Research on the level of the global AoH system

[Ria Baeck]

Research on the level of the global AoH system

Chaordic Stepping Stones

 

(from an Open Space session in the collective inquiry on the AoPL 2.0, Brussels, Nov. ’11)

 

 

THE NEED

Spread what is possible!

• Where is the good and beautiful article of what AoH is and what is impact can be?
• Where are the good case descriptions, with each its own full story? Right now it are some of the AoH stewards who carry a lot of the stories around; but is this enough? This is only one channel.

Where, what is the scientific background of what we do?

            How to mature our field of work and build its own theory?

Dave Snowdon states: Without sound theory, practice will not scale – and: without good practice, theory will not develop. If you understand the theory, you can scale your practice better.

Where and how can the AoH global system see itself?

• What are the learnings from the longer, large scale projects using AoH as operating system?
• Where does the meta-harvest on the AoH-system level happen?
• How to connect this global system back to itself?

 

 

PURPOSE

Collective reflection and learning on the level of the AoH global system;

in order to see the unique contributions of each local CoP to the whole,

in order to see and understand the (new) common patterns on this scale,

and in order to be able to host and steward others to do that too, on ever widening scales.

A systems defined as: a network that has coherence. (Snowdon again)

 

In the words of George Por:

How to become a community that learns, from being a community of learners? How does a community that learns look like?

Or even: How does a global system that learns look like?

 

This implies, I think, reflection and learning on the own local system/community level (inside movement) and a sharing of the learnings into the wider system (outside movement). Why isn’t more of this harvesting out happening?

 

 

PRINCIPLES

From the top of my head:

• work in collaboration on the meta-systemic level
• each individual and each local system has a unique contribution, a unique gift to make to the whole
• ……..

 

 

CONCEPT

Doing an Action Research project to accomplish the purpose and give answers to the different needs.

What would be the central research question?

• How to learn in complexity? How to learn collectively in complexity and emergence?
• What does a system that learns look like?
• Does AoH / AoPL leads to better results ‘on the ground’? less poverty, better health, more wellness???

 

 

LIMITING BELIEFS

There is no money to do this.

• What is a possible economic model? This is not training, so who is going to pay for it?
• Will more local projects pay for this kind of reflection? Evaluating? Research?
• Where to find funding to do this kind of work? Globally?

Local people don’t have time and energy left to do this meta-level thinking and reflection.

We need outside, academic action research to make this real.

 

 

STRUCTURE

Starting with a core hosting-research team.

Convene a first gathering where key harvest and hosting persons of local, large scale projects come together to reflect and harvest on behalf of the wider system.

 

 

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You can always contact me if this speaks to you!

[Ursula Hillbrand]

Hi Ria,

you are speaking to my heart.

I think the upcoming lunch time community meeting will determine something here, how we can become more strategic harvesters, or once we have the harvest, because we do have lots, use it more wisely.

Spent some time looking at the research papers on evaluation here on the Ning. We need something like this in the Commission. It was not very difficult, what was used in Australia: a simple questionnaire with strategic questions. It would be so interesting to have those data..

[Helen Titchen Beeth]

We can certainly design something simple like a questionnaire here at the Commission - though choosing the questions would be quite challenging. It should be possible also to adapt a standard questionnaire to local contexts.

I'd like to make a 4-quadrant questionnaire - looking at the interior and the exterior of the individual and the collective. Even more interesting would be to do some real developmental analysis in some kind of more longitudinal study to see how working in this way affects development of sense and meaning-making.

The big question is always the money. It's still too young as a field for there to be mainstream money for funding research, I think...

Let's make this a pilot project for 2012, see what we can come up with.

[Agota Eva Ruzsa]

Dear AOH friends, 

I do love this note and would whole heartedly support it  and just talking about the money:  I think of us applying for a EU LLL resdourse: The Grundtvig fund  which I think is just designed for co-learning like ours... Agota

[Ria Baeck]

Do you have experience with the Grundtvig fund? people who can tell us more? any other link to it?

[Helen Titchen Beeth]

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc86_en.htm

[Agota Eva Ruzsa]

We have been invited to  participate in a Grundtvig project right now, entitled Hosting Transformation that just started in October, initiated by some people in Berlin and they included 5 other countries and I am sure we can do a similar project to be designed for our purposes...we need min. 3 organizations from 3 different EU countries  -- in principle they cover the costs of all exchange travellings, but usually it is more than we need and at times they give out more for one country than the other thus if we make it equal, we can generate funding for research and harvesting as well...  We can hand in the next around the end of January....

Shall we???? A

[Ria Baeck]

Agota, maybe we have to talk about this. Do you have some time on the 21, 22 or 23rd of Dec? would be nice to have a proposal that went to the Grundtvig autorities, as not to start from scratch.

[Wout-Jan Koridon]

Such an essential inquiry in these transformative times. (Caught also a glimpse AoH application on the fringes of the Occupy movement (George´s The Future of Occupy; and Ben Robert´s OccupyCafe).

Someone I co-hosted the Climate Solutions Meshwork at the Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen with, is Peter Luijten; also involved in the Center for Human Emergence NL. Now he´s also a Consultant European Lifelong Learning Programme at CINOP Internationaal Agentschap and National representative at European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network. I can recommend his engagement.

Might be someone to involve in this.

Maybe he knows of applicable funding opportunities.

I got some conection in the AI domain as well (Marcel van Marrewijk, Joep de Jong). Useful?

Indeed, as I see it, facilitating transformation through hosting group dialogue processes, is crucial in these crises/transitions; serving the whole for the benefit of the whole. A ´New Economy & Society´ principle and mechanism. The old economy, lacking functional structures & systems for this with illusive separate stakeholders, should have to fund the transition. Which other perspectives allow us to leave this seemingly catch22 situation and release the flow of financial resources to grow the AoH as a vital, mature function?

love & light, W

[Agota Eva Ruzsa]

Dear Ria, 

the 21st or 22nd in the morning around 9 am could be OK for me...what do you think? Agota

Ria Baeck said:

Agota, maybe we have to talk about this. Do you have some time on the 21, 22 or 23rd of Dec? would be nice to have a proposal that went to the Grundtvig autorities, as not to start from scratch.