Collective intelligence and Capacity Building Networks

Samuel Thirion

CRITICA

Plan

1. Why speaking of Collective Intelligence?

2. Collective Intelligence as a method

3. Building methods through collective intelligence (Capacity Building Networks)

1- WHY SPEAKING OF COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE?

To define methods we need to clarify the objective: methods for what?

• For instance when the European Commission promoved the LEADER method the objective was to revitalize declining rural areas

• Local development is an objective? If yes, what is local development? Is this objective sufficient or is there a higher objective which include local development and other objectives?

• What is this higher objective, the final objective?

Looking for the final objective

• Could it be rural development? Sustainable development? What is development?

• Proposal of Council of Europe: Social Cohesion as the final objective, defining social cohesion as the capacity of the Society to ensure welfare to all people, including future generation, avoiding disparities.

Explaining the final objective

• This definition of Social Cohesion is presented in the Strategy of Social Cohesion of Council of Europe (approved by Council of Ministers in 2004)

• Its focalizes on the capacity of the whole society,• considering that during the 20 last years there has

been a change of paradigme from the Welfare State to the Welfare Society: all the Society is responsible for Welfare, not only the State

idea of co-responsability

Analysing the final objectiveThe capacity of the society to ensure the welfare to

all people including future generation supposes: capacity:

• To ensure good environment, preservation of natural and cultural ressources

• To avoid disparities and marginalisation of people and territories and to ensure their insertion

• To achieve an equilibrium in territory occupation (between urban and rural areas)

• And many other aspects Local development is a specific sub-objective of

social cohesion. It expresses the necessity to avoid marginalisation of territories and to ensure social cohesion objectives in all territories.

Collective intelligence as a method for Social Cohesion

• How to create capacity of the Society to ensure welfare for all, and avoid disparities?

• Economy and democracy are basic conditions, but is it enough?

• How to promote the idea of equity and solidarity and avoid that the strongers crush the weakers, creating disparities?

• The collective intelligence, as the capacity to find together the best solutions for all (general interest and interest of every one, with equity and excluding nobody) is the method

2- COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE

AS A METHOD

Collective intelligence includes• Capacity to share information and buid a shared

knowledge including the knowlegde and point of vue of everyone

• Capacity to conceive together a common action plan• Capacity to share responsabilities on the basis of co-

responsability• Capacity to decide together (co-decisions)• Capacity to create agreement to implement this action

plan• Capacity to monitor and evaluate together• Capacity to draw lessons together• Capacity to capitalize the lessons and transfer them to

others

How to develop collective intelligence at local level? The experience of LEADER

LEADER has created the basis to develop collective intelligence at local level, through

• Local partnership and bottom up approach

• Common reference to the territory (territorial approach)

• The rule of autonomy versus responsability (controling a posteriori)

• Cooperation and networking

How to draw the lessons of LEADER for collective

intelligence at other levels?

The idea of partnership is the central question: Parnership as a relationship

• Opened and not closed

• Based on the idea of co-responsability more that shared responsabilities

• Based on a relationship of trust autonomy in exchange of responsability

The 7 specificity of LEADER

Working close to

Linking

Territories Territorial approach

Cooperation networking

Actors Bottom up approach

Local partnership

Action Decentralization of decision

Integrated development

How to create collective intelligence in the whole society?

3 kinds of partnerships• Territorial partnerships: community, micro-

region, region, etc. including all representative of society for social cohesion

• Vertical partnerships: Trust relationship based on autonomy in exchange of responsibility

• Extra-territorial partnerships: Cooperation and networking Solidarity including exchange of know how, commercialization of products, etc.

• International institution (EC, others, …) vertical partnership• National territorial partnership: vertical partnership• Regional/local territorial partnership vertical partnership• Community territorial partnership vertical partnership• Beneficiaries

A- Territorial partnershipMain characteristics Justification and

expected added value

Opened, including all representative of local actors

Creating consensus on shared strategy

Technical team for animation

Mobilization of the population (bottom up approach) and resources

Formalized Capitalization and transmission of method and know how

B- Vertical partnership: autonomy in exchange of responsibility

Autonomy Responsibility

Autonomy in organizing local partnership: time to do it

Democracy and inclusion

Autonomy to define strategy and action plan: time to do with experimental phase (“demonstrative actions”)

Create consensus on strategy

Autonomy to define method of implementation and to implement the strategy and action plan: possibility of revision

Local learning process

General autonomy of the partnership: Means to have local technical teams

Mobilization

Capitalization

Transmission

Consequences of the principle of autonomy in exchange of responsibility

• Global ex-ante evaluation global contract and global subvention

• Ex-ante evaluation more on strategy and method than on actions themselves

• A posteriori control• Bottom up and participative monitoring and

evaluation• Partnership learning process Sharing objectives, information, trust based

relationship.

C- Extra-territorial partnership

• Creation of links for actions which needs larger scale (promotion, marketing, specialized services for different territories)

• Solidarity, including international level (global social cohesion)

• Opening to new ideas, know how, approaches cross fertilizing different approaches and methods

• Drawing the lessons together IDEA OF CBN: Capacity Building Network

D- Main difficulties1- Territorial partnerships• Democracy in local partnerships• Establishing strategies and not list of projects2- Vertical partnership• Tendency to impose instead of dialogue3- Extra-territorial partnerships• Opening the partnership to new approaches• Cross-fertilizing approaches

Key questions: - laboratory function key role of the first phase - Training integrated in action (learning from and

planning together)

3- BUILDING METHODS THROUGH COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE:

CAPACITY BUILDING NETWORKS

(CBN)

What is CBN?

• A concept created from the experience of LEADER II european observatory inside CRITICA association

Main ideas: • drawing lessons and capitalization of method is

limited if it takes place only inside territory: exchange with other territories creates a great added value in terms of methods building

• There are many important method subjects for local development: general subjects or more specific one how to link local groups who work on the same subject?

How to implement a CBN?

• Starting with a small group of people from different local groups with the support of some specific experts and enlarging step by step

• Linking the use of new technology (WEB site, electronic fora, newsletters, email, etc.) with seminars

Organizing a CBN by steps

• First step: small groups of persons drawing the methodologic lessons from their experiences and preparing a first seminar to present their conclusions and enlarge the group

• Second step: networking practices (opened group) formalizing common methodologic references and proposals for common services and new policies

second seminar: discussing the conclusions and creating a formal network

• Third step: formal network with services (services for methodologic support or other services) and concertation with governments and EC on policies

Examples of subject for CBN

General themes:• Evaluation and self-evaluation at local level• Relationship between rural and urban areas (existing:

see www.urgenci.net)• Migration and international solidarity• Etc.Specific themes:• Thermalism• Horse turism or rural turism in general• Etc.

What is expected from CBN?

• Capacity to draw lessons and method for local development in all subjects both at local level and global level (european or word level)

• New policies for local developement • Better collective intelligence and social cohesion

in 3 levels (local partnership, vertical partnership and transterritorial partnership

• Creation of thematic networks linked with the idea of multicentric development

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