What can happen when we invest in supporting people and communities to have a voice and take leadership rather than imposing solutions from the outside? This conversation with Libby Hoffman explores the story of a community-led process, begun after the civil war in Sierra Leone, to reconcile and work together to lead change at the local level. We see that when the health of a community is restored, all kinds of resources can be activated. March 14, 2023.   

Resources and links: 

Kinship: A Hub to Amplify the Power of Community: This is Beth Tener’s current initiative. These Ways of Kinship videos highlight some of the themes of this podcast conversation.

Libby Hoffman’s website featuring her book The Answers Are There

Catalyst for Peace - A peace and development foundation that Libby founded and directs.

Fambul Tok - The Sierra Leone organization, led by John Caulker, that works with post-conflict countries to create community-led reconciliation that leads to peace.

Fambul Tok documentary - This award-winning film tells the story of the community-based approach to reconciliation in Sierra Leone. It is free to watch online.

Inviting Leadership - This inspiring short video is about  inviting and encouraging leadership of local people, featuring Lilliam and Fatim, who Libby mentioned.

The Community Cup - In this video, Libby does a live demonstration of  the metaphor of the community as a cup that is broken and can be healed.

Mending the Community Cup - In this blog, Beth Tener shares learnings from her trip to Sierra Leone, with links to more articles and resources. 

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Questions 

1. Libby and John came into communities with “eyes to see” their innate resources and leadership potential. Where have you encountered a person or group situation where people saw you this way? What was then possible? 
2. This conversation explored the idea of investing time and creating space for learning and reflection, whether as groups, in a friendship, or as collaborators, as John and Libby had with their car talk time. How do you create time for this in your life and work? Where could you invest more in this valuable practice?

Audio editing by: Podcasting for Creatives 

This conversation with Reverend Charles Gibbs explores the story of how the United Religions Initiative brought people together to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities and the world. We explore how they convened inter-faith dialogues around the world to “find words of a common vision that an amazing diversity of people could find themselves in.” February 28, 2023.

 Questions

1. What insights did you take from Charles’ stories of how they got people from such different backgrounds to work together and what it took to get consensus on one sentence of purpose?  
2. Charles shared the story of a woman in the Philippines who started a multi-faith conversation circle and had to do some work to find someone not Catholic. In the US, we could see this also relating to race, culture or class. How might you start a conversation that connects you with people you usually don’t interact with? 

Resources & Links

Kinship: A Hub to Amplify the Power of Community is Beth’s current initiative and includes this Resource page with sources of positive news stories and articles on the themes of this  podcast.

Reverend Charles Gibbs website

Opening the Dream – Beyond the Limits of Otherness – Essay by Charles Gibbs. Includes questions that Charles and his team used to invite people to discuss in one-on-one conversations at URI gathering.

United Religions Institute - The Preamble, Purpose, and Principles

“I can’t tell you how difficult it was to bring thousands of people into one sentence.

Video: Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue - We Unite

Appreciative inquiry - Appreciative Inquiry Commons website

What is Appreciative Inquiry? Website of David Cooperrider who worked with URI

Click here on the Kinship web site for the transcript. 

In this launch episode, Beth Tener explores how we create communities that generate more love and trust, rather than fear and isolation. She and Nancy Gabriel, a social change facilitator, discuss stories of how a team created high levels of trust and of how a school community came together after a challenging time.

Questions

• Nancy's story of the listening circle with the school community opened up channels of communication that had atrophied. How can a time of disruption enable a community to come together and heal in a positive way?
• Where might you create spaces for people to come together in conversations like the ones that Beth and Nancy shared?

Resources & Links

Kinship: A Hub to Amplify the Power of Community: Beth’s current initiative and  Resource page with sources of positive news stories and articles on the themes of this  podcast.

New Directions Collaborative - This website shares the work that Nancy and Beth have done serving as facilitators to help communities bring their collaborative work to the next level. You’ll find many blogs and resources here, as well as their bios.

Starting a meeting with a check-in question is a good way to build a trusting team. In this blog, Connection before Content, there is a list of check-in questions you can use in meetings.

In Nancy’s story about the school board, she shared about Circle process. This is a good resource on Circle process and this is a longer article about it: The Power of Story, Sun Magazine.

A transcript of this podcast is available on the Kinship website.  

Coming February 14th, Living Love is a home of conversations with good people, doing good work, who are not famous…yet. The news is full of stories of the world we don’t want. Beth Tener brings stories of people living into the world we do want and how we can create it together. As an experienced facilitator and community weaver, she engages with inspiring people who have worked in collaboration to seed and grow healthy teams, workplaces, and communities. From these conversations, we glean what works to give you inspiration, practical ideas and resources you can apply in your own life and work.

For those ready to live in a way that generates more love and connection rather than more fear and separation, welcome to the conversation. This podcast is part of Kinship – a hub for people committed to activating the power of healthy community.

Learn more at https://kinshiphub.net