopt protections SEDGWICK, MAINE On Saturday, March 5, residents of a small coastal town in Maine voted unanimously to adopt the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance, setting a precedent for other towns looking to preserve small-scale farming and food processing. Sedgwick, located on the Blue Hill Peninsula in Western Hancock County, became the first town in Maine, and perhaps the nation, to exempt direct farm sales from state and federal licensing and inspection. The ordinance also exempts foods made in the home kitchen, similar to the Michigan Cottage Food Law passed last year, but without caps on gross sales or restrictions on types of exempt foods. 2) We recognize that family farms, sustainable agricultural practices, and food processing by individuals, families and non-corporate entities offers stability to our rural way of life by enhancing the economic, environmental and social wealth of our community. As such, our right to a local food system requires us to assert our inherent right to self-government. From Template for Local Food Ordinances in Maine (at http://savingseeds.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/localfoodlocalrules-ordinance-template.pdf ) 71

Section 3. Preamble and Purpose. (excerpt) We the People of the Town of (name of town), (name of county) County, Maine have the right to produce, process, sell, purchase and consume local foods thus promoting self-reliance, the preservation of family farms, and local food traditions. We recognize that family farms, sustainable agricultural practices, and food processing by individuals, families and non-corporate entities offers stability to our rural way of life by enhancing the economic, environmental and social wealth of our community. As such, our right to a local food system requires us to assert our inherent right to selfgovernment. We recognize the authority to protect that right as belonging to the Town of (name of town) . We have faith in our citizens ability to educate themselves and make informed decisions. We hold that federal and state regulations impede local food production and constitute a usurpation of our citizens right to foods of their choice. We support food that fundamentally respects human dignity and health, nourishes individuals and the community, and sustains producers, processors and the environment. We are therefore duty bound under the Constitution of the State of Maine to protect and promote unimpeded access to local foods. H. Over the last decade, world grain reserves have fallen by one third. World food prices have more than doubled, triggering a worldwide land rush and ushering in a new geopolitics of food. 1) the sad fact is that very few if any of these land investments benefit local people or help to fight hunger. Two thirds of agricultural land deals by foreign investors are in countries with a serious hunger problem. Yet perversely, precious little of this land is being used to feed people in those countries. From Introduction to Oxfam Briefing Note Our Land, Our Lives: Time Out on the Global Land Rush Oxfam International October, 2012 (26 pages) (see p. 2)(accessible for free download at http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/policy/%E2%80%98our-land-our-lives%E2%80%99 ) Today, stories of communities driven from their lands, often at the barrel of a gun, left destitute and unable to feed their families, have become all too familiar. As the scale and pace of large-scale land acquisitions increases globally, evidence is mounting that the land rush is out of control and that the price being paid by affected communities is unacceptably high. A huge amount of land has been sold off or leased out globally in the past decade: an area eight times the size of the UK. In poor countries, foreign investors bought up an area of land the size of London every six days between 2000 and 2010. Commercial interest in land could accelerate once again as recent food price spikes motivate rich countries to secure their own food supplies and make land a more secure and attractive option for investors and speculators. The 2008 boom in food prices is widely recognized as having triggered a surge in investor interest in land: from mid-20082009 reported agricultural land deals by foreign investors in developing countries rocketed by around 200 per cent. Oxfam backs greater investment in agriculture and increased support to small-scale food producers. Responsible investment and support is vital and poor countries desperately need it. Indeed Oxfams 72

calculations suggest that the land acquired between 2000 and 2010 has the potential to feed a billion people, equivalent to the number of people who currently go to bed hungry each night. But the sad fact is that very few if any of these land investments benefit local people or help to fight hunger. Two thirds of agricultural land deals by foreign investors are in countries with a serious hunger problem. Yet perversely, precious little of this land is being used to feed people in those countries, or going into local markets where it is desperately needed. Instead, the land is either being left idle, as speculators wait for its value to increase and then sell it at a profit, or it is predominantly used to grow crops for export, often for use as biofuels. About two-thirds of foreign land investors in developing countries intend to export everything they produce on the land. Africa has borne the brunt of this, with an area the size of Kenya acquired for agriculture by foreign investors in just ten years, but the experience on other continents is similar. World Bank and IMF research has shown that most of the land being sold off is in the poorest countries with the weakest protection of people's land rights. More than 30 per cent of the land in Liberia has been handed out in large-scale concessions in the past five years, often with disastrous results for local people. In Cambodia, NGOs estimate that an area equivalent to between 56 and 63 per cent of all arable land in the country has been handed out to private companies. In Honduras, the toll of people killed in a land conflict in the Bajo Agun region has risen to over 60, and shows no sign of stopping. 2) .Fearing they might not be able to buy needed grain from the market, some of the more affluent countries, led by Saudi Arabia, China, and South Korea, then took the unusual step of buying or leasing land long term in other countries on which to grow food for themselves. These land acquisitions have since grown rapidly in number. From Chapter 1 Food: The Weak Link in Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity (Book Chapter) by Lester Brown (at http://energybulletin.net/stories/2012-09-17/full-planetempty-plates-new-geopolitics-food-scarcity-new-book-chapter ) (only chapter accessible for free; full Table of Contents, Press Release, etc at http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep ) (paragraphs 1, 2, 12, 19-21, 37-39)(confirmed October 19, 2012) The world is in transition from an era of food abundance to one of scarcity. Over the last decade, world grain reserves have fallen by one third. World food prices have more than doubled, triggering a worldwide land rush and ushering in a new geopolitics of food. The abrupt rise in world grain prices between 2007 and 2008 left more people hungry than at any time in history. Today the temptation for exporting countries to restrict exports in order to dampen domestic food price rises is greater than ever. With another big jump in grain prices, we could see a breakdown in the world food supply system. If countries give in to the temptation to restrict exports, some lower-income importing countries might not be able to import any grain at all. When could this happen? We are not talking about the distant future. It could be anytime.

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As a result of chronic hunger, 48 percent of all children in India are stunted physically and mentally. They are undersized, underweight, and likely to have IQs that are on average 1015 points lower than those of well-nourished children. In early 2012, Adam Nossiter wrote in the New York Times about the effect of high food prices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country where hunger is common. Interviewing individual families in Kinshasa, he noted that three years ago everyone ate at least one meal a day. But today even families with both parents working often cannot afford to eat every day. It is now a given in many households that some days will be foodless, days when they will not eat at all. Selecting the days when they will not eat is a weekly routine. The international charity Save the Children commissioned detailed surveys in five countriesIndia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Peru, and Bangladeshto see how people were dealing with rising food prices. Among other things, they learned that 24 percent of families in India now have foodless days. For Nigeria, the comparable figure is 27 percent. For Peru it is 14 percent. Family size plays an important role in hunger. Almost one third of large families in all countries surveyed have foodless days.. .Fearing they might not be able to buy needed grain from the market, some of the more affluent countries, led by Saudi Arabia, China, and South Korea, then took the unusual step of buying or leasing land long term in other countries on which to grow food for themselves. These land acquisitions have since grown rapidly in number. Most of them are in Africa. Among the principal destinations for land hunters are Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan, each of them countries where millions of people are being sustained with food donations from the U.N. World Food Programme. As of mid-2012, hundreds of land acquisition deals had been negotiated or were under negotiation, some of them exceeding a million acres. A 2011 World Bank analysis of these land grabs reported that at least 140 million acres were involvedan area that exceeds the cropland devoted to corn and wheat combined in the United States. This onslaught of land acquisitions has become a land rush as governments, agribusiness firms, and private investors seek control of land wherever they can find it. Such acquisitions also typically involve water rights, meaning that land grabs potentially affect downstream countries as well. Any water extracted from the upper Nile River basin to irrigate newly planted crops in Ethiopia, Sudan, or South Sudan, for instance, will now not reach Egypt, upending the delicate water politics of the Nile by adding new countries that Egypt must compete with for water. The potential for conflict is high. Many of the land deals have been made in secret, and much of the time the land involved was already being farmed by villagers when it was sold or leased. Often those already farming the land were neither consulted nor even informed of the new arrangements. And because there typically are no formal land titles in many developing-country villages, the farmers who lost their land have had little support for bringing their cases to court.

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VI. Socially Responsible Investing and Building Local Economies

A. From Open Letter from Worldwatch Institute to U.S. Secretary of Education 1) .Transforming our nation's economic, energy, and environmental systems to move toward a green economy will require a level of expertise, innovation, and cooperative effort unseen since the 1940s to meet the challenges involved. From Open Letter from Worldwatch Institute to U.S. Secretary of Education at the website of the Worldwatch Institute (see http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5971 )(published December 19, 2008) OPINION: Letter to the New Education Secretary by Worldwatch Institute on December 19, 2008 Worldwatch is pleased to publish this open letter from prominent education and environment leaders urging the newly nominated U.S. education secretary, Arne Duncan, to consider the importance of education in carrying out President-elect Barack Obama's environmental agenda. Dear Mr. Duncan: Congratulations on your nomination. As you jump into the daunting challenge of bolstering our sagging education system, you have a powerful opportunity presented by the need to create a carbon-free economy. President-elect Obama has astutely perceived the linkages between climate change, economic stimulus, energy security, and job training by declaring that the transition to a green economy is his "top priority." The missing link in this system is the critical role that education can play in quickly making the green economy a reality. .Transforming our nation's economic, energy, and environmental systems to move toward a green economy will require a level of expertise, innovation, and cooperative effort unseen since the 1940s to meet the challenges involved. Creating millions of new green jobs through targeted investment and spending is one thing; filling those jobs with qualified candidates is quite another thing. This transition will require a massive job training (and retraining) effort on the part of business, government, and education if it is to scale up quickly. But green manufacturing workforce development programs are just one piece of what is needed; the green economy will not be driven by manufacturing workers alone. Architects, engineers, planners, scientists, business managers, financial experts, lawyers, entrepreneurs, political leaders, resource managers, and many others, as well as workers - not to mention environmentally literate consumers will all be needed to drive the green economy. American workers, managers, and professionals at all levels and in all sectors must understand the foundations of a green economy as represented in leading environmental and sustainability education programs. These foundations call for redesigning the human economy to emulate nature: operating on 75

renewable energy, creating a circular production economy in which the concept of "waste" is eliminated because all waste products are raw materials or nutrients for the industrial economy, and managing human activities in a way that uses natural resources only at the rate that they can selfregenerate (the ideas embodied in sustainable forestry, fishing, and agriculture). To produce such a literate workforce and citizenry, America will need to make major new investments in our educational systems to implement the green economy. (end of quote from Worldwatch Institute letter) B. Socially Responsible Investing 1) Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $3.07 trillion out of $25.2 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. From the website of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing, on the webpage Sustainable and Responsible Investing Facts (at http://ussif.org/resources/sriguide/srifacts.cfm ) Sustainable and Responsible Investing Facts What is SRI? Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $3.07 trillion out of $25.2 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. SRI recognizes that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid parts of investment decisions. SRI considers both the investor's financial needs and an investments impact on society. SRI investors encourage corporations to improve their practices on environmental, social, and governance issues. You may also hear SRI-like approaches to investing referred to as mission investing, responsible investing, double or triple bottom line investing, ethical investing, sustainable investing, or green investing. SRI was first formally practiced by religious investors who, nearly 100 years ago, avoided companies involved in tobacco, alcohol, and gambling. More recently, however, SRI has evolved beyond basic avoidance screening to include the following four aspects: Sustainability Research - Most sustainable and responsible investors have a set of criteria they use to identify which companies "make the grade." Increasingly, sustainability research is seen as a way to identify companies with better management and lower risk. Shareholder Advocacy is all about using your position as an owner in a company to actively encourage that company to improve. Shareholder advocacy can take many forms, from something as simple as a phone call or letter-writing to filing a formal shareholder resolution calling for a company to take a particular action (which can ultimately come to a vote in front of all shareholders). Advocacy also includes proxy voting, or simply casting your vote as a company shareholder. Social Venture Capital means seeking out early-stage investments in companies that have identified profitable ways to meet societal needs (such as alternative energy companies), before they are publicly traded. This early-stage investing can help these companies secure necessary funding to grow and often leads to healthy returns for shareholders. 76

Community Investing refers to channeling affordable credit to communities underserved by traditional credit markets to create jobs, build homes, and finance community facilities. Investors often accept slightly below-market rates of return to encourage investment that can build or rebuild communities. 2) Many investors understand that the ways people spend and invest can dramatically influence both the fabric and consciousness of society. We recognize that corporations may have either a positive or negative impact on people, communities, and our natural environment. From article Sustainable and Responsible Investing in the United States (at the website for First Affirmative Financial Network) (at http://www.firstaffirmative.com/resourcesnews/publications/sustainable-and-responsible-investing-in-the-united-states ) (paragraphs 6-10) Many investors understand that the ways people spend and invest can dramatically influence both the fabric and consciousness of society. We recognize that corporations may have either a positive or negative impact on people, communities, and our natural environment. The modern roots of this phenomenon can be traced to the impassioned political climate of the 1960s. During that tumultuous decade, a series of themes served to escalate sensitivities to issues of social responsibility and accountability. Concerns regarding the Vietnam war, civil rights, and equality for women broadened during the 1970s to include labor-management issues and anti-nuclear convictions. The ranks of socially conscious investors grew dramatically in the 1980s as millions of people, churches, universities, cities, and states focused investment strategies on pressuring the white minority government of South Africa to dismantle the racist system of apartheid. Then, with the Bhopal, Chernobyl, and Exxon Valdez incidents, the environment became top of mind for socially aware investors. In recent years, school shootings, human rights, Native American issues, respect for indigenous peoples around the world, and healthy working conditions in factories that produce goods for U.S. consumption have become rallying points for investors with dual objectives for their investment capital. Most recently, the climate crisis has awakened investors to opportunities inherent in directing investment capital in more transformative ways. Investor Motivations Many investors believe that in addition to the benefits of ownership, we bear responsibility for the impact our money has in the world. We believe that we can make money and make a meaningful difference by consciously directing investment capital toward enterprises that contribute to a clean, healthy environment; treat people fairly; embrace equal opportunity; produce safe and useful products; and support efforts to promote world peace. Motivated by a sense of responsibility that has financial, social, and ecological dimensions, socially conscious investors understand that investment returns over the long-term are driven primarily by the performance of innovative, well-managed corporations. More importantly, we know that all enterprises are dependent on the health of the human societies and ecological systems that sustain life on the planet.

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C. Fair Trade 1) We believe the rise of the Conscious Consumer will cause a fundamental shift in the way companies do business and create a historic opportunity to reward companies that embrace sustainability. From the Vision Statement webpabe of Fair Trade USA (at http://fairtradeusa.org/about-fair-trade-usa/mission ) We seek to empower family farmers and workers around the world, while enriching the lives of those struggling in poverty. Rather than creating dependency on aid, we use a market-based approach that empowers farmers to get a fair price for their harvest, helps workers create safe working conditions, provides a decent living wage and guarantees the right to organize. Through direct, equitable trade, farming and working families are able to eat better, keep their kids in school, improve health and housing, and invest in the future. Keeping families, local economies, the natural environment, and the larger community strong today and for generations to come; these are the results we seek through Fair Trade. We aim to channel more of the opportunities and benefits of globalization to the underprivileged farming and working families who today are being left behind. Protecting the environment goes hand-in-hand with protecting the future livelihoods of local communities. The Fair Trade model requires rigorous protection of local ecosystems and ensures that farmers receive a harvest price, which will allow them to practice sustainable agriculture. We encourage farmers to transition to organic agriculture because it is safer for farm workers, healthier for consumers and better for the environment. Ultimately, we help farming families become the best stewards of their land. As Americans become increasingly concerned about the state of the world and look for opportunities to use their power in the marketplace to make a positive difference, we seek to provide an avenue for consumers to vote with their dollar. As we educate and inspire more and more consumers, we hope to be a force for change. We believe the rise of the Conscious Consumer will cause a fundamental shift in the way companies do business and create a historic opportunity to reward companies that embrace sustainability. We envision a day when Fair Trade products are readily available in stores across the country, when U.S. consumers can choose a "Fair Trade Lifestyle" and shop responsibly in every product category. This vision requires an inclusive approach to new products and stakeholders. For us, Fair Trade is not just a market; it is also a social movement that brings strength, hope and real choice to the world's consumers. Companies should not have to choose between social responsibility and the bottom line. We envision Fair Trade as a new global business model that helps industry secure its own profitability and competitiveness while it protects the environment and ensures a fair return to farmers and workers. We help industry forge long-term partnerships throughout the supply chain so companies can both obtain the highest quality products and support disadvantaged producer communities. In our effort to reach consumers throughout the nation, we choose to collaborate with companies of all types and sizes, from mission-driven organizations and family-owned businesses to transnational 78

corporations. As we raise the bar for best practices in global trade and production, we aspire to remain the Gold Standard label for social, economic and environmental sustainability. 2) There are now 827 Fairtrade certified producer organizations in 58 producing countries, representing over 1.2 million farmers and workers. From the Facts and Figures webpage at Fairtrade International (at http://www.fairtrade.net/facts_and_figures.html ) Facts and figures Fairtrade has experienced impressive growth. In the last four years global sales have more than tripled and hundreds more producer organizations have become certified. A Success Story More than 1.2 million producers and workers in 58 developing countries now benefit from global Fairtrade sales. Over the last 20 years Fairtrade sales of Fairtrade certified products have increased phenomenally. Marginalized farming communities throughout the developing world now benefit from fairer terms of trade. Through growing consumer support, Fairtrade has now achieved significant market share in many product categories in the 70 countries where Fairtrade products are sold. In some national markets Fairtrade accounts for between 20-50% of market share in certain products. Growing number of producer organizations There are now 827 Fairtrade certified producer organizations in 58 producing countries, representing over 1.2 million farmers and workers. In addition to other benefits, approximately 52 million was distributed to communities in 2009 for use in community development. Including families and dependents, Fairtrade International estimates that six million people directly benefit from Fairtrade. Sales of Fairtrade products The sales of Fairtrade certified products grew 15% between 2008-2009. In 2009, Fairtrade certified sales amounted to approximately 3.4 billion worldwide. D. BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies 1) The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies(BALLE) is a growing North American alliance of nearly 60 fully autonomous local business networks with their own names, missions, and initiatives, representing about 20,000 US and Canadian entrepreneurs. From the Wikipedia webpage for BALLE (Business Alliances for Local Living Economies) (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Alliance_for_Local_Living_Economies ) 79

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies(BALLE) is a growing North American alliance of nearly 60 fully autonomous local business networks with their own names, missions, and initiatives, representing about 20,000 US and Canadian entrepreneurs. All networks share a commitment to Living Economy principles. BALLE works to catalyze, strengthen and connect these local business networks dedicated to building Local Living Economies. A Local Living Economy ensures that economic power resides locally, sustaining healthy community life and natural life, as well as long-term economic viability. BALLE envisions a sustainable world economy made up of local living economies that build long-term economic empowerment and prosperity through local business ownership, economic justice, cultural diversity, and environmental stewardship. 2) Living economy communities produce and exchange locally as many products needed by their citizens as they reasonably can, while reaching out to other communities to trade in those products they cannot reasonably produce at home. These communities value their unique character and encourage cultural exchange and cooperation. From the Wikipedia webpage for BALLE (Business Alliances for Local Living Economies) (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Alliance_for_Local_Living_Economies ) Principles A local living economy ensures that economic power resides locally, sustaining healthy community life and natural life as well as long-term economic viability. A living economy is guided by the following principles:

Living economy communities produce and exchange locally as many products needed by theircitizens as they reasonably can, while reaching out to other communities to trade in those products they cannot reasonably produce at home. These communities value their unique character and encourage cultural exchange and cooperation. Living economy public policies support decentralized ownership of businesses and farms, fairwages, taxes, and budget allocations, trade policies benefiting local economies, and stewardship of the natural environment. Living economy consumers appreciate the benefits of buying from living economy businesses and, if necessary, are willing to pay a price premium to secure those personal and community benefits. Living economy investors value businesses that are community stewards and as such accept a "living return" on their financial investments rather than a maximum return, recognizing the value derived from enjoying a healthy and vibrant community and sustainable global economy. Living economy media provide sources of news independent of corporate control, so that citizens can make informed decisions in the best interests of their communities and natural environment. Living economy businesses are primarily independent and locally owned, and value the needs and interests of all stakeholders, while building long-term profitability.

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E. Green America 1) At Green America: we mobilize people in their economic rolesas consumers, investors, workers, and business leaders; we focus on economic strategieseconomic action to solve social and environmental problems; we empower people to take personal and collective action. From the About section of the Green American website (see http://www.greenamerica.org/about/ ) Our mission is to harness economic powerthe strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplaceto create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. At Green America:

We mobilize people in their economic rolesas consumers, investors, workers, and business leaders. We focus on economic strategieseconomic action to solve social and environmental problems. We empower people to take personal and collective action. We work on issues of social justice and environmental responsibility. We see issues of social justice and environmental responsibility as completely linked in the quest for a sustainable world. Its what we mean when we say green. We work to stop abusive practices and to create healthy, just and sustainable practices.

2) Helping socially and environmentally responsible businesses emerge and thrive. Learn more about Green America's National Green Pages, our directory of green businesses coast to coast. From the Our Work section of the Green America website (see http://www.greenamerica.org/about/whatwedo/ourprograms.cfm ) Green Business Helping socially and environmentally responsible businesses emerge and thrive. Learn more about Green America'sNational Green Pages, our directory of green businesses coast to coast. Fair Trade Promoting economic justice for farmers and artisans through fair trade Stopping Sweatshops Using economic power to end abusive labor practices and promote living wages for workers worldwide. Climate Action Our Climate Action Campaign brings together individuals, shareholders, and communities to pressure corporate polluters to take climate change seriously. Green Energy Working with industry and civil society organizations to harness market power to lower the price of solar and accelerate the growth and development of solar energy around the world. Responsible Shopper Providing information to help you make socially and environmentally responsible purchasing decisions in the corporate marketplace. Social Investing Providing tips and strategies to help you bring your investments in line with your social and environmental values 81

Community Investing Putting savings and investment dollars to work to provide much needed resources for affordable housing, health care, and credit access in underserved communities worldwide. Find out how you can join the 1% in Community Campaign Shareholder Action Giving you the information and action steps you need to vote your proxies in favor of socially and environmentally responsible corporate practices. F. About New Economics Institute (formerly the E.F. Schumacher Society) 1) The work of the New Economics Institute includes the Berkshares Local Currency Program From the Our Work section of the New Economics Institute website (see http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/our_work ) Our work includes: E. F. Schumacher Annual Lectures highly regarded lecture and publication program founded in 1981; Conferences and Seminars "Strategies for a New Economy" gathered together 475 participants at Bard College from June 8-10, 2012; New Economics Library -- research library including books and archives of Dr. Schumacher and other new economics thinkers as well as collections on worker ownership, community supported agriculture, local currencies, the commons, and appropriate technology, all with searchable online catalogue; The Global Transition to a New Economy a mapping project developed for the UN conference on sustainable development and designed to display a compelling vision of a green and fair economy; Community Land Trusts history, theory, and application of a new land tenure model; Local Currencies history, theory, and application of this community financing tool; BerkShares Local Currency Program best known contemporary example

G. Community Visioning Initiatives, Job Fairs, and Local Currencies 1) Local Currency and a Just Transition to More Solution-Oriented Employment a) The purpose of a local currency is to function on a local scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scalebuilding the local economy by maximizing circulation of trade within a defined region. From the section What are Berkshares?, at the website for Berkshares, Inc.: Local Currency for the Berkshire Region (see http://www.berkshares.org/whatareberkshares.htm ) The purpose of a local currency is to function on a local scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scalebuilding the local economy by maximizing circulation of trade within a defined region. Widely used in the early 1900s, local currencies are again being recognized as a 82

tool for sustainable economic development. The currency distinguishes the local businesses that accept the currency from those that do not, building stronger relationships and a greater affinity between the business community and the citizens of a particular place. b) The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process advocated by The IPCR Initiative provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities From IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report [444 pages; January, 2012 (with updates in August, 2012)] (p. 286) (at http://www.ipcri.net/IPCR_Critical_Challenges_Summary_Report.pdf ) The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process advocated by The IPCR Initiative provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities and thus helping with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges. c) One aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. From IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report [444 pages; January, 2012 (with updates in August, 2012)] (p. 286) (at http://www.ipcri.net/IPCR_Critical_Challenges_Summary_Report.pdf ) One aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. And then such local currency can, in its turn, be redeemed in ways which can be particularly helpful to people transitioning from less solution-oriented employment to more solution-oriented employment. 2) More about local currencies a) Since local currencies are only accepted within the community, their usage encourages the purchase of locally-produced and locally-available goods and services From the Wikipedia page for Local Currency (see section Benefits, #3) Since local currencies are only accepted within the community, their usage encourages the purchase of locally-produced and locally-available goods and services. Thus, for any given level of economic activity, more of the benefit accrues to the local community and less drains out to other parts of the country or the world. For instance, construction work undertaken with local currencies employs local labor and 83

utilizes as far as possible local materials. The enhanced local effect becomes an incentive for the local population to accept and utilize the scrips. b) Launched in the fall of 2006, BerkShares had a robust initiation, with over one million BerkShares having been circulated in the first nine months and over 2.7 million to date. Currently, more than four hundred businesses have signed up to accept the currency From the What are Berkshares? webpage, at the website for Berkshares, Inc.: Local Currency for the Berkshire Region (see http://www.berkshares.org/whatareberkshares.htm ) BerkShares are a local currency for the Berkshire region of Massachusetts. Dubbed a "great economic experiment" by the New York Times, BerkShares are a tool for community empowerment, enabling merchants and consumers to plant the seeds for an alternative economic future for their communities. Launched in the fall of 2006, BerkShares had a robust initiation, with over one million BerkShares having been circulated in the first nine months and over 2.7 million to date. Currently, more than four hundred businesses have signed up to accept the currency. Five different banks have partnered with BerkShares, with a total of thirteen branch offices now serving as exchange stations. For BerkShares, this is only the beginning. Future plans could involve BerkShares checking accounts, electronic transfer of funds, ATM machines, and even a loan program to facilitate the creation of new, local businesses manufacturing more of the goods that are used locally. c) Ithaca Hours is a local currency system that promotes local economic strength and community selfreliance in ways which will support economic and social justice, ecology, community participation and human aspirations in and around Ithaca, New York From essay Local Currencies: Catalysts for Sustainable Regional Economies (An essay based on one of the Eighth Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures, presented by Robert Swann in 1988; edited by Hildegarde Hannum) (at http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/publications/authors/witt/susan/local-currencies ) In the summer of 1991 Paul Glover heard a radio interview with Schumacher Society staff about the Deli Dollars and Berkshire Farm Preserve Notes. The story inspired him to issue Ithaca Hours in his hometown of Ithaca, New York, as a way to create more local jobs and more security for Ithacans who are underemployed. Ithaca Hours has grown from its small grass-roots beginning to include over a thousand individuals and stores. The scrip can buy food items, construction work, professional services, health care, and handicrafts. Each Ithaca Hour is worth ten dollars-the average hourly wage in Tompkins County-so the five thousand Ithaca Hours (or $50,000) in circulation have increased local economic transactions by several hundred thousand dollars annually. Individuals and stores agreeing to accept Ithaca Hours notes are issued two free Hours to begin trading and are listed in the free monthly paper,Ithaca Money. This newspaper features articles about the local economy and tells the stories of small home-businesses that have prospered by accepting payment in scrip. Only Ithaca Hour vendors can advertise inIthaca Money, and although the ad will run for two months, it costs only half an Hour (five dollars). Consumers are led to shop locally because Ithaca Hours can be used only in Ithaca. One market farmer who had difficulty paying bills during the winter was able to secure a loan in Ithaca Hours from a customer who had accumulated more than she could use. She preferred to recirculate them rather than 84

let them lie idle. The farmer's family paid for child care, movie tickets, and other goods and services in Ithaca Hours and then repaid the loan in produce in the summer. The Alternative Credit Union in Ithaca accepts partial repayment of mortgage loans in Hours because its employees have agreed to accept part of their salaries in scrip. Ithaca Hours is a local currency system that promotes local economic strength and community selfreliance in ways which will support economic and social justice, ecology, community participation and human aspirations in and around Ithaca, New York. Ithaca Hours help to keep money local, building the Ithaca economy. It also builds community pride and connections. Over 900 participants publicly accept Ithaca HOURS for goods and services. Additionally some local employers and employees have agreed to pay or receive partial wages in Ithaca Hours, further continuing our goal of keeping money local.

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VII. International Human Service Organizations

A. Every year, Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) provides emergency medical care to millions of people caught in crises in nearly 60 countries around the world. From the website of Doctors Without Borders. In the About Us section, see the Activities subsection (at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/aboutus/activities.cfm) (paragraphs 1, 2 and 3) (Confirmed June 12, 2008) (Note: Text in parenthesis in paragraph 1 above is from the About Us section, History and Principles subsection (at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/aboutus/)
(Confirmed June 12, 2008)

Every year, Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) provides emergency medical care to millions of people caught in crises in nearly 60 countries around the world. MSF provides assistance when catastrophic events such as armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, or natural disasters overwhelm local health systems. MSF also assists people who face discrimination or neglect from their local health systems or when populations are otherwise excluded from health care. (MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.) On any given day, close to 27,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other qualified professionals can be found providing medical care in international teams made up of local MSF aid workers and their colleagues from around the world. In 2006, MSF medical teams gave more than 9 million outpatient consultations; hospitalized almost half a million patients; delivered 99,000 babies; treated 1.8 million people for malaria; treated 150,000 malnourished children; provided 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with antiretroviral therapy; vaccinated 1.8 million people against meningitis; and conducted 64,000 surgeries. From the website of www.Nobelprize.org Located by a search using the search terms Nobel Peace Prize 1999Presentation Speech. (at http://search.nobelprize.org/search/nobel/?q=Nobel+Peace+Prize+1999&i=en&x=8&y=10) (paragraphs 1 and 2) (Confirmed June 12, 2008) In 1999, Doctors Without Borders received the Nobel Peace Prize. [Below is an excerpt from the Presentation Speech for the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize] Few aims can be more praiseworthy than to combat suffering: to help those in the most desperate situations, whatever their race and wherever they may be, to return to a dignified life. Some persons even have the necessary strength and drive to live up to this ideal. We welcome a few of them today. We do so humbly, recognising that they are representatives of a much greater number of self-sacrificing men and women all over the world. Our thoughts go not least to those who, at this very moment, are working under the most difficult conditions, often putting their own lives at risk, in scenes of the profoundest suffering and degradation. 86

B. Teachers Without Borders connects teachers to information and each other to create local change on a global scale. From the Mission and Vision webpage of Teachers Without Borders (at http://www.teacherswithoutborders.org/about-us/mission-and-vision ) Teachers Without Borders connects teachers to information and each other to create local change on a global scale. At over 59 million, teachers are the largest group of trained professionals in the world. As transmitters of knowledge and community leaders, teachers are powerful catalysts for lasting global change. However, teacher professional development is often irrelevant, inconsequential, or missing entirely. Teachers must therefore have a support network to provide the resources, training, tools and colleagues they need to fulfill their important role. Teachers Without Borders offers that support. Our Vision A world with well-trained, well-informed teachers is a world with smarter, healthier, wealthier, more peaceful individuals and societies. Support for a single teacher can foster the well being of hundreds, even thousands, of learners and their communities. Teacher Leaders TWB aims to enhance education globally by supporting local teacher leadership. TWB activities are conceived and run by educators and local leaders who best understand the requirements and goals of their colleagues and communities. Based upon this premise, we provide free resources and tools to help teachers around the world learn, connect, collaborate, and create online; in schools or community centers, in workshops and seminars. C. Heifer International 1) Every family and community that receives assistance promises to repay their living loan by donating one or more of their animal's offspring to another family in need. This practice of "Passing on the Gift" ensures project sustainability, develops community and enhances self-esteem by allowing project partners to become donors. From the webpage Long-Term Solutions to Ending Hunger and Poverty at the website for Heifer International (see http://www.heifer.org/ourwork/approach/long-term-solutions ) Here's how Heifer International works: A typical Heifer project consists of three essential components: Livestock and other material goods Training and extension work 87

Organizational development, which includes planning, management, record keeping, passing on the gift, reporting and evaluation.

And it all starts in a community. First, Heifer helps a community group analyze their situation. They ask: What do we need? What are our resources? What would we like to see happen in five years? Then, they plan specific activities to achieve their goals. At this point, the Heifer "living loan" becomes reality. Farmers prepare for their animals by participating in training sessions, building sheds, and sometimes planting trees and grasses. Then the livestock arrives bringing with it the benefits of milk, wool, draft power, eggs and offspring to pass on to another farmer. Finally, the group evaluates its progress, and the cycle repeats as the group moves to more and more ambitious goals, each time visioning, deciding, implementing and reflecting. Every family and community that receives assistance promises to repay their living loan by donating one or more of their animal's offspring to another family in need. This practice of "Passing on the Gift" ensures project sustainability, develops community and enhances self-esteem by allowing project partners to become donors. This is Heifer's sustainable approach to ending hunger and poverty one family, one animal at a time. It's not temporary relief. It's not a handout. It's securing a future with generations of people who have hope, health and dignity. 2) Heifer International Gift Catalog--Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. From the webpage for the Heifer International Gift Catalog (at https://secure1.heifer.org/gift-catalog ) Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. (Examples: Heifer, Sheep, Bio-gas Stove, Flock of Geese, Pig, etc.) D. iDE (International Development Enterprises) 1) Most of the poorest individuals on our planet, more than 800 million, are subsistence farmers who survive by farming small plots of land. We work with these populations in order to make a significant impact on global poverty. From the Our Story/Mission section of the iDE website (see http://www.ideorg.org/OurStory/Mission.aspx ) 88

iDE's Mission iDE creates income and livelihood opportunities for poor rural households. iDE is a social enterprise dedicated to ending poverty in the developing world not through handouts, but by helping farm families access the tools and knowledge they need to increase their income. Why Rural Households? Most of the poorest individuals on our planet, more than 800 million, are subsistence farmers who survive by farming small plots of land. We work with these populations in order to make a significant impact on global poverty. 2) creating opportunities for small farmers to increase their income. Small farmers comprise 70 percent of the world's 2 billion poor people. What is PRiSM? PRiSM (Prosperity Realized through Irrigation and Smallholder Markets) is IDE's approach to creating opportunities for small farmers to increase their income. Small farmers comprise 70 percent of the world's 2 billion poor people. PRiSM Methodology IDE views the rural poor as entrepreneurs, producers, and customers. Using PRiSM, IDE helps create networks of all the businesses and services involved in producing a farm product. In turn, these networks generate income for everyone involved. PRiSM projects are guided by the following principles: Small Farmer Focus Make Markets Serve the Poor Improve Water Control Listen and Learn Sustainable Resource Management PRiSM Process Situation Analysis Examine the specific small farm environment for market opportunities and constraints Intervention Design Design products or services that will help small farmers make income breakthroughs Implementation Make these products or services available to small farmers through the creation of private sector supply and market chains that support their businesses

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Evaluation and Adaptation Learn from successes and failures to feed back into program design and management 3) Example Success Story: we noticed a lack of access to water in rural villages, and believed that manually powered irrigation pumps could solve the problem and allow farmers to increase productivity. From the Our Story/History section of the iDE website (see http://www.ideorg.org/OurStory/History.aspx# ) Scalable Success With the Treadle Pump When iDE began working in Bangladesh in the early 1980s, we noticed a lack of access to water in rural villages, and believed that manually powered irrigation pumps could solve the problem and allow farmers to increase productivity. Through successful social marketing campaigns, iDE increased annual sales of manual irrigation pumps from 14,000 to 75,000 in a five year period. After that initial success, we identified a better solution in the treadle pump, which is more efficient and easier to operate than manual pumps. To date, more than 1.5 million treadle pumps have been sold in Bangladesh, creating 1.4 billion dollars in net additional income per year. The success of iDE's first two projects confirmed our belief that simple, affordable technologies enable the rural poor to become micro-entrepreneurs, creating a path out of poverty that is both sustainable and replicable.

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VIII. Interfaith Peacebuilding

A. Religions for Peace 1) Religions for Peace is the largest international coalition of representatives from the worlds great religions dedicated to promoting peace. From the Religions for Peace Mission Statement webpage, at http://www.religionsforpeace.org/about/ Religions for Peace is the largest international coalition of representatives from the worlds great religions dedicated to promoting peace. Respecting religious differences while celebrating our common humanity, Religions for Peace is active on every continent and in some of the most troubled areas of the world, creating multi-religious partnerships to confront our most dire issues: stopping war, ending poverty, and protecting the earth. Religious communities are the largest and best-organized civil institutions in the world, claiming the allegiance of billions across race, class, and national divides. These communities have particular cultural understandings, infrastructures, and resources to get help where it is needed most. Founded in 1970, Religions for Peace enables these communities to unleash their enormous potential for common action. Some of Religions for Peaces recent successes include building a new climate of reconciliation in Iraq; mediating dialogue among warring factions in Sierra Leone; organizing an international network of religious womens organizations; and establishing an extraordinary program to assist the millions of children affected by Africas AIDS pandemic, the Hope for African Children Initiative. 2) Global Network of Women of Faith-- Religions for Peace recognizes that women of faith around the world have enormous capacities for leadership and effective action in all areas of human development. At present, the Global Network includes more than 1,000 Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Indigenous, Sikh and Zoroastrian religious womens organization. From the section Global Network of Women of Faith at the Religions for Peace website (see http://www.religionsforpeace.org/initiatives/women/ ) Religions for Peace recognizes that women of faith around the world have enormous capacities for leadership and effective action in all areas of human development. The Womens Mobilization Program was established in 1998 to advance the role of religious women in international development, peace-making and post-conflict reconstruction. The two overarching aims of the program are to ensure that the concerns and perspectives of women are mainstreamed in all of Religions for Peaces programming and to build the capacity of religious women of faith organizations to engage in peace building and sustainable development. In 2001, the program launched the first-ever Global Network of Women of Faith. The growing network serves as an increasingly valuable resource for women of all faiths to communicate and learn from each 91

other and to build bridges between faith-based organizations and major international agencies. At present, the Global Network includes more than 1,000 Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Indigenous, Sikh and Zoroastrian religious womens organizations. Some organizations in the network have a membership as large as 5,000 groups, while others have less than five. More recently, the program inaugurated four regional women of faith sub-networks in Africa, South East Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. B. United Religions Initiative 1) Since the signing of our charter in 2000, we have touched the lives of millions of people of different faiths around the world through a network of 527 interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs), whose members number half a million. From the About section of the United Religions Initiative (see http://www.uri.org/about_uri ) URI (United Religions Initiative) is an internationally recognized interfaith network active in 78 countries with its global office in San Francisco, California. We cultivate and connect grassroots changemakers across religious, cultural and geographic boundaries, harnessing their collective power to take on religiously motivated violence and social, economic and environmental crises that destabilize regions and contribute to poverty. Since the signing of our charter in 2000, we have touched the lives of millions of people of different faiths around the world through a network of 527 interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs), whose members number half a million. Locally rooted, these groups and organizations engage people of different faiths and traditions to work together for the good of their communities. CCs address issues as diverse as AIDS, economic empowerment, civil war orphans, climate change and urban conflict. URI is the common thread, connecting them around shared principles, amplifying their voices and helping transform them from local actors into powerful coalitions for regional and global change. 2) Interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs)build cooperation among people of all faiths and traditions to address the most pressing issues facing their collective communities, including poverty, religiously motivated violence, environmental degradation and more. From the section Cooperation Circles, at the United Religions Initiative website (see http://www.uri.org/cooperation_circles ) Interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs) are the heart of URI. Independently organized, self-governing and self-funding, they build cooperation among people of all faiths and traditions to address the most pressing issues facing their collective communities, including poverty, religiously motivated violence, environmental degradation and more. Some examples of CC work include:

Winning full citizenship for poor and disenfranchised brick workers in Pakistan Rescuing child soldiers in the Ugandan civil war Brokering a truce between factions of the Christian church in Kerala, India 92

Working with government officials, teachers and police to increase social cohesion and stem violence before it starts in urban areas of Catalonia Urban reforestation in New Delhi, India Helping religious and cultural minorities in the conflict-prone province of Mindanao, Philippines have their voices heard by government officials in Manila

Cooperation Circles range in size from a minimum of seven members to tens of thousands, representing at least three faiths or traditions, including the non-religious, and subscribe to the shared vision outlined in URIs Charter. They are connected to one another and the global URI network through eight regional anchor points, where regional coordinators help CCs build capacity, organize regional gatherings and trainings, and seed new CCs. URIs global office in San Francisco provides support for regional leaders, maintains a global communications network, organizes conferences to bring CCs together from all over the globe, and supports three global initiatives, the Traveling Peace Academy, the Young Leaders Program and the Environmental Satellite. 3) CCs share perspectives from different traditions; offer humanitarian relief; organize music festivals; clean rivers, offer hospice counseling; develop educational programs; create opportunities for intercultural encounter and interfaith reflection, and a host of other activities. From the Create a Cooperation Circle section of the United Religions Initiative website (see http://www.uri.org/cooperation_circles/create_a_cooperation_circle ) URI adds new Cooperation Circles (CCs) each month. CCs are created by people who share a common vision: that our religious and spiritual lives, rather than divide us, can guide us to build community and respect for one another. When you and your group create a Cooperation Circle you become part of an extraordinary force for good in the world. A Cooperation Circle is formed to initiate acts of interfaith cooperation and peacebuilding. CCs share perspectives from different traditions; offer humanitarian relief; organize music festivals; clean rivers, offer hospice counseling; develop educational programs; create opportunities for intercultural encounter and interfaith reflection, and a host of other activities. C. The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative
1) The beliefs that there is a critical need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow

human beingsand that at no other time in history has there been more potential for such an increasehave urged and inspired The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (www.ipcri.net ) to explore how such potential might be realized. From A Brief Introduction to The IPCR Initiative (at http://www.ipcri.net/A_Brief_Introduction_to_The_IPCR_Initiative.pdf ) The beliefs that there is a critical need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beingsand that at no other time in history has there been more potential for such an increasehave urged and inspired The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (www.ipcri.net ) to explore how such potential might be realized. This exploration has identified a set of critical challenges which require problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before, and a constellations of initiatives approach to resolving the critical challenges identified. The IPCR Initiative 93

advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders, time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives. 2) Key Documents include: Many Danger Signs Flashing Red and Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights A Four Page Summary of The IPCR Initiative (February, 2011) IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report [444 pages; January, 2012 (with updates August, 2012)(detailed Table of Contents)] A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (from 2008 IPCR document, with minor modifications) (28 pages) Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts (ongoing) (26 pages) Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections (June, 2012; 9 pages) Many Danger Signs Flashing Red (62 pages; November, 2012) The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (105 pages; November, 2012) The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (65 pages; November, 2012) Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights (146 pages; November, 2012) 3) Community Good News Networksfor the purpose of bringing to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how may ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help as well as to those who receive it. From the document Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts (at http://www.ipcri.net/1_Brief_Descriptions_of_The_Eight_IPCR_Concepts.pdf ) Community Good News Networks is a name for participation by local community residents in an ongoing process of actively discovering, sharing, encouraging, and creating good news, for the purpose of bringing to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how may ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help as well as to those who receive it. One way to begin creating Community Good News Networks is as follows: ongoing intergenerational programsprograms that bring together elders of the community with young people (ages 5-18) of the communityare created at appropriate meeting places such as local places of worship. Such intergenerational programs would include the following activities: 1) collecting and sharing good news articles, stories, etc., and making contributions to Good News Reference Resources, specific to local communities and regions 2) sending notecards of gratitude and encouragementand invitations to visitto people who are making good news in the local community or region 3) inspirational sharing meetings featuring good news makers from the local community or region.

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IX. Sister Community Relationships

A. The IPCR Initiative and sister community relationships 1) It is in the context of the leanings of human aspirations regarding human moralityand in the context of emphasizing the need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beingsthat The IPCR Initiative encourages communities (with the resources to do so) to enter into sister community relationships with communities in other countries where there has been well documented calls for assistance with basic human needs. From the Sister Community Relationships section of article Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections (at http://www.ipcri.net/Community_Visioning_Initiatives_or_General_Elections.pdf ) It is in the context of the leanings of human aspirations regarding human moralityand in the context of emphasizing the need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beingsthat The IPCR Initiative encourages communities (with the resources to do so) to enter into sister community relationships with communities in other countries where there has been well documented calls for assistance with basic human needs. Such community-to-community relationships can provide critical assistance with capacity building (especially if communities make best use of already established humanitarian aid organizations specializing in capacity building). Sister community relationships can also create service work capable of uniting diverse communities of people, and a variety of opportunities for person-to-person peacebuilding (as can be seen by the work of organizations such as Sister Cities International; webpage at http://www.sister-cities.org/.) B. There are many communities in the world who already have sister community relationships with communities in other parts of the world. There are many communities in the world who already have sister community relationships with communities in other parts of the world. The organization most responsible for developing the idea of sister communities, and the organization most experienced in facilitating and monitoring such relationships, is Sister Cities International. 1) About Sister Cities International a) The organizations global network is comprised of 600 U.S. cities partnered with 2,000 communities in 136 countries. Sister Cities International works through long-term, grassroots city-to-city partnerships that address international development projects, sustainable development, economic development, youth and education, arts and culture, and humanitarian assistance. From Facebook page (at https://www.facebook.com/SisterCitiesInternational/info )(confirmed October 27, 2012) Mission: Promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation one individual, one community at a time. 95

Company Overview: Sister Cities International is an international nonprofit based in Washington, DC with 56 years of experience bringing people and communities together through exchanges and public programs. The organizations global network is comprised of 600 U.S. cities partnered with 2,000 communities in 136 countries. Sister Cities International works through long-term, grassroots city-to-city partnerships that address international development projects, sustainable development, economic development, youth and education, arts and culture, and humanitarian assistance. b) Sister Cities International creates relationships based on cultural, educational, information and trade exchangesthat provide prosperity and peace through person-to-person citizen diplomacy. From the About section of the Sister Cities International website, in the Mission and History subsection (see http://www.sister-cities.org/mission-and-history ) (confirmed October 27, 2012) Sister Cities International creates relationships based on cultural, educational, information and trade exchanges, creating lifelong friendships that provide prosperity and peace through person-to-person citizen diplomacy. it dedicates a special focus on areas with significant opportunities for cultural and educational exchanges, economic partnerships, and humanitarian assistance. c) Services provided to communities joining Sister Cities International include: eligibility to apply for seed grants to support sister city projects, access to information and how-to guides, mentoring and staff consultation. From a Fact Sheet titled About Sister Communities International in the Media Contacts section (see http://www.sister-cities.org/about/press/FactSheet-FINAL-pdf.pdf )(Note: Fact Sheet no longer accessible from the Sister Cities Website) --Sister Cities International is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between U.S. and international communities. As an international membership organization, we officially certify, represent and support partnerships between U.S. cities, counties, states and similar jurisdictions in other countries. --Key program areas include: Sustainable Development, Youth and Education, Humanitarian Assistance, Arts and Culture --Services provided to communities joining Sister Cities International include: eligibility to apply for seed grants to support sister city projects access to information and how-to guides mentoring and staff consultation

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C. Ten Examples of Humanitarian Aid Which Can be Explored Through Sister Community Relationships Developing a sister community relationship could be a way for diverse people in any particular community to find common ground. And common ground associated with increasing compassion for our fellow human beings would be a very special kind of common ground. Exploring these possibilities could make it possible for many people to have first hand experience with bringing to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how many ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help, as well as to those who receive it. There are countless numbers of things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in their own communities and regionsand in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, there are often so many different activities which require our attention during the course of any given day, and many of us simply do not know how much good can be done in the world with even minor contributions of time, energy, and money. Here this writer will provide the names of ten organizations which should be sufficient to bring to mind how many different kinds of positive outcomes could result from such sister community relationships. The Ten Organizations (or concepts) are: Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies World Food Programme Doctors Without Borders Teachers Without Borders S3IDF (Small-Scale Sustainable Infrastructure Development Fund) IDE (International Development Enterprises) Heifer International Peace Corps Foreign Student Exchange Adopt a Child (Sponsoring a child)

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X. Key International Funding Networks

A. Global Fund for Women 1) Numerous studies have demonstrated that educating women and girls is the single most effective strategy to ensure the well-being and health of children, and the long-term success of developing economies. From an overview of the Global Fund for Women, at the Womens UN Report Network website (see http://www.wunrn.com/news/2009/03_09/03_16_09/031609_global2.htm ) The Global Fund for Women is a nonprofit grantmaking foundation that advances women's human rights worldwide. We are a network of women and men who believe that ensuring women's full equality and participation in society is one of the most effective ways to build a just, peaceful and sustainable world. We raise funds from a variety of sources and make grants to women-led organizations that promote the economic security, health, safety, education and leadership of women and girls. Economic Security Women perform two-thirds of all labor and produce more than half of the world's food. Yet, women own only about one percent of the world's assets, and represent 70 percent of those living in absolute poverty. We support efforts that increase women's ability to contribute to and benefit from economic growth and development. Violence Against Women The abuse of women and girls is endemic in most societies around the world. One in three women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise violated in her lifetime. Rape as a weapon of war is a feature of conflicts from Sudan to Iraq. We support programs that offer immediate services to victims of violence, raise awareness about their rights and advocate for an end to all forms of violence. Education Two-thirds of the world's uneducated children are girls, and two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults are women. Numerous studies have demonstrated that educating women and girls is the single most effective strategy to ensure the well-being and health of children, and the long-term success of developing economies. We invest in programs that ensure access to education for women and girls at all stages of their lives. Health In developing countries maternal mortality is the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age. Women and girls lack access to the most basic health care services and are at the highest risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Our grants educate women about basic health and sanitation practices, demand government accountability for ensuring good public health policy and provide critical services to the most under-served populations. Leadership Although women make up 51 percent of the worlds population, they hold only 16 percent of parliamentary and congressional seats worldwide. Their presence in corporate and civic leadership positions remains limited by entrenched gender bias. Womens civic and political participation is 98

essential to the achievement of open and democratic societies. We support womens leadership in civic organizations, in local government and in decision-making bodies at the highest levels of governance. 2) GFW has been both seeding and supporting indigenous womens funds in every continent around the globe. Research on 1,000 womens organizations by Association of Womens Rights in Development (AWID) found that womens funds are the main source of income for the majority of these organizations, many of which have annual budgets of less than $5,000. From the section Fostering Social Change Philanthropy (at http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/what-we-do/social-change-philanthropy ) GFW has been both seeding and supporting indigenous womens funds in every continent around the globe. Since 1990, we have awarded over $5 million dollars to 21 womens funds. Womens funds literally sustain thousands of womens organizations worldwide. Research on 1,000 womens organizations by Association of Womens Rights in Development (AWID) found that womens funds are the main source of income for the majority of these organizations, many of which have annual budgets of less than $5,000. Country and region-based womens funds are uniquely situated to mobilize resources from their regions and sustain womens rights organizations and movements. GFW has played a key role in supporting the establishment of local womens funds around the world, partnering and mentoring them as they grow to play leadership roles in the womens movement in their communities. We partner closely with womens funds to leverage support for groups that have difficulty accessing resources, such as indigenous women, rural and poor women, lesbians, young women and women with disabilities. 3) Global Expertise: our board and advisory council include local activists who know the realities facing women and the operational challenges for women's rights organizations. From the What We Do section of the Global Fund for Women website (at http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/what-we-do Since its inception in 1987, the Global Fund has granted over $93 million to more than 4,400 women's groups in 172 countries. The Global Fund for Women supports a wide range of womens groups working to build peace and end gender-based violence, advance health and sexual and reproductive rights, ensure economic and environmental justice, expand civic and political participation, increase access to education, and foster social change philanthropy. How We Work

We listen to the concerns of women and girls worldwide and trust them to design solutions that address the needs of their communities, regions and nations. We seed newly formed women-led initiatives that use innovative strategies to address complex issues that challenge systemic injustice. We strengthen the capacity of women's groups to sustain their own work and be more effective. 99

We link women's groups, networks and coalitions to advance shared learning andbuild powerful movements for social change.

What Makes Us Unique

Accessibility: womens groups from any part of the world may write to us in any language and in any format. Global Expertise: our board and advisory council include local activists who know the realities facing women and the operational challenges for women's rights organizations. Flexible Grants for General Operating Support: general support grants allow groups to seize opportunities, respond to crises, and strengthen the capacity of their organizations. Building Local Philanthropy: we invest in local women's funds to promote social change philanthropy and increase funding for women's rights globally.

B. Womens Funding Network 1) Women's Funding Network is the largest philanthropic network of women's funds dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls around the world. From The Network section, at http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/the-network Women's Funding Network is the largest philanthropic network of women's funds dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls around the world. We are unmatched in terms of our size, reach and connections:

166 women's funds located on six continents $70 million per year in global investment in women and girls $535 million in collective working assets Tens of thousands of donors, change-makers and thought leaders all with a shared passion for bringing women's ideas to the fore of global problem-solving.

2) Only 37% of countries have achieved gender parity in secondary education. From section Securing Access to Education, at http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/impact/education Education is a basic right and one of the keys to breaking the cycle of poverty in both the developing and the developed world. Women and girls make up 70 percent of those living in absolute poverty. When women gain an education they increase their chances of participating in the labor market, improving the health and well-being of their children, increasing financial literacy, and participating in the political system. Facts

Women make up two-thirds of the almost 960 million illiterate adults worldwide. 2/3 of children denied access to a primary education are girls. 9 out of 10 girls in the world are enrolled in primary education. 100

According to the World Bank, an extra year of schooling can increase a girls future wages by 10 to 20%. Only 37% of countries have achieved gender parity in secondary education. Increasing the share of women with a secondary education by 1% boosts the annual per capita income of a country by 0.3 percentage points according to the World Bank. Women earn 60% of university degrees in the United States and Europe. By 2011 there will be 2.6 million more women than men studying in American universities. Women make up only 30% of business school students. This percentage has remained the same since the late 1980s.

Policy Recommendations Education is one of the primary methods to lift a population out of poverty towards prosperity and stability. Creating more effective policies to increase education for girls will not only save money in the long run, but add significant human capital to the economy. Therefore there is a need for Greater focus towards eradicating illiteracy especially for women living in less-advantaged communities. Allocating sufficient resources for educational programs and the implementation of educational reforms in all states. Access to and equality in education at all levels (primary, secondary, higher, and continuing) as well as in vocational training. Providing a safe and secure educational environment for all women. Developing non-discriminatory, unbiased curricula and teacher training programs.

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XI. Inspiring Role Models

A. Key Insights from Mahatma Gandhi 1) Gandhi advocated for small, local and predominantly village-based technology to help India's villages become self reliant . From the Wikipedia webpage for Appropriate Technology, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology Indian ideological leader Mahatma Gandhi is often cited as the "father" of the appropriate technology movement. Though the concept had not been given a name, Gandhi advocated for small, local and predominantly village-based technology to help India's villages become self reliant. He disagreed with the idea of technology that benefited a minority of people at the expense of the majority or that put people out of work to increase profit. In 1925 Gandhi founded the All-India Spinners Association and in 1935 he retired from politics to form the All-India Village Industries Association-- both organizations focused on village-based technology similar to the future appropriate technology movement. 2) Swadeshi avoids economic dependence on external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. It also avoids unnecessary, unhealthy, wasteful, and therefore environmentally destructive transportation. The village must build a strong economic base to satisfy most of its needs, and all members of the village community should give priority to local goods and services. From Gandhis Swadeshi: The Economics of Permanence by Satish Kumar at http://squat.net/caravan/ICC-en/Krrs-en/ghandi-econ-en.htm (see Paragraphs 2-6 and 13 in section Principles of Swadeshi) In India, people have lived for thousands of years in a relative harmony with their surroundings: living in their homesteads, weaving homespun clothes, eating homegrown food, using homemade goods; caring for their animals, forests, and lands; celebrating the fertility of the soil with feasts; performing the stories of great epics, and building temples. Every region of India has developed its own distinctive culture, to which travelling storytellers, wandering 'saddhus', and constantly flowing streams of pilgrims have traditionally made their contribution. According to the principle of swadeshi, whatever is made or produced in the village must be used first and foremost by the members of the village. Trading among villages and between villages and towns should be minimal, like icing on the cake. Goods and services that cannot be generated within the community can be bought from elsewhere. Swadeshi avoids economic dependence on external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. It also avoids unnecessary, unhealthy, wasteful, and therefore environmentally destructive transportation. The village must build a strong economic base to satisfy most of its needs, and all members of the village community should give priority to local goods and services. Every village community of free India should have its own carpenters, shoemakers, potters, builders, mechanics, farmers, engineers, weavers, teachers, bankers, merchants, traders, musicians, artists, and priests. In other words, each village should be a microcosm of India - a web of loosely inter-connected communities. Gandhi considered these villages so important that he thought they should be given the status of "village republics". 102

The village community should embody the spirit of the home - an extension of the family rather than a collection of competing individuals. Gandhi's dream was not of personal self-sufficiency, not even family self-sufficiency, but the self-sufficiency of the village community. 3) Gandhi said, A certain degree of physical comfort is necessary but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help; therefore the ideal of creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them, seems to be a delusion and a trap. The satisfaction of one's physical needs must come at a certain point to a dead stop before it degenerates into physical decadence. Beyond a certain limit, economic growth becomes detrimental to human well-being. The modern worldview is that the more material goods you have, the better your life will be. But Gandhi said, "A certain degree of physical comfort is necessary but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help; therefore the ideal of creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them, seems to be a delusion and a trap. The satisfaction of one's physical needs must come at a certain point to a dead stop before it degenerates into physical decadence. B. Key Insights of J.C. Kumarappa 1) Some biographical information about J.C. Kumarappa From Brief Life Sketch of J.C. Kumarappa (1892-1960) at the website of the Kumarappa Institute of Gram Swaraj (KIGS) (see http://www.kigs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=20 ) (paragraph 8) In 1935, the India National Congress formed the All India Village Industries Association (AIVIA) for the development of (the) rural economy (in India), with Gandhiji as President and Kumarappa as Secretary and Organiser. Between 1935-1939, Kumarappa established the AIVIA headquarters at Maganwadi, developed various experiments of rural technologies, and helped others to reorganize village industries all over the country. (At Maganwadi), he edited a monthly journal, Gram Udyog Patrika, and wrote a book, Why the Village Movement? for AIVIA. 2) every article in the bazaar has moral and spiritual values attached to it hence it behooves us to enquire into the antecedents of every article we buy. (Yet this) is an arduous task, and it becomes almost impossible for ordinary persons to undertake it when the article comes from far off countries. Therefore, it is that we have to restrict our purchase to articles made within our cognizance. This is the moral basis of Swadeshi. From Why the Village Movement? by J.C. Kumarappa The edition this writer has includes the 1939 edition foreword byMahatma Gandhi, and was printed on handmade paper in Rajchat, Kashi in 1960 every article in the bazaar has moral and spiritual values attached to it hence it behooves us to enquire into the antecedents of every article we buy. (Yet this) is an arduous task, and it becomes almost impossible for ordinary persons to undertake it when the article comes from far off countries. Therefore, it is that we have to restrict our purchase to articles made within our cognizance. This is the moral basis of Swadeshi. (p. 72-73) 103

If the goods come from a source which may be tainted with exploitation (either of sweat labor or of the political, financial, or economic hold over other nations, or classes, or races) then the buyer of such goods will be party to such exploitation, just as the person who buys stolen articles creates a market for stolen goods. Therefore, anyone who buys good indiscriminately is not discharging his/her full responsibility.We cannot absolve ourselves of all blame by merely pleading ignorance in regard to the source. (p.78) Are we prepared to shoulder this grave responsibility and pander to our palate or shall we content ourselves with a cup of nutritious milk drawn from a well kept cow at our door? These considerations are not far-fetched but actual. Anyone who looks on life seriously and as a trustee cannot afford to ignore these far-reaching consequences of his/her actions. (p. 78-79) 3) If we feel it is beyond us to guarantee the concomitant results of all our transactions, it necessarily follows that we must limit our transactions to a circle well within our control. This is the bed rock of swadeshi The smaller the circumference, the more accurately can we guage the results of our actions, and (the) more conscientiously shall we be able to fulfill our obligations as trustees. From Why the Village Movement? by J.C. Kumarappa The edition this writer has includes the 1939 edition foreword byMahatma Gandhi, and was printed on handmade paper in Rajchat, Kashi in 1960 If we feel it is beyond us to guarantee the concomitant results of all our transactions, it necessarily follows that we must limit our transactions to a circle well within our control. This is the bed rock of swadeshi The smaller the circumference, the more accurately can we guage the results of our actions, and (the) more conscientiously shall we be able to fulfill our obligations as trustees. (p.79) A business transaction does not begin and end with the transfer of goods and payment of money; in addition, it involves the consideration of ones duties to ones fellow men. (p.155) We do not live unto ourselves, and the more we realize the repercussions of our actions on our neighbors and strive to act according to the highest we are capable of, the more shall we advance in our spiritual development. (p.73) C. Key Insights from Booker T. Washington 1) From the very beginning, at Tuskegee, I was determined to have the students do not only the agricultural and domestic work, but to have them erect their own buildings. My plan was to have them, while performing this service, taught the latest and best methods of labour, so that the school would not only get the benefit of their efforts, but the students themselves would be taught to see not only utility in labour, but beauty and dignity From Up from Slavery (1901) by Booker T. Washington (Excerpts are from a University of Virginia online source at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/washington/toc.html ) From the very beginning, at Tuskegee, I was determined to have the students do not only the agricultural and domestic work, but to have them erect their own buildings. My plan was to have them, 104

while performing this service, taught the latest and best methods of labour, so that the school would not only get the benefit of their efforts, but the students themselves would be taught to see not only utility in labour, but beauty and dignity; would be taught, in fact, how to lift labour up from mere drudgery and toil, and would learn to love work for its own sake. My plan was not to teach them to work in the old way, but to show them how to make the forces of nature--air, water, steam, electricity, horsepower--assist them in their labour. (From Chapter X A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw) At first many advised against the experiment of having the buildings erected by the labour of the students, but I was determined to stick to it. I told those who doubted the wisdom of the plan that I knew that our first buildings would not be so comfortable or so complete in their finish as buildings erected by the experienced hands of outside workmen, but that in the teaching of civilization, self-help, and self-reliance, the erection of buildings by the students themselves would more than compensate for any lack of comfort or fine finish. (From Chapter X A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw) I further told those who doubted the wisdom of this plan, that the majority of our students came to us in poverty, from the cabins of the cotton, sugar, and rice plantations of the South, and that while I knew it would please the students very much to place them at once in finely constructed buildings, I felt that it would be following out a more natural process of development to teach them how to construct their own buildings. Mistakes I knew would be made, but these mistakes would teach us valuable lessons for the future. (From Chapter X A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw) 2) The supplying of them to the people in the community has had the same effect as the supplying of bricks, and the man who learns at Tuskegee to build and repair wagons and carts is regarded as a benefactor by both races in the community where he goes. The people with whom he lives and works are going to think twice before they part with such a man. From Up from Slavery (1901) by Booker T. Washington (Excerpts are from a University of Virginia online source at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/washington/toc.html ) During the now nineteen years' existence of the Tuskegee school, the plan of having the buildings erected by student labour has been adhered to. In this time forty buildings, counting small and large, have been built, and all except four are almost wholly the product of student labour. As an additional result, hundreds of men are now scattered throughout the South who received their knowledge of mechanics while being taught how to erect these buildings. Skill and knowledge are now handed down from one set of students to another in this way, until at the present time a building of any description or size can be constructed wholly by our instructors and students, from the drawing of the plans to the putting in of the electric fixtures, without going off the grounds for a single workman. (From Chapter X A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw) The same principle of industrial education has been carried out in the building of our own wagons, carts, and buggies, from the first. We now own and use on our farm and about the school dozens of these vehicles, and every one of them has been built by the hands of the students. Aside from this, we help supply the local market with these vehicles. The supplying of them to the people in the community has had the same effect as the supplying of bricks, and the man who learns at Tuskegee to build and repair wagons and carts is regarded as a benefactor by both races in the community where he goes. The people with whom he lives and works are going to think twice before they part with such a man. (From Chapter X A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw) 105

Appendices
Appendix A Introduction to the Clearinghouse Websites and the Four Key Documents (titled New Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving and Citizen Peacebuilding) Appendix B 125 Related Fields of Activity. Appendix C A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative. Appendix D 9 Sample Questions for Preliminary Surveys. Appendix E Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections?. Appendix F A List of Ten Critical Challenges..........

107 113 115 133 138 146

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Appendix A
New Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving and Citizen Peacebuilding
(being introduced by two companion websites and four key documents)

The websites, the documents, and the approach We are in uncharted territory, for there is no culture or association of societies that ever existed on planet Earth which has had to resolve the kind of challenges the next few generations of people will have to resolve [see A List of Ten Critical Challenges (also accessible from the last page of all four key documents below) and the longer Table of Contents for Many Dangers Signs Flashing Red]. This introduction provides an overview of an approach to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding which emphasizes Community Visioning Initiatives and Community Teaching and Learning Centers. The websites which are introducing this new and comprehensive approach to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding are: 1) Community Visioning Initiatives Clearinghouse (at www.cviclearinghouse.net ) 2) Community Teaching and Learning Centers Clearinghouse (at www.ctlcclearinghouse.net ) The clearinghouse part of the titles emphasizes that these websites can serve as gathering points for information, resources, model project case studies, and best practices which are contributions to realizing the potential of these problem solving and peacebuilding processes. In addition, each website has a Discussion Forum which can serve as an aggregator for related resources, shared experiences, and thoughtful discussion about the documents below, the 125 Related Fields of Activity, (some of which are listed on the left side of the clearinghouse webpages), and any other topics which will be helpful to resolving the critical challenge ahead. The key documents associated with this new and comprehensive approach to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding are: 1. 2. 3. 4. "Many Danger Signs Flashing Red" (62 pages) (Nov. 2012) "The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages)" (Nov., 2012) "The Potential of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (in 65 pages) (Nov., 2012) "Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights" (146 pages) (Nov., 2012)

This writer advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives responses to the challenges of our times.

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About Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs) Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. One very important advantage of the Community Visioning Initiatives kind of approach to collaborative problem solving is that it does not set out a preexisting set of goalsorganizers would be believing that the urgency and awareness that needs to come will come, and would be focusing more on building a collaborative problem solving approach which people with many different backgrounds and agendas could believe in could believe will make best use of the knowledge and skills each person has to contribute. The document The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages) provides a detailed 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (see Appendix C), and the Community Visioning Initiatives Clearinghouse website provides a section for Model Project Case Studiesand a Discussion Forum for the exchange of information, experiences, and resources. The Community Visioning Initiative approach to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding (supplemented by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers) emphasizes personal and civic responsibility, maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges and solution-oriented activity, giving people an opportunity to become actively involved in a solution-charged environment, and minimizing the risk of transformation unemployment; and is especially appropriate to the building of close-knit communities of people communities with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges and communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings. About Community Teaching and Learning Centers (CTLCs) Yes, most of the challenges ahead are very complex, and thus it will be best if people making decisions at the local community level sift through some of the evidence (with the assistance of local teacherleaders). But their motive for sifting through some of the evidence need not be understood as part of studying for a Ph.D on the subject, or as part of deciding how to vote for a particular candidate in elections. From this writers point of view, it would be best if their motive was so they can make informed decisions regarding how they invest their time, energy, and money in the everyday circumstances of their daily lives. Consider carefully the following observations: The ways we invest our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the ways of earning a living that are available. The investments of time, energy, and money that each of us make in our everyday circumstances becomes the larger economy.

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People who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and they are investing their time, energy, and moneyvotingall the time. The absolute necessity for citizens from every variety of circumstances to become more aware of the consequences of all the little events in their everyday community life will require an exponential increase in neighborhood accessible education centers, and an exponential increase in affordable workshops. As a multi-purpose support center for implementing Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs), Community Teaching and Learning Centers can function as 1) information centers, resource centers, and clearinghouses (on how residents can deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of ways of earning a living which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges) 2) locations for workshops on topics suggested by the Preliminary Survey (see Step 3 in A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative), and as determined by the Community Teaching and Learning Center Coordinator 3) practice sites for the development of teacher-leaders 4) community centers for meetings, both planned and informal It is possible to imagine workshops being offered at a rate of $100 for a 2 hour workshop (Note: This example is scaled for readers in the United Statescost and currency would vary according to the country participating), with the number of teachers and participants varying. An important part of cost accessibility is that as the number of participants goes up (towards a reasonable limit) the cost per participant would go down. Thus, if there were two teachers and 25 participants for a two hour workshop, the participants would only pay $4 each, and the teachers would earn $50 each. (And even the $4 cost to the participants could be paid in local currency, if there was a process by which residents could earn local currency by making solution-appropriate investments of time, energy, and money in their local community.) The CTLC Clearinghouse website recognizes that creating the knowledge base, skill sets, and the compassion for our fellow human beings necessary to resolve the challenges of our times will require encouraging as much formal and informal meetings with other people in the local neighborhoods for discussion, information sharing, mutual support and encouragement, fellowship and friendshipso that the result will include the building of a close-knit community of people with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, and a well developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges. The Community Teaching and Learning Centers Clearinghouse website will eventually provide links to educational material on 125 Related Fields of Activityand currently provides a section for Best Practices Examples, and a Discussion Forum for the exchange of information, experiences, and resources. Time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives, supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers, are one way people at the local community level can learn how to make wise choices about how they use their time, energy, and money so that all the little events in the circumstance of 109

everyday community life have a positive and cumulative effect on the challenges they have identified as priority challenges. Document Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights highlights potential linkages The absolute necessity for an exponential increase in neighborhood accessible education centers, and an exponential increase in affordable workshops, requires an understanding of people and organizations who have already been working on appropriate responses to the critical challenges of our timesand how such people and organizations can link together to form meaningful collaborations. The Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights document (146 pages) provides much detailed information which can help people to the conclusion that we have the resources necessary to overcome the challenge of our times. The detailed Table of Contents is offered as a kind of Executive Summary of important resources and potential linkages. Here are some excerpts from the Key Organizations. document which highlight important resources and potential linkages: Gaia Education--Since 2006 Gaia Education has successfully supported the delivery of more than 135 programmes on five continents. La Via Campesina--.La Via Campesina launched the idea of food sovereignty at the World Summit on Food 1996. La Via Campesina comprises about 150 local and national organizations in 70 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. In all, it is about 200 million farmers and peasants. Oxfam--Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. Women in the Marketplace--The results show a clear opportunity to harness the immense power of the individual, in particular women who make the majority of the decisions about the food their families eat and control around $12 trillion or 65% of the worlds annual consumer spending. (From Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food FutureOxfam) Sustainable and Responsible Investing--Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $3.07 trillion out of $25.2 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. Fairtrade--There are now 827 Fairtrade certified producer organizations in 58 producing countries, representing over 1.2 million farmers and workers. BALLE--The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies(BALLE) is a growing North American alliance of nearly 60 fully autonomous local business networks with their own names, missions, and initiatives, representing about 20,000 US and Canadian entrepreneurs.

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Berkshares--Launched in the fall of 2006, BerkShares had a robust initiation, with over one million BerkShares having been circulated in the first nine months and over 2.7 million to date. Currently, more than four hundred businesses have signed up to accept the currency. Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF)--provides emergency medical care to millions of people caught in crises in nearly 60 countries around the world. Religions for Peace (and the Global Network of Women and Faith)--recognizes that women of faith around the world have enormous capacities for leadership and effective action in all areas of human development.. At present, the Global Network of Women and Faith includes more than 1,000 Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Indigenous, Sikh and Zoroastrian religious womens organizations. United Religions Initiative--Since the signing of our charter in 2000, we have touched the lives of millions of people of different faiths around the world through a network of 527 interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs), whose members number half a million. Sister Cities International--The organizations global network is comprised of 600 U.S. cities partnered with 2,000 communities in 136 countries. At over 59 million, teachers are the largest group of trained professionals in the world. As transmitters of knowledge and community leaders, teachers are powerful catalysts for lasting global change. Global Fund for Women--Since its inception in 1987, the Global Fund has granted over $93 million to more than 4,400 women's groups in 172 countries. Workshops at Community Teaching and Learning Centers can focus on subject matter identified as critically important by preliminary surveys (to 150 local leaders). Workshop curriculum contributed by (for example) Gaia Education, BALLE, Fairtrade, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, United Religions Initiative, Global Network for Women of Faith, Sister Cities International etc. can guide Socially Responsible and Sustainable Investing, and can lead to a careful and deliberate channeling of time, energy, and money in the marketplaceto support Community Visioning Initiatives, Community Teaching and Learning Centers, local currencies, Food Sovereignty, Ecovillages, and a just transition from dysfunctional systems which are very complex to functioning systems which are much less complex. In addition, one aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. (Since local currencies are only accepted within the community, their usage encourages the purchase of locally-produced and locally-available goods and service.) The Key Organizations, Initiatives, and Insights document includes the following Sections in the Table of Contents (see number 1); and a list of 125 Related Fields of Activity is included in the Appendices (see number 2 below for a sampling of those related fields of activity). 1) Preliminary Surveys (as Preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives); Community Visioning Initiatives; Community Teaching and Learning Centers; Ecovillage Design Education and Permaculture; 111

Food Sovereignty; Socially Responsible Investing; International Human Service Organizations; Interfaith Peacebuildng; Sister Community Relationships; Key International Funding Networks; Inspiring Role Models 2) Agrarian Reform, Alleviating Hunger, Alternative Gifts, Apprenticeships, Appropriate Technology, Carbon Footprint, Child Sponsorship, Community Economics, Community Land Trusts, Community Supported Agriculture, Community Visioning Initiatives, Composting Toilets, Cradle to Cradle, Ecovillages, Fair Trade, Food Autonomy, Food Co-ops, Holistic Health Care, Inspiring Role Models, Job Fairs, Local Currency, Local Stock Exchanges, Open Courseware, Permaculture, Questionnaire Development, Renewable Energy, School-Business Partnerships, Service Learning, Sister Communities, Socially Responsible Investing, Swadeshi, Village Industries, Water Supply and Management, Women's Rights, Zero Waste Concluding Comments The Community Visioning Initiative approach to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding (supplemented by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers) emphasizes personal and civic responsibility, maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges and solution-oriented activity, giving people an opportunity to become actively involved in a solution-charged environment, and minimizing the risk of transformation unemployment; and is especially appropriate to the building of close-knit communities of people communities with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges and communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings. The websites which are introducing this new and comprehensive approach to collaborative problem solving and citizen peacebuilding are: 1) Community Visioning Initiatives Clearinghouse (at www.cviclearinghouse.net ) 2) Community Teaching and Learning Centers Clearinghouse (at www.ctlcclearinghouse.net ) The sharing of Community Visioning Initiative experiences and Community Teaching and Learning Center experiences through the clearinghouse websites would be a key (if we will use it) to making the most of learning experiences worldwideand such sharing would surely contribute much to transforming the many challenges ahead into inspiring experiences of collaboration, peacebuilding, and community revitalization. If many people could see and feel the practical value of carrying out similar forms of Community Visioning Initiatives, such collaborative, solution-oriented activity could become a common experience a common cultural tradition a cultural tradition which can link many diverse communities of people together, in a fellowship of people working towards the greater good of the whole and a cultural tradition which can help pass on to future generations the best ideas humans have accumulated in more than 5,000 years of human history.

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Appendix B
125 Related Fields of Activity This writer has identified 125 fields of activity related to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts. If readers consider the number of organizations, initiatives, and individuals associated with efforts in these fields of activity, I believe they will share this writers view that there are countless number of things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in our own communities and regionsand in other parts of the world.
Important Notes: This list is, and will always be, an incomplete listbecause it reflects this writers preferences, and because of its very nature (i.e. it represents only a fraction of the countless numbers of things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in their own communities and regionsand in other parts of the world). As an aid to further research on these fields of activity, the Links section of the IPCR Initiative website, at www.ipcri.net provides starting point links associated with each of these fields of activity. (In addition, some fields of activity have text, excerpts, or commentary from referenced sources).

1. adult literacy 2. agrarian reform 3. alleviating hunger 4. alternative gifts 5. apprenticeships 6. appropriate technology 7. barter networks 8. capacity building 9. car sharings 10. car-free zones 11. carbon footprint 12. charitable foundations 13. child sponsorship 14. citizen participation 15. citizen peacebuilding 16. co-housing 17. community banks 18. community development 19. community economics 20. community education 21. community gardens 22. community good news networks 23. community journals 24. community land trusts 25. community membership agreements 26. community organizing 27. community revitalization 28. community revolving loans 29. community service work 30. community supported agriculture

31. community supported manufacturing 32. community visioning initiatives 33. composting toilets 34. conflict resolution 35. consensus decision making 36. cradle to cradle 37. cultural diversity 38. development assistance 39. disease control 40. ecological footprint analysis 41. ecological tipping points 42. economic conversion 43. ecovillages 44. edible schoolyards 45. educationspiritual, moral, religious, interfaith 46. emergency humanitarian aid 47. emergency medical assistance 48. employment training/green job training 49. energy conservation 50. energy descent pathways 51. energy return on energy invested (EROEI) 52. evaluation strategies 53. fair trade 54. faith mentoring 55. farmers markets 56. food autonomy 57. food co-ops 58. food security 59. food sovereignty 113 green living 60.

Appendix B (continued)
125 Related Fields of Activity 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. green politics green purchasing green retrofitting holistic education holistic health care homesteading indicators/sustainability indicators individual spiritual formation inspiring role models interfaith dialogue interfaith peacebuilding intergenerational projects life cycle assessment local community points of entry local currency locally based food processing locally grown food low impact transport systems meditation mentoring microfinance microgeneration neighborhood revitalization oil depletion protocol open courseware open source social solutions open space technology organic farming peace studies programs peacebuilding peak oil permaculture positive news preventative health care questionnaires/surveys 96. recycling 97. renewable energy 98. renewable resources 99. right livelihood 100. right livelihood employment listings 101. school business partnerships 102. service learning 103. sister community relationships 104. slow money 105. socially engaged spirituality 106. socially responsible investing 107. spiritual discipline/spiritual practice 108. spiritual diversity (religious pluralism) 109. spiritual friendships 110. spiritually responsible investing 111. sustainable design/natural building 112. sustainable health care 113. urban agriculture 114. vegetarianism 115. village design 116. village industries/cottage industries 117. violence prevention 118. voluntary simplicity 119. water supply management 120. waste water treatment 121. water conservation 122. water purification 123. world population awareness 124. yoga 125. zero waste

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Appendix C
A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative
Approximate Time Required: 18 months Approximate Cost: $3 million (per initiative)

Step 1

Steering Committee Selection, Administrative Assistant Selection (and Securing Volunteers for Advisory Board)

(Approximate Time Required: 8 weeks) A. Goals 1) Contracts with 5 people for steering committee at a salary of $80,000 for duration of CVI process 2) Contracts with 5 people for administrative assistants at a salary of $40,000 for duration of CVI process 3) Development of Advisory Board (50+ volunteers)

B. Suggestions 1. Identify 150 key leaders from a significant variety of fields of activity in the community 2. Prepare Executive Summary of approach to Community Visioning Initiative (CVI), and importance of CVI 3. Prepare Steering Committee Selection Questionnaire [for ideas, see IPCR Initiative document 39 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions (in preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), at http://www.ipcri.net/39_Suggestions_for_Preliminary_Survey_Questions_2.pdf ] 4. Send Executive Summary and Steering Committee Selection Questionnaire to 150 key leaders a) to increase awareness of intention to carry out CVI b) as way of identifying leaders with interest, understanding, and experience for Steering Committee c) as way of identifying possible volunteer Advisory Board members d) as way of gathering input and leading into Step 2 and Step 3 [Note: Recipients of the above package should be encouraged to save a copy of their responses, as many of these leaders may be asked to participate in the Preliminary Survey (see Step 3)] 5. People selected for the Steering Committee will carry out their own selection process for an administrative assistant 115

Step 2
A. Goals

Initial Preparation

(Approximate Time Required: 6 weeks) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Identifying Volunteer Resources Establishing Community Teaching and Learning Centers (CTLCs) Outreach Consulting Etc.

Very Important Note: On Establishing a Sufficient Number of CTLCs Establishing a sufficient number of Community Teaching and Learning Centers (CTLCs) is a critical prerequisite to going forward with Community Visioning Initiatives of the nature described in this proposal. The Community Visioning Initiative process outlined in this document has a critical need for somewhere near 20 public access buildings (per community area with a population of 50,000) which can function as described in Section B, Part 2 on the next page (p. 4) Special Note: Establishing many CTLCswhich can accommodate as many as 300 people per day coming in and out at different times for an extended period of time (possibly a year, or more) (with associated parking considerations) (and with, hopefully, no rent associated with it)may narrow the available possibilities to a point that probable requires a sense of shared urgency among many members of the community. Unfortunately (or fortunately), such a sense of shared urgency may be approaching. In the time period preceding such urgency, word may get around about Community Visioning Initiative approaches (like the kind described in this document) through the efforts of people who believe that we can overcome the challenges ahead, and are ready to go forward with constructive and practical solutions. Such people may, by their efforts in advance, prepare the way for a sufficient number of CTLCs to be established on short notice. The importance of CTLCs is so critical that without a sufficient number of assurances relating to CTLCs as a prerequisite, there will be no advantage to proceeding any further in the 15 step Community Visioning Initiative process described in this document.

B. Suggestions 1. Partnership formation with volunteer service organizations, places of worship, educational institutions, etc. a) seeking volunteers for an extended amount of time for a variety of support positions i) specifically seeking volunteers for CTLC coordinator positions (a very important role, which will require a careful selection process) ii) specifically seeking volunteer secretaries and journalists to transcribe, report, and create actions taken logs, and overviews of the CVI process for the Sharing the Lessons element of the process (see Step 15) 116

iii) specifically seeking volunteer journalists to document and verify the voting process (see Steps 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10) iv) specifically seeking volunteers for compiling and summarizing voting (responses) during Steps 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10) v) specifically seeking volunteer website design for official CVI website 2. Establishing a sufficient number of CTLCs as local community points of entry which (hopefully) are donated building space (with sufficient parking) for the duration of the CVI process which are accessible to the public 7 days a week and which can function as a) information centers, clearinghouses (on how residents can focus their time, energy, and money) and central locations for listings of employment opportunities b) locations for workshops on topics suggested by the Preliminary Survey (see Step 3), and as determined by the CTLC Coordinators c) community centers for meetings, both planned and informal d) locations for Community Journals (which are collections of formal and informal inputwhich may be contributed or accessed at all times) (Note: each CTLC may need to have 5 hard copies of these Community Journals.) e) locations for Final Version Document Notebooks associated with Steps 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 (Note: early submissions to these notebooks will help others with format and provide ideas for topics they might explore.) f) locations for Summary of the CVI Process to Date Notebooks, for latecomers, and as assistance to the media 3. Revised and updated Executive Summary of approach to CVI and importance of CVI offered to public through CTLCs and media, so residents can prepare and begin to participateand so that more residents will be encouraged to step up and provide volunteer support 4. Neutral parties with sufficient experience and recognized authority (omsbudpersons, etc.) identified to oversee integrity of CVI process 5. Contactsand lines of communication for community service announcementsestablished with local information services providers (newspapers, television, radio, service-oriented websites, etc.) a) CVI spokespersons identified as authorities to approach for critical information 6. (Possibly) with assistance from the organization Teachers Without Borders, the development of teacher-leaders is initiated. (The training and apprenticeships of teacher-leaders will be ongoing.) [As an example of the process of developing teacher-leaders, see the Mission and Vision webpage at Teachers Without Borders, at http://teacherswithoutborders.org/about-us/mission-and-vision ] The development of teacher-leaders will be critical, as it anticipates a time when a) additional teachers will be required to meet the needs for increasing the communitys knowledge base, and for the introduction of new skill sets 117

b) ways of earning a living will be created for these new teachers, so that they become a permanent addition to the community workforce 7. Consulting with questionnaire development experts a) for assistance with creating a Preliminary Survey (see Step 3) b) for assistance with creating an Evaluation Survey (see Step 13) 8. Preparation of a brochure titled Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process

Step 3

Preliminary Surveys

(Approximate Time Required: 6 weeks) A. Goals

1) Summary of responses to Preliminary Survey, to be published in newspapers, posted on official CVI website, and made accessible in CTLCs

B. Suggestions 1. Note: The IPCR Initiative document 39 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions (in preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), provides many ideas for possible questions. See http://www.ipcri.net/39_Suggestions_for_Preliminary_Survey_Questions_2.pdf ] 2. Send Preliminary Surveys to 150or morekey leaders from a significant variety of fields of activity in the community a) selection of recipients will be decided by Steering Committee with input from Advisory Board Members and Partnerships established in Step 2 3. Responses and Summarized of Results from Preliminary Survey will provide a) b) c) d) e) evidence from local leaders of the need for a re-assessment of current priorities examples of local leaders stepping up in support of CVI starting points for public discourse about the importance of the CVI starting points for CTLC workshop content starting points for some participants as they develop Final Version decisions (votes) on challenges, solutions, and action plans f) an aid to mobilizing a high level of interest in the CVI, and a high level of citizen participation g) an initial sense of support or non-support for the sister community element

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Step 4

Secondary Preparation

(Approximate Time Required: 4 weeks) A. Goals

1) Additional CTLCs opened 2) Announcements for workshops already scheduled 3) Announcements for voting times already scheduled

B. Suggestions 1. Training and apprenticeships of teacher-leaders is ongoing (they continue to facilitate workshops and meetings.) 2. As awareness of the value of the CVI process increases, additional donations of appropriate building space will result in additional CTLCs in the community 3. Publications (available at CTLCs) and press releases announce workshops already scheduled (workshops which derive their content mostly from the results of the Preliminary Surveys) (Note: Additional workshops will result from input received by local CTLC Coordinators, and will vary according to specific needs perceived). 4. Publications (available at CTLCs) and press releases announce the voting times already scheduled (for Steps 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10)

Step 5

Workshops, Meetings, and Voting associated with the question:

What are the challenges which require our most immediate attention? (Or What are the challenges with the greatest potential to de-stabilize economic systems, community life, and basic survival in community, regional, national, and international settings?) (Approximate Time Required: 4 weeks) A. Goal 1) A List (compiled and summarized through a transparent, welldocumented, and fair process) of all Challenges mentioned by participating residents, will be published in local newspapers, posted on the official CVI website, and many copies will be made available in CTLCs a) Challenges categories mentioned most often will include some examples of the different ways that challenge was described 119

b) The summary list will begin with the challenges identified most often, and list the challenges in order from most often identified to least often identified B. Suggestions Note: For more information about Verifying the Integrity of the Voting Process, see Section 8 in the IPCR Initiative document 1000Communities2, at http://www.ipcri.net/1000Communities2.pdf 1. Residents are encouraged to follow the Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process [see Section X. (p. 36-37)] 2. Workshops, resources, informal meetings, etc. will be offered in the CTLCs to help residents sort through what could seem like an overwhelming and complex assessment process 3. Residents are encouraged to submit one (1) Final Version document for this step. The document for this step should include a list of 10-20 items, and must be limited to 4 well-organized and easily read pages (to help with the compilation and summary process). Examples will be provided, and copies of documents submitted during the early part of this step will be available for participants to consider as they prepare their vote. Some evidence supporting the items mentioned, or some clarifying comments, may be included to help identify the challenges listed, but citing extensive evidence is unnecessary and discouraged. References to resources of any length can be suggested to local CTLC Coordinatorsand entered into the CTLC Community Journal. 4. Submitting Final Version Documents a) Such Final Version documents should be submitted to the local CTLC Coordinator during the days and hours designated for this part of the process. b) When submitting Final Version documents, residents will be required to provide some proof of residency. 5. The compilation and summarizing of all challenges identified Final Version documents will be carried out by thoroughly screened volunteers, supervised by local CTLC Coordinators, and independently reported on by volunteer journalists and neutral parties such as omsbudpersons (who will also observe the process to evaluate transparency, thoroughness of documentation, and fairness). 6. A Summary List of the Challenges Identified will then be published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI website, and many copies will be made accessible in the CTLCs. a) The summary list will begin with the challenges identified most often, and list the challenges in order from most often identified to least often identified

Important Note: This summary list will not be considered a list of challenges prioritized however, for the reason that there may be many participants who have not given much importance to a number of very important challenges, and who may change their mind once they see the content and order of the summary list from this step. 120

Step 6

Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Prioritizing the List of Challenges Identified created in Step 5 (Approximate Time Required: 3 weeks) A. Goals

1) The List of Challenges Identified (created in Step 5) is prioritized by participating residents 2) Prioritized lists properly submitted by residents are compiled and summarized through a transparent, well-documented, and fair process; and the summary is published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI websiteand many copies are made available in CTLCs. a) A scoring system common to this kind of voting will be applied, so that challenges which are prioritized as most important (first on the list) by some, and which are chosen by many residents as significant in some way, will receive more points than a challenge which is prioritized as most important by some, but not recognized at all by most residents

B. Suggestions Note: For more information about Verifying the Integrity of the Voting Process, see Section 8 in the IPCR Initiative document 1000Communities2, at http://www.ipcri.net/1000Communities2.pdf 1. Residents are encouraged to follow the Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process [see Section X. (p. 36-37)] 2. Workshops, resources, informal meetings, etc. will be offered in the CTLCs to help residents discover tools and resources useful in prioritizing the list of identified challenges 3. Residents are encouraged to submit one (1) Final Version document for this step. The document for this step should include a list of 10-20 items, and must be limited to 4 well-organized and easily read pages (to help with the compilation and summary process). Examples will be provided, and copies of documents submitted during the early part of this step will be available for participants to consider as they prepare their vote. Some evidence supporting the items mentioned, or some clarifying comments, may be included to help identify the challenges listed, but citing extensive evidence is unnecessary and discouraged. References to resources of any length can be suggested to local CTLC Coordinatorsand entered into the CTLC Community Journal. 4. Submitting Final Version Documents a) Such Final Version documents should be submitted to the local CTLC Coordinator during the days and hours designated for this part of the process. b) When submitting Final Version documents, residents will be required to provide some proof of residency. 121

5. A scoring system common to this kind of voting will be applied, so that challenges which are prioritized as most important (first on the list) by some, and which are chosen by many residents as significant in some way, will receive more points than a challenge which is prioritized as most important by some, but not recognized at all by most residents

Special Commentary: Some residents may feel uneasy concerning the problem of residents who are less educated and less informed having as much of a say in the process as those who have spent years working on these issues. This is a fundamental problem, which is not confined to Community Visioning Initiative processes like this; as people who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and they are investing their time, energy, and money votingall the time. If we are honest with ourselves about this issue, we must admit that there are very few people who have successfully aligned all of their investments of time, energy, and money with all of the values of the religious, spiritual, or moral tradition they feel closest to. This writer believes that there are many serious challenges before us now, and that we will need to invest our time, energy, and money very wisely to overcome these challenges. How can we do it? We must help each other. The Community Visioning Initiative outlined in this proposal is timeintensive so that we will have time to learn much more than we know now about how to encourage and support each other in community building processes like CVIs.

6. The compilation and summarizing of all challenges identified Final Version documents will be carried out by thoroughly screened volunteers, supervised by local CTLC Coordinators, and independently reported on by volunteer journalists and neutral parties such as omsbudpersons (who will also observe the process to evaluate transparency, thoroughness of documentation, and fairness). 7. A Summary List of the Challenges Identified will then be published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI website, and many copies will be made accessible in the CTLCs.

Step 7

A Two Week Interval from the Publication of the Challenges Prioritized Summary List to the Beginning of Step 8 (Approximate Time Required: 2 weeks) A. Goal

1) To allow a time of public comment (in local newspapers, on websites,etc.) and discussionon the content of the Challenges Prioritized Summary List

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Step 8

Workshops, Meetings, and Voting to brainstorm solutions to the Challenges Prioritized Summary List (Approximate Time Required: 4 weeks) A. Goals

1) A List (compiled and summarized through a transparent, welldocumented, and fair process) of all the Solutions mentioned by participating residents (in response to the Challenges Prioritized Summary List) will be published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI websiteand many copies will be made available in local CTLCs a) Solutions categories mentioned most often will include some examples of the different ways that solution was described b) The summary list will begin with the solutions identified most often, and list the challenges in order from most often identified to least often identified c) The listings will include, in the first line, a reference to the challenge, or challenges, targeted

B. Suggestions Note: For more information about Verifying the Integrity of the Voting Process, see Section 8 in the IPCR Initiative document 1000Communities2, at http://www.ipcri.net/1000Communities2.pdf 1. Residents are encouraged to follow the Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process [see Section X. (p. 36-37)] 2. Workshops, resources, informal meetings, etc. will be offered in the CTLCs to help residents sort through what could seem like an overwhelming and complex assessment process 3. Residents are encouraged to submit one (1) Final Version document for this step. The document for this step should include a list of 10-20 items, and must be limited to 4 well-organized and easily read pages (to help with the compilation and summary process). Examples will be provided, and copies of documents submitted during the early part of this step will be available for participants to consider as they prepare their vote. Some evidence supporting the items mentioned, or some clarifying comments, may be included to help identify the solutions listed, but citing extensive evidence is unnecessary and discouraged. References to resources of any length can be suggested to local CTLC Coordinatorsand entered into the CTLC Community Journal.

Important Note: If the sister community idea is being identified as a possible solution, it will enter into formal consideration if it is submitted by even one (1) resident during this step of the process. Naturally, if the sister community idea, or any other idea proposed as a solution to one or more challenges, is among the top five or ten solutions mentioned by many residents, it will receive more attention in workshops, formal and informal meetings, resources available through the CTLCsand in public discourse in local newspapers, in websites, etc. 123

4. Submitting Final Version Documents a) Such Final Version documents should be submitted to the local CTLC Coordinator during the days and hours designated for this part of the process. b) When submitting Final Version documents, residents will be required to provide some proof of residency. 5. The compilation and summarizing of all solutions identified Final Version documents will be carried out by thoroughly screened volunteers, supervised by local CTLC Coordinators, and independently reported on by volunteer journalists and neutral parties such as omsbudpersons (who will also observe the process to evaluate transparency, thoroughness of documentation, and fairness). 6. A Summary List of the Solutions Identified will then be published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI website, and many copies will be made accessible in the CTLCs. a) The summary list will begin with the solutions identified most often, and list the solutions in order from most often identified to least often identified b) The listings will include, in the first line, a reference to the challenge, or challenges, targeted.

Important Note: This summary list will not be considered a list of solutions prioritized however, for the reason that there may be many participants who have not given much importance to a number of very important solutions, and who may change their mind once they see the content and order of the summary list from this step.

Step 9

Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Prioritizing the List of Solutions Identified created in Step 8 (Approximate Time Required: 3 weeks) A. Goals 1) The List of Solutions Identified (created in Step 8) is prioritized by participating residents 2) Prioritized lists properly submitted by residents are compiled and summarized through a transparent, well-documented, and fair process; and the summary is published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI websiteand many copies are made available in CTLCs. a) A scoring system common to this kind of voting will be applied, so that solutions which are prioritized as most important (first on the list) by some, and which are chosen by many residents as significant in some way, will receive more points than a solution which is prioritized as most important by some, but not recognized at all by most residents 124

B. Suggestions Note: For more information about Verifying the Integrity of the Voting Process, see Section 8 in the IPCR Initiative document 1000Communities2, at http://www.ipcri.net/1000Communities2.pdf 1. Residents are encouraged to follow the Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process [see Section X. (p. 36-37)] 2. Workshops, resources, informal meetings, etc. will be offered in the CTLCs to help residents discover tools and resources useful in prioritizing the list of identified solutions 3. Residents are encouraged to submit one (1) Final Version document for this step. The document for this step should include a list of 10-20 items, and must be limited to 4 well-organized and easily read pages (to help with the compilation and summary process). Examples will be provided, and copies of documents submitted during the early part of this step will be available for participants to consider as they prepare their vote. Some evidence supporting the items mentioned, or some clarifying comments, may be included to help identify the solutions listed, but citing extensive evidence is unnecessary and discouraged. References to resources of any length can be suggested to local CTLC Coordinatorsand entered into the CTLC Community Journal. 4. Submitting Final Version Documents a) Such Final Version documents should be submitted to the local CTLC Coordinator during the days and hours designated for this part of the process. b) When submitting Final Version documents, residents will be required to provide some proof of residency. 5. A scoring system common to this kind of voting will be applied, so that solutions which are prioritized as most important (first on the list) by some, and which are chosen by many residents as significant in some way, will receive more points than a solution which is prioritized as most important by some, but not recognized at all by most residents (Note: The following Special Commentary is repeated, from an earlier section of this proposal, for emphasis) Special Commentary: Some residents may feel uneasy concerning the problem of residents who are less educated and less informed having as much of a say in the process as those who have spent years working on these issues. This is a fundamental problem, which is not confined to Community Visioning Initiative processes like this; as people who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and they are investing their time, energy, and money votingall the time. If we are honest with ourselves about this issue, we must admit that there are very few people who have successfully aligned all of their investments of time, energy, and money with all of the values of the religious, spiritual, or moral tradition they feel closest to. This writer believes that there are many serious challenges before us now, and that we will need to invest our time, energy, and money very wisely to overcome these challenges. How can we do it? We must help each other. The Community Visioning Initiative outlined in this proposal is time-intensive so that we will have time to learn much more than we know now about how to encourage and support each other in community building processes like CVIs. 125

6. The compilation and summarizing of all solutions identified Final Version documents will be carried out by thoroughly screened volunteers, supervised by local CTLC Coordinators, and independently reported on by volunteer journalists and neutral parties such as omsbudpersons (who will also observe the process to evaluate transparency, thoroughness of documentation, and fairness). 7. A Summary List of the Solutions Identified will then be published in local newspapers, posted on the CVI website, and many copies will be made accessible in the CTLCs.

Step 10

Workshops, Meetings, and Voting Associated with Developing Action Plans to Implement Prioritizing Solutions (Approximate Time Required: 6 weeks) A. Goal 1) Specific outlines of relevant, practical and doable steps for implementing prioritized solutions, so that as many residents as possible can understand how to use their time, energy, and money in ways that will resolve the challenges of our times

B. Suggestions 1. Residents are encouraged to follow Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process [see Section X. (p. 36-37)] 2. Residents are encouraged to work at home, in informal groups, and/or through meetings, workshops etc. at the CTLCs, to arrive at point by point answers to the following questions a) Who would they like to see as the lead organization, agency, institution,, etc. for implementing which solutions? b) How would they like that organization, etc. to proceed? c) What are the most practical and doable steps in such an action plan, and how can they be clearly stated so that they can be understood by as many people as possible? d) How will the general public know if the desired results are being achieved? Important Note: This is where accountability indicators will be identified. They are an important part of the evaluation processbut are only a part of that process. [For more on evaluation, see Section XI. Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Community Visioning Initiative and Appendix D 15 Sample Questions for Evaluating a Community Visioning Initiative in the document The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages)]

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3. Workshops, resources, informal meetings, etc. will be offered in the CTLCs to help residents discover tools and resources useful to developing these kind of action plans 4. Residents are encouraged to submit one (1) Final Version document for this step. The document for this step should include a list of 10-20 items, and must be limited to 8 well-organized and easily read pages (to help with the compilation and summary process). Examples will be provided, and copies of documents submitted during the early part of this step will be available for participants to consider as they prepare their vote. Some evidence supporting the items mentioned, or some clarifying comments, may be included to help identify the action plans listed, but citing extensive evidence is unnecessary and discouraged. References to resources of any length can be suggested to local CTLC Coordinatorsand entered into the CTLC Community Journal. 5. Submitting Final Version Documents a) Such Final Version documents should be submitted to the local CTLC Coordinator during the days and hours designated for this part of the process. b) When submitting Final Version documents, residents will be required to provide some proof of residency. 6. The compilation and summarizing of all action plans Final Version documents will be carried out by thoroughly screened volunteers, supervised by local CTLC Coordinators, and independently reported on by volunteer journalists and neutral parties such as omsbudpersons (who will also observe the process to evaluate transparency, thoroughness of documentation, and fairness).

Special Commentary 1. While there may be much in the way of action plans suggestions which relate to supplementing work already in progress by existing organizations, agencies, etc.there will also be a significant amount of suggestions which require the creation of new organizations and partnerships. 2. It is inevitable that some or many of the action plans will require involvement from organizations, agencies, etc. which are outside the community. Actions plans will need to be creative to avoid being stagnated by overdependence on complex global interdependencies. There can be no doubt that steady, consistent efforts over a long period of time will be necessary to bring about solutions to some of the more difficult challenges. This is exactly why it is so important to emphasize that efforts are needed from as many communities of people as possible.
(1000Communities )
2

C. An Important Note About Community Building This kind of time-intensive Community Visioning Initiative is community building in a most comprehensive and deliberate form. Many of us will have experienced community building in a comprehensive and deliberate form in the past. Ideas about what would assist us in realizing our visions about quality of life were brought forwardand some attracted the time, energy, and money of many people, and some not. 127

What is different here is that although the developed countries in the world are very complex, it is possible for participants in these kind of intensive Community Visioning Initiatives to become keenly aware of how each and every one of the residents in their community hasby their investments of time, energy, and moneyfunded what has come before and how each resident is a fundamental and critical part of the funding for the action plans and doable steps which will determine what will come next. Participants will surely wish to increase their awareness of a) what patterns of investment they would like to move away from b) what patterns of investment they would like to affirm or continue to affirm and c) how cooperation with other residents in their community will help them do both.

Step 11

A Six Week Interval for Completion of Lists to be Published and Completion of Summary Reports for Upcoming Presentations in Step 12 (Approximate Time Required: 6 weeks) A. Goals 1) This extra time may be needed for the process of compiling and summarizing the action plans. 2) This extra time will also allow those people chosen to make presentations in Step 12 to complete their summary reports.

Step 12

Summary Presentations and Job Fairs

(Approximate Time Required: 4 weeks) A. Goals 1) Steering Committee members (with help from volunteer Advisory Board members, etc.) will summarize the Community Visioning Initiative process 2) Steering Committee members-- and key community leaders who were very much involved in the CVI processwill make presentations based on the summaries 3) Specifically, information will be provided on how residents can deliberately focus their time, energy, and money so that their actions a) can have positive repercussions on many fields of activity relating to solutions 128

b) can result in an increase in the ways of earning a living which are related to solutions and action plans 4) Job Fairs will provide a forum for organizations and businesses working in solution oriented fields of activity to describe employment opportunities and future prospects, to discover local talent, to hire qualified prospects, and to build knowledge bases and skill sets for the future B. Suggestions 1. Although a final published summary of the CVI process (with overall statistics and evaluation survey results) will not yet be available, input on challenges priorities, solution priorities, and action plan summaries will be sufficient for a) Steering Committee members-- and key community leaders who were very much involved in the CVI processto make presentations based on the preliminary summaries b) Booths in local auditoriums to be allocated to businesses and organizations for very practical and informative job fairs

Special Commentary: By now, there will have been sufficient public discourse for those people with understanding about high level shifts in investment portfolios to have learned something about what directions future shifts will be leaning towards. The job fairs which come at the end of the CVI process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awarenessand their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities and thus helping with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges. One possible element of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency. And then such local currency can, in its turn, be redeemed in ways which will be particularly helpful to people transitioning from less solution-oriented employment to more solution-oriented employment.

2. People who want CVI processes of this nature to truthfully reflect the challenges before us-- and the solutions which will help us overcome those challengeswill provide resources and supporting evidence at the appropriate steps in the process which is worthy of that kind of conclusion.

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Step 13

Evaluating the Process

(Approximate Time Required: 3 weeks) A. Goal 1) Provide evaluation surveys for as many residents as possible and encourage residents to answer as many questions in the survey as possible, with as much careful attention to detail as possible B. Suggestions [For more on evaluation, see Section XI. Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Community Visioning Initiative and Appendix D 15 Sample Questions for Evaluating a Community Visioning Initiative in the document The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 105 pages)] [Here, in this subsection, suggestions will related to the actual administration of the evaluation surveys] 1. Developing a well-designed evaluation survey will be most helpful to the process of sharing the lessons learned with other communities. Therefore, careful attention should be given to compensating the specialists and consultants who will help create the evaluation surveys. (See Step 2 Initial Preparation) 2. Announcements will be made in advance detailing designated days and hours when Evaluation Survey Workshops will be scheduledworkshops which will provide assistance for residents filling out the surveys, and which will encourage fellowship and mutual support in the process. 3. Residents can also come to a CTLC, pick up an evaluation survey, fill it out at their convenience, and return it to a local CTLC Coordinator before the deadline.

Step 14

An 8 week interval for compiling and summarizing the evaluation surveysand for printing the Final CVI Summary Reports (pdf files accessible on websites will be the preferred form of sharing this report) (Approximate Time Required: 8 weeks)

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Step 15
A. Goals

Sharing the Lessons, Carrying the Lessons into the Future

1) Final CVI Summary Reports are made available to residents through hard copies at CTLCs, and pdfs on the CVI website, and made accessible to other communities through pdfs on the CVI website, and other CVI clearinghouse websites Note: There will be a section in the Summary Report which will identify the Action Plans most relevant to carrying the lessons into the future

B. Suggestions 1. Final CVI Summary Reports will include (and incorporate) a) b) c) d) e) notes and reporting which make up an actions taken log summary Steering Committee Selection questionnaire Progress Reports Summary Preliminary Surveys (and summary of responses) Examples of Final Version documents (residents votes) from each step which requested a vote f) A Description of the process used to verify the integrity of the Voting process (including summaries from volunteer journalists who reported on the process, omsbudpersons who observed and reported on the process, local CTLC Coordinators, and Steering Committee members g) Summaries of Challenges Identified, Challenges Prioritized, Solutions Identified, Solutions Prioritized, and Summaries of Priority Action Plans (including preferred lead organizations and doable steps) h) Impact Analysis including relevant statistics from job fairs, accountability indicators, employment statistics, investment statistics, etc. i) Steering Committee Summaries j) Evaluation Summaries [which will include excerpts from Community Journals (see Section 14 Evaluating the Process)] 2. Copies of these Final CVI Summary Reports will be accessible at CTLCs, and pdfs accessible by way of the CVI website Important Note: Special emphasis will be given to making copies of this Final CVI Summary Report accessible to other communities through pdfs on the CVI website, and on other CVI clearinghouse websites 3. Action Plans associated with a) CTLCs b) ongoing CTLC workshops 131

c) re-evaluation of knowledge base and skill set needs d) re-evaluation of nature of educational institutions (see questions in Preliminary Survey and Evaluation Survey) e) possible sister community relationships f) other and etc. will provide some of the many building blocks for carrying the lessons into the future 4. This kind of CVI process may be repeated at intervals into the future until new patterns of responding to the challenges of our times become such a natural part of everyday community life that the transition to an economically stable, environmentally sustainable and peaceful way of life featuring widespread compassion for our fellow human beings seems to be near completion or until the transition to the kind of future a majority of the residents in any particular community prefers seems to be near completion.

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Appendix D
9 Sample Preliminary Survey Questions

1. Definition of the good life What is your definition of the good life? Please describe your definition of the good lifeincluding both those parts of the good life which you already have, and those parts of the good life which you still hope to attain. (Note: Please clearly indicate which parts of the good life you already have, and which parts you still hope to attain.) 2. Most Difficult Challenges, Most Valuable Resources Included in Appendix F (on the last page of this document) is a list of challenges which this writer feels are most important to make significant progress on in the months and years ahead. Consider that Ten Point list provided as one example of a response to part a) of this question. Then, following your own independent thinking on this important subject, please respond as best you can to the following questions. a) From your point of view, what are the most difficult challenges of our times? b) Do you believe that wecollectivelyhave the resources necessary to overcome the challenges you have identified as the most difficult challenges of our times? c) If your answer to Question #2 is yes, please describe the resources you believe will contribute the most to helping uscollectivelyovercome the challenges you identified. d) If your answer to Question #2 is no, please offer any and all sincere, constructive, relevant, and practical suggestions for what we collectivelycan do to inspire, encourage, and/or create the resources you believe would be necessary to overcome the challenges you identified. 3. Engines of Economic Stability Many people seem to be worried that the economy will collapse if there is widespread movement from consuming material goods and ecological resources indiscriminately to discriminating carefully about use of material goods and ecological resources and yet many of the challenges of our times are very deeply rooted in cultural traditions, which suggest that it may require decades, generations, or even centuries to resolve such challenges. Surely, there will be work to do. Please carefully consider the above introduction to this question, and then respond to the following questions. 133

a) Please name as many engines of economic stability and methods of economic conversion as you can which you believe would result in communities that minimize resource requirements maintain ecological sustainability maintain a high level of compassion for fellow human beings and which represent what a significant majority of community residents surveyed would describe as a high quality of life. b) Please check the box below which best corresponds to your view of the following statement: It is possible to create, support, and sustain communities which can minimize resource requirements, maintain ecological sustainability, maintain a high level of compassion for fellow human beings and which represent what a significant majority of community residents surveyed would describe as a high quality of life.

I believe it-- and there is much evidence to support it

I believe it-- and there is sufficient evidence to support it

I would like to believe it, but there isnt enough evidence to support it

It is difficult to believe it, with the way things are going now

I dont believe it there is no evidence to support it

4. Arriving at Working Definitions of Right Livelihood Consider what ways of earning a living you would identify as right livelihood. Now imagine a local community resource guide relating to employment, apprenticeships, training, and volunteer opportunities associated with right livelihood. And further: imagine a committee commissioned to produce such a right livelihood resource guide. And the individuals who make up the committee commissioned to produce such a resource guide. a) What background (qualifications, experiences, etc.) would you like such individuals to have? b) What local institutions would you consider most appropriate to commission such a resource guide, and oversee its production?

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5. Identifying Experienced Practitioners, Stakeholders, and People Needing Assistance Consider the assessment of the most difficult challenges of our times which you created as a response to question #2 part a). a) Who are the Experienced Practitioners, who are most qualified to be educating people on how to successfully overcome each of the ten challenges you identified? (Special Notes: Please be specific, as in times of emergency, it will be most important for leaders to understand which people are perceived as most qualified by the majority of the residents in a particular community. Also, please be straightforward and honest: if you do not know who would be most qualified to respond, please respond accordingly.) b) Who are the Stakeholders (the people who will be affected by the education provided and guidance given by the Experienced Practitioners)? c) Who are the People Needing Assistance (the people who do not know how to respond to the challenges you identified)? 6. A Visioning Exercise on the Subject of Educational Institutions For this question, please consider the difficult challenges you identified in question #2 (see above). a) Please describe the kind of educational institution which you believe is most appropriate for creating the knowledge base and skill sets necessary to overcome the difficult challenges you identified. (Note: You may describe an educational institution similar to one in your community or region, or create a description of an educational institution which does not currently exist. Either way, please try to include, in your description, answers to the following questions. What would it look like? What would it be called? Where might it be located? What would be essential as structures and departments of such an educational institution? What would be an appropriate land use layout for such an institution?) b) What kind of certification or experience would be required to become an instructor at such an educational institution? c) What kind of appropriate technology would be in use to reduce the ecological footprint and the carbon footprint of building construction, food production, and special materials acquisition? d) How would such an institution be funded?

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7. Making a Community Visioning Initiative Happen in Your Community For this question, please consider the list A (below) , which offers a brief description of Community Visioning Initiatives, and Appendix C, which offers a more specific description of a Community Visioning Initiative, by providing a 15 Step Outline for a comprehensive 18 month long Community Visioning Initiative. List A 1. Well organized efforts to identify problems and brainstorm solutions are a universally recognized approach to problem solving which is commonly used in family, community, business, and government settings in every part of the world. 2. In its most basic format, a Community Visioning Initiative (CVI) is simply a more comprehensive variation of the above mentioned approach to problem solving. 3. Community Visioning Initiatives (CVIs) can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. 4. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. 5. In 1984, the non-profit organization Chattanooga Venture [Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA)] organized a Community Visioning Initiative that attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goalswhich resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, the creation of 1,300 permanent jobs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars. This questionquestion #13is about how to make a Community Visioning Initiative happen in your community. Here is the two part question: Consider the elements of preparation, education, funding, and organization necessary for a successful Community Visioning Initiative in your local community or region. a) Describe 3 steps which are practical and doable and which would help make a Community Visioning Initiative more likely to happen in your local community or region. b) Describe 3 obstacles or difficulties which would make a Community Visioning Initiative less likely to happen in your local community or region. 8. Proactive Measures to Encourage Constructive Activity during Community Visioning Initiatives Consider the following commentary on preparation for carrying out a Community Visioning Initiative.

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People who are doing preliminary planning for carrying out a Community Visioning Initiative should be aware that there may be people in the community whoregardless of the difficulties and urgencies associated with resolving multiple criseschoose to focus their attention of trying to make money by preying of peoples fears, manipulating peoples trust, and/or encouraging people to abandon hope in higher aspirations, and indulge in unhealthy, or immoral behavior. Such behavior is clearly counterproductive to the building of caring communities; it can be very dangerous for community morale, and it can become a crippling obstacle in times of crises. Responsible people will take sufficient preventative measures to proactively encourage a high percentage of constructive thinking and constructive action in their community. The question: please list at least 5 preventative measures which you believe would proactively encourage a high percentage of constructive thinking and constructive action during the carrying out of a Community Visioning Initiative in your community. 9. Identifying the Most Important Elements of Community Life and Cultural Traditions In the best of times, even the most profound challenges can be overcome; for in the best of times, ____________________ is/are nurtured, supported, and sustained by family, teachers, mentors, elders, and the everyday influences of community life and cultural traditions. Please brainstorm on the subject of what would best fill in the blank in the above statement. Then choose 5-10 items from the brainstormed list, and rank them according to most important, and next most important, using 1 as most important, 2 as next most important, and so on.

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Appendix E
Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections?
Which citizen participation/problem solving process has the better cost/benefit ratio for problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before?

Introduction We live in a time of unprecedented opportunities, in many ways created by the expansion of the Internet, and by electronic devices, communication satellites, etc which make it possible for information, knowledge and wisdom to be passed quickly to a broad range of international participants. As a result of these unprecedented opportunities, it may be that a majority of people on Earth are now familiar with the basic concept of democracy: representatives who are elected by receiving a majority of votes from an election process in which all citizens are welcome to participate. We also live in a time of unprecedented challenges (see A List of Ten Critical Challenges at the end of this post, for one assessment of the challenges ahead). It may be no exaggeration to say we are now living at a critical point in the evolution of life on planet Earth. We need problem solving processes which are collaborative effortswhich make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has, and which can create, develop, and accelerate a full array of solution-oriented activity. The purpose of this post is to encourage creative thinking about the way we go about solving problems in our communities, and in our different cultural settings. This post will encourage such creative thinking by providing readers with a model for citizen participation and problem solving which is different from the use of time, energy, and money to elect representatives for government offices, and the use of time, energy, and money to influence the policies those representatives are responsible for creating. In contrast to the General Election model, the model which will be featured in this post focuses on the responsibilities of citizens, responsibilities which can be briefly described by the following observations-All of us have important responsibilities associated with resolving a significant number of very serious challenges ahead. The investments of time, energy, and money that each of us make in our everyday circumstances are what creates the larger economy. The citizen participation/problem solving model featured in this post will be referred to as Community Visioning Initiatives. Since most readers of this post will already have clear impressions in their minds about the citizen participation potential and problem solving potential of General Elections, most of this post will be an effort to familiarize readers with the potential of Community Visioning Initiativesand key processes which can support the effectiveness of Community Visioning Initiatives. To describe the potential of Community Visioning Initiatives, this writer will reference ideas and resources he has created as part of 138

building The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative. This writer does not reference these ideas and resources to promote The IPCR Initiative; he references them because they provide the most comprehensive description of the potential of Community Visioning Initiatives that he knows of. By familiarizing readers with the potential of Community Visioning Initiatives, this writer hopes readers can make an informed response to the question posed in the subtitle of this post. The second-to-last section of this post poses that question in more detail. Making Best Use of Community Visioning Initiativesthe IPCR Initiative The IPCR Initiative recognizes that there are many critical challenges ahead [A List of Ten Critical Challenges, at the end of this post, is a summary of the IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 20112012 project (webpage at http://www.ipcri.net/Critical-Challenges-Assessment.html ]. The IPCR Initiative advocates for a combination of preliminary surveys to 150 local leaders (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives), time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers (offering workshops suggested by the preliminary surveys), and sister community relationships as a way of creating local community specific and regional specific constellations of initiatives responses to the challenges of our times.
Preliminary Surveys (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives)

Preliminary surveys or questionnaires (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives) are meant to help people rediscover truths about their goals, how what they are doing in everyday circumstances of community life relates to achieving those goals, the challenges perceived as the highest priority challenges by the majority of residents in a community, and what residents are doing to overcome such challenges. (Organizations and communities of people often use questionnaires and surveys to identify problems and solutions, and to build consensus for collective action.) Results from well thought out preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from many different fields of activity in the community) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiativeand appreciate the need for many Community Teaching and Learning Centers. Community Visioning Initiatives Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming challenges and solutions, prioritizing the challenges and solutions, and identifying doable steps and action plans. Many Community Visioning Initiatives require steering committees, preliminary surveys or assessments, workshops, task forces, and collaboration between many organizations, government agencies, businesses, and educational institutionsand seek to build up consensus in the community for specific goals and action plans by encouraging a high level of participation by all residents. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity

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Many cities and towns in the United States have carried out visioning initiatives or strategic planning exercises (see Google results for the key words community visioning); however, this writer does not know of any specific examples which are meant to be responses to most of the critical challenges identified in the IPCR Initiative document A List of Ten Critical Challenges (at the end of this post). The IPCR Initiative advocates organizing and implementing Community Visioning Initiatives in 1000 communities (communities, or segments of rural areas, towns, or cities, with populations of 50,000 or less) around the world--which are time-intensive, lasting even as much as 1 years (18 months), so as to give as much importance to developing a close-knit community as it does to a) accumulating and integrating the knowledge and skill sets necessary for the highest percentage of people to act wisely in response to challenges identified as priority challenges b) helping people to deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of ways of earning a living which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges c) assisting with outreach, partnership formation, and development of service capacity for a significant number of already existing (or forming) organizations, businesses, institutions, and government agencies d) helping to build a high level of consensus for specific action plans, which will help inspire additional support from people, businesses, organizations, institutions, and government agencies with significant resources In 1984, the non-profit organization Chattanooga Venture [Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA)] organized a Community Visioning Initiative that attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goalswhich resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, the creation of 1,300 permanent jobs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars. Community Teaching and Learning Centers The IPCR Initiatives specifically advocates for Community Visioning Initiatives which are supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers. The Community Teaching and Learning Centers concept (created by the Teachers Without Borders organization) has been expanded by The IPCR Initiative so that such local community points of entry function as information clearinghouses, meeting locations, education centers for ongoing workshops (on a broad range of topics related to the Community Visioning Process, and building the local knowledge base), practice sites for developing teacher-leaders, a location for an ongoing informal Community Journal, a location for listing employment opportunitiesand as a means of responding quickly (by changing the emphasis of workshop content) to new urgencies as they arise. The Community Teaching and Learning Centers would also function as the local community centers people would go to brainstorm on challenges and solutions, and vote on the prioritizing of challenges, solutions, and action plans. [The IPCR Initiative document A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative provides much detail which illustrates the importance of having at least 30 Community Teaching and Learning Centers per communities with 50,000 potential participants.] Consider the following observations: People not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere--and investing their time, energy, and moneyvotingall the time. 140

The challenges of our times are not something the experts will resolve while the rest of us are doing something else. All of us have important responsibilities associated with resolving a significant number of very serious challenges ahead. Everyone is involved when it comes to determining the markets which supply the ways of earning a living. The ways we invest our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the ways of earning a living that are available. The investments of time, energy, and money that each of us make in our everyday circumstances becomes the larger economy. Time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives, supported by many Community Teaching and Learning Centers, are one way people at the local community level can learn how to make wise choices about how they use their time, energy, and money so that all the little events in the circumstance of everyday community life have a positive and cumulative effect on the challenges they have identified as priority challenges. Sister Community Relationships The challenges of our times are such that it is now critical for us to access the storehouses of wisdom and compassion which have accumulated over the many centuries of human experience, and which have been confirmed again and again as essential to individual well-being and social harmony by the saints, sages, spiritual leaders, and sincere practitioners of all religious, spiritual, and moral traditions. One way the above statement can be substantiated is by considering how many of our current leaders are referring to a need for economic growth, as the most effective remedy for the debt crises which are occurring in many countriesand then considering the following passages from [From Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication United Nations Environment Programme 2011; from the Introduction, p. 14-15 (full report accessible at http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/GreenEconomyReport/tabid/29846/Default.aspx ) (press release dated November 16, 2011, accessible at http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_press_16nov11_en.pdf ) Most economic development and growth strategies encouraged rapid accumulation of physical, financial and human capital, but at the expense of excessive depletion and degradation of natural capital, which includes the endowment of natural resources and ecosystems. By depleting the worlds stock of natural wealth often irreversibly this pattern of development and growth has had detrimental impacts on the wellbeing of current generations and presents tremendous risks and challenges for the future. The recent multiple crises are symptomatic of this pattern.

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Existing policies and market incentives have contributed to this problem of capital misallocation because they allow businesses to run up significant, largely unaccounted for, and unchecked social and environmental externalities. Unfortunately, the kind of economic growth which is most often being referred to by most political leaders, economists, and mass media news analysis includes a vast array of enterprises which require the continued exploitation of flaws and weaknesses in human nature, fragile ecosystems, and already significantly depleted natural resourcesand which are much of the reason why cultures of violence, greed, and corruption have become so common that most people believe they are inevitable. Readers who are in doubt about the existence of such significant, largely unaccounted for, and unchecked social and environmental externalities are also encouraged to consider Sections IV and V (Cultures of Violence, Greed, Corruption, and Overindulgence and Other Challenges Which Are Part of This Writers Ten Point List and Which Need to be Resolved as Part of a Sustainable Solution to the Current Debt Crises) in the IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012 document titled IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report [January, 2012 (with updates August, 2012); 444 pages). This writer, for one, is convinced that we are at a critical point in the evolution of life on planet Earth, and that there is now a profound and critical need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings. Unfortunately (that word again), much of the real treasured wisdom of religious, spiritual, and moral traditions (the cultural storehouses of the time-tested means for cultivating wisdom and compassion) now seems to be hiddenand thus in need of being re-discovered. These hidden resources include teachings which inspire and encourage people to a) place a high priority on the development of truth, virtue, love, and peaceand live disciplined lives for the purpose of adhering to truth, cultivating virtue and love, and maintaining the pathways to enduring peace b) sacrifice personal desires for the greater good of the whole c) find contentment and quality of life while consuming less material goods and ecological services d) prefer peacebuilding which supports and actualizes mutually beneficial understandings, forgiveness, and reconciliationand which abstains from violent conflict resolutionas a way of bringing cycles of violence to an end e) use resources carefully, so that there is surplus available for emergency assistance f) support community life and cultural traditions which bring to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how many ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help, as well as to those who receive it. Many people seem to have the belief that human morality is a constant, and therefore is not a factor they need to consider as part of their tool box of resources for overcoming critical challenges. This writer, however, believes that human morality is not a constantit is not something which is the same throughout the centuries of human existence; and thus it is something which can become degraded or raised up, depending on the leanings of human aspirations. Therefore, he believes we cannot afford to exclude from our tool boxes the time-tested sources which have helped people learn compassion over many centuries. What we need to do instead is to learn how to cultivate the time-tested sources so that the sources yield the treasured wisdom. 142

It is in the context of the leanings of human aspirations regarding human moralityand in the context of emphasizing the need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beingsthat The IPCR Initiative encourages communities (with the resources to do so) to enter into sister community relationships with communities in other countries where there has been well documented calls for assistance with basic human needs. Such community-to-community relationships can provide critical assistance with capacity building (especially if communities make best use of already established humanitarian aid organizations specializing in capacity building). Sister community relationships can also create service work capable of uniting diverse communities of people, and a variety of opportunities for person-to-person peacebuilding (as can be seen by the work of organizations such as Sister Cities International; webpage at http://www.sister-cities.org/.) While it may be difficult for political leaders to accelerate the use of sister community relationships when the concept is specifically linked to time-tested sources which have helped people learn compassion over many centuriesCommunity Visioning Initiatives which focus on the general themes of maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity will almost certainly accelerate the use of this sister community concept. Job Fairs The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc) to demonstrate their upgraded awareness (relating to the challenges, solutions, and action plans perceived as high priority by community residents)an their interest in the welfare of the communityby offering and facilitating new employment opportunities and thus assisting with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solution-oriented activity to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solution-oriented activity. Local Newspapers The Community Visioning Initiative constellation of initiatives approach to maximizing citizen participation in solution-oriented activity also provides many opportunities for local newspapers to contribute very valuable community services. (For example: making preliminary survey results accessible; highlighting inspirational role models and service-oriented initiatives associated with the Community Visioning process; describing workshop activity in the Community Teaching and Learning Centers; providing accountability reporting relating to the planning, implementation, evaluation, and sharing the lessons stages of the Community Visioning Initiative; etc). When local community specific narratives are grown organically One special value of the IPCR constellations of initiatives approach is that it encourages an organic approach to problem solving, peacebuilding and community revitalization: i.e. the process begins from wherever the community is, and proceeds to whatever emerges from Community Visioning Initiatives as the solution pathways preferred by the residents of each particular community. There is no need for consensus on a blueprint for a model community to carry out a Community Visioning Initiative. The idea 143

of the Community Visioning Initiative is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activityand to (thus) grow the project organically. A continued emphasis on the basic themes of a Community Visioning Initiativemaximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activitywill, even in a matter of a few years, bring communities back into alignment with the realities of the times and it will do so at a pace which is workable for those particular local residents, it will add valuable knowledge and skill sets relating to problem solving as a team, and it will give local residents many more opportunities to encourage and support each other in the everyday circumstances of community life. In addition, when local community specific narratives are grown organically by the processes described above, such narratives are much more likely to be aware of, and responsive to, local specific needs and challenges, much more likely to maximize citizen participation and create solution-oriented momentum, and much more likely to inspire commitments of time, energy, and financial support. There can be much very useful public discourse on how to create effective local Community Visioning Initiatives, of the kind which can succeed in turning polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (and thus make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has), and which can create, develop, and accelerate a full array of solution-oriented activity. Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections? The IPCR Initiative emphasizes a time-intensive approach to Community Visioning, which may take up to 11/2 years (18 months) to complete. The IPCR Initiative advocates for the kind of Community Visioning Initiative outlined in detail in the IPCR Initiative document A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative. A very rough estimated cost, for 18 month Community Visioning Initiative which can be carried out by local communitiesor segments of rural areas, towns, or citieswith populations of 50,000 or less, is $3 million (estimate in U.S. dollars). For the most part, this article presents the comparison between Community Visioning Initiatives and General Elections as a comparison between what is provided here about the citizen participation potential and problem solving potential of Community Visioning Initiatives, and what the readers impressions are (from his/her own experience) about the citizen participation potential and problem solving potential of General Elections. However, there is one important observation this writer will make here about the current state of many political campaigns at this critical time. At a time when there are critical challenges which require problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before (see The IPCR Initiatives List of Ten Critical Challenges at the end of this article), we are in great need of collaborative efforts which make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has. And yet many current forms of representative democracy include media campaigns which repeatedly paint negative portrayals of opposing candidates, and which encourage the demonization or dehumanization of fellow citizens and fellow human beings. No one who has ever tried to mediate a peaceful resolution to a conflict between people in their own personal life would ever consider carrying out anything even remotely resembling such negative campaigns as a way to assist people they care about through difficult times, and as a means of re-establishing peaceful relations. And yet here we are, at a time of many critical challenges which require best use of the knowledge and skills we haveand it is clear that many of us continue to believe that participation in the current forms of representative 144

democracy (which include these negative media campaigns) is one of the key indicators that a nation is on the road to becoming one of the most advanced societies we can conceive of. What exactly is the nature and character of the most advanced societies we can conceive of? Is arriving at that kind of society really one of our goals? If so, how much of what we are doing in everyday circumstances of community life actually relates to achieving that goal? As mentioned earlier, preliminary surveys or questionnaires (as preparation for Community Visioning Initiatives) are meant to help people rediscover truths about their goals, how what they are doing in everyday circumstances of community life relates to achieving those goals, the challenges perceived as the highest priority challenges by the majority of residents in a community, and what residents are doing to overcome such challenges. Here is one question such preliminary surveys could ask: If 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives of the kind advocated in this article (i.e. time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives supplemented by the above mentioned key processes) had already been carried out, and each visioning initiative had the general focus of maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activityand the citizen participation/problem solving results could be compared to 1000 political campaigns of equal expenditures, which resulted in the election of citizen representatives --which processes (1000 Community Visioning Initiatives or 1000 General Elections) do you believe would have the best cost/benefit ratio (i.e. given equal expenditures in both citizen participation/problem solving processes, which one would result in the most solution-oriented activity)? Concluding Comment There can be much very useful public discourse on how to create effective local Community Visioning Initiatives, of the kind which can succeed in turning polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (and thus make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has), and which can create, develop, and accelerate a full array of solution-oriented activity.

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(End of article Community Visioning Initiatives or General Elections?) (also Appendix F)

A List of Ten Critical Challenges

(supported by evidence gathered in IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012 project)
(webpage for Assessment project at http://www.ipcri.net/Critical-Challenges-Assessment.html )

[supporting evidence summarized in the IPCR Initiative document IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report (444 pages)]

1. Global warming and reducing carbon emissions 2. Cultures of violence, greed, corruption, and overindulgencewhich have become so common that
many of us accept such as inevitable; which are a significant part of the current crises of confidence in financial markets; and which are in many ways slowing the restructuring of investment priorities needed to respond to an increasing number of other critical challenges

3. The end of the era of cheap energy (particularly in reference to peak oil) 4. The increasing world population and its implications relating to widespread resource depletion (with
special focus on the increasing number of people who are consuming material goods and ecological resources indiscriminately)

5. Current trends indicate that we are creating more and more urban agglomerations (cities with a
population of more than 1 million peoplemore than 400), which require more and more complex and energy intensive infrastructures, where it is more and more difficult to trace the consequences of our individuals investments of time, energy, and moneyand which are the least appropriate models when it comes to implementing resolutions to many of the other challenges in this ten point assessment

6. The U.S. and many other countries will enter the next 15 to 20 years burdened by substantial public debt, possibly leading to higher interest rates, higher taxes, and tighter credit 7. A marginalization of the treasured wisdom associated with religious, spiritual, and moral traditions 8. Global inequities and the tragic cycles of malnutrition, disease, and death 9. Community building associated with responding to the above eight challenges may or may not be accompanied by an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings. In such
circumstances, shortages of goodwill in times of unprecedented transition could tilt already precarious systems into further disarray, and thus erode established systems in even the most stable communities and regions

10. Sorting out what are real challenges and what are sound and practical solutions is becoming more and more difficult, as there are now, in most communities of the world, a multitude of ideas of all kinds coming
to the fore in personal, family, community, and cultural lifeall at the same time. Thus, even analysis supported by much credible evidencethat there are many danger signs flashing now (involving significant threats to ecological stability and social cohesion)can be easily lost amidst a swirl of misinformation, other more trivial information, and the siren song of multiple entertainment venues.

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