Berkana Institute

SINCE 1991, THE BERKANA INSTITUTE HAS WORKED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A RICH DIVERSITY OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD TO STRENGTHEN THEIR COMMUNITIES BY WORKING WITH THE WISDOM AND WEALTH ALREADY PRESENT IN THEIR PEOPLE, TRADITIONS AND ENVIRONMENT. AS EDGEWALKERS, WE DO NOT DENY OR FLEE FROM OUR GLOBAL CRISES. WE RESPOND BY EXPERIMENTING WITH MANY DIFFERENT WAYS TO ENGAGE COMMUNITIES TO CREATE WHAT THEY NEED FROM WHAT THEY ALREADY HAVE. WE KNOW THAT WHATEVER THE PROBLEM, COMMUNITY IS THE ANSWER. THIS UNDERSTANDING UNDERPINS ALL OF BERKANAS WORK. WE PREPARE FOR AN UNKNOWN FUTURE BY CREATING STRONG AND SUSTAINABLE RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN COMMUNITIES AND TRANS-LOCALLY, CREATING A WORLDWIDE WEB OF DEDICATED AND SANE LEADERS. OUR WORK CAN BE CATEGORIZED IN FIVE WAYS:WE PIONEER A NEW PARADIGM FOR LEADING CHANGEWE ADVANCE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROCESSESWE SPONSOR TRANS-LOCAL LEARNINGWE INVOKE WOMENS LEADERSHIPWE SUMMON WARRIORS FOR THE HUMAN SPIRITWE WORK FROM A COHERENT THEORY OF HOW CHANGE HAPPENS IN LI

OUR ACTIVITIES FOCUS ON: SEMINARS, ON-THE-GROUND ENGAGEMENT, PUBLICATIONS, AND PROCESSES FOR TRANS-LOCAL LEARNING AMONG PIONEERING LEADERS. WEVE PRODUCED CLEAR INFORMATION IN SIMPLE AND USABLE FORM AT MINIMAL COST. WE WANT WHAT WE KNOW TO BE EASILY AVAILABLE TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE. WEVE LED THE WAY IN DEVELOPING A NEW PARADIGM OF HOW CHANGE HAPPENS IN LIVING SYSTEMS AND NEW ROLES FOR LEADERS. WE PARTNER WITH A DIVERSITY OF ORGANIZATIONS AND INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE EXPERIMENTATION WITH OUR THEORIES AND IDEAS. WEVE DEVELOPED COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES FOR PEOPLE TO WORK FOR WHAT THEY CARE ABOUT AND DISCOVER SOLUTIONS TO THEIR COMMUNITY PROBLEMS. FOR 29 YEARS, WEVE:DEVELOPED MULTIPLE CONVERSATION RESOURCE KITS: FOR WOMEN; FOR LOCAL LEADERS-IN- COMMUNITYSPONSORED CIRCLES (FOR 4 YEARS) LED BY YOUNGER LEADERS IN 30+ COUNTRIES TO ENCOURAGE LOCAL LEADERSHIP, FROM THE FOUR DIRECTIONS: LEADING THE WAYDEVELOPED PRACTICE MATERIALS FOR ENGAGING COMMUNITY :BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES TOOLKIT CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BAKER-RIPLEY INC. OF HOUSTON TX.PUBLISHED SEVERAL BOOKS AND MANY ARTICLES: TURNING TO ONE ANOTHER: SIMPLE CONVERSATIONS TO RESTORE HOPE TO THE FUTURE MARGARET WHEATLEYWALK OUT WALK ON: A LEARNING JOURNEY INTO COMMUNITIES DARING TO LIVE THE FUTURE NOW. MARGARET WHEATLEY AND DEBORAH FRIEZEADDITIONALLY, MARGARET WHEATLEYS BOOKS SERVE AS GUIDANCE FOR ALL BERKANAS WORK, INCLUDING LEADERSHIP AND THE NEW SCIENCE, PERSEVERANCE, AND WHO DO WE CHOOSE TO BEGIVEN KEYNOTES AND SEMINARS GLOBALLY LED BY BERKANAS FORMAL LEADERSSPONSORED LEARNING JOURNEYS TO INDIA, MEXICO, S. AFRICA, ZIMBABWE, JAPAN, BRAZILCREATED INITIATIVES FOR TRANS-LOCAL LEARNING, I.E. THE BERKANA EXCHANGE; THE BERKANA FELLOWSSUPPORTED AND ADDED TO THE WORK OF SEVERAL PARTNERS, INCLUDING: ART OF HOSTING; THE WORLD CAF; PEERSPIRIT AND THE CIRCLE WAY; NEW STORIES; SWARAJ UNIVERSITY.SINCE 2015 AND CONTINUING, OFFERED IN-DEPTH TRAINING TO LEADERS FROM 30+ COUNTRIES ON HOW TO BE WARRIORS FOR THE HUMAN SPIRITDEDICATING THEMSELVES TO SERVING PEOPLE. THESE TRAININGS ALSO DEVELOP A STRONG AND SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY AMONG THOSE IN THE PROGRAM.