1 / 11

Navigating Complexity: Community-Led Solutions to Child Poverty

Explore how complexity theory can support community-led development in addressing child poverty. Learn practical steps, touchstones for CLD, and resources to respond effectively. Embrace diverse leadership and adaptive planning for long-lasting change.

jewelln
Download Presentation

Navigating Complexity: Community-Led Solutions to Child Poverty

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Hui E Forum - using community led development – child poverty example Using a complexity lens to support community solutions David Hanna

  2. I’m Biased - my assumptions: • We all know we have a problem and want to be a part of a solution • Poverty is an outcome of a complex system – we need to appreciate the whole system to support change • People who aren’t poor (us in the room?) talk about poverty differently to people who are labelled as poor. • People experiencing a problem need to be active in co-designing a solution for it to be effective. • Communities are living self-organising systems that are highly capable of contributing to solutions

  3. http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/EricBerlow_2010G.mp4 Ted Talks: Eric Below on Complexity

  4. Learn by doing with key Stakeholders – privileging the voice of people experiencing the problem . Create stability. Develop common ground, compromise or compete. Follow the ‘best practice’ recipe. Use experts to experiment and find the answers

  5. Poverty is associated with degrees of chaos. Solutions designed by experts / politicians / officials alone will have limited lasting effect We need ability to meet people / communities in chaos and ‘hold the space’ for them to self-stabilise and progress THEREFORE ……

  6. Touchstones for CLD • Shared local visions drive action and change • Utilising existing strengths and assets • Many people, groups and sectors working together • Building diverse and collaborative local leadership • Adaptive planning and action informed by outcomes

  7. Feature Difficult to frame Multiple root causes Multiple stakeholders Emergent Unique Paradoxes, Dilemmas Response Good enough framing Cross boundary work Collaborative, privileging people direct experience Adaptive Learning Customized Responses Transparent coping Responding to the Complexity of Child Poverty • Traps • Paralysis by analysis • Blame • Powerful voices win • Impatience and top down answers • Standardised contracts • Revert to simple cause/effect thinking

  8. “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.”

  9. Practical steps address poverty we need to … • Hold our ‘solutions’ lightly – be open to different or new views – ‘and / and’ approach • Grow our ability to operate with uncertainty / messiness / and paradoxes • Be open to new forms of leadership – from non-traditional people • Widen the conversation – move away from huddles of similar people meeting • Bring ‘place’ into the frame – understand how ‘community of place’ is an asset to co-create solutions for child poverty.

  10. Resources: www.inspiringcommunities.org.nz Our Place Conference - www.ourplace2015.com https://vimeo.com/86546939 Good Cents Initiative Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching and research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Inspiring Communities. (2013). Learning by Doing: community-led change in Aotearoa NZ. Wellington, New Zealand Inspiring Communities Trust. Kaplan, A. (2002). Development practitioners and social process:Artists of the invisible. London, England: Pluto Press. Malcolm, M.J. (2014). Civil Society Leadership as Learning. (Doctoral thesis, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10292/7212 Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York; NY: Guildford Press. Plowman, D. A., & Duchon, D. (2008). Dispelling the myths of leadership: From cybernetics to emergence In M. Uhl-Bien & R. Marion (Eds.), Complexity leadership, Part 1: Conceptual foundations (pp. 129-153). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc. Wheatley, M., J. (2006). Leadership and the new science: discovering order in a chaotic world (3rd ed.). San Francisco,CA: Berrett Koehler. Zimmerman, B., Plsek, P., & Lindberg, C. (2002). A complexity science primer. Adapted from: Edgeware: Lessons from complexity science for health care leaders, by Brenda Zimmerman, Curt Lindberg, and Paul Plsek, 1998. Retrieved from www.plexusinstitute.org

More Related