Work Coordination Manual for Community Organisations and Ecovillages

As a community development worker and especially since co-founding the Bellbunya Community, I have been interested in the way workload and responsibility naturally seems to distribute itself in voluntary organisations. It appears to me that, in general, a small group of overworked people tend to carry the majority of the responsibility. At the other end of the spectrum, another small group of people rarely get beyond good intentions when it comes to sharing the workload and responsibility. The majority of people are willing to contribute as long as there is someone to coordinate and tell them what to do. As one of the small, overworked group at the centre of things, I have spent a lot of time wondering about how to more evenly distribute workloads and responsibilities, to make things more efficient and enjoyable and avoid resentment and burnout.

This downloadable document represents the best of my thinking so far and builds on a model used by the Americana Leadership College and explained to me by Paul Mischefski. It provides effective tools for simplifying coordination of tasks across numerous dimensions and for supporting people who would normally be followers to gradually and safely take on higher levels of coordination responsibility.

The system that I explain here is no silver bullet but, if applied diligently, it makes a big contribution towards a more equal sharing of the load. I provide examples from my community which you are welcome to adapt to your own needs. Its greatest weakness, as with all systems, is that it won't work unless people actually use it.

Download the Work Coordination Manual for Community Organisations

Colours of Empowerment - A Simple Tool for Effective Meeting Facilitation

In meetings, how do we make sure that topics flow, that everyone is heard, that everyone understands the topic before discussion about the topic happens, that frictions that may arise in the group do not prevent it moving forward, etc? And what if no-one is comfortable or highly skilled in facilitation?

The larger the group and the more complex the topic the more inefficient a meeting can become. This is because our traditional approach of raising your hand and waiting your turn before you speak does not recognise the multidimensional nature of meetings. A skilled facilitator can greatly help but, even then, will occasionally miss something.

Remember meetings you've been in where people are debating a controversial topic and lots of people want to speak. Lots of opinions and arguments are put forth and the fourth person to speak couldn't understand some key elements of the initial concept. So, everything from the initial point onwards has been lost in understanding and needs to be re-explained once the initial understanding is clarified.

Colours of Empowerment to the rescue! We started using this process for the complex and busy meetings in the early days of setting up the Bellbunya Community to ease the pressure and seemingly endless discussion on so many topics. It worked.

How it Works

1. Everyone participating in the meeting receives a set of five coloured cards, as listed below (in priority order):

• Red - Process. There is a process issue - e.g. The discussion has gone off topic or over time. We need to stop and reassess.
• Orange - Acknowledgement/ Emotions. To acknowledge emotions (my own or those I sense in the room) - e.g. expressing appreciation, recognising anger or tension or hurt feelings in the room.
• Yellow - Clarification. I want to ask a question to help me understand (gain clarity) about what is beeing discussed.
• Green - Information. I have information that could help others in the mtg understand.
• Blue - Opinion/ Comment / Idea. I have an idea or opinion to share.

It's good to create coloured cards with the words in bold written on the back to help jog meeting participants' memories. It is also good (especially whilst learning how to use the system) to have a poster on the wall, listing the cards in priority order that meeting participants can see during the meeting.

2. Whenever someone wants to speak or ask a question, they simply hold up the coloured card that indicates the category of what they wish to say.

3. The facilitator gives the next opportunity to speak to whoever is holding up the highest priority card, regardless of the order in which cards are actually held up. Red is highest priority and Blue is lowest priority. So, if, for example, there is someone holding up a blue card, another person holding up a yellow card and another person who later holds up a red card then the red card holder gets to speak first. The blue card holder only gets to speak if there are no cards of any other colour being held up.

Benefits

The Colours of Empowerment bring everyone along at the same pace. In a meeting, we can only progress at the rate of the slowest person and this process makes sure no one gets left behind. We give priority to making sure we are firstly on topic/time (red) and then that emotional needs arising within the meeting are being met (so that they don't get in the way of the process) (orange) and then making sure that everyone's understanding is clear (yellow and green) so that everyone can engage in the sharing of opinions/ideas etc (blue).

This system is not only faster and more efficient than the traditional system, it also:

• Makes a meeting much easier to facilitate because people are showing what is going on for them with the coloured cards, rather than the facilitator trying to perceive what is happening. This produces good results and makes it less scary for inexperienced facilitators. Group members will help the facilitator by pointing out (for example) a red card that the facilitator has not noticed.
• Increases group participation. 
• Democratises the running of meetings through reducing dependence on a skilled facilitator, increasing participation of all people at the meeting and enabling less experienced/skilled people to step up and faciliate
• Encourages quieter people by providing a level of non verbal communication that validates a whole range of different states.
• Facilitates greater connection through enabling the sharing of emotional content effectively.

3 Season Growing Calendar for South East Queensland and North Coast New South Wales

In the subtropics (especially SE Queensland and Northern NSW in Australia) people sometimes talk of three growing seasons (or 3 "summers") - tropical summer, European summer, Mediterranean summer. Each "summer" is perfect for growing the classic crops of those areas. This model has helped me better understand our growing seasons. We generally use it in my community (Bellbunya).

This page is incomplete and I will keep adding to it over time

Three Growing Seasons Summary

Tropical - hot, humid, wet. Summertime, after the rains start our wet season (usually by November/December, but has been late in recent years) until March/April when things cool down. Insects and fungal disease will destroy European and Mediterranean vegetables so grow tropical substitutes. Grow what they grow in South East Asia: tropical beans, sweet potato, ceylon spinach, Brazilian spinach, cassava, taro, pumpkin/melons, yakon, arrowroot, ginger/tumeric.
Cool temperate (North European Summer) - starts in Autumn (March/April) until the dry warm air (about August/September) as it cools and rains reduce. Grow what they grow in northern Europe: lettuce, brassicas (Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Calabrese, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohlrabi, Mustard, Oriental Brassicas, Radish, Swede, Turnip), bok choi, carrot parsely, coriander, tomato, potato, broad bean, sweet peas
Mediterranean Summer - dry air, warm winds. Generally starts about August/September. You need to water (and protect the gardens from digging bandicoots). Grow what they grow in the Mediterranean: cucurbits (Pumpkin, Cucumber, Zuchini, Melon), tomato, eggplant, capsicum, corn, beans.

Tropical (SE Asian Summer)

What: Hot, humid, wet.
When: Summertime, after the rains start our wet season (usually by November/December, but has been late in recent years) until March/April when things cool down.
Issues: Insects and fungal disease will destroy European and Mediterranean vegetables so grow tropical substitutes. Think of what is grown in SE Asia.

Seasonal Tasks:
Fertilise the entire garden with an organically based fertiliser.
Watch out for caterpillars on citrus, impatiens and white cedar.


Plant:
Ceylon spinach (sow direct, vine on lattice, perennial - ensure replacement crop is mature before removing old crop, salad or stir fry)
Brazilian spinach (sow direct, pereneal - ensure replacement crop is mature before removing old crop, salad or stir fry)
Cassava (should have planted in October to harvest in May)
Arrowroot / Cana (plant rhyzomes (?) (shoots with part attached tuber), matures after???, harvest for tubers, peel and cook as a potato substitute)
Madagascar Beans Phaseolus lunatus: This perennial vine produces bountiful crops of beans. Use them fresh as a substitute for broad beans or use the shelled dried beans, cooked in soups, stews and vegetable burgers!
Turmeric (Curcuma domestica), Ginger (Zingiber officinale), Galangal (Alpinia galangal): All three of these common spices find their way into food we eat, yet few people grow their own fresh supplies. Start with a rhizome purchased from an organic market or green grocer. Simply plant out in the garden and harvest garden fresh rhizomes whenever you need them.
Taro Colocasia esculenta: The large, attractive leaves of the taro plant look great in a tropical garden. Plant it where the soil is moist or plunge potted specimens into a pond. One tuber multiples quickly, producing young tubers that can be cooked like potatoes. The easiest way to ensure you get a sweet, edible variety is to buy your planting stock from the supermarket or green grocer.
Peruvian Parsnip Arracacia xanthorrhiza: This root vegetable from South America produces long, cream-coloured, parsnip-like roots. You can also harvest the tops as a green vegetable or garnish. Propagate from root cuttings.
Water Chestnuts Eleocharis dulcis: Few plants are more productive with one corm producing 50 new chestnuts in one season! Turn you pond into a productive food garden.
Yacon Polymnia sonchifolia: Also known as sweet root, this hardy plant produces large sweet potato-like tubers that are crisp and juicy. Extremely productive, its grows easily from stem cuttings or vegetative tubers.
Perennial Coriander: As the heat of summer approaches, annual coriander quickly goes to seed and dies. Not so, the perennial coriander. This low growing perennial produces dandelion-like leaves and prickly seed heads. Keep removing the seed heads as they form if you want greater leaf production. Perennial coriander has a stronger flavour than annual coriander, so you only need a few leaves to provide that great taste.

Summer salad greens - dandelion chicory, nasturtium, green elk, minuba, mizuna, watercress, perennial sorrel
capsicum (sow direct or seed trays, r3 fruity, solanaceae/nightshade, detail),
choko (plant shooting fruit to grow on fence/shed),
cucumber (sow direct, r3 fruity, cucurbit family, detail),
eggplant (sow direct or seed trays, r3 fruity, solanaceae/nightshade, detail),
lettuce (easy, sow direct, r2 leafy, daisy family, detail),
okra (seed tray, r3 fruity, hibiscus family),
pumpkin (easy, sow direct, r3 fruity, cucurbit family, detail),
radish (easy, sow direct, r4 rooty, brassicaca family),
rockmelon (seed tray, r3 fruity, cucurbit family),
rosella (sow direct, r3 fruity, detail),
snake bean (easy, sow direct, r1 leggy),
sweet corn (sow direct, r3 fruity, detail),
sweet potato (plant cuttings, r4 rooty, detail), also non running sweet potato (Ipomoea babatus)
cherry tomato (seed trays, r3 fruity, solanaceae/nightshade,detail),
watermelon (seed tray, r3 fruity, detail),
zucchini (seed tray, r3 fruity)

Cool temperate (North European Summer)

What: cool, not so wet
When: Starts in Autumn (March/April) as it cools and the wet season ends until the dry warm air (about August/September) .
Issues: less insect activity, great for growing traditional European vegetables, especially brasicas.

Grow what they grow in northern Europe: lettuce, brassicas (Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Calabrese, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohlrabi, Mustard, Oriental Brassicas, Radish, Swede, Turnip), bok choi, carrot parsely, coriander, tomato, potato, broad bean, sweet peas

Seasonal Tasks:
Slowed growth during winter provides an opportunity to tackle major landscaping projects like making new garden beds, paving, constructing pergolas or building retaining walls. Small chance of occasional frost. Generally rain should have finished by April but in recent years it's gone until end of June. Attention should be paid to making optimum use of scarce water resources.
Fertilise fruit trees, citrus, passionfruit, native plants and emerging bulbs, then water well.
Plant sweet peas, strawberry runners, seedlings, bulbs, trees and shrubs.
Trim plants that have become too rampant over summer.
Raise the cutting height of your mower in preparation for winter.
Lift, divide, propagate and replant herbaceous perennials.
Plant deciduous trees, shrubs, frangipani cuttings, roses.
Prune deciduous plants and swollen gall wasp stems on citrus, roses.
Relocate poorly positioned trees and shrubs to new areas.
Control bindii weed in lawns (look like carrot leaves) to avoid painful burrs during summer.

Harvest:
Cassava (plant (October) sections of stem including 2 or 3 nodes, harvest (May) as will not grow any more this season and gets woody with age. Harvest by removing entire plant, peel roots/tubers and remove dark areas (toxic). Cannot be stored as toxins (black areas) will grow. Cook like potato - best to steam then bake. After harvesting, cut stem into 6 inch sections and store in slightly damp sawdust until they sprout (October) and can be planted)

Plant: (months just give approximate idea)
March: carrot, cauliflower, French beans, leeks, lettuce, silver beet, spring onion & radish, capsicum, cucumber, eggplant, potatoes, sweet corn, sweet potato & tomato
April: beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, radish & spring onion, Brussels sprout, capsicum, endive, French beans, garlic, kohl rabi, leeks, onions, potatoes, silver beet, spinach, sweet potato & tomato
May: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, kohl rabi, lettuce, radish, silver beet, spring onion & turnip, beetroot, broad beans, Brussels sprout, capsicum, celery, chicory, endive, French beans, garlic, leeks, onions, parsnip, peas, potatoes, spinach, swede, sweet potato& tomato
June: carrot, cauliflower, kohl rabi, lettuce, radish, spring onion & turnip, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, celery, endive, French beans, garlic, leeks, onions, parsnip, peas, potatoes, silver beet, spinach, swede, sweet potato, tomato
July: carrot, kohl rabi, lettuce, radish, spring onion & turnip, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, celery, endive, French bean, garlic, leeks, peas, potatoes, silver beet, swede, sweet potato, tomato.
August: kohl rabi, lettuce, radish, beetroot, carrot, capsicum, celery, cucumber, eggplant, French beans, okra, potatoes, pumpkin, silver beet, spring onion, squash, sweet potato, tomato & zucchini

Warm Dry (Mediterranean Summer)

What: dry air, warm winds.
When: Generally starts about August/September and goes until the rainy season hits - hot and humid (usually November/December but has been late in recent year - could be February).
Issues: You need to water (and protect the gardens from digging bandicoots). Grow what they grow in the Mediterranean: cucurbits (Pumpkin, Cucumber, Zuchini, Melon), tomato, eggplant, capsicum, corn, beans.

Seasonal Tasks:
Prune fruit trees?
Fertilise bulbs, pawpaws, citrus and water well.
Protect seedlings from snails and slugs with non-toxic, iron based baits.
Repot and fertilize indoor plants.

Plant: (months just give approximate idea)
Cassava (plant (October) sections of stem including 2 or 3 nodes, harvest (May) as will not grow any more this season and gets woody with age. Harvest by removing entire plant, peel roots/tubers and remove dark areas (toxic). Cannot be stored as toxins (black areas) will grow. Cook like potato - best to steam then bake. After harvesting, cut stem into 6 inch sections and store in slightly damp sawdust until they sprout (October) and can be planted)
September: carrot, choko, cucumber, eggplant, French beans, lettuce, radish, spring onion, squash, tomato, beetroot, capsicum, kohl rabi, okra, pumpkin, rockmelon, rosella, silver beet, sweet corn, sweet potato, watermelon, zucchini
October: capsicum, choko, cucumber, eggplant, French beans, lettuce, okra, pumpkin, radish, spring onion, tomato & zucchini, rockmelon, rosella, squash, sweet potato & watermelon, sweet corn
November: capsicum, choko, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, radish, snake beans, tomato, zucchini, okra, pumpkin, rockmelon, rosella, spring onion, & watermelon

Going Green in Sri Lanka

Chris, one of Bellbunya Sustainable Community's founders has been in Sri Lanka for the AGM of the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania and Asia and he has just visited Eco Community Sri Lanka...

The speedometer on the bus read 0km/h which didn’t seem too inaccurate as I alternated between roasting my rear end on the gearbox and standing. I was on my way to Eco Community Sri Lanka (ECSL), about 6 hours from the nation’s capital, Colombo.

Chaminda, one of the founders had responded enthusiastically to my request to visit and exchange our ecovillage insights and lessons.

Chris & Chaminda at the community kitchen - earth building & solar light

Eco Community Sri Lanka sits on 52 acres in the dry zone of central north Sri Lanka. When I visited there were about 12 community members onsite and 2 international volunteers. The community has been in place for only 1.5yrs and, from my research, appears to be the first ecovillage in the country that has been entirely created by its members, rather than being initiated by a program of an NGO. (However, if anyone knows of any other independently created ecovillages, please let me know).

The community was started by a group of friends, studying Chi Gong together under their teacher Aruna. Thilena contributed his savings from 5 years of factory work in Korea and Eco Community Sri Lanka was born.

Aruna describes their vision as "mutual completion" which is about working together to achieve shared goals. He believes that each person has a special "Universal Task" and that in finding and following this "task" we will be building a better world for all. Following this philosophy, Chaminda left his well-paid job as an NGO aid and development worker to volunteer fulltime at ECSL to make a "real difference".

A down side of the large amount of international development aid that Sri Lanka receives is a culture of financial dependence that sometimes develops in NGOs. In contrast, ECSL is entirely self funding. Community members have contributed their own resources and they have a number of farm-based businesses, with more in development. ECSL has 450 loman brown chickens, 1400 indigenous chickens (most are not yet at the point of laying eggs), 38 turkeys, 48 cows, 37 goats. They sell on average 3600 chicken eggs per week and 350 litres of milk. They have two plantations of 800 organic papaya trees, 60 cashew trees, hundreds of pumpkins and eggplants and, when the rains come, will plant rice.

Taking fresh milk to the co-op

At this stage, much of the development is experimental, an ongoing learning and evolution process. For example, change will soon be made on the chicken front. The loman brown chickens are susceptible to disease and need to be kept in their barn. At the end of the dry season, feed for the chickens is costing more than their eggs are worth. However, the local chickens are disease resistant and can free range to feed themselves and their eggs (although less frequent) fetch double the price of the loman browns’.

Right now, everyone is hoping for rain. The paddy fields are bare. Other farmers have burnt their fields (they don't do this at ECSL) and are waiting to plant. The monsoon is now a few weeks late, which makes things very difficult. And it's not just for the farmers. Each night now up to 50 wild elephants come seeking food. Farmers try to scare them away from their homes and crops with fire crackers, yelling, bonfires and lights. It's dangerous and tiring but, at this time of year, it's a struggle for survival. These conflicts are common in Sri Lanka, as wild land for elephants to free range diminishes.

At ECSL, they are wondering how to balance the needs of people and nature. Stephanie, an Irish permaculture teacher from Auroville in India is developing a permaculture plan for the kitchen garden. A permaculture plan for the whole site would be great - trees, mulch and compost are particularly important.

Buildings are efficient - compact and made of local materials, with traditional mud walls and palm frond roofs. The community is off the grid, with a number of small solar panels providing for LED lights and a water pump.

Volunteer accommodation - natural earth building

One of the intentions of ECSL is to experiment and share useful technologies and lessons that they learn for the benefit of local subsistence farmers. For example, the community here has developed a natural pesticide, made from a number of local plants, that they have distributed to the neighboring farmers to try. They are also developing their organic papaya orchards to demonstrate to local farmers that they can be grown without chemical fertilisers or pesticides. As they develop their herds of cows and goats, they intend to develop a cow and goat bank system, including training and support, to assist local farmers.

The need for agrochemical-free farming was highlighted to me by the alarming level of kidney failure in Sri Lanka. Current research by the World Health Organisation shows a growing problem around the world - that began to emerge amongst poor rural farmers in the 1990s. It appears that ground water tainted with cadmium and arsenic from chemical fertilisers and pesticides are a key factor. Chaminda and the crew are trying to work out how best to assist the farmers in their area.

On the social level, sometimes ECSL volunteers teach English at the local school. They have also established and run the WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) network in Sri Lanka.

As a small and new community, ECSL has achieved a surprising amount already. They are warm and welcoming and provide volunteers with a great opportunity to be a part of the life of a small rural community. They are open to new community members and volunteers (particularly if you have skills in website development or alternative technologies). For more information, go to http://ecocommunitylk.blogspot.com

Article by Chris Gibbings. Chris is co-founder of the Bellbunya Sustainable Community (www.bellbunya.org.au) on the Sunshine Coast in Australia and Vice President of the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania and Asia (http://genoa.ecovillage.org/).

Chris meeting with community members