|
|
|
By , on April 14th, 2012
The world we live in is rapidly changing due to the digital revolution, but human beings are not changing so fast, and what seems clear is that we are taking the same patterns (healthy and destructive) from the non-digital world and adapting them to the online sphere.
Over the past year, I have asked a lot of people in the education and community development fields if they have ever heard of the term (or concept) of online self-harming. I have yet to meet one single person who has said yes.
This is very worrying indeed.
Everyone knows about self-harming, . . . → Read More: When is cyber-bullying in fact online self-harming?
By , on October 7th, 2011
Something very odd indeed is going on. In the middle of the most severe cuts in living memory where youth service budgets are being decimated, the government has announced a massive, and very costly, expansion of an unevaluated programme that has yet to demonstrate that it works at all. And to make matters even more bizarre, there has been, up until now almost no outcry from the sector.
I am talking about the National Citizen Service (NCS), and the fact that the PM has just announced that it will be increased by 900% up to 2014.
Let’s look at . . . → Read More: A Monumental Error in the Making – The curious case of the expansion of the National Citizen Service
By Jonny Zander, on August 17th, 2011
The recent riots have quite correctly occasioned an outpouring of emotion, debate and commentary. Much of it now is focussed on the question of what “caused” the riots to happen with debate raging and all sides using the situation to back up and trumpet their own pre-existing beliefs.
There has sadly been a tremendous amount of premature analysis and faulty conclusions and there is evidently significant confusion over some basic features of this type of event in respect to identification of causes.
The riots were clearly a complex event and any explanation attempting to identify single headline “causes” (or . . . → Read More: There are no single causes of complex events
By Jonny Zander, on August 16th, 2011
Everyone agrees that the rioters must be punished; but what will be the best ways to serve justice – for victims, for our communities and for perpetrators? I was delighted to see today reported in the Guardian the news that the government will be initiating a community based “riot payback scheme”, though it remains to be seen how comprehensive or well thought out this will be.
In the past days we have moved from mob rioting to mob vengeance with calls from almost all parts of society for the most vigorous and punitive use of prison as appropriate punishment . . . → Read More: Where is Justice?
By Jonny Zander, on July 13th, 2011
By Jonny Zander, on May 13th, 2011
There is no “one size fits all” approach to co-production. Local circumstances, history, culture, community cohesion and engagement, needs and professional capacity will all have an impact. Different localities will be seeking different outcomes: for some it’s ensuring strategic commissioning approaches deliver real value across the board, for others it might be a particular service that requires transformation at times of budget cuts.
At Kaizen we have developed a “Co-production Readiness Tool“ to help identify what support will be needed in moving towards the adoption of a co-production approach. This could be used in respect to individuals or groups . . . → Read More: A Tool to Aid Implementation of Co-production
By Jonny Zander, on April 5th, 2011
The vision of co-production and genuine partnership working rests on the ability to bridge between divergent perceptions, priorities and perspectives. An ‘honest broker’ can play a critical part in achieving this. There is nothing new in the idea of seeking an outside mediator to facilitate compromise and common understanding. It is standard practice in situations ranging from international disputes to the mediation of personal conflict. However, while the vital importance of bridging is accepted, honest brokers are seldom used in the community sector, in the space between state and community.
At no time has the interface between state and . . . → Read More: The Role of the Honest Broker
By Jonny Zander, on March 16th, 2011
A Step Change in Our Thinking
The Context
Within this century, network theory (NT) will radically change the way we think and work in the community sector, creating a new paradigm for the development of policy and practice. Does this sound like a bold prediction? On the contrary, it is likely an understatement: it will be a cascading revolution and it is just about to start.
The pace of research on network theory is remarkable and both the concepts and their possible applications are under continual development. Unfortunately, until now it seems to . . . → Read More: Network Theory and the Community Sector
|
Recent Comments