Athletes for Africa

Drishti teams up with One Sky

Drishti is involved in assisting One Sky with the design and delivery of its leadership development project, Leading From Within--Integral Leadership for Sustainability, that began in 2009 and is scheduled to continue til 2011 in the Niger Delta bioregion of Nigeria. In a creative and exciting new fundraising partnership with Athletes for Africa, you can sponsor a One Sky athlete for Africa, and the donations go directly to the Nigerian Breakthrough Initiatives. Click here for more information!

Nigeria, Problems and Potential

Nigeria has made approximately 280 billion dollars in oil revenue over the past 30 years, and yet on the Human Development Index the country remains 158 out of 182, with over half of the population living on less than $2/day. The environment is in dire shape, with a population of 150 million, many subsisting off the forests. For food and fuel wood, these villagers are incrementally degrading the very biodiversity upon which their own livelihoods depend, not to mention the other invaluable ecosystem services like clean water and air. The country experiences some of the most complex problems and yet also has some of the greatest human potential to overcome those problems. This project invests in intelligent, committed Nigerians that are working for their country's sustainable development.

An essential part of the project are the participants' Breakthrough Initiatives in which they chose a thematic area to apply their new leadership capacities and to enact a new, unprecedented response.

A Bit of Background

This project idea came from One Sky's partnership with four Nigerian NGOs and one environmental network, in which the need for a more effective leadership in the environmental sector was identified. The project involves developing the leadership capacity of 30 emerging leaders in the voluntary sector, particularly those working for environmental sustainability and community well-being. The participants so far are thrilled with the project, and have formed an Integral Leadership Network to advance this approach to leadership training more broadly. The leadership approach includes the domains of self, culture, behavior, and systems and considers the evolutionary unfolding of the social discourse in the voluntary sector and the nation. A key part of the project are the participants' Breakthrough Initiatives in which they chose a thematic area to apply their new leadership capacities and to enact a new, unprecedented response. To read more about the Breakthrough Initiatives, click here.

Integral Without Borders

Participant Bios for Istanbul Gathering 2010

Integral Without Borders is hosting a small gathering of practitioners working with an Integral Approach in global development this fall in Istanbul. Usually IWB holds larger meetings between 30-50 participants, such as in France in 2006 and Istanbul in 2008. This year, we have endeavored to stagger our events with the Integral Theory Conference and so are holding this smaller gathering, and planning for a larger one in 2011. Drishti is a partner organization to IWB, helping with communications and coordination.

The participant bios are listed here (not yet comprehensive list, watch here for more to be added soon!).

Two Parts of a Clock

Conserving the Andean Amazon

Over the last decade, environmentalists increasingly see that conservation objectives require a connection to the local culture. This is primarily because, at the end of the day, local people not only live in those ecosystems, but have lived in them for literally generations. We would like to think that all environmentalists have moved beyond wielding one’s conservation objectives without this cultural sensitivity (or, perhaps worse, cloaking one’s conservation objectives behind a veneer of cultural sensitivity). However, too often environmentalists continue to miss the critical importance of authentic connection with community and culture.

With our Peruvian partner ACCA (Associacion de la Conservacion de la Cuenca Amazonica), we are exploring ways to fully connect with local communities and cultures, in a ‘transcend and include’ manner of working towards shared objectives. That is, including the objectives of both communities and NGOs but transcending their exclusivity into a greater whole—a whole that is uniquely possible only via their inclusion. Much like how two mechanical parts of a clock alone cannot tell time, but, together, they can.

So, what does this actually look like in practice? Truly, it can take myriad forms. In September, it took a form that was unprecedented for both community and NGO… Members of One Sky and Drishti were made hosts of a three-day festival for la Virgen de Chanka, a revered deity of communities in the Andes of Peru. We were the first foreigners to receive this role. And, we had never ourselves been asked to participate so centrally in such a festival in any of the countries we’ve worked. It was a unique, unprecedented, and likely singular life-experience for us all.

And it was challenging! We found it difficult to explain to our Canadian friends and colleagues why we were supporting a religious ceremonial festival in another village half way across the planet. For a country like Canada, in which most NGOs retain a firmly secular public engagement, that is quite an unusual way to engage in conservation work! We’d love for you to read on to discover the big picture of why we supported this festival, as well as learn about some of the endearing details of this festival in Peru…

La Virgen Party

~ posted June 9, 2009; party planned for July 30th!!

The foundation of our sustainability work is engaging meaningfully with communities in the global south. This often means spending intimate time getting to know each others cultures and customs, and building the mutual trust upon with all other subsequent collaborative work rests.

Last Fall, we attended a three-day festival in the community of Challabamba, in a valley surrounded by terraced hillsides in the Andes Mountaiuns of Peru. The party was in honor of the Virgin Mary, who is uniquely named La Virgen de Chanka in this part of Peru. The three day celebration consisted of fourteen dance troupes in costumes, dancing through the streets, music ringing throughout the town, and food and drink for all. Such festivals help retain the unique Andean cultural identity in a fast-paced, globalizing world. Each year, the dance troupes find a patron to help raise funds for the party the following year. We were given that honor and responsibility, and are now woven into the life and heart of that community. And, we have to raise $5,000!! whew...

So, we are fundraising to support this community in two ways: a Mala practice of donations and a summer Garden Party in Smithers!