Hui E Forum - using community led development – child poverty example

Using a complexity lens to support community solutions

David Hanna

I’m Biased - my assumptions:• We all know we have a problem and want to be a part of

a solution• Poverty is an outcome of a complex system – we need

to appreciate the whole system to support change• People who aren’t poor (us in the room?) talk about

poverty differently to people who are labelled as poor.• People experiencing a problem need to be active in co-

designing a solution for it to be effective.• Communities are living self-organising systems that are

highly capable of contributing to solutions

http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/EricBerlow_2010G.mp4

Ted Talks: Eric Below on Complexity

Develop common ground,

compromise

or compete.

Follow the ‘best practice’

recipe.Use experts to experiment

and find the answers

Learn by doing with key Stakeholders – privileging the voice of

people experiencing the problem .

Create stability.

Poverty is associated with degrees of chaos.

Solutions designed by experts / politicians / officials alone will have limited lasting effect

We need ability to meet people / communities in chaos and ‘hold the space’ for them to self-stabilise and progress

THEREFORE ……

Touchstones for CLD• Shared local visions drive action and

change

• Utilising existing strengths and assets

• Many people, groups and sectors working together

• Building diverse and collaborative local leadership

• Adaptive planning and action informed by outcomes

Responding to the Complexity of Child Poverty

Feature• Difficult to frame

• Multiple root causes

• Multiple stakeholders

• Emergent

• Unique

• Paradoxes, Dilemmas

Response• Good enough

framing

• Cross boundary work

• Collaborative, privileging people direct experience

• Adaptive Learning

• Customized Responses

• Transparent coping

Traps•Paralysis by analysis

•Blame

•Powerful voices win

•Impatience and top down answers

•Standardised contracts

•Revert to simple cause/effect thinking

“Not everything that can be

counted counts and not everything that counts can be

counted.”

9

Practical steps address poverty we need to …

• Hold our ‘solutions’ lightly – be open to different or new views – ‘and / and’ approach

• Grow our ability to operate with uncertainty / messiness / and paradoxes

• Be open to new forms of leadership – from non-traditional people

• Widen the conversation – move away from huddles of similar people meeting

Bring ‘place’ into the frame – understand how ‘community of place’ is an asset to co-create solutions for child poverty.

Resources:

www.inspiringcommunities.org.nz

Our Place Conference - www.ourplace2015.com

https://vimeo.com/86546939 Good Cents Initiative Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching and research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Inspiring Communities. (2013). Learning by Doing: community-led change in Aotearoa NZ. Wellington, New Zealand Inspiring Communities Trust.

Kaplan, A. (2002). Development practitioners and social process:Artists of the invisible. London, England: Pluto Press.

Malcolm, M.J. (2014). Civil Society Leadership as Learning. (Doctoral thesis, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10292/7212

Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York; NY: Guildford Press.

Plowman, D. A., & Duchon, D. (2008). Dispelling the myths of leadership: From cybernetics to emergence In M. Uhl-Bien & R. Marion (Eds.), Complexity leadership, Part 1: Conceptual foundations (pp. 129-153). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc.

Wheatley, M., J. (2006). Leadership and the new science: discovering order in a chaotic world (3rd ed.). San Francisco,CA: Berrett Koehler.

Zimmerman, B., Plsek, P., & Lindberg, C. (2002). A complexity science primer. Adapted from: Edgeware: Lessons from complexity science for health care leaders, by Brenda Zimmerman, Curt Lindberg, and Paul Plsek, 1998. Retrieved from www.plexusinstitute.org