7 Stages to Sustainability (7SS) - Framework for Action

In addition to providing a framework for public, private, and civil society collaboration in The Global Summit, 7 Stages to Sustainability is also a curriculum advancing Asset-Based Community Development which empowers grass-roots communities themselves to use what they have to meet local needs.

Stages 1-3: THE INTERNAL FOCUS

  1. Build a team around your ideal future – find like minded community members, local and international organizations, socially conscious entrepreneurs, and others who are working to address critical social and environmental challenges in your focus area. Create partnerships in your empowerment.  Show your Partners In Empowerment (PIE) how it works. RELATED EDUCATIONAL TOPICS: What is Sustainability (social, economic, environmental)?, "How to" find the Ideal Partners, Aligning/ finding Your Passion & Purpose / Establishing a Common Vision, Self Empowerment, Community Engagement/ Outreach, Partnership, Best Practices / Participatory Approaches to Community Development, etc.
  1. Assess your assets. Take inventory. Look around you and you’ll be surprised to see how many sustainable human (friends or friends of friends) and natural resources are right in your backyard that can developed to create economic opportunities for people in need.  You just need to speak to people and take stock and you’ll realize your network and resources are far greater than you ever imagined. RELATED EDUCATIONAL TOPICS: Local Resource & Asset Management, Self-esteem building, Financial Planning, Creative Resources Exchanges/ Complimentary Currency Systems, etc.
  1. Make a plan – Work with your team to find the true, root causes of local problems, and barriers to a healthy, sustainable future. Outline local needs, your mission, goals, and then actions. Agree who is responsible for what and how you will share immediate and long-term responsibility. RELATED EDUCATIONAL TOPICS: Project Development, Evaluation/ How to Measure Results, Needs-Assessments, Strategic / Action Planning, Time Management, TEAM ACCOUNTABILITY, etc.

Stages 4-6: THE EXTERNAL FOCUS

  1. Get the Basics. Educate Yourself and Learn from Others – Get the knowledge you need to make an impact. Help mentor and train those who are going to carry on the work.  Get them the vocational training, education and technical support THEY need. Get technical support in project management to develop and deliver what is needed next.  RELATED EDUCATIONAL TOPICS: Forums to Exchange skills, experiences and ideas, inspire & support multi-disciplinary solutions for your ideal future. Basic training in collaboration & communication techniques, etc.
  1. Put the Pieces Together. Identify, exchange & invest in critical information and appropriate technologies in key areas-- Health, energy, transportation, construction, agriculture, water, IT, education, etc.
    - Assess and evaluate the most durable, simplest, cheapest, LOCALLY appropriate technologies to add value to your inherent strengths (i.e. from 7SS Stage 2 outcomes). Do your homework - nothing is impossible! RELATED EDUCATIONAL TOPICS: Appropriate Technology 101, Urban Planning, Green Building & Design, technology transfer, banking & investment, "How to pitch your idea, promote/ protect your intellectual property, invention", etc.
  1. Turn Assets into Income & Impact. Identify and Increase Access to (Social & Economic) Markets. Apply your existing resources (i.e. from stage 1, 2 & 3), new skills, knowledge and technologies (i.e. from stage 4 & 5) to develop products and services that value and protect the local heritage on a global scale. Build on small successes & harness the power of the private sector where you can. RELATED WORKSHOP TOPICS: Fair Trade Standards, 'The Impact of What We Buy', Understanding Product Supply Chains, Social and Environmental Impact, Branding, Marketing/ Communications, "How to" find your Market Niche, Attracting & Keeping Conscious Customers, Corporate Ethics/Social Responsibility, etc.

Stage 7: THE CULMINATION

  1. Deepen Impact & Build Long-term Self-Reliance – Make sure you have the structure and systems to ensure self-creating, self-repairing, environmentally and economically sustainable benefits. You can’t be there all the time, so projects need to run on their own. Reinforce, refine and deepen the mutually supportive multi-sector structures. Enhance the opportunities for synergistic exchange, social impact and economic self-reliance. RELATED EDUCATIONAL TOPICS: "How to" Create Multi-sector / Public-Private Partnerships & Win-Win-Win Economic Systems; Whole System System / Sustainable Cities; Innovative Social Businesses modeling Ecosystems, i.e. Bio-mimicry, Fractal, Complex and Emergent Systems, etc.

We are looking for Sustainable Results. How do we know we have them? Local Communities are socially empowered and economically integrated in the global community. Dependence on foreign partners is reduced & social benefits increase. It benefits non-profits in reducing duplication through locally-led collaboration strategies. Emphasizing in-kind resources and use of what stakeholders have, it is not dependent on funding to create solutions.

In uncertain economic times, 7SS will help ensure delivery of critical services.

More about "7 Stages to Sustainability (7SS)"

ORIGINS: Where did it come from?

While Empowerment WORKS' founder identified it as a way to advance locally-led community development, starting in Africa, over the past decade of action research across diverse sectors of society, it turns out, 7 Stages to Sustainability is a universal process and pattern inherent in the most efficient forms of technical innovation, community development and even writing music. Through The Global Summit and other on & off-line forums, Empowerment WORKS is building a global community of practice to advance 7 Stage tools, find what works and foster broader collaboration through it.

WHAT: A Global Language for Mass Collaboration

Doctors, architects, farmers, and most all professions rely on a standard process to work together. That is what 7 Stages to Sustainability offers to professionals across all sectors. When a whole network learns it, it can empower individuals, businesses, and grass-roots communities--across diverse areas of interest, and even cultures--to unite ideas, actions and most effectively co-create a sustainable future.

WHY: Transform International Development & Policy Making

Many successful programs fail when they are replicated on a larger scale due to lack of local ownership. 7SS meets the need for wider service delivery by scaling up a transferable process that honors local self-determination.

In addition to providing a framework for public, private, and civil society collaboration in The Global Summit, 7 Stages to Sustainability is also a curriculum advancing Asset-Based Community Development which empowers grass-roots communities themselves to use what they have to meet local needs.

HOW: From the ground up & the inside out

More info / collaborate: www.empowermentworks.org