Congratulations to Mali Bickley, Grade 5 teacher at W. H. Day Elementary School, Bradford, Ontario who wins over $10,000 in classroom technology and thanks for the mention of TakingITGlobal in your video! We are so thrilled that you are using TIGed.org in your classroom.
Some products are more easily advertised than others and condom ads probably require the most delicate touch of all. Here are a collection of 22 ads from around the world, some more subtle than others.
In a day and age when most do not agree on anything, from east and west, to conservative and liberal politics, to issues of race and geography, and amongst differing religions and faiths, I believe, along with the founders of Global Dignity, that dignity is the one thing that everyone in the world wants equally. Dignity can be the unifying force that brings us all together at a time when the world needs this more than ever.
On Monday, October 20th 2008, I, in concert with the co-founders of Global Dignity (www.globaldignity.org), His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Professor Pekka Himanen and John Hope Bryant, and several other Young Global Leaders (as associated with the World Economic Forum) conducted our first ever GLOBAL DIGNITY DAY 2008 in 30 countries, inclusive of every continent.
In this blog, I am sharing an update on Global Dignity Day in Canada. I have taken part in other Dignity Day events including one in Vancouver and another in Jordan that involved Her Majesty Queen Rania in Jordan. I am pleased to report back on Global Dignity Day in Toronto, Canada on October 20th, 2008! We reached 40 grade 9 students (14 years old) in a Leadership Course at Greenwood College (http://www.greenwoodcollege.com/)
I had about an hour to deliver the course for each of the two classes. We kicked off with having the students write what Dignity means to them on a sheet of paper that I handed out, and then it led into a group discussion and a brief presentation on the Dignity Principles. I found that most of the initial definitions people wrote down on defining dignity related to self-respect. My co-facilitator was a grade 11 student (Celine Caira) from the school who helped me to prepare for the event. Celine shared a story about what dignity means to her based on a recent encounter with a 14 year old girl that she met in a recent trip to India with her family. I shared a few personal stories and gave context on the work of TakingITGlobal.org and how we are growing a global community of youth making a difference. I connected the mandate of our website to the dignity principles. In helping the students further understand the meaning of dignity, I asked them to share their own examples of increasing or even decreasing the dignity of others. They were able to generate many strong examples of what dignity is NOT - which actually transformed the energy in the room to be more supportive (for example after talking about the negative impact of making fun of someone for who they are).
As a process note, it was very helpful to have the students read each of the dignity principles out loud and talk about what that particular principle means to them. There were certain words that they did not understand - such as interdependent - so I took time to explain the meaning behind the word.
The bulk of the interactive time was when I had the students break out into groups of 4-5 and develop their own ABC’s of Dignity. They had about 6-7 minutes and I was amazed to see how our their depth of understanding about dignity had significantly increased since I first entered the class. At first, in doing the ABCs, we started out as a full class discussion, but I quickly realized that it would be better to have them work in teams - and this was a very smart decision. Each of the group then had a representative read out their ABCs of Dignity to the class and they were all eager to hear about the different impressions and interpretations.
At the end of the class, I unveiled the ‘Dignity Flag’ which I prepared (a huge canvas with bright colours) with Celine and Caitlin (another student) prior to Dignity Day. The Flag stated ‘We Pledge to DIGNITY’ and the students were invited to put their name on the flag, along with a word that relates to dignity starting with the first letter of their name (i.e. Jennifer - Justice). They were eager to make their pledge and I noted that many of the words were difficult for the students to spell (which could lead to future vocabulary activities in their studies). The Dignity Flag is now being hung in the school and I am hoping that at the next school wide assembly, it will be shared by some student representatives with the entire school!
Thanks for the opportunity to work together!
Special appreciation goes out to Kim Samuel-Johnson who is part of the World Economic Forum community and was a former Global Leader for Tomorrow. Kim helped bridge the connection with Greenwood College and hosted the Dignity Day planning meetings. I would also like to thank Caitlin Samuel-Johnson and Celine Caira, who are the Grade 11 students that helped me in preparing for Dignity Day. Here is our team photo taken at one of our planning sessions! Also, closing reflection from Celine, “Seeing the way Greenwood students responded to Dignity Day gives me hope that one day we will live peacefully with global dignity”.
I am incredibly energized from my experience at World Blu Live in New York last week – what a dynamic group of thinkers and leaders in the area of organizational democracy.
While at the conference, I delivered a presentation in the section on ‘NEXT’ – where I was asked to share examples of democratic and inclusive practices at TakingITGlobal. After providing an overview of the mission, vision and programs our organization offers, I talked about the value of the WorldBlu Scorecard process and how it has provided an opportunity for our core team to improve our internal communications and processes as a result of the feedback from the surveys. TakingITGlobal has been recognized in both 2007 and 2008 on the WorldBlu list of Most Democratic Workplaces. Here are a few quotes from staff members who completed the scorecard:
• “TakingITGlobal is a unique organization not only in the work it does that inspires, informs and involves members, but in the way the organization functions, which is equally inspiring for its team.”
• “This is a genuinely democratic organization with an informal yet effective management system in place. Hierarchy is virtually non-existent. It is idea driven and riding the very crest of the tech-wave. Intellectual blossoming is only one of the benefits of working here”
In my presentation, I talked about how we have created evolving visualizations of or organizational model including an earlier version of a tree. For those interested in understanding this model, here is a description that I wrote in 2003 as part of a mid-term paper that I wrote as part of my Masters course on Management in Turbulent Times. Through the roots, the organization is grounded in its core vision and values. The trunk is where much of the administrative support and technology development occurs, which all helps to nurture the growth and development of TakingITGlobal’s key program areas which are depicted through the fruit. In the diagram, the red fruit symbolize the core areas of engagement which address the various key gaps. These areas focus on engaging key stakeholders that work to support youth such as international and youth-led organizations, educators, local communities etc. The online community which is placed at the centre of the organizations activities and focus, highlights the nature of its core program. The yellow circles which connect to the online community are nodes which are drawn in a way that illustrates each of the various online community components (Action, Community, Opportunities, Expression, Voice), and how they are organized in a way that transcends the notion of a tree/organism. The research and sourced projects are ‘low-hanging fruit’ which provide support for other program areas. The overall framework is best explained in the context of a living system because it is one that needs to be able to respond and adapt to changes in external environments. In contrast to the purpose of most organizational charts, this structure does not exist to support people at the top of a hierarchy, but rather, to serve and support the growth and development of key program areas (‘fruit’) which are supported, nurtured and grounded in the shared vision (roots). The issue of survival is one of great importance to living systems, as it is to TakingITGlobal. In order for organizational objectives and ideals to be achieved, a sustainable and healthy ‘system’ must be maintained.
Another important part of our organizational culture includes teambuilding activities which have ranged from bowling and indoor beach volleyball, to taking part in a ropes course. One of the challenges for our organization is the difficulty in having teambuilding activities that are inclusive our staff and volunteers who are based in different parts of the world and often in different time zones. When Philip Rosedale, Founder and Chairman of Linden Lab, spoke at the conference, he talked about how they utilize Second Life to conduct meetings. Here is a photo of their board room and the various personalities that emerge through the avatars developed! Organizational practices that have been inspired by discussions with other WorldBlu Democratic Companies include the As and Os weekly emails that all staff send out to an 'As and Os' mailing list - each focused on objectives for the upcoming week and accomplishments from the past week. Additionally, we have a monthly Above and Beyond Award based on a staff voting system and a 'kudos' tool where you can send comments through an online system to other staff that are archived on our intranet. For ongoing knowledge management and sharing of information, we have developed an intranet and are constantly using collaborative tools such as wiki's.
Here are a few thoughts that stayed with me after listing to the diverse array of presentations (http://www.worldblu.com/live/schedule.php)
- Bill Shannon, Chief Wisdom Officer at DaVita talked about how their company is oriented around a village-like culture. They have regular town hall meetings, the office of the CEO has a 'Mayor' sign on it and executive employees have a 'uniform' which is designed like a superhero style costume. Considering the large size of the organization, they are able to maintain an atmostphere of community.
- Rodney North, Vice Chair and Answer Man of Equal Exchange focused his talk on the importance of governance and how their company entitles each employee to one vote and one share. This shared sense of ownership creates shared accountability. They believe that the role of a company include the aim of training better citizens.
- Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer and Author talked about how everyone can achieve happiness at work and that it starts with the simple act of how you say 'good morning'. He shared the '5 Levels' - starting off with 1 being a mumble, 2 saying good morning with no eye contact, 3 is good morning with eye contact and a smile, 4 is good morning with eye contact, a smile and a question about how they are, and level 5 includes everything in level 4 plus physical contact through a handshake. The best part of this session was being part of a transformation of energy in the room when we tried out each of the levels.
- Mike Ferretti, CEO of Great Harvest Bread Company talked about the high levels of customization and localization in their franchise model and shared a powerful diagram that includes about 6 concentric circles highlighting various spheres of their competition.
- Brett Jackson, CEO of Generation Think Tank shared his experience in being part of the first 10 employees at Crocs and some of the negative impacts of the hyper growth experienced by the company.
- A personal highlight of the WorldBlu experience was outside the conference venue at at Carnegie Hall where we watched an awe inspiring performance of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra who played in absolute harmony without a conductor!
- Other insights included learning about a simple practice of having an anonymous question/suggestion box where the CEO can respond to what is submitted during staff meetings, several comments on the importance of expressing appreciation, and the significance of having a results-focused workplace. Also, there was discussion on the concept of scarcity and how it is in your mind - as as the concept of abundance. It is important to choose your views carefully. On the last day, someone observed me taking notes based on my notes, he called me a 'concrete random' essentially based on a matrix model where the y axis includes concrete + abstract and the x axis includes sequential and random. I thought it was interesting to have my thought process being analyzed on the basis of my notebook!
My final highlight of WorldBlu live was listening to Bill Taylor, Founding Editor of Fast Company Magazine, who talked about how important it is for those of us to stay connected and ‘stay in the game’. A very special thank you goes out to Traci Fenton, Founder and CEO of WorldBlu for putting this event together and for her vision and dedication towards promoting and supporting organizational democracy in the workplace. Here’s a photo with Traci, Bill and I.
What does a small community like Whitehorse offer?
What can you get in a small community like Whitehorse that you cannot get in Toronto? Well, a very warm sense of belonging exists. The territory itself is 30,000 with 23,000 living in the capital. In addition, you get encouragement for being an artist no matter what level of talent you possess.
The first few days I integrated myself into community activities and hang outs by spending a lot of time at BYTE (Bringing Youth Towards Equality), a youth organization that encourages youth initiatives in the community. They are well known by the community, including amongst teachers. Julie Diyen, our Yukon Youth Engagement Coordinator is FANTASTIC.
Interestingly, there is a growing arts movement in Whitehorse and I spent a lot of time at the local Baked Café hangout where people of ALL artistic abilities came out to perform. It just goes to show that art is necessary to the spiritual health of a community and can grow anywhere.
I also went to the Victoria Faulkner Centre, a space for women. I met a representative from rabble.ca and Jessica Yee, the founder of a sexual health network for Indigenous Youth.
10 hours of workshop training for 14 motivated Whitehorse youth
Facilitation is a lot like teaching.
They both fall under the category of education. The similarities? Sometimes I feel like I am learning (struggling) as I am supposed to be facilitating. For example, I’m not sure if I’ve reached the audience or hit them with the right message. I constantly find myself going back and re-examining what I did, and planning and revising activities so that I can make it better and clearer for next time. I guess that’s the teacher in me.
The tensions that I grapple with are between facilitating and teaching. The differences? I definitely do not do any disciplining. However, like teaching I feel like I am still guiding people into a direction. There still has to be an overall goal. The word teaching traditionally denotes directive learning as opposed to learner directed. However in modern times, teachers, especially those in adult education are encouraged to take on teaching that is in line with the definition of facilitation. I guess for myself, teaching and facilitating are more alike than different because I feel like it still aims to highlight the multiple paths in which to attain knowledge.
In the first session I had on September 27th with 13 BYTE youth facilitators, I asked them what they thought their youth community needs were, and the successes and challenges to youth participation in Yukon.
For the findings, go to projects.takingitglobal.org/BYTE_FT (under Documents).
The importance of intergenerational activities and dialogue was brought up.
The Yukon youth of today
Are like the Yukon miners of yesterday
Toiling for adventure in the freezing cold
Mining and pining for hoped to be gold
For goals which remain a talked about dream
A myth a reality which may not be what it seems
A sense of struggle raise questions to surface
Where is our place? Where is our purpose?
What happens when the emptiness strike
And there is no treasure
Only coals and the like?
Today the youth battle obstacles
Such as isolation, race, gender and class debacles
They are streaming down the Yukon water
A path of wondrous resource or apathetic slaughter?
About staying afloat on the changing currents
What is going to be the savior, the salvation, deterrent?
Perhaps a sense of community
Where everyone is equal with opportunity
It is hard to say only one thing I know
Is that youth must determine
Where they want to go
Transformative Learning
On the second day, we did 7 hours of training which included a TakingITGlobal workshop, the Right to Be Heard, a quick overview of Millennium Development Goals, and finally a discussion on Anti Oppression.
It was a transformative process to be able to do anti oppression training with 13 people who had virtually been strangers a few days ago. We went through the process of challenging our own assumptions, oppressions, and biases. I think identifying other people’s biases is easy, but examining the factors that oppress ourselves, or what we use to oppress others and having the safe space to address these is therapeutic. And sometimes oppressive factors are not as obvious as classifying it into racism, sexism or classism. I had never felt so close to a group of strangers as I had after that session.
The last 20 minutes was spent lightening the mood with a group hug, and a chain laughing exercise.
I can only describe the entire trip as transformative – as the power of people to connect with one another and engage each other through educational, open dialogue is a feeling that I cannot properly describe.
Le scandale du lait frelaté à la mélamine qui selon les autorités du Ministère de la Santé du Bénin n'a pas touché le au Bénin ne suffit pas pour calmer les esprits. En effet, il a fallu plusieurs semaines avant que ces autorités ne prennent le micro pour juste démentier l'importation de ce lait au Bénin. Mais avec la réalité de la perméabilité de nos frontières, fruit de la complicité des douaniers et des commerçant verreux, il faut se méfier de ce simple démenti. Les populations du Bénin ont le droit d'être protégées par le minsitère et toutes les instances chargées du contrôle alimentaire au Bénin. Dieu seul sait combien de laits de la qualité de Sanlu ou pires sont en circulation et la cherté de la vie qui sévit devrait amener nos responsables sanitaires à plus de vigilance et de stratégie.
Pour commencer, ils ne doivent plus dormir sur leurs lauriers et doivent descendre sur le terrain pour des actions régulières et sévères. En effet, le Ministère de la Santé doit instruire ses services comptétents et toutes les autres instances comme la DANA afin qu'ils montent des équipes pour choisir les échantillons de lait en vente au Bénin. Les directions départementales peuvent être mises à profit et une fois les échantillons receuillis, ils doivent les analyser aux laboratoires pour voir de près leur composition. Cette opération devrait se faire au moins tous les six (06) mois pour prévenir tout scandale alimentaire à nos populations déjà secouées par les différnetes crises en cours. A l'issue des analyses il faudra pulbier dans toutes les langues et sur les chaînes de radio et de télévision la lsite des laits de qualité douteux ou néfates pour la santé. Il y va de notre survie à nous tous car nous sommes des parents et il ne faut pas attendre que nos bébés meurent ou que des adultes soit atteints de maladies bizarres pour jouer au médecin après la mort. La chèreté galopante de la vie nous y oblige car par ces temps durs nos populations veulent consommer moins cher et là se trouve tout le danger. Il faut monter très rapidement ces équipes, les former et passer à l'action pour décourager l'importantion au Bénin de lait ou d'autres produits impropres à la consommation.
Bientôt c'est décembre et il sera déversé sur nos marché des produits bon prix sous le nom de "produits liquidés" qui sont souvent des produits périmés ou presque. Avec le pouvoir d'achat actuel de nos populations, le danger est grand qu'elles se ruent sur des poisons qui finiront par tuer en vague. Comme le dit l'adage "mieux vaut prevenir que guérir" c'est dire qu'il faut cesser d'attendre des intoxications alimentaires ou des morts qui déciment les familles pour monter des délagations gouvernementales pour les condoléances.
Le contrôle et le doute méthodique de Descartes doivent renter dans les habitudes au Bénin en ce qui concerne les produits alimentaires...
Nos vie en dépendent !!!
A few years ago when researching for an essay, whose topic I can't remember anymore, I happened across this passage from a book introduction by Russian sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky and economist Alan Freeman:
"... The globalised world is an imperial one: this fact simply conforms to direct daily experience outside the charmed circles of Western economic fortresses."
It really struck me at the time because it seemed like such a fitting description of the state of things. Instead of classic imperialism there is economic imperialism. And the imagery used in the passage - a 'fortress' - really stuck with me. It seemed to describe a world where there are walls dividing those people who belong to 'charmed circles' - and who are safe and certain within these 'economic fortresses' - and those who live outside the walls, with constant uncertainty and no guarantees. At the time I was particularly obsessed with the fact that it seemed to describe me: a relatively safe and happy person with little idea of what daily life is like for those who aren't lucky enough to be a member of the middle-class in a prosperous country like Canada. And today - Blog Action Day - this passage came back to me again, because today thousands of bloggers will be talking about the 'state of things' described by Kagarlitsky and Freeman: the inequality that exists in our world and the extreme poverty that it produces.
Today the 'Western economic fortresses' seem an especially relevant topic, because the fortresses seem to be shaking - stock markets in New York, London, Tokyo, Moscow, Toronto and elsewhere have spent the last week fluctuating at rates that have never been seen before. This doesn't necessarily mean that the sun is going to stop shining on any of the 'charmed circles' described by Kagarlitsky and Freeman- actually those most affected and hardest hit by an 'economic slowdown', or 'global recession', or 'global financial heart attack', will most likely be those already living with poverty. The same answer applies to the global problems of rising food prices, climate change, and global health threats - like HIV and AIDS, malaria or TB. [Of course calling them 'Western' economic fortresses ignores the poverty that exists inside what are traditionally referred to as 'Western' countries, and there are definitely those living with poverty in both rich and poor countries alike.]
I don't have a particular solution to propose, or action that I think everyone should take, except - if you haven't already - recognizing which side of that divide you might be on. For me, recognizing that was a big step towards getting more informed on the causes of poverty, the proposed solutions, and the biggest threats. Obviously there isn't any big miraculous solution to the issue, but there is always something you can do as an individual, even if it is as simple as recognizing your place within the greater state of things. I think the more you understand about a topic like poverty - not just globally, but within your own community - the more you'll be able to effectively contribute when that opportunity comes along for you to be part of a solution.
[The passage I quoted is from the book 'The Politics of Empire: Globalization in Crisis', pg 27 of the Introduction by Boris Kagarlitsky and Alan Freeman]
Mi sono bastati meno di tre minuti per trovare oltre tre storie collegate al tema della poverta'.
Sono andata sul sito del Corriere della sera, ho spostato il mio mouse dall'alto in basso e in meno di un attimo sono passata dal locale, al regionale e poi al globale.
Di poverta' ormai si parla come se fosse una cosa di tutti i giorni, un dato di fatto. D'altronde, ci dicono, fa parte dei rischi del mercato: della recessione, dell'inflazione, del crollo della fiducia da parte dei consumatori, delle nostre realta' quotidiane. Solo in Italia si stima che ci siano oltre 15 milioni di persone colpite dall'emergenza poverta', ma per Berlusconi a quanto pare non e' importante prefiggersi degli obiettivi seri per sconfiggere il cambiamento climatico, "ne risentirebbero le imprese." Gia', ma le persone? Con l'alzarsi della temperatura mondiale molte piu' persone, una volta protette dalla loro fascia sociale, saranno esposte al rincaro dei prezzi (del petrolio, del cibo...), alla scarsita' di importanti risorse di base, alla discoccupazione e alla precarieta'. Sempre secondo il Corriere, Berlusconi ha spiegato che si dovrebbe prima optare per un momento di attesa per vedere «come si comporterà l'economia reale a seguito della crisi finanziaria». Strano. Non sento parlare molto degli effetti del capitalismo neoliberale sulla crisi economica, sull'ambiente, sulla gente. Eppure queste cose sono collegate. La poverta' non e' solo mancaza di cibo, di un lavoro, o una realta' ben distante dalla nostra... Tutte queste cose nascondo degli interessi forti ma spesso invisibili, che pero' hanno degli effetti considerevoli sulla societa' e sul benessere dei cittadini del mondo. L'ubiquita' della poverta' risolta ogni giorno piu' apparente (e sicuramente piu' feroce) ed e' per questo che e' bisognerebbe smetterla di parlare di "crisi" come se la crisi avesse una vita propria: ogni causa ha un suo effetto. L'economia non e' solo una rete d'investimenti, l'economia e' fatta di persone in carne ed ossa. Per sconfiggere la poverta' bisogna quindi smascherare queste cause (questi interessi!) che vorrebbero far crederci che l'economia e' una forza a se stante, e che i legami che ci uniscono sono molto meno forti di quanto non lo siano davvero. Piuttosto, bisognerebbe informarsi su come (e da chi) vengono influenzati i processi decisionali globali e su come noi cittadini possiamo agire per far si che certe "priorita' inverse" vengano riviste una volta per tutte, per poter arrivare a un modello economico (e democratico) incentrato sulle persone, non sui profitti.
