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Creating the Architecture to Expand
and Sustain the International
Conversation
During the first year of IV of Hope the three convening partners
constructed the scaffolding to launch the conversation initiative.
SIGMA provided the conversation engine of Appreciative Inquiry and the
thinking partnership of David Cooperrider and doctoral student
Danielle Zandee. The Brahma Kumaris provided the administrative
support of their UN office, the broad support at their international
centers, and the retreat center setting for the summit. The Visions
Board of Trustees provided the strategic guidance and a minimal level
of financial sustenance.
 At the Summit in October of 2000, over 70 people in the core IV of
Hope network met to generate ideas for expanding and sustaining the
international conversation, dedicated to the belief that with the
right kind of supporting infrastructure, this living dialogue can
bring about sweeping social change. The proposed architecture for the
year ahead is as follows:
- The Vital Center, to be overseen by the Board of Trustees of the
Visions of a Better World Foundation. A small core to keep
conversation participants connected to the whole. A key priority
for funding, this center contains the database of contact
information, the central phone and fax, and the editorial
"port of entry" to the "Web of Hope" - an
electronic common that includes archives of images and stories,
updates from each conversational center, compendia of products and
partners, etc.
- The Network of Conversations, to be coordinated by a circle of
coordinators -- from each conversation. This network of
coordinators stewards the "DNA" of an IV of Hope
conversation, provides a template to those wanting to open a new
conversation, and shares stories and ideas for sustaining
conversations over time.
- The Research Project, to be coordinated by the SIGMA Program.
The research project continues to collect stories, metaphors, and
other kinds of feedback for research in two areas:
- What is the emerging new story of the world?
- What are the ways a living dialogue can affect social change?
- The Production and Distribution Unit, to be coordinated by
Farrell Reynolds of Conduit Communications, Daniel LaPorte of the
Arlington Institute, and Lucy Bartholomay of the Boston Globe. The
goal of this unit is to support the production and distribution of
media that generate a new story of possibility for the world.
- The Educational Initiative, to be coordinated by the Rhode
Island School of Design in the arts and by the Universidad Mayor
in journalism and communication. The goals of this initiative are
- To influence the curriculum at schools of art, journalism, and
communication o To explore ways to introduce media literacy
programs to youth
- To encourage youth to undertake IV of Hope conversations of
their own.
Our Vision for Transforming the World
Through a Living Dialogue:
"Words Create Worlds"
The idea that the world is socially constructed by each of us
individually and all of us collectively has by now been described by
people from biology to philosophy to social psychology. Wittgenstein
tells us "Words create worlds." Our own key strategic
thinking partner, cognitive biologist Humberto Maturana, tells us,
"Human beings create themselves and their world in
language."
This project seeks to engage those whose vocation is the generation
of stories and images for the world: journalists, artists, publishers,
authors, story tellers, advertisers, publicists, musicians, gallery
owners, dancers, film makers, and so on to develop a new and more
powerful story of possibility for the world. Collectively we
understand that a new story of the world is emerging in many places:
- From communities of women such as the Realwoman project in
California
- From racial and ethnic minorities determined to put an
end to profiling and stereotyping
- From those in healthcare who are
shifting the discourse from one absorbed with pathology to one
dedicated to creating an epidemic of health;
- From those in
education who prefer seeding learning communities to "fixing the
schools"
- From those in environmental movements such as The
Natural Step who understand that the Earth is the parent of the
economy - and not the other way around.
By convening conversations in communities all over the world, we
seek to shine a light on this emerging new story of the world and to
seek out the elements of a new world story that includes a vast
horizon of possibilities for all of the people of the Earth.
We believe that Images and Voices of Hope is first and foremost a
web of relationships, a network of conversations. As we engage in
these appreciative conversations, we seed a shift in awareness. With
this new awareness we see the world with new eyes. Our new vision of
the world causes us to tell different stories and to produce different
images. Out of these new stories of the world, we will produce a
different world. This, we believe, is the power of a living dialogue
to ignite social change.
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