Saturday, May 19, 2018, 12:25 PM - The Solidarity Economy & Microfinance
Met with Reemaben (Executive Director) and Smitaben (head of the Management school) last week. Their union of self-employed women has grown to nearly 2 million. They are moving into online learning and even exploring blockchain to support their producers and vendors to have access to pricing information in their value chains. I worked with the rural team, self-help groups and federations back in 2002 for several years. They remain my moral compass on real member ownership and values that allows them to both organize and innovate. It is all about self-reliance for SEWA.
Check out this inspiring video to see what they're up to.
| related link
Friday, April 27, 2018, 01:01 PM - The Solidarity Economy & Microfinance
What could a post-capitalist world look like? A reclaiming of the commons? Can we reclaim the economy or should we just stop using that word? We're trying. Excited to attend this conference and to visit some neat community land trusts in Montreal.
CLTs grew historically out of the civil rights movement compensating black sharecroppers who had been stripped of their land for their activism. Links to the violent dispossession here in M'ikmaki, Africville.
| related link
Wednesday, April 25, 2018, 04:35 PM - The Solidarity Economy & Microfinance
Just had a great conversation with a friend Jayme about economics. She made me think of the Doughnut Economics approach by economist Kate Raworth.
It takes into account environmental elements (thresholds), social elements (found in the HDI) but including social capital and supports not often included or easily measured and more traditional economic measures. The weight is put on social and environmental, living well within our means.
No country, as you can imagine, is completely in the "zone" but Vietnam is an extreme outlier in being close. The question is: could you live like that? With that close a relationship to food and resources.
I have some critiques about the indicators they use (and in many iterations such as the online platform) leave out around equity and gender, but broadly it is more on the right track than anything we currently have. And truer to the Latin root of the word economic which actually means household management of resources. Pulls in Schumaker, Polayni and others around the importance of attention to scale and where we find that sweet spot in embedding our resource management and use in solid, trusted relationships.
See more on the link below...
| related link
Saturday, April 21, 2018, 03:29 PM - Adult and Popular Education
Excited that Sisters Ink is working with the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) on their membership strategy. Momal Mushtaq is leading the contract and I am more in a mentoring role which is also neat. Good learning for me. Part of the work is how their online platform can support their organizing and movement-building. Also very excited about online mobilizing and transformative learning spaces. Most people who have worked with me know that my work and thinking is greatly influenced by the Rao & Kelleher feminist framework that I learned from AWID. | related link
Tuesday, February 20, 2018, 09:32 PM - Adult and Popular Education
Facilitating an online course for the Carsey school of Public Policy, Small and Microenterprise Development Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
According to the 70-20-10 principle, 70 percent of learning and development comes from "on-the-job" assignments that "stretch" us, 20 percent from mentoring or social supports and 10 percent from the classroom or information. Of course, these %s vary by context, organization and nature of work but the broad strokes are important. Our course is uniquely designed along this ratio of activities taking advantage of what e-learning uniquely offers. It focuses on their own self-directed inquiry alongside of peers. Participants have the time and space to engage in the field with groups real time while learning with and from others around the world. Critical reflections help participants ground their analysis in self and social awareness, gender and power.
Back Next
