Aviemore autumn; rains against double-glazing, and I’m eating too much pudding to compensate…

Hosting the Carnegie UK Trust Rural Action Research Programme convention was a great challenge to hold with clarity and purpose a very wide range of stakeholders; it was also a fantastic buzz as the compexity, diversity and energy of an extraordinary group of people converged to innovate beyond staid pattern s of rural development across five nations….

The summary report (click here) is a flavour of the work and framing that was involved; I’ve come away even more convinced of the potential power of multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral events to innovate and help transform patterns of development that are no longer serving communities. The RARP process is a long-term experiment; there are some shorter term questions that are alive as I finish writing up the report. These include

- does genuinely transformational learning and exchange become more likely if held by architecture and hosting organisations whose values are aligned with the purpose of an event?

- are there ways we might collectively nurture appropriate facilitation skills and life-giving places so they can bring inspiration and quality reflection to our deep purpose and practice thriving and sustainable rural community development?

- I know of at least 20 great places which will all bring their distinctive character to groups who visit to lea rn in and from those places. I also sense that there is more a group like ours might contribute as we gather in such places. How might an intervention like a convention better offer something to our hosts?

Tags: democractic defecit, facilitation, innovation, open space, rural communities, Rural Leadership Programme, stewardship, training for transformation, transformational learning