Raising Social Dough

Peace and Security in Times of Uncertainty –It's Our World! Friday, October 16 Day trip from Worcester and Hartford to the United Nations

2009-08-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

“Unless there is a spiritual renaissance, the world will know no peace..”
Dag Hammarskjold, Second Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Peace and Security in Times of Uncertainty –It's Our World!
Friday, October 16 Day trip from Worcester and Hartford to the United Nations
A spiritual excursion for exploration & friendship with the Institute for Global Leadership and Coste Consulting

The United Nations was founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. Due to its unique international character, and the powers vested in its founding Charter, the Organization can take action on a wide range of issues, and provide a forum for its now 192 Member States to express their views. Although best known for peacekeeping, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance, there are many ways the United Nations affects our lives and make the world a better place

During the day-long event, participants will first be part of a dialogue on the Legacy of Dag Hammarskjold on the trip to New York. While there, they will learn the history of the United Nations, be given examples of what the UN has accomplished as well reflect on the The International Year of Reconciliation, 2009 in the light of We the Peoples, the preamble of the UN Charter.

Dag Hammarskjold believed the United Nations Meditation Room he built should be the center of the United Nations. He had a “close feeling about the spiritual” and wrote: “We all have within us a center of stillness surrounded by silence. This house, dedicated to work and debate in the service of peace, should have one room dedicated to silence in the outward sense and stillness in the inner sense. It has been the aim to create in this small room a place where the doors may be open to the infinite lands of thought and prayer.” For more info visit www.un.org

Maximum 30 participants $280 tuition - $100 deposit due by Sept. 16th with balance due by October 8th For further reading: Markings by Dag Hammarskjold, Virginia’s memoir, A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace http://www.centerglobalcommunitylaw.org/wl_mantle.html., a paper, A Leadership and Practice to Reconcile Challenges in a Post-September 11th World by
Swain/Sayeed. To sign up call Joonu (508) 472-9633 or joonu@andrewscoste.net or Virginia 508-753-4172 or vswain@global-leader.org, www.global-leader.org

Agenda
Depart Worcester 6:00 am and Hartford 7:30
The Legacy of Dag Hammarskjold at 6:00 AM
Arrive in NYC at the UN: Browse the bookstore and Public Art, Visitor’s Lobby at 11:00 AM
International buffet lunch in beautiful delegates dining room overlooking the East River at 11:30 AM
Meditation, Prayer or Quiet Reflection in the Dag Hammarskjold Mediation Room at 1:00 PM
Briefing on Peace and Security by UN Speakers Bureau and tour of UN building at 1:30 PM
Depart NYC at 4:00 PM
Arrive Hartford at 7:30 and Worcester at 9:00 pm
9:00 PM

Trip offered by the partnership of Coste Consulting and the Institute for Global Leadership

Joonu-Noel Coste, Principal of Coste Consulting, a professional practice dedicated to Dream/Reality Integration for Global Peace. Ms. Coste has worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency as a project manager, with Strategic Financial Partners as a financial advisor, and is currently President and co-founder of a non-profit, Blackstone Valley WomenAid, Inc, a Chief Dream Officer for the Dream Factory Community, and Business Developer for Healing Community Centers for Global Peace. She has been a committed yoga and meditation student since 2001 and yoga teacher since 2004. Ms. Coste facilitates experiences for individuals and groups during which they encounter and own their greatness, authentic power, and connection to Spirit through community service and transformational learning. She also provides business development services to organizations committed to community building for peace.

Virginia Swain, Director, the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) and the Center for Global Community and World Law (www.centerglobalcommunitylaw.org) has had 18 years experience in the UN community and 25 years of practical experience on five continents including Peace Corps teaching in Africa. She is a career and life directions coach, leadership and team bulding consultant, trainer, mediator, facilitator and certified professional holistic counselor. Her counseling and coaching clients are children, teens, adults and couples, leaders, teams corporate and international organizations. Through the Institute, Ms. Swain provides Mission-Focused Leadership and Reconciliation Leadership training programs designed to empower emerging and seasoned leaders and teams. For the eighth year, she is leading a. a three-day event October 23-25, 2009 at the UN, Designing and Implementing Interventions for Organizational, Community and Global Change. to http://www.socialweb.net/Events/calendar20091023.lasso.

If you meet your Dream in the road, kill it!

2009-07-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you are familiar with the Buddhist saying. “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!” http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/670

This is not advocating murder if you meet an enlightened being. The road symbolizes the path the Enlightenment. On that road, if you meet a Buddha, or rather, a concept of Enlightenment, this concept will actually stand in the way of you achieving Enlightenment, so discard it, kill it, do whatever you have to do, but keep moving along the road.

I believe this was the what the blogger Charles was getting at with his provocative discussion article at Social Edge, “Stop Following your Dream (so you can succeed)!” http://bit.ly/9TjDY. The discussion was inspired by the article at http://mccamon.org/2008/05/uncle/ . Like Charles, I won't try to summarize the post. It is truly elegant. The last sentence is “So watch out, I’ve given up my dream. Who knows what might happen next.”

I was already relating the discussion and the well written contributions to this Buddhist saying when finally, Charles pulled it out – ah HAH!

For a person who puts herself firmly in the “Dreamer” camp (a camp that is also entrepreneurially inspired) the title of the discussion landed like a slap on the face and a sucker punch to the belly. Isn't you Dream the key to your success? Isn't that what we're taught in school with every inspirational speaker that comes along, ever self improvement CD, every entrepreneurial boot camp attended? Isn't it all about having a Dream, a vivid Dream, one that you can see, feel, taste, touch, and smell? One that you've Dreamboarded, affirmed, financed, carefully planned for and held in your hear, stirring the flames of your will, the passion of your heart and the lust of your loins? Isn't that the key for success, without which you're adrift, half-dead, and notably disengaged from the true essence of why we are here at all? Doesn't success needs a Dream that means so much and exposes you to such vulnerability at the mere thought of not ever getting there that you would give up if it were not for the fact that you'd stop living? Only then will you have the motivation, determination, persistence, fortitude, guts, intensity and zeal to do what it takes to make that Dream a reality in a world that is stacked against you, right?

I think the key perspective is distinguishing between the DREAM and the concept of the Dream. You see, I have a DREAM of being a light in the world, working to alleviate the suffering of others, particularly the disadvantaged. I DREAM of being a great socioeconomic leveler, empowering all people to live successful lives of peace and prosperity. The concept of the Dream that I have created, that I have now come to realize is precisely what is standing in my way of that DREAM, is the plan. The plan (map) is the concept of my Dream – what I've decided it looks like, feels like, tastes like, and smells like; what I have created with the limited conceptual framework of my mind and chiefly drawing on what I have experienced and been successful at in the past. With this in mind, there is a certain absurdity to think that what got me to where I am today will get me to my DREAM; to base my expectations around future success based on the past. As a result of my past experiences, I am no longer the same person as I was then, and since I don't have a crystal ball I have no assurance who I will become in the future or what my perspective will be when I get to the much sought-after goal. We've all had the experience of finally getting to the goal and having the reaction, “Really, this is all there is?” and being ultimately disappointed. That is because the Dream is not the DREAM. The Dream is standing in the way of the DREAM. (And then there is the whole stickiness of what happens when other people's Dreams become intertwined or enmeshed in your Dreams. But that is for another blog...)

I've been quite attached to the Dream – I've spent lots of time creating it, mostly as an outward projection of my ego and a grandiose plan for self improvement. If what the yogis say is true and where you put your attention is where you put your love, I've been having a full-blown adulterous affair with the Dream for quite a while. It is simply time to kill the Dream in favor of the DREAM.

I have made the decision to leave my current position with a fantastic company despite the fact that everyone has assured me of my ultimate success in this field. This was a key part of the Dream – the plan around generating the income I determined necessary for the DREAM. This is not without the voice of reason screaming loudly, “In THIS economy???” I've also made some other seemingly unlikely shifts that seem possibly inexplicable to those who do not know me well. I'm feeling my way along the road now, blinded by the brilliance of my DREAM but safe in the flow. The DREAM blazes with authenticity, lacking the long-plaguing manic energy to which I've grown accustomed.

I have noted that when I have managed to step back from the ambitious, single-minded pursuit of fulfilling the Dream, I have provided tremendous value to my family by being fully present with them and supporting them in co-creating a culture of success in my home. I have provided tremendous value to friends and to colleagues by helping them brainstorm ideas, encouraging them to think creatively, to have faith in their abilities, and to recognize and own their gifts when they weren't aware of them. By listening deeply to people, I have helped them to finally hear themselves, to connect with their DREAMS, and to see their own brilliance. I offer enthusiasm and stand for optimism and possibility. People seek me out to have coffee with them or to go to lunch or to a social event because the find value in what I reflect back to them. The reflection helps them to connect with their own source, to sense their own power, and to be open to the abundance that is waiting for their embrace. The honest and authentic relationships I build are a rich currency. Gee, it seems like when I step back from pursuing the Dream I'm pretty close to real-izing the DREAM.

So I have killed my beloved Dream. I can't wait to see what is next!

Microfinance and Empowerment for low to moderate income women in the United States?

2009-04-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been reading about microfinance as a means of economically empowering individuals around the world who are living in extreme poverty. In my reading, the emphasis is always on Third World nations where individuals make less than $1 a day. I began to look into microfinance or microcredit loan programs and haven't been able to find anything comparable for individuals and families in poverty in our country. Why is this? I'll continue to research this because my curiosity have been stimulated. Can we create an alternative manner of financing microenterprise in this country to reach the poorest of the poor, giving them the required services in financial literacy and life skills so they could undertake a simple yet needed entrepreneurial venture in their community for economic and personal empowerment? What makes it possible in countries like Ghana and India but not here?

Reviwing a research article summery "Empowering Women Through Microfinance" http://bit.ly/QGJqM, here is a quote taken from the paper.

While many microfinance institutions seek to empower women as an implicit or explicit
goal, others believe they cannot afford to focus on empowerment because it is
incompatible with financial sustainability or because it detracts from the core business of
providing financial services. We recognize that there are trade-offs when providing a
range of services. Yet our research also shows ample evidence of efficient, sustainable
microfinance institutions whose programs are intentionally empowering. In some cases,
it is through a commitment to excellent customer service, including people at all levels of
the organization treating clients with respect. In other cases, “soft” services such as
health education, literacy training or business training can be packaged with financial
services in a way that creates “economies of scope” and powerful synergies, and can even
help reduce client exit and arrears.5 It is worth looking at several institutions that are
both focused on empowerment and are financially self-sufficient, such as Working
Women’s Forum (WWF) in India, which organizes women to achieve better wages and
working conditions; ADOPEM in the Dominican Republic, which provides business
training and training on democratic processes and civil society; and OMB in the
Philippines, whose commitment to holistic transformation includes leadership training,
personal development, and business training.

It is my opinion that the benefits of personal development as linked to economic empowerment experienced by women in developing countries is not dissimilar to that which would be experienced by women in this country. So the questions rolls through my mind - if you can create vital programs like the ones described above in India, Dominican Republic and the Philippines, can we do this in the US? What would the barrier be to creation of these programs? Great organizations like Center for Women and Enterprise, the Worcester Community Action Council, the Small Business Association, and NH Microcredit offer programs in financial leteracy, business planning, and lending, but to my knowledgem there is no one organization providing it all under one roof.

Any thoughts? Any suggetions for research?

Concepts in social entrepreneurship and creating replicable models for training in economic independence

2009-04-24T19:16:00.001-07:00

Just got done reading a very interesting article funded by the Skoll Foundation on "Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition"http://bit.ly/IXLzs in which it sets off a discussion of the differences between a social entrepreneur, a social activist, and a social service provider. 3 Key elements making a social entrepreneur distinct from the other 2 are (quoted frm the article)

We define social entrepreneurship as having the following
three components: (1) identifying a stable but inherently unjust
equilibrium that causes the exclusion, marginalization, or suffering
of a segment of humanity that lacks the financial means
or political clout to achieve any transformative benefit on its own;
(2) identifying an opportunity in this unjust equilibrium, developing
a social value proposition, and bringing to
bear inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage,
and fortitude, thereby challenging the stable state’s
hegemony; and (3) forging a new, stable equilibrium
that releases trapped potential or alleviates the suffering
of the targeted group, and through imitation
and the creation of a stable ecosystem around the
new equilibrium ensuring a better future for the targeted
group and even society at large.

Afterward I watched a great You.tube video where Martin Burt, in discussing his work with rural youth in Paraguay, makes the statement that it is not enough to teach the youth the techniques to grow food or to care for livestock, but that they must also be taught to make money doing it. That they must be taught economic self reliance. http://bit.ly/uJJzY

Isn't that the missing component that is contributing to the mess we are in right now in this country? We have elite schools that teach us how to do things, but not how to make money doing them. We have a model that breeds economic dependency on employers. What would be the lever to turn that around for our society, I wonder? Where would it have to start? What would be the value proposition? Who would be the strategic partners involved?

Thoughts? Any known models out there?