Project Update News

Vanessa Sayers and Colleen Magner -

May 4th, 2012

Researchers have documented that South Africa is afflicted by widespread food insecurity and hunger in both urban and rural areas. While, in aggregate, the country has enough resources to feed all of its inhabitants, one out of two households is at risk of hunger; almost 16% of South Africans consume less than adequate energy to meet their needs; and about 22% of children under nine years of age are stunted. These statistics indicate that many South Africans live in a state of chronic malnutrition.

The Global Climate Change and Energy Initiative (GCEI)

Mia Eisenstadt -

May 4th, 2012

Two and half years ago, Reos Partners was asked to facilitate a global meeting for an international team at the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) in preparation for the Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, the gathering of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At this annual event, heads of state discuss and form agreements on combating climate change, including plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to an unpredictable world of increased global temperatures.

The Change Lab with Instituto EcoSocial in Brazil

Christel Scholten -

Dec 13th, 2011

Instituto EcoSocial (www.ecosocial.com.br) was created in 2002 to promote human, organisational, and social development. In late 2010, a new leadership team approached the Reos Partners São Paulo office to facilitate a Change Lab process for the organisation’s 50 members. The members wanted to broaden their perception of the opportunities and challenges currently facing Brazil, revisit their organisational vision, and expand the role they can play in the sustainable development of the country.

North Star Scenarios: Community Activation in South Africa

Colleen Magner -

Dec 13th, 2011

Reos Johannesburg is facilitating a community activation project in what is known as the “Northern Areas” of Port Elizabeth, an industrial city in the south of the country. Communities in this area have been hard-hit by a shrinking economy, job losses, and political infighting, resulting in increasing gang and drug activity, xenophobic attacks, and other social challenges.

The Future of Energy: Scenarios with WECC

Jeff Barnum -

Oct 7th, 2011

Our global and local systems of production and distribution, and indeed our individual lives, are all fueled by energy. The Industrial Revolution and the widespread use of fossil fuels for transportation and the generation of electricity have led the inhabitants of the global North to take energy for granted, while impoverished and rural populations in developing countries often go without electricity altogether.

Social Sustainability in the Netherlands: An Innovation Festival

Karin Hommels -

Oct 7th, 2011

Our world is changing. Global population is growing; cities are expanding at the expense of the countryside; natural resources, food, and services are in increasing demand. At the same time, some countries and regions are suffering from declining population, shrinking economies, and financial and fiscal problems. These changing circumstances have led to a growing awareness that we can no longer count on our economic welfare and way of living to continue as before. Institutions, businesses, and families feel insecure, anxious, unstable, and indecisive.

“Just Create It”: An Untapped Resource for Innovation in Complex Systems

Mia Eisenstadt -

Jun 21st, 2011

In facilitating groups on the topics of creativity and the U-Process in the context of complex systems, I have become aware that “creativity“ can be a loaded term. People have radically different internal pictures, or mental models, of creativity.

Learning by Doing: Using the Change Lab Approach to Design New Change Labs

Adam Kahane -

Jun 21st, 2011

The Change Lab is a systemic, participative, creative approach to making progress on complex social challenges that matter. In a Lab, a team of leaders from across a given social system come together to talk, act, and learn, with the goal of effecting change in their system.

If It Was Rocket Science: Effective Group Facilitation

Zaid Hassan -

Jun 21st, 2011

All of us have spent time in groups. We spend our family lives, our educational lives, and our working lives in the company of others. Groups are extremely complex beings. American psychotherapist Arnold Mindell once said that behind any of the world’s problems you’ll find groups of people who don’t get along. What he meant is that groups that are dysfunctional in one way or another lie at the heart of our biggest challenges.

Camp Snowball—A Systemic Approach to Educational Improvement

LeAnne Grillo -

Mar 17th, 2011

Reos Partners is pleased to be working with the Systems Thinking in Schools Project, the Creative Learning Exchange, the SoL Education Partnership, and the Cloud Institute on two initiatives: Partnerships for the Future and the launch event, Camp Snowball. This coalition seeks to enable all students to become responsible “systems citizens” who can think deeply and critically, achieve academically and professionally, and, as members of a global community, have the informed capacity to make a positive difference in the world.

Project Update News