‘Navigation’ is a System 4 Meta-System Support in the Viable System Model. By Davie Phillips The objective of Navigation is to monitor the outside world in order to identify opportunities that could further the aims of the IPT project and potential threats to its viability. It will build relationships with stakeholders and strategic partners outside of our EPT in order to disseminate the findings of the partnership widely."
The following words describe the Navigation activity: Forward Planning, Researching, Building External Relations, Minimising threats, Maximising opportunities, Future proofing, Thinking globally, Monitoring change, Managing change, Adapting, Responding, Alerting. Navigation held its first session at the meeting in Leeds, where it was agreed that at each meeting at least one session will be facilitated by Navigation. At Leeds a number of people stepped up to hold this function.
In Leeds the Navigation session used the World Cafe methodology to ask the partnership, 'How can Permaculture be most helpful in the wider effort of change and who are the fellow travellers? At the meeting in Spain we began the Navigation session in our Primary Activity groups and asked, 'what could this activity do after Bulgaria?' One topic from each group was identified for a wider discussion. A milling exercise followed with the aim of helping us think about what we as individuals want to do.
A cafe discussion was then held to explore the topics from the Primary Activities. The last part of the Navigation session was titled 'Cultivating the Field' where each country was asked to identify who they have strong connections to, both nationally and internationally. On one of the windows each country was represented as a seed and a stalk with leaves representing each connection they have. An impressive field of connections emerged.
- Log in to post comments