Welcome to June 2005!

As summer rolls around in the Northern Hemisphere, Pioneers are gathering in various configurations. The work that people are doing in the world and the questions that they each carry will come together in Boston, Nova Scotia, Slovenia, and London in the coming weeks. We hope that the various gatherings listed in this newsletter will have an impact on the participants and all the learning that happens will ripple out to the greater network.

We are very excited to bring you an “in focus” this issue about two Pioneering Ventures and a unique invitation they are co-creating. As we try support an environment of learning and support for Pioneers around the world, we want to increase the visibility of all of the experiments that are happening in the Pioneers of Change network. There are some extraordinary change initiatives happening around the world both within and without existing structures and we hope to tell the stories more and more. We have begun to compile them on the website and encourage you to visit http://pioneersofchange.net/ventures/ We hope the stories of Pioneers making their visions happen, tangibly in their communities will inspire your own Pioneering.

Enjoy this Newsletter, always feel free to pass on something that might be meaningful to someone you know, and if you have ideas or questions please feel free to contact us at cultivation@pioneersofchange.net

Best Wishes,

Sera & Dumi (Cultivation Unit)

IN FOCUS: WATERLUTION@THESHIRE

WATERLUTION@THE SHIRE, August 17-21, 2005, Nova Scotia, Canada

Leading up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in August 2002, a few pioneers were becoming increasingly aware of the central role that water plays within the overall sustainability debate. Many natural elements are fundamental to human and ecological survival yet none are as critical as that of water. There is no substitute. Freshwater availability and distribution have increasingly moved up the global agenda with 2003 as the UN’s Year of Freshwater, and the rapid move of private water companies infiltrating numerous undiscovered markets to assist local governments as they relinquish control of their failing and costly systems.

Pioneers Karen Kun and Tatiana Glad started creating spaces within the network and their local communities to explore our present cultural attitudes and behaviors around water, offering questions to stimulate conversation amongst pioneers of different cultural and professional backgrounds. In 2003 and then again in 2004, Karen convened conversations with youth at SOMOHO in South Africa, to produce a learning tool "Cultures of Water" (which has recently been nominated as a finalist in the Rhodes Ecofilm Festival). It was in the summer of 2003, that Tatiana and Karen were sitting on the edge of Lake Ontario in their home city of Toronto, mystified by the fact that while growing up on the edge of a lake that one would never swim in (due to pollution), it is the very same lake that provides “clean drinking water” for this city of 6 million people. Water as a metaphor and Waterlution as a social enterprise hosting learning programmes were hence conceived as ways of systemically exploring, and re-inventing, our relationship with water. Incubated through Pioneers of Change, Waterlution is now serving individuals and groups across sectors through innovative water learning processes and tools to inspire pattern-making and pattern-breaking change towards a healthy and sustainable relationship with water. See www.waterlution.org

In parallel, Tim Merry was moving to Nova Scotia from the Netherlands to purchase and become a steward of 165 acres of land, meadow, forest, swamp, stream and lakes that have now become known as The Shire - a protected ecological learning community, leadership training ground and venue. The Shire is an exploration into the best of human potential and an example of how self-reliant living could be. See www.oftheshire.org

In August 2005, pioneers Karen, Tatiana and Tim will co-host a water and leadership learning program/retreat “Waterlution@The Shire” with the intention of engaging with the land and water at The Shire, to inquire into what we can learn from water to inspire our leadership in our work as life-affirming change agents. Through interactive water experiments, perceptual and artistic exercises, systems thinking and practices for hosting meaningful conversations about water, we invite you to this diverse and experiential learning experience exploring our relationships with water - in the natural world, in our lives, and in our work. It is an opportunity to connect locally with water as well as learn from colleagues in water work from across Canada and internationally. A combination training / retreat space, Waterlution @ The Shire is an opportunity to cultivate your personal and professional leadership, inspiring a vision for water in our lives. Our promise to you is that when you leave The Shire you will be well equipped with the skills to support, pioneer and/or develop water learning programs in your own organisation or community!

Joined by Bob Sandford, Chair of the Water for Life Decade Partnership in Canada, Chair of the 2003 UN International Year of Freshwater, and founder of the Wonder of Water initiative, as well as local water and watershed practitioners from Nova Scotia, Waterlution@The Shire will connect change-makers in co-creating a healthy water future. See www.waterlution.org or e-mail karen@waterlution.org for the invitation and registration details

Events

"Changing the Game" workshop
Boston - 11 June 2005
Johannesburg – 23 July 2005

Are you engaged in supporting change in your organisation or community? Questioning current systems and structures? Playing an active role in creating new approaches to change? If YES... Then JOIN US FOR A ONE-DAY EVENT EXPLORING YOUR CAPACITIES FOR: Identifying and examining the games (systems and structures) we are engaged in, and Creating new games along with others, across sectors and generations, who facilitate change in companies, organisations, and communities.

Changing the Game is a global dialogue series, currently being hosted in as diverse places as Nigeria, the United States, South Africa, Europe and more. The dialogues explore the visible and invisible rules we play by in our organisations, communities and society. These sessions offer a simple and accessible framework for exploring our role in systemic problems and systemic change. For more information visit , please see http://pioneersofchange.net/localnetworks/boston/events/ (BOSTON) or http://pioneersofchange.net/localnetworks/johannesburg/events/ (JOHANNESBURG) or contact sera@pioneersofchange.net

Global Village Square (Shambhala Institute) Halifax, Canada
22-23 June 2005

The Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership will be hosting the Global Village Square, the latest in a series of explorations around the theme of intergenerational leadership and collaboration. Last year over 70 people aged 14 - 81 gathered from around the world and across sectors to explore the theme of intergenerational collaboration for the common good. This exploration continued at the Pegasus Systems Thinking conference in Boston in November. This summer, we will apply the insight that we have seen emerge in this intergenerational space to a series of stories brought into the Global Village Square by groups from around the world who are working in new ways. We will bring together social entrepreneurs from Mumbai and Johannesburg, students from Texas and Nova Scotia, health care practitioners from Ohio, and a group working with peace and conflict in Israel/Palestine, among others. We will work with their stories, and connect them to our own as we seek new ways of supporting and expanding projects at the edge. For more information, contact Claudia Chender or visit www.shambhalainstitute.org

Crazy Essential Wisdom Castle Borl, Slovenia
July 3 – 9

The Castle is warming up for the return of a summer gathering of business leaders, entrepreneurs, youth leaders and "change agents" to co-discover what it means to live into our emerging future... and what crazy and essential wisdom we need to be the change we want to see in the world. The Castle enters its 6th year as a space for individual and collective sharing of our work, passions and ideas and a practical experience of self-organising community - a history both rooted in and fuelled by Pioneers of Change over the years. More details available at www.borl.org under 2005 events, or download the invitation. To register, e-mail learningvillage@borl.org or contact one of the pioneers involved Alenka, Pablo, or Tatiana.

Exploring The Ecology of Business: Using Dialogue & Collective Intelligence London July 16, 2005, 10.00 - 16.30

We need to move upstream in our whole process of though. To exercise Corporate Responsibility is to take account of the significance and implications of our actions in a much wider context than traditional business measures typically would allow for.

You are invited to a dialogue at the very edge of new thinking on this subject - exploring the ecology of business. For more information, see the attached invite in pdf-format. The fee for this event is £25, no VAT. To register contact Leon Olsen at leon@pioneersofchange.net.

Waterlution @ The Shire Nova Scotia, Canada August 17 - 21

What happens when pioneers gather around their passions to create a space of learning? We invite you to engage with the land and water of The Shire - an ecological and creative learning centre in Nova Scotia - to inquire into what we can learn from Water to inspire our leadership in our work. Hosted by Waterlution and The Shire, we call on those who are touched by water in some way in their lives and those who have water-related considerations in their work. Waterlution@The Shire is a training/retreat space and an opportunity to cultivate your personal and professional leadership, and co-create a healthier and more sustainable relationship with water - in your companies, organisations and communities. Download the invitation and registration form, or contact karen@waterlution.org, tatiana@waterlution.org, or tim@oftheshire.org.

Between Integration and Isolation Rotterdam, The Netherlands 7-11 September 2005 [Please Note the NEW DATES]

A Learning Journey about the Challenges and Opportunities of Immigration in 21st Century Europe The learning journey will enable stakeholders to deepen their understanding and develop their own practices further. We will also explore the possibility for new networks to emerge, which can create and inspire new insights, better tools and alternative approaches. Participants are brought together in order to go through a learning process together with the aspiration of sharpening and reframing their understanding of what it means to live with cultural diversity. See http://pioneersofchange.net/communities/integration or e-mail moraan@pioneersofchange.net

The Art of Hosting Johannesburg South Africa September 21-23 2005

How can we create safe learning spaces where strategic and meaningful conversations take place in order to create comprehensive and innovative solutions for the problems that our world, organisations and communities are facing today? How can leaders encourage collective intelligence and creativity to emerge? We offer The Art of Hosting that can help you to explore and develop your own competencies. We invite leaders, trainers, teachers, entrepreneurs, politicians, consultants, pioneers - people with the courage to let go of control in order to achieve better cooperation and results. See http://pioneersofchange.net/localnetworks/johannesburg/events for the full invitation. Contact sera@pioneersofchange.net

Learning journey on Sustainable Development Brazil
2-12 October 2005

Pioneers of Change in Brazil is offering a Learning Journey on Sustainable Development to be held from 2-12 October 2005. The learning journey is a 10-day experience, starting in an eco-village close to São Paulo to set the context for personal, organisational and societal sustainability. We will participate in a deep ecology experience to enable us to understand our connection to nature and identify how we can personally live more sustainably. We will spend a few days in São Paulo to participate in a cross-sector dialogue and fair and explore the various dimensions of sustainability in one economic sector. We will then travel to Curitiba, a city famous for its integrated social, economic and environmental actions to deepen our understanding of sustainability on a municipal level. We will end the Learning Journey with a day and a half to reflect on the experience, plan next steps and share how each can take personal responsibility for shifting the systems in which we operate to create a more sustainable world. Throughout the journey there will be space for personal and group reflection, meditation, sharing experiences, action planning and cultural events. For more information, visit: http://pioneersofchange.net/communities/sustainability/learningjourney Subscribe to: ljsust@yahoogrupos.com.br.

London Network meetings @ The Hub
The London Network is up and running now - we are meeting the 3rd Tuesday of every month at The Hub (near Angel tube) – Check out the London Network Events page for updates with details of each meeting, visit: http://pioneersofchange.net/localnetworks/london/events

Invitations & Announcements

Diversity Caravan The Diversity Caravan is a virtual and physical project where people are invited to post sustainable change projects on a web site. Later a physical caravan will drive to the selected places (starting in South Africa) and document the projects by film, photo, texts or other material. With this documentation material the ideas can be shared with the rest of the world. Networks can be formed, leaders can get inspired, projects can be analyzed, and there are probably many more possibilities.

You can get involved by joining the mailing list by e-mailing caravan-join@lists.pioneersofchange.net or joining the physical caravan, please let me know if you're interested in any or several of these options.

More information please visit http://pioneersofchange.net/ventures/caravan/

Social Entrepreneurship in Sweden

In October 2004 “Association for International Social Entrepreneurship” (ASIE) was formed in Stockholm, Sweden. As a non-profit NGO it will act to support and create entrepreneurial initiatives within the area of sustainable corporate and social development, in the OECD regions as well as a part for poverty combating. AISE arrange different events such as Klubb Social, UtvecklingsBar and lunch meetings. A Learning Journey and an exchange program between South Africa and Sweden exploring Social Entrepreneurship is being planned. The website www.aise.nu will soon be launched. In the meantime, contact harry@mcneil.se for more information!

FINANCIAL MATTERS

Pioneers of Change is an independent network that believes it is critical to retain a free and unbiased position. We also believe that financial barriers should not be a constraint to learning and engaging. As such we work hard at ensuring that our learning is available to as wide and diverse an audience as possible.

We invite you to make a donation to support us in our work. We encourage you to think of this donation as an investment into learning that has the potential of enriching all of our lives. If you have any ideas of individuals or organizations that might like to support us, let us know, sera@pioneersofchange.net

SMALL PRINT

What is Pioneers of Change?

Pioneers of Change is a global school and learning network supporting practitioners in their 20s and 30s who are working to be the change they want to see in the world. A Pioneer is anyone who sees that something isn’t working in the status quo and is questioning underlying assumptions and moving into new territory to create shifts in systems.

For more information on Pioneers of Change, see http://www.pioneersofchange.net

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