You are convinced that the world needs big change, and you’re engaged in realizing it. But it is easy to be overwhelmed by the complexity and scale of it all. You want to boost the high aspirations and great potential around you. But you often feel pulled down into the mundane, wondering how to do this better. You may think about the possible collapse of civilization at some epic scale, but are determined to realize a resilient, flourishing future. You know that this future is one that is hugely different from today and what you can imagine in detail, and yet are convinced of its possibility. You want to work with a community to access and develop the leading knowledge, tools and actions to make this possibility real.

The Transformations Forum is for you.

There are three simple Forum activities: seeing the scale and complexity with clarity, with that clarity discussing the most strategic and impactful actions to take with unusual groupings, and taking action. But the heart of the Forum is the space it provides to get outside of your daily environment for increased creativity, new insights and unusual connections – for powerful transformational action. The Forum supports you to sustain your commitment and direction, and develop the communities it requires.

The Forum works with you to develop your needed transformation system.

The vision of the Forum is a world transformed into a flourishing planet that is inclusive and just.

The Forum’s mission is to urgently co-create and amplify transformational infrastructure and initiatives that systemically support the emergence of that future aligned with and going beyond Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our values inspire radical informed action, grounded in relationships that honor reciprocity, responsibility, respect and the wisdom of the ages.

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Activities

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To enhance your transformation system, these three Forum activities are undertaken with stakeholder co-ownership and active participation:

1) Seeing: Analyzing issue systems with respect to transformation knowledge and actions.

Leading mapping, data visualization and other methods applied with stakeholder participation, produce breakthroughs in seeing large, complex systems as key intervention points and development stages of coherence and transformation.

2) Connecting: Discussing with those involved in transformative action how to accelerate it.

Gatherings include both people with broad transformation experience and expertise, and people involved in addressing a particular transformation issue (including “unusual suspects”). Discussions focus on   generating coherence in aims and strategies to achieve transformations at scale, including identifying gaps in effort, blockages to breakthroughs, unproductive duplications, conflicts, and redundancies.

3) Radical action with learning: Enhancing action and learning about transformation

The Forum provides a safe space for questioning and critiquing assumptions; undertaking strategic action learning projects; and integrating leading tools and knowledge widely into transformation activities. The result is entrepreneurial actions to advance transformation.

 

OUR BEGINNING

The Forum began in late 2016 through conversations with individuals and initiatives working for transformation in the direction of the SDGs.  With the support of the global science community of Future Earth, the Forum undertook a series of webinars in late spring, 2017 on some critical transformation topics. On Sept. 2, 2017, in concert with the Transformations2017 conference, 37 stakeholders came together and began action planning on transformation action coherency issues.  Since then, they have been broadening the community to include other transformation entrepreneurs and initiatives, many virtual and face-to-face meetings, and many on-going actions to test ideas and support transformational action.

In September 2019 Forum participants produced a €16 million proposal detailing their approach. With conversations on-going to raise funds, the community continues to advance its development.

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Steward Teams

Steward Teams are formed around three pathways, designed around how people approach transformation.  Some focus on a particular geography, such as a particular political jurisdiction or watershed;  these are seen as Place-Based Pathways to transformation.  Others focus on particular issues, such as climate change or food security;  these are seen as Issues-Based Pathways.  The Forum’s Theory of Transformational Change emphasizes the importance of addressing Deep Systems that impede transformation efforts, and this has produced a Deep Systems Pathway.

Steward Teams form within these pathways as the energy and need arises.  Their role is to develop powerful transformations systems (T-Systems), by developing the three activities of seeing, connecting and radical action with learning.  By the end of 2019, there were eleven T-Systems at various stages of development, along with two Working Groups to support the T-Systems’ development. Click on their names to find out more.

 

Deep Systems Pathway Steward Teams

  1. Transforming Capacity
  2. Transforming Evaluation
  3. Transforming Finance
  4. Transforming Governance and Organizing
  5. Transforming Innovation
  6. Transforming Narratives 

Place-Based Pathway Steward Teams

  1. Transforming Place-Based Systems
  2. Transforming Gulf of Maine
  3. Transforming with LINEA (Sub-Saharan Africa)
  4. Transforming with Regenerative Communities

Issue-Based Pathway Steward Teams

  1. Transforming Land and People Systems

Working Groups

  1. Transforming System Analysis
  2. Transformations Interaction Platform