From the facilitators’ perspective, we just want to share with you that the event was AMAZING!! It felt incredibly powerful and the participants were deeply inspired. Many expressed that it was different from anything they had ever experienced and different from what they anticipated. It seemed like everybody just clicked with the process and each other, and the process did the work. We as facilitators did not have to explain the sustainability challenge or talk about the changes needed – through the experiential steps people came through their own realisations and understanding. This is what one of the participants shared with us after the event: “It was so enriching to meet and interact with people who all want to see and act for a change in the way we live. I often felt frustrated when I witness destructive actions towards nature, I always wanted to do something, but felt powerless and was sometimes discouraged by people saying ” they’ll never understand” and thought I can’t change the world on my own. After attending Global Dialogues, I realise that I am not alone. Indeed, even individually I can take small steps that can make a difference and contribute to a sustainable future. “Be the change that you want to see in the world” is the sentence that really inspires me now. I am enough, WE are enough… We can do it!” Virginia Lamarque
The Launch of Global Dialogues Mauritius
Global Dialogues for a Sustainable Future
Around the world dialogues are being held and organised to support people in coming together to envision the future they want and to explore collaborative actions for moving our world towards full sustainability.
Local Action, Broad Perspective
Yesterday I volunteered to help two students from the University of Mauritius, for their final year project at the Valley of Ferney. This is one of the most beautiful areas of the island, where a lot is being done to preserve and regenerate native flora and fauna populations. In 2004, the valley was threatened by a prospective highway construction, which raised outrage in the country – and the area was finally protected. Continue reading
Reflections and Thank YOU!
First of all, a big Thank YOU to all our amazing partners, colleagues, and clients for working with us, trusting in us, and walking this path together.
It has been one of the busiest years of our life here at ELIA; so many new opportunities opened up this year for sharing our skills and vision. Our work this year expanded to Southern and Eastern Africa (Kenya, Namibia), the Arab States (Sudan and Syria) and the Small Island States (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Zanzibar) through Climate Change projects, Dynamical Systems modelling in collaboration with our partners, and implementation of the Mauritius Strategy (a regional project of the Indian Ocean Commission). We have also been engaging with the private sector for sustainability. We have done the Sustainability Reporting using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework for a leading company in the cane industry in Mauritius. We were also involved with carrying out studies on Green Investment and the Green Economy with the Millennium Institute. Our contribution extended to green job creation in 12 countries, and on the development of a green corridor based on REDD+ in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Schooling for Sustainability
On 5 and 6 December ELIA facilitated its last two days of training in Systems Thinking as part of its Ecological Literacy Program for 18 Catholic Schools in Mauritius. Throughout the two days it became clear that we all understand Systems Thinking concepts and that we find them quite appealing. Through discussions on day one, teachers expressed their willingness and support for teaching Systems Thinking Principles, applying it in their field of expertise and learning together with their students how to contribute to a more ecologically sustainable world. The common challenge, however seemed to be the application of Systems Thinking into practice: How do we facilitate co-creation and co-learning? How do we organise ourselves in an ecological way, and how do we co-create living networks that are collaborative and foster learning and development of the whole system? And most importantly, how can we support our educational systems to become a Learning System for Sustainability?
Crayfish rescue
Pe
ople normally say that the way you start your working week sets the tone for the rest of it. As this week would have it, that seems to be true. On Monday, we were approached by a local fisherman who offered a freshly caught Crayfish for sale. Xav, speaking creole, entered into negotiation with the fisherman, at first refusing to buy it, both because of the blown up price and the fact that the ocean needed the crayfish more than us. The fisherman kept reducing the price, saying that there were no other clients around and that this was his unique catch for sale. Continue reading
A different dimension to Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking is gaining popularity across disciplines and in many organisations. We include training in Systems Thinking as part of our Eco Literacy Programme. When I first heard the word ‘Systems Thinking’ I had an instantaneous dislike of and resistance to the word. Then when I started to study what it referred to I realised that the competencies referred to as Systems Thinking have been practiced by indigenous people around the world for thousands of years. Systems Thinking stimulates you to think in terms of interconnectedness, processes, and patterns; compared to thinking in terms of isolated parts, outcome and result, and targets based on linearity. In learning about and from indigenous people, and especially those known as shamans, healers, and medicine men & women, I learned that the world of energy becomes tangible by focussing on networks of relationships, processes, and patterns. Continue reading
“What is Moving and Awakening in our World?”
On 26th September, Xavier and Maja took part in a Virtual ‘World Cafe’ Workshop to explore the question “What’s Moving and Awakening in our World?” The Workshop was organised by a passionate group of people that conveniently enough named their project Passioneers (only to find out soon after that this name is already taken by somebody else). Passioneers or not, they still had their passion of creating and organising opportunities for discussing how to help support youth to connect to their passion. As Matt, one of the co-founders said: “ Our assumption is that until we are working with our passions we can’t really have sustainable creation”. Continue reading