Post date: Aug 07, 2012 7:21:52 PM
Recently I posted the old files for a previous effort I was involved in - OneVillage Foundation. One of the notable contributions of OVF was the oneVillage Initiative a holistic methodology for promoting sustainable development around the world.
OVI was the most part not a tested or proven methodology, rather it was the reflecting of an alternative vision of working together that we had and shared and that is what brought us together in the attempt to put OVF forward.
The idea of verification and the initial testing process to make it a "tested and proven hypothesis" is very important for a methodology that seeks to facilitate major change in how the world operates or does things.
Currently some of the stakeholders of the now defunct endeavor are looking at how some of the work can be rolled into an emergent development effort in Asia.
Often rather than reflect negatively on what society terms as "failure," the fact is that even when we have setbacks or something that does not meet our expectation, there is a value to what our experiences have given us. Being open to truly learning from the process is a central element
Also important is learning how to lead a project to a level of success so that it can be put forward as part of a "going concern" that is financially and organizationally sustainable. I do feel that would be an important aspect toward ensuring the success of OVI or similar approach in the field.
What to me was inspirational was how many interesting and fascinating people we met over the years and how still to this day their stories have not been told properly or they have not gotten properly recognition for their ideas.
To me one of the challenges of the OVF experiment was that it was complex and involved many different aspects.
My view is that the value of the OVF experience was the networking and a chance to consider what a holistic project might look like and be implemented in the field. The complex multi-variate nature of holistic projects makes them more complex to plan implement and manage. This probably has a lot to do with the struggle of real sustainability and sustainable systems to become best practices that can be easily and rapidly be replicated in the field. And that is why the success of such an effort is really determined by strong project management. If a holistic project has weak project management skills it is more inclined to fail because there are more variables that need to be coordinated and managed. Of course a lot of this load can be mitigated by the effort use of ICT which it seems many still seem to struggle with despite the rise of many cool cloud tools.
So my thought is to clearly understand how OVI or a similar Holistic Development Model might work in the field anywhere in the world (considering that the challenge of becoming sustainable may actually be greater in the developed rather than the so called undeveloped world):
List the key steps to the methodology that need to be adhered to, to ensure success
Identity how the program can be flexibly adjusted to consider and allow for differing local conditions
Put trust building structures in place among team builders
Identify possible scenarios for holistic development model realization and implementation
Analysis of potential threat and challenge areas
Start at the smallest possible level to demonstrate the synergy - this is very important so that you dont try to do too much in the beginning and become overwhelmed
Explain how the successful test merits further development and investment to become a full scale global solution towards a leapfrogging development approach that reduces the cost of modernization and also the adverse ecological costs of such efforts.
Plan for leveraging initial success points to scale out within area of focus and replicate in surrounding regions to develop a Bio-regionally based strategy for sustainable development.