Event: Covid19 + Resilient Livelihoods Online-Offline Summit

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    url: https://edgeryders.eu
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Event

Build Resilient Livelihoods together

This summit is part of a series of activities aimed at co-designing experimental new social, business and investment models to withstand the shocks which will be soon be upon us as climate crisis and ecological devastation unfold. Ecosystems of economic resilience and regeneration.

When a crisis hits, we look for systems of support & collaboration that go beyond the status quo. At this online summit we gather together people who deploy policies, infrastructures, tools, business activity and community projects that can form an essential support system for sustaining livelihoods in times of crisis.


The event is designed to help participants…

  • :speech_balloon: Find the right conversations
  • :memo: Grow their professional network
  • :hammer_and_pick: Build new income opportunities
  • :open_book: Learn from others’ past experiences
  • :microscope: Experiment new models for securing resilient livelihoods

Why this, why now? {style=“border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd”}

co-created with @jean_russell, inspired by an older text contributed by @hexayurt

How we have been organizing resources and markets so humans have food on the table and a roof over their head has proven to be fragile in the midst of a pandemic. Most complex challenges (like getting food on the table for your family from a hundred sources and locations), are not one well-defined problem (grow apples), but a constellation of interdependent issues (transportation logistics, factory sorting and processing, demand & supply negotiations, regulation etc) undergoing constant redefinition and renegotiation. Any one organisation, no matter how efficient and smart, has no hope of containing any such challenge.

At the same time we see that in the face of large shocks to the system, organisations optimised for efficiency and profit cannot provide the means for material, relational, and existential resilience of neither individual nor society at large. Case in point: When supply chains are broken, even benevolent governments in affluent countries cannot access the equipment or protective gear to protect frontline workers on which we all depend to stay alive.

On the other hand, communities are getting smarter. The Internet has produced decentralized, scalable tools for coordination, archiving, and retrieval. It has also spawned cultural practices and ethical rules that incentivize people to collaborate with strangers. As a result, leaderless “swarms” of dedicated citizen experts are writing encyclopedias, mapping the Earth, doing science, developing and maintaining complex, successful software stacks. In each of these areas they outperform powerful businesses and government initiatives.

These initiatives display uncanny speed and efficiency, because communities are better than organizational hierarchies at making use of human intelligence. They treat every person – not just the top echelon – as a potential or actual expert, rather than as a passive consumer or beneficiary. They ask people to help, rather than charting their needs, and they have more human talent to throw at problems. They weed out under-performing initiatives in a healthy and natural way, making way for new life to emerge.

Wikipedia’s a good example of the combined power of Smart Swarms to change the world. We all use it every day, and it’s taking effective action on both poverty (poor people are using it too, all over the world!) and ecology (it’s saving huge numbers of trees on paper books.) People are working together to solve a real human problem - access to knowledge - and it’s improving everyone’s lives. There’s a tiny thread of financial capital – running the servers, say – but Wikipedia is a community-driven enterprise. It shows what can be done.

We want to achieve resilient lives and livelihoods. Contributing to Wikipedia doesn’t put food on the table or ensure that communities support one another to mitigate the consequences of social distancing. Or even keep our mental health intact when automation wipes out the need for many professions, the foundation on which many of us build our identity and sense of purpose. We need to use a similar kind of effect to meet the material, relational, and existential needs of individuals and communities. And we need to develop sources of prosperity that secure their resilience by serving these needs.

This is not just semantics: it is about reframing livelihood generation from a lonely, competitive activity that only is accessible if you have money to sustain yourself while you build your business or have specialised training. To one that is collaborative, mutualistic, and accessible to all, regardless of your personal background. We frame the building of sustainable economic livelihoods as that of building an ecosystem, made up of many overlapping circles of people engaging in different activities. Commercial activity always relied on cooperation more than competition (but that was called an old boys club).

This summit is part of a series of activities aimed at co-designing experimental new social, business and investment models to withstand the shocks which will besoon be upon us as climate crisis and ecological devastation unfold. Ecosystems of economic resilience and regeneration.

What will happen during the online summit?

  • A series of listening sessions around key issues
  • Webinars to present and discuss case studies
  • Online co-creation workshops to design and plan joint actions
  • An online hackathon to accelerate existing initiatives through technical support

What happens before and after?

  • Preparation: Collecting and discussing case studies, preparing initiatives for the hackathon, Pre-event introductions and networking
  • During the event: Rigorous documentation, definition of a list of follow up action points with clear allocation of roles and responsibilities, open participatory budgeting for the activities.
  • Follow up: Rapid deployment of the actions (1 week cycles), followed by open participatory evaluation and codesign of next cycle based on lessons learned.

How you can partner with us

If you can grow our visibility, contribute financially to offset costs or open doors to others who can do so please get in touch with us!

Write to kaja@edgeryders.eu to schedule a phonecall as soon as possible.

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About the Organisers

  • The Edgeryders organisation was created in 2012. Is an international community consisting of 5000 members in 80 countries. It’s members mostly interact through and an open source digital platform with it’s own custom made digital tools for large scale dialogue and coordination, as well as through community events such as workshops, conferences, retreats and festivals.
  • Notable members: Robin Chase, Founder of Zipcar, Amelia Andersdotter former MEP for the Swedish Pirate Party and Digital Rights activist, Fabrizio Barca - Ex General Director of division chief at the research department of the Bank of Italy, Chief of the department of development and cohesion policies at the treasury with previous tenures as chief at the research department of the Bank of Italy,and the president of the OECD’s territorial policies committee.
  • Mission: Support a diverse groups of people with the relations ships, information, knowledge, tools and opportunities to accelerate the transition to a greener, more equitable and humane society for all.
  • Born out of Council of Europe Research project on social cohesion at the Council of Europe, an international organisation which houses the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights in Europe. It’s stated aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.
  • It is supported by a not for profit company with the same name registered in Estonia. The company is stewarded by 6 directors based in Belgium, Germany, Sweden and the United States.
  • The company develops its own technologies, methodologies and insights through academic research cooperations with leading Universities.
  • Current and Previous Partners, Clients and funders include: University of Bordeaux, City of Matera, City of Galway, City of Milan, City of Amsterdam, Stockholm School of Economics, Nesta, Aarhus University, EIT- Climate Kic, World Bank, UNDP, European Commission and the Rockefeller foundation.

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About Edgeryders event method

A 2hr process of online activities that accelerates offline activities.

Discussion

The EdgeRyders events process begins when an idea or solution is posted on the platform, sparking discussion among community members. Some join in, actively listening, asking questions or giving thoughtful responses. (This is a safe place and not for debating opinions or speaking for others.)

The discussion begins with first hand accounts of attempts taken to solve societal issues and moves to navigating the personal challenges experienced by members. Nuances and the various different contexts surrounding these challenges begins to show.

Information analysis

Next open source technology is used to make connections between topics being discussed, the people discussing them, places, projects, solutions and struggles. When we put this together, patterns start to emerge that help join these ideas and people to each other and to other information, skill and resources.

By the end of the process, our community members have gained a richer knowledge and understanding of the issue they wish to tackle and have a blueprint to put their idea into action.

What comes out of it

Inputs Platform Outputs Outcome
Good People Conversation Articles Clusters of local actors that together try out new ideas to secure resilient livelihoods for their communities and themselves. Each cluster is composed of individuals, groups and organisations with deep ties to a place.
Interesting stories Sensemaking New Projects How is a cluster different from a network? In a network, participants look for how to make the most of what others are doing. In a cluster, participants are willing to re-orient their work, so as to better work with the other participants.
Experience-based knowledge New perspectives & ideas Unlikely Alliances If you are a construction company, you must not be lazy, and be open to using new technologies. If you are a social cooperative, you must look away from providing standardized services to customizing what you do in order to better valorize the capabilities of the people they are assisting. And so on.

What participants do: 2hrs

The process with require 2 hrs of your time in total , spread out over a 3 week period:

  • Fill in registration form ( 5 mins)
  • Participate in the video chat ( 1.10 hr)
  • Leave comments on the forum sharing your thoughts ( 35 min)

Optional (+ 1. 5 hr): If you want to be involved in new opportunities for working and fundraising together with others - you can come to the follow up call to explore ideas for collaboration born out of the process + do some follow up work

How to participate

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