N4W - consultation

This is actually written in April 2024 - but I do not want it to appear in the blog posts for today - so I have predated it. 

 

 

This a a brain dump of my thinking about the future of N4W - the aim is to consult with people - including Alt Wed on 17 April - and others by phone or f2f -

Seven Plus and N4W

 

In July it will be three years since Seven Up first met.  Those three years have enabled me to make practical sense of a wad of ideas that sit behind the N4W label.  This is thanks to 7+.

The Seven Plus network has matured - lots of the  members are not intrinsically interested in N4W yet 7+ members are an integral part of N4W.  I am keen to talk with 7+ Alt Wed about ideas that are emerging around the future of N4W.  I have begun to think of 7+ as one cohort within the movement which is N4W - the first cohort.  It is a relatively stable bunch of people which will evolve as it wishes.  Other cohorts (such as the First Friday Network) can develop when fresh people come together and develop as they wish.

It is helpful to think of N4W as a movement - and Seven Plus as a "Cohort Network." This idea has freed me to return to my focus on the importance of N4W - the idea of it being a movement has been growing for a year.   Over the last month I have been trying to explain stuff on the blog so that the blog explains things simply as possible before it is promoted.  

This effort has led to a breakthrough.  I would like to discuss this with those 7+ers who also take an active interest in N4W.  Several of these are not able to attend Alt Wed meetings - Karen, Bron, Niki, Beth and I have quietly been working on various developments for N4W - and I have been weaving these ideas together. 

So - a meeting of the Alt Wed group to discuss all this would be just great. 

Key developments are probably along the lines of

• N4W is a "movement toward collectivity" operating within Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.
  
• (movement as in the Peace, or women's movements - the ideas can generate networks or groups to develop actively - but the movement itself is not clearly defined - it is a movement in a direction we are still sorting out - and always will be),
• the movement can be thought of as world wide as well as local, and linked to other movements (peace, humanist, ... ) and various organisations (UNESCO, CWEA, 3rd Age foundation ...) - this is nothing new - this movement is simply a focus of attention within Otautahi and beyond.
  
• Collectivity has a wad of connotations to do with finding ways to communicate across social boundaries - while at the same time enabling strong local connections of networks and groups to develop -
• Supporting and enabling effective communication is an utterly important key - in lots of domains (personal skills, collaborative skills, networking skills,  technology) - these are key things for N4W to foster. 
• Toward Collective Praxis - the ideas that underpin this movement including a shift beyond structuralism and toward an understanding of complexity, social change, ecologies of emergence. Praxis as the linking of ideas with action.
  
• Working together to help each other (as we identify and support various projects and developments).
  
• AoNZ - Aotearoa New Zealand - this encompasses all sorts of things related to the future lives of our mokopuna - climate, wellbeing of all sorts, Te Tiriti, social justice etc.
  
• Vocabulary - networks, groups, teams, projects - these are all flexible words with fuzzy boundaries - like most words in any language. One of the activities of N4W is to identify subtle differences in meaning so that we have a vocabulary that works for us. 
  
• Purposeful Principles within N4W
• Some generic stuff - but basically each network and groups make their own guidelines and identify their own Purposes, Activities and values
• N4W Plus is a network which fosters and supports (a) the development of N4W as a movement, and (b) groups and networks within the movement. 
  
• Weaving AoNZ  the joy of a weaving is that the horizontal and the vertical networks overlap - this enables networking between cohort groups and networks and focus networks or groups.
  
•  Vertical dimension - Cohort Networks within AoNZ - these are bunches of people who can make their own ways of working and growing within the movement. 
  
• Seven Plus
• First Friday
• First Impressions
• Horizontal dimension - Focus Networks within AoNZ - these can span the cohort networks AND also link with allied organisations and individuals who are not part of any cohort network.  Since N4W is a movement, not an organisation - there is no need for these networks to link with our cohort networks or for people who join them to belong to any cohort . 
  
• Te Reo Plus -
  
• Puna Hapori Plus - Alternate Economies including a Savings Pool.
  
• Transition65 (Plus?) - beyond paid work - planning and acting
  
• Toward Collective Praxis Plus - Ideas and Actions around fostering N4W as a movement.
  
• Learning through games - network focused on WEA and its networks - first project is underway - it could become an annual event. .
  
• Projects of N4W - these could be short term activities that involve interested people from any cohort or focus network or group.  We work together by helping each other with the projects that interest us.
  
• For example, CWEA Learning through Games on 18 May - this links with several networks outside N4W. 
• A project that is almost completed is setting up a fresh Flourishing Group - a dozen of us have been involved in that. 
• Ian is working on a project called "transition65".