ProjectsDrishti is committed to weaving new approaches into action through projects. We see this as a central thread, as new knowledge is only effective when it is brought into practice. We work in partnership with organizations in the global north and south on projects on the following themes. Please read about this further below. Leadership DevelopmentClimate Change AdaptationRainforest ConservationCommunity Development and Well-beingPsycho-social Healing
Leadership DevelopmentDrishti is designing and delivering a three-year integral leadership project in Nigeria, in partnership with the Canadian NGO, One Sky - Canadian Institute for Sustainable Living. The leadership project is entitled, Leading From Within-Integral Leadership for Sustainable Development. It includes an integral project design and curriculum design for working with 30 emerging leaders working for sustainable development in a variety of local community-based organizations and regional non-government organizations in Cross River State, Nigeria. We are designing and delivering curriculum for leadership training; developing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation process; delivering aspects of the leadership workshops; and providing one-on-one integral coaching. Climate Change AdaptationDrishti is involved in planning and coordinating a action research project on "An Integral Approach to Climate Change Adaptation in El Salvador" involving two Salvadoran NGOs (Cesta-Amigos de la Tierra and Centro Bartolome de las Casas), another Canadian NGO (One Sky), and the Department of Social Geography at the University of Oslo. The Department head, Dr. Karen O'Brien also runs the Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project (GECHS) based in Oslo, Norway and is author of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). She is increasingly certain that we need to seriously consider and research ways to apply the Integral Approach to climate change adaptation. This project is being developed collaboratively with a mix of reseachers and practitioners who work in vulnerable regions of El Salvador. It will involve two case communities at the headwaters and at the mouth of the River Lempa that runs the length of the country, in which we'll carry-out community-based action research on an integral approach to building adaptive capacity for living in a changing climate, to fostering community resilience, and to supporting the empowerment of community people as agents of change. Rainforest ConservationIn a climate change world, scientists now agree that rainforests have significant value not only as reservoirs of extraordinary biodiversity but also as storehouses to capture carbon from the atmosphere. In Peru, working for Amazon rainforest conservation is now globally seen as crucial, even as people struggle to effectively do so. Where headwater ecosystems in the Peruvian Andes link to important tropical rainforests in the Amazon basin, the need for conservation approaches that provide sustainable livelihoods for indigenous peoples is paramount. Drishti has worked in organizational development with partners One Sky and the Peruvian NGO, Amazon Conservation Association, to develop and apply an Integral Capacity Building approach. An integral needs assessment has lead to designing and delivering workshops on using participatory methodologies, applying Integral theory to rainforest conservation, working with worldviews, and gender awareness. With these partner organizations, Drishti also carried out a research project, funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre, investigating a monitoring and evaluation framework for such integral, all-quadrant projects. Community Development and Well-beingWe all live in communities, whether that is our urban neighbourhood or our rural town. In communities, we tend to be more inclined to work together to bring forth a sustainable tomorrow. Drishti was founded in 2003 with a vision to how Integral Community Development could inspire a social change that sticks. Please see the book publication on this topic entitled, Developing Sustainability, Developing the Self -- An Integral Approach to International and Community Development. To date, Drishti’s work on community development has mainly been international, with some support for capacity building in community development efforts in BC. Building on long-held relationships in El Salvador, Drishti continues to support community development and well-being in this country. In BC, Drishti has mainly provided additional support to existing projects, by way of workshops, capacity building, and curriculum development. Psycho-social HealingLike many of the countries in the Global South, El Salvador, Peru and Nigeria have each experienced armed conflict at one time or another. Recent research suggests that one of the traps in which countries get caught in poverty is the conflict trap. How does this conflict persist in the people, as residual trauma? How might that trauma be alleviated for a quality of well-being that could give rise to empowerment and change? Clearly trauma factors into how available people can be in contributing and participating in their communities’ or country’s sustainable development. Moreover, getting by in situations of intense poverty and few public services itself can be traumatizing. Drishti has been researching and practicing psychosocial healing techniques that can be integrated directly into other community development efforts. We have organized trainings on this in BC with the non-profit organization CAPACITAR. Watch for more such trainings in the future. We are currently are seeking support for the Oten-Ita Elementary School in Calabar, Nigeria that provides education to orphans and vulnerable children in a psychosocial approach to well-being. |