SOCIAL SHAKES - communication, media, change and Development

SOCIAL SHAKES - rethinking the core principles for principled and effective development action

Best wishes. The Communication Initiative just had its 21st birthday (candles, cakes and song!) The CI network has grown to over 100,000 people presently subscribed from 196 countries. There are 1.2 million sessions per annum on the platform. Thanks to everyone who has engaged, shared and supported this process. Our role is to support you sharing your work and learning from the work of others.  

I have taken the liberty of drafting some ideas - analysis, data, principles - for more principled and effective development action. The ideas are mine alone. They are in the form of a series of workimg notes that draw from the knowledge and ideas shared through the network. I would very much welcome your critique and input now and in the future as we share this series of notes over the next couple of months. These strategic notes will also be the focus of a couple of Drum Beats, with the first one coming your way this week.

Lets commence with this question: Do you agree with this analysis and outline of how change happens? (Please click the hyperlinks for the full argument and the subsequent pages.)

SOCIAL SHAKES (initial excerpt with a link here to the full analysis and argument)

" ... We are all familiar with the tremors linked to earthquakes. Pressure builds. Plates move. They slide against each other. The earth shakes. Bits of the terrain change. This process continues. The fault lines continue to produce change ... The world also experiences social shakes. People, communities, groups and organisations become active and organised on the issues and conditions about which they have passion and interest. Others, from their perspectives and interests, resist the change being promulgated. Pressure builds through engagement, debate, dialogue, organisation, conversation, argument, information being developed, decisions made, positions taken and media engaged . For better or worse, depending on your perspective and interest(s), things are shaken up a little. The social terrain changes; the process continues ... At the global and national level, the last 100 years have seen some major social ... (full argument is here - please contribute by email reply or through the comments block)

With many thanks for your critique and comment in the comments block here - or simply reply by email and we will share.

Many thanks - Warren