I have been involved in many public participation events both through my daily work (often set-up as a Sustainability Forum on a relevant topic) and through my participation & workshop facilitation in a variety of participatory, community engagement workshops/events. I have personally facilitated numerous “Work that Reconnects” workshops and have helped facilitate a few “Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream” Symposia.
The “Work that Reconnects” workshops (based on the very transformative, experiential work of Dr. Joanna Macy http://workthatreconnects.org/foundations-of-the-work/).
As well, I have helped facilitate a few “Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream” Symposia, which utilize an inter-active, video-based information-sharing approach that also draws upon the “Work that Reconnects.” http://www.pachamama.org/engage These
“Generation Waking Up” is an extension of the “Awakening the Dreamer” approach focused on Youth Leadership grew from these participatory Symposia http://generationwakingup.org/about
ALl of these participatory workshops are very much Participatory and Empowering with the potential for varying levels of Leadership depending upon the level of involvement each participant chooses to pursue following their involvement in the workshop.
I have been very keen to integrate more of any/all of these means of public engagement into the work I have been doing over the past 12 years. My challenge has been the difficulty in building these innovative, participatory, empowering approaches into my work given the the limited interest/ability for institutional organizations, such as the Federal government and NGO’s that I have worked with, to dig into the political, spiritual, & cultural implications of our highly consumptive behaviours that contribute to the depletion of our natural resources.
I am re-invigorating my pursuit of offering “Work that Reconnects” workshops and will happily share my passion for this work with anyone interested in these approached 🙂
