In light of the urgent need to build bridges and increase collaboration between diverse communities of people, all of the documents, resources, etc. created by The IPCR Initiative and accessible at The IPCR Initiative website (at www.ipcri.net ) are accessible for free, and may be used without permission and without attribution. Here is a link to the complete text of The IPCR Initiative Resource Sharing Policy.
The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initative
Since July (2011), the main focus of The IPCR Initiative has been on compiling evidence and creating draft versions of a document to be titled “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011”. There is an IPCR webpage for this project , which makes accessible draft versions of sections--and posts introducing those drafts--and that can be accessed by way of this link , or http://www.ipcri.net/Critical-Challenges-Assessment.html (both links go to the same IPCR webpage).
This writer hopes that visitors to this IPCR website who glance at the current Table of Contents for this project will agree that some very critical decisions will be made in the months and years ahead—and also agree that if they assist this project (or ones similar to this) with comments, suggestions, and recommendations, such assistance can help much with “reframing public discourse”.
Communities of people are encouraged by The IPCR Initiative to use IPCR resources to create their own critical challenges assessments, preliminary surveys, community visioning initiatives, “Community Teaching and Learning Centers”, etc—and, in other words, to adopt, change, and modify any IPCR resources without any need to make any attribution or reference to The IPCR Initiative (see link to complete “IPCR Resource Sharing Policy” below). There are “many danger signs flashing now”. By encouraging innovation and creativity in this way many different experiments can be made, and there will be more chances that many communities of people will arrive at many different kinds of successful model projects.
IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011
The IPCR Initiative’s approach to peacebuilding and community revitalization is a combination of innovative strategies which take into account the complexities of contemporary societies—and ways of cultivating wisdom and compassion which have been a part of the heritage of humanity for thousands of years.
There are many difficult challenges ahead. The current focus of the founder and outreach coordinator of The IPCR Initiative (Stefan Pasti) is on creating a document titled “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011”, which will present much evidence for a ten point list of critical challenges ahead. (There is more detail about that project below, at the bottom of this homepage).
The IPCR Mission Statement (see link above) provides a general overview of how the IPCR Initiative’s “constellation of initiatives” approach to peacebuilding and community revitalization integrates many fields of activity (see “117 Related Fields of Activity” above), and touches on even the “deepest roots” of our current challenges.
The following 7 point list outlines steps towards solution-oriented momentum which can be taken by communities in almost every variety of circumstances. These steps are explored in more detail by the documents on the right side of this homepage..
1) A central focus of The IPCR Initiative is its advocacy for a combination Community Visioning Initiatives, "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" with ongoing workshops, and "sister community" relationships as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times.
2) Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity.
3) The concept of “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” (created by the “Teachers Without Borders” organization) (modified and expanded by the IPCR Initiative) is about creating many local community points of entry which function as information and resource centers, locations for workshops, and locations for the training of “teacher-leaders”.
4) Results from well thought out preliminary surveys (circulated to at least 150 key leaders from a significant variety of fields of activity in the community) can help residents appreciate the need for a Community Visioning Initiative, and for “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” (CTLCs).
5) The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc) to demonstrate their interest in the welfare of the community—by offering and facilitating new employment opportunities… and thus assisting with a just transition to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges.
6) “Sister Community” relationships provide whole communities with ways of assisting with such a “just transition”. In addition, such community-to-community relationships can create service work capable of uniting diverse communities of people, and a variety of opportunities for person-to-person peacebuilding (as can be seen by the work of organizations such as “Sister Cities International”.)
7) This “constellation of initiatives” approach to maximizing citizen participation in solution-oriented activity also provides many opportunities for local newspapers to contribute very valuable community services (for example: making preliminary survey results accessible; highlighting inspirational role models and initiatives associated with the 117 related fields of activity; describing workshop activity in the “Community Teaching and Learning Centers”; reporting on the planning, implementation, evaluation, and follow up stages associated with Community Visioning Initiatives; etc).
There are countless numbers of “things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives” which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in their own communities and regions—and in other parts of the world.
The ways we “invest” our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the “ways of earning a living” that are available.
All of us have important responsibilities associated with resolving a significant number of very serious challenges in the months and years ahead.
"The function of work should be to practice our ideal of life."
(J. C. Kumarappa)
Descriptions of 8 Key IPCR Documents
1) “A Four Page Summary of The IPCR Initiative” (February, 2011) is the primary IPCR document associated with “IPCR Outreach 2011” [see IPCR webpage “Major IPCR Outreach Efforts” (thru "Second Tier Navigation" below]
2) “Calling ‘the better angels of our nature’: A Multi-Angle View of the Debt Crises” (January, 2012) (398 pages)—was initially meant to be the “Statistics and Observations” part for the Debt Crises part (Section #6) of the “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012” project. Due to accumulated evidence and unfolding events, it became a preview of what the final report for the whole “Assessment” project might look like. The "Table of Contents" provides a quick overview of the document—and an 8 page introduction is also accessible here. “Again and again, in references to the debt crises, there is mention of the need for “economic growth”… Unfortunately, the kind of “economic growth” which is most often being referred to includes a vast array of “enterprises” which require the continued exploitation of flaws and weaknesses in human nature, fragile ecosystems, and already significantly depleted natural resources—and which are much of the reason why cultures of violence, greed, and corruption have become so common that most people believe they are inevitable (from the “Introduction”). Many of the issues which have resulted in the debt crises (and many other critical challenges) are problems which are at the very core of our difficulties with being human beings…and thus will require much more than the usual amount of problem solving, if we are to “change course”.
3) “A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (CVI)” (from 2008 IPCR document, with minor modifications) (28 pages)—describes the kind of CVIs advocated by The IPCR Initiative, provides an example of collaborative problem solving at the local community level—and provides an example of the kind of problem solving which requires that each of us (not just those in power) “actualize in our own lives” practices and processes which turn polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (which make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has). There are difficult challenges ahead. We will need the best efforts we can make at working together to overcome such challenges.
5) “Draft Section #7 (“Commentary”) A Marginalization of the Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions” (5 pages) (October, 2011)—Human morality is not a constant—it is not something which is the same throughout the centuries of human existence; and thus it is something which can become degraded or raised up, depending on the leanings of human aspirations. The challenges ahead are unprecedented; however, Faith helps move from “it hardly seems possible” to “it must be possible” (since Faith believes Love will prevail). This document is a 5 page Summary of why The IPCR Initiative gives so much importance to cultivating the Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions at this time of unprecedented challenges.
—and contains enough detail associated with the IPCR peacebuilding approach outlined above to be a valuable starting point for brainstorming sessions, exploratory meetings, and workshops associated with planning and implementing a Community Visioning Initiative.
7) “1000Communities2 (1000CommunitiesSquared)” (February—June, 2008)(161 pages) is the initial IPCR proposal advocating for 1000 Community Visioning Initiatives—with associated "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" and "sister community" relationships—as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times.
8) “Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts” (26 pages) is a cornerstone IPCR document, which started forming in 2001, and which continues to provide a comprehensive overview of the IPCR approach to peacebuilding and community revitalization. The document is structured to provide ideas for people facilitating workshops at "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" (which would be active during, and after, the 18 month long kind of Community Visioning Initiatives advocated by The IPCR Initiative. Much of the content in the current version (an update made in December 2009) was a part of the first IPCR Initiative website (May, 2005) [Note: The IPCR Journal/Newsletter (Spring, 2005) contains all of the material in the original IPCR Initiative website.]
Confidence will be dimmed by a lack of clarity until there is truthful public discourse on the full dimensions of critical challenges ahead.
"There can be no culture without contact with relevant problems." (J. C. Kumarappa)
Confidence will be built up when people believe that the efforts of everyone working together is a greater force than the challenges they are facing.
An important point about the value of peacebuilding is illustrated in the fiction novel “Watership Down” by Richard Adams. There are many challenges ahead, and we will need “all hands on deck” if we are going to make the transition from dysfunctional systems which are very complex to functioning systems which are much less complex. In the story “Watership Down”, a group of rabbits leave their community (as a result of trusting the intuitive feeling of one of the rabbits that disaster is imminent), and overcome many challenges to finally create another home community. On their journey, they learn to value each rabbits special qualities—and they learn to be careful not to diminish or stifle any of the strengths they possess as a whole—as it is on these strengths that their lives depend. (“A word to the wise is sufficient”).
