_________________________________ The Community Empowerment Project - Version 2 - --- GOAL The goal of the project is to learn how real democracy -- self-governance -- can be manifested. --- OBJECTIVE The objective of the project is to carry out an intensive experiment in some community, involving various kinds of dialog processes, seeking to facilitate the awakening of a coherent and inclusive sense of We the People in the community. We want to give the project every chance of success, by making an all-out effort, so that if we fail we will know that we need to rethink our fundamental notions of democratic process. --- EXPERIMENT DESIGN The basic idea behind the experiment is to combine Wisdom Councils with more informal dialog processes, directly involve as many people as possible in dialog, continue this for several months, and seek to create a situation where the community as a whole 'owns the process', and it becomes self-perpetuating. If this is going to happen at all, my guess is that it should happen within about six months. That's surely not enough time for democracy to fully blossom, but it should be more than enough time for the value of the endeavor to be apparent to all, and there should be more than enough community energy aroused to carry it forward. If this happens, I'd be quite eager to stay involved; I might even move to the community. :-) However if it doesn't happen by then, a project post-mortem would probably be in order. The heart of the project is a series of six Wisdom Councils, convened monthly, each involving four all-day sessions.The four-day sessions are critical to success, because it takes a while to get to a full head of steam with the process, and it is in that mode that the most impressive, creative breakthroughs occur. The frequency and duration of the series is critical to success, because it will take time for awareness of the process to spread in the community, and it will take time for the process to converge toward an inclusive 'sense of the community'. The rate of community convergence depends on two factors: the quality of the Council outcomes and the degree of public involvement in the endeavor. As regards quality of outcomes, DF should serve us very well. We can assume that twelve randomly selected participants will bring with them a reasonable cross-section of the concerns in the community, just as in a jury. DF enables them to work together to find creative solutions that deal with all participants' concerns, which implies those solutions should resonate with a reasonable cross section of the general community. As regards public involvement, we need to be pro-active. Publicity in the local media and a meeting following each Council are not enough to ensure widespread interest in the endeavor, nor do they provide adequate opportunity for motivated people to participate in dialog directly. Based on feedback from the first version of this proposal, I've come to the conclusion that circle processes, applied in a variety of contexts, can be very effective at facilitating public involvement, and accelerating the process of convergence. In addition the wider direct experience of dialog is important in itself -- the deep potential of dialog can only be appreciated by experiencing it. One can imagine neighborhood circles, meeting in peoples homes. Or circle processes being adopted in already existing meeting scenarios. Open circles held regularly in public places, ala Conversation Cafe. Circles formed just because people want to get involved in the endeavor. The possibilities are many. Presumably there will need to be an initial 'pitch' to the community, some kind of announcement in the media, flyers, a public meeting, whatever. Conveners would presumably be talking about' community empowerment', 'a chance to make a difference', 'past successes with Wisdom Councils', etc. etc. It would be important to bring in circles right up front, as an equal part of the democracy experiment along with WCs -- and to encourage people to create some circles, even before the first Wisdom Council. Perhaps the conveners can each host a circle, to kick the process off. It will take a while for circles to get started, and for people to get comfortable with the process. The earlier we can get something started in this regard, the better. If we can somehow manifest a network of circles in the community, of various kinds, and if the Wisdom Councils begin to produce outcomes that resonate strongly in the community, and which generate excitement, all the mechanisms will be in place to enable maximal progress toward community convergence. Once the convergence reaches a certain level, I believe that a tipping point will occur. A point will come when people will begin to say or think, "This is something that really can work! It's powerful stuff. By golly, I'm going to see that it through!" If that kind of intent emerges, it will be time to open the champagne. From that point forward the process will become self-perpetuating, and the experiment will be destined for success. --- NEXT STEP The next step, as I see it, is to find some activists somewhere who are interested in organizing a convening group to pursue this proposal -- presumably with local refinements -- in their community. In fact one very good activist, Molly Morgan, who helped organize my recent tour, has expressed initial strong interest. She also came up with a very good suggestion: part of the convener's responsibility is to get themselves trained in DF, and then to donate their services over the six months for the WCs and for training other facilitators. This largely removes the problem of funding from the endeavor, while increasing the commitment required from conveners. --- WHAT IF THE EXPERIMENT SUCCEEDS? As I mentioned above, I believe the first tipping point in the experiment will come when people begin to own that they really want the endeavor to succeed. That kind of intent, combined with the energy produced by creative dialog itself, will in my opinion create an unstoppable momentum toward a local democratic awakening. I think there will be a second tipping point as well, an emotional one, when people begins to experience 'We' as a supportive force, when they begin to remember what it was like -- thousands of years ago -- to belong to a supportive, cooperative society. When that tipping point is reached, the sense of community will be everywhere palpable, 'We' will be emerging as a dynamic, coherent entity, in harmony with its constituency, its holons. In this description so far, I've been focusing on the process aspects of the endeavor, because that is mostly what the conveners will be dealing with. In that regard, I've emphasized the 'people' aspects of the convergence process , and the 'feeling' tipping points. Equally important, however, is the 'content' convergence that accompanies the 'process' convergence. The two manifest always together, that is the nature of the DF process. The democratic spirit arises specifically from the experience of success in dealing collectively with complex problems. If we look at the cities in South America where participatory, consensus processes have been used with some success, we typically see cities that receive international acclaim for their innovations and for their quality of life. As people learn to awaken and combine their wisdoms, in the process dimension, they will at the same time be developing a wise assessment of their situation and their resources, as a community, and they will together be creating a framework for civic transformation. That's what it's all about, improving the community, the quality of life, the vitality of the economy, etc. DF is characterized by its ability to facilitate breakthrough solutions to impossible problems, and I would expect that the changes manifested in the community -- whatever they might be in the particular -- will be as impressive as the democratic awakening itself.. That first tipping point I mentioned is a big one, and its achievement is uncertain, but I have a strong sense that if that tipping point is reached, these other consequences above will become very nearly inevitable. If so, then we can expect any successful experiment to be a GREAT success. A success that would inspire other communities, near and far. --- CONSIDERATIONS The level of commitment and responsibility required of conveners by this plan is considerable. It's a non-trivial project, and it would require a group of people who can work effectively together, who have enough time available to be able to deliver reliably on their action items, who are very good at communicating with people, and who can keep this up for a considerable time. And there is no guarantee of success. The upside potential, however, is so great that in comparison the investment is negligible. If there is any reasonable chance of success, then it seems to me the attempt 'needs to be made'. _________________________________ -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
