tactics

Focus on Deficiencies

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Pattern number within this pattern set: 
29
Version: 
3
Verbiage for pattern card: 

This pattern suggests that the way that people in dominant positions look at a community, school, country, etc. is to focus on its deficiencies; what's broken or dysfunctional.  Thus, one can "diagnose" a community for its "diseases" such as crime, drug use, broken families, or "loose morals."

Activism Delegitimization

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Pattern number within this pattern set: 
30
Version: 
3
Verbiage for pattern card: 

Dissenters, especially those who are active in their dissent can be deligitimized in order to take away their ability to be taken seriously by the public.  This is very effective when done thru mass media outlets.  One very effective form of delegitimization is ridicule because it spreads easily and avoids actually examining the situation.

Consumerism

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Pattern number within this pattern set: 
4
Version: 
3
Verbiage for pattern card: 

Quality of life is ultimately measured by on the acquisition and display of material goods. At the heart of consumerism is the thought that the “good life” can be purchased. Consumerism also contains a set of standards through which people can be judged based on material wealth.

Neighborhood based Community Health Workers

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Pattern ID: 
913
Links: 

Healthy Living Collaborative of Southwest Washington

Michael O'Neill
Healthy Living Collaborative
Version: 
1
Problem: 

Fragmented systems of service delivery that are intended to deliver health, social wellbeing, and safety are in need of course correction to address severe disparities in health and welbeing that exist.  The mandate of health care reform from the Affordable Care Act is to improve care, improve population health outcomes, and lower costs. In Washington State the timeline to accomplish this is five years.

 

How can organizations that have traditionally delivered units of care shift towards providing access to wellness for a population which creates health equity, increases local capacity, and transforms payment and delivery systems?

Solution: 

Community Health Workers are an emerging solution to this problem as shown by a case study of the Healthy Living Collaborative project in Southwest Washington and other similar projects which it is modeled after.  Community Health Workers (CHWs) are trusted community members among the people they serve who can fill a variety of culturally appropriate roles.  These roles increase access for the CHWs friends, family, neighbors, and peers to resources, knowledge, and skills that promote wellness.  CHWs are a credible voice for the lived experience of local needs and play a critical role in translating this information across cultural, social, and organizational boundaries.

Verbiage for pattern card: 

Community Health Workers are an emerging solution to this problem as shown by a case study of the Healthy Living Collaborative project in Southwest Washington and other similar projects which it is modeled after.  Community Health Workers (CHWs) are trusted community members among the people they serve who can fill a variety of culturally appropriate roles.  These roles increase access for the CHWs friends, family, neighbors, and peers to resources, knowledge, and skills that promote wellness.  CHWs are a credible voice for the lived experience of local needs and play a critical role in translating this information across cultural, social, and organizational boundaries.

Pattern status: 
Draft
Pattern Sets: 
Community Health Workers as a Civic Intelligence case study

The Best of Both Worlds

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Version: 
1
Problem: 

The ‘holy grail’ of the modern conservationist is undoubtably to achieve some kind of sustainable relationship whereby the human population can develop and prosper alongside nature with minimal compromise on either side. The key to this objective is efficiency, which some might argue is against our programming. As we continue to develop new technologies, this once impossible goal is increasingly within our reach.

Context: 

At the heart of achieving a mutually beneficial relationship between man and nature is the principle of multiple land use. ‘Exploitation’ can be defined as any implementation of a design that perpetuates the singularity in value. Communities should therefore objectify value in multiple-use and develop means of benefitting from this, as opposed to getting carried away with the deceptive benefits of singular use. We should promote the importance of vertical settlement and aim to preserve as much land area as possible for multiple use benefits.

Discussion: 

Economic benefit is derived cumulatively across a landscape, with distributed pockets of sustainable and environmentally-ameliorative activity, rather than highly-intensified activities in larger-scale concentrations. Sources and forms of contribution are diverse and aim to develop financial potential with a minimal footprint.

The ideal is therefore a landscape in which settlement is concentrated in efficient, strategically positioned pockets, linked by good infrastructure designed against principles that preserve and improve the environment. Areas of concentrated settlement should be designed and developed with the objective to improve the environment, for example through water conservation and re- forestation, as well as to limit the need for transport of essential goods, in that as much as possi- ble should be produced locally. As new technologies are developed and become more affordable, it becomes easier for individuals or families to become more self-sufficient, particularly given the great availability of information that the modern world allows us. Instead of focusing on big industry, we should focus on strengthening our own capabilities and limiting what we need from elsewhere.

Pattern Sets: 
Preserving the Natural World

Addressing Socio-economic Disparities

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Version: 
1
Problem: 

In my experience, most of the problems that arise in community decision making, particularly when natural resources are concerned, stem from basic disparities within the community. Often one part of the community feels like it has historically had less of a ‘share’ in something and thus pushes a more extreme agenda, sometimes only to antagonise those that they consider to have benefitted disproportionately. When considering a specific region, it becomes necessary to take into account these disparities and enact measures that create, or at least create the illusion of, a level playing field. In less-developed areas with important natural wealth, it is crucial to define collective ownership and responsibility at the earliest possible time. It is within an organisation that these disparities can be addressed gradually and systems put in place to ensure balance, particularly where the allocation of funds is concerned. One system that has worked in my experience is defining clearly the development objectives of various areas and prioritising them numerically relative to objectively considered needs so that when funds are available to the organisation there is little room for argument, given that the priorities have been previously agreed upon in the the absence of funds, the arrival of which are often a source of great tension. 

 

There is an old saying in the Samburu language which translates as ‘a decision made by few is more effective than one made by many’. While this may seem to directly contradict the idea of collective decision making, it stresses the need for unity amongst the community and the careful choice of leadership. Once a certain leadership system is established they should be allowed greater freedom to make and implement their decisions. This brings us back to civic intelligence and the importance of defining clear overlying objectives that are permanent guidelines even though leaders may change.

 

We must define the principles on which we intend to develop, against which we may analyse a particular case. Principles could include environmental preservation, cultural preservation and equitable distribution of wealth but would be specific to a particular area and its features. 

Inteligencia Cívica

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Group Name: 
Spanish translations of Liberating Voices card verbiage
Version: 
1
Verbiage for pattern card: 

Inteligencia cívica describe que tan bien grupos de personas persiguen fines cívicos a través de medios cívicos.  Inteligencia Cívica hace la pregunta crítica: Es la sociedad suficientemente inteligente para afrontar los desafíos que se le presentan?  La inteligencia cívica requiere aprendizaje y enseñanza. También requiere meta-cognición – el pensar y realmente mejorar como pensamos y trabajamos juntos.

Discerning Opportunities

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Prateek Trivedi
Version: 
1
Problem: 

Modern development can take many forms including technological advancement, economic development or improved technical expertise. The most visible form of development, however is the construction of buildings and shops. In Samburu County in Kenya, for example, many view construction as the first step to financial prosperity and many have secured plots of land in order to hastily begin building, particularly along the recently-tarmacced main road towards Ethiopia. As existing towns expand, these ghostly clusters of half-finished concrete buildings mark the beginnings of what could quite soon be a devastating urban sprawl. 

The Isiolo-Moyale road has been under construction for a few years, with the Samburu section from Isiolo to Merille completed in 2010. The region has experienced a surge of development and and while there may not be a great deal of land suitable for farming, the northern part of Kenya is of growing interest to industrial entities, particularly those in the mining and energy sectors.

In addition to construction, there is the distinct possibility of mining operations being expanded into areas that have so far remained in a natural state, particularly with the increasing prevalence of rare earth metals in consumer products. As China comes to terms with the severe environmental damage that has resulted from its provision of as much as 97% of the world's rare earth metal demand, other nations have been realizing plans to end their dependence on Chinese supply, which has considerable implications for the environment.

 

 

Context: 

It is a common opinion that the northern rangelands are barren and therefore ripe for exploitation, however they hold a great deal of natural wealth and can support far more than they appear to. The individualistic trend of the modern society has had a detrimental effect on the land and I would argue that for any positive development to occur on a significant scale, communities must operate with a heightened civic intelligence, discerning between opportunities that will bring net benefit in the longer term. 

Discussion: 

In the case of communally-owned lands, there should be strong organization and established processes to discern between the development opportunities that are brought to their respective area and rather than being distracted by the promise of immediate financial gain, an opportunity should be set against defined principles and assessed objectively. 

 

Development opportunities are most often defined monetarily and are only marginally influenced by the communities that they will affect. In order to discern between positive and negative opportunities, we must define the principles on which we intend to develop, against which we may analyze a particular case. Principles could include environmental preservation, cultural preservation and equitable distribution of wealth but would be specific to a particular area and its features. 

Good Development

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Prateek Trivedi
Preserving cultural and ecological integrity in the face of a rapidly approaching, uncompromising modern reality
Version: 
1
Problem: 

 'Less-developed' societies are faced with an imminent choice of how they will use their resources, particularly land itself, and 'develop'. For most, this choice does not present itself to them and they find themselves mere bystanders as the world around them is reshaped and exploited. External parties seem  at liberty to plan the exploitation of these lands as if the resident communities can have no effective aspirations of their own. There is an increasing pressure of modernization, which stresses individualization over communal ownership. This is particularly dangerous as it will result in a struggle that could leave most with a diminished quality of life as well as heightened tension and conflict. 

Context: 

Rangelands constitute approximately 70% of the world's land area. In Kenya and indeed much of Africa, these rangelands are predominantly inhabited by semi-nomadic pastoralists facing the fast approaching modern world. They find themselves with inferior opportunities to integrate themselves into the modern economy and are torn between the simple but beautiful struggle of their traditional livelihood and the elusive promise of modern prosperity.

Discussion: 

In the modern age of fiat money, everything is defined against imaginary and, ultimately , unrealistic standards. As the modern economic system of the world faces inevitable collapse, many in the 'developing world' are faced with a hard choice and a golden opportunity. We need not follow in the mistakes of our more economically-developed counterparts, but over all we should be prudent and intelligent in our definition of value. If one is to define 'value' as a monetary or immediate concept, as is the acceptable practice of the modern economy, these rangelands and communally-owned lands will be of low priority to the policy maker- eventually becoming an easy target for wanton exploitation. 'Exploitation' can also be defined as any implementation of a design that perpetuates the singularity in value. Communities should therefore objectify value in multiple-use and develop means of benefitting from this multi-faceted value, as opposed to getting carried away with the deceptive benefits of single-use value. 

Recognizing a community's resources and thus its leverage is the first step. There has been a surge of community conservancies in Kenya registering land as 'group ranches', something that emerged in the context of potential eco-tourism revenue. However, the definition of these resources was often narrowly confined to its wildlife populations, most of which traverse but are not confined to these areas. There was seen to be little else in the way of economic potential and the primary activity of wildlife tourism often comes into conflict with the existing livelihood of the majority, livestock husbandry. It is important to recognize that many areas lack sufficient wildlife presence to attract or support tourism on any significant scale. There is a need, therefore, to develop more diverse means of buffering these communities against the encroaching modern world, so that they can preserve ecological integrity and safeguard their most important resource, the land. 

Solution: 

The community conservancy concept is an example of how a community can organize itself to improve the management of its resources, as well as formally delineating an area of communal ownership. It serves as a filter for development as well as an economic arbitrator between the community and the modern economy. In this way it can encourage the preservation of cultural integrity. The objective is thus to develop the community conservancy into an organization that not only manages an area for environmental health, but acts as a bridge for economic opportunity originating outside an area. For example, economic activities with limited potential for scale, such as gum collection and agroforestry, can provide cumulatively significant benefit when managed centrally. Most importantly the conservancy serves to affirm the common objective of healthy land and allows a community to be selective in how it develops economically. 

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