PublicNetworkingCenters/OrganizingFramework

Describe the new page here.This organizational framework uses a strength-based approach to connect stakeholders (participants, agendas, structures and systems) with funding and community building supports based in sustainable development practices. This approach can be used at any scale -- local to regional, to national to global and is known to successfully facilitate mutual understanding and engagement across-cultures, generations and political boundaries. The following is a 7 step process that Emerging Futures has identified as working to successfully identify and engage potential youth and adult leaders within a given community who are interested in affecting sustainable change around issues that concern them. And, to provide support and coaching to local organizers to facillitate an /EngagementStragegy? known to successfully educe, engage, retain, and replicate desired activities.

Step 1. Understand the specific need

a) Meet project leaders and understand the vision and what they want to do. b) Define the community that works with the situation needing change. c) Define initiative needs (funding, technology, more people, legal advice,consulting, connections, information, etc).

Step 2. Establish a team from a broad sector of the defined community

Select representatives from a cross-sector affected by the situation (community groups, associations, government, youth, individuals, consultants, etc.): • Those affected by the issue. • Those who work with the issue. • Those who advocate for the issue. • Those who fund and contribute time and resources to the issue.

Step 3. Engage community to design a plan of action

a) Project leaders and community participants will engage participants from the defined community (organizational, political, faith-based, historic cultural heritage, etc.) to design and deliver actions to affect desired change.

b) Provide training to strengthen leadership and community connections. The training needs to build on existing successes and follows the following sequence and content:

'''Building on Community Successes

1. Discover what already works well, what’s right, & what’s wanted
2. Envision an even better future and what might be
3. Plan how to move ahead, achieve the dream and co-construct the

      future? Who will do what by when?

1. Accountability: through continuous learning, participatory monitoring and evaluation to implement and sustain change.

• What works best • What can make it even better? • What do we want next? This 4 part planning cycle restarts again and becomes a life-giving ascending spiral of on-going positive and sustainable change.

c) The trained team will now engage the community (residents, civic and grassroots groups, political leaders, community organizations, including the public and private sectors) to further design the action plan.

d) Identify what additional skills, information, funding, infrastructure, support, etc. necessary to accomplish the next steps.

'''Step 4: Implement the Action Plan

Ask for commitments – who is willing to do what, and by when? • Initiate actions • Continually engage work groups and others affected by the issue to facilitate and participate in activities and monitoring of outcomes and evaluation. • Collect and share information (regular on-line postings). • Celebrate successes. • Determine what’s working, do more of it, and make on-going adjustments. .

'''Step 5: Ongoing Technical Assistance: Offer internal and external supports (from inside and outside the project) for local participants, intermediary organizations and networks. This includes customized assistance (help desks, liaisons, and resource banks) to clarify needs and goals. Provide access to best practices, potential solutions and a variety of services using transparent coaching techniques such as:

• Mentoring • Monitoring and evaluations • Ongoing communication and media supports • Availability of expert assistance, consultation and facilitation • Leadership development to generate and support local leadership, organizers and work teams for on-going community engagement. • Online communication to connect community information and networks.

'''Step 6: Shared Knowledge: Unite initiative activities to learn from each other by linking people, projects and information both electronically and face to face. Provide training to strengthen technical assistance to support:

• Connection of people, tools and skill building opportunities. • Share and exchange of information, networking, assessments, and language. • Development of learning communities and shared wisdom. • Opportunities for people to participate in events and post shared learning. • Incentives to post learning on-line, through publications and in the media.

'''Step 7: Knowledge Repository and Continuous Learning: Initiative outcomes are shared with Emerging Futures Foundation to develop a Knowledge Repository (virtual library) for use and sharing with others. Initiative leaders, participants and learning communities are encouraged to contribute to and co-construct the Knowledge Repository for individual and collective use.

Through the development of self-organizing learning communities, peer to peer networks and open source software technology, initiatives can link coordinated and complementary efforts to connect with and support more comprehensive learning opportunities. Such opportunities include the ability to:

• Share, exchange, collect and store data (stories, information, statistics, etc.). • Look at on-going results and patterns of individual and collective projects. • Share, analyze and synthesize project results, information and knowledge for sustainable application. • Generate social augmented networks, a shared marketplace, and on-line community building supports. • Share recommendations and inform leaders, funders, policy makers, economic development and environmental initiatives (local, regional, national and global) with information needed to support sustainable futures.