The Latest

Building Readiness to Tackle Complexity: Problem Identification and Scoping

Posted by Liz Weaver on January 26, 2018

The Tamarack Institute and the Ontario Trillium Foundation are hosting a webinar series on the theme of Transforming Communities. We all know that transforming communities is challenging work. It can be made even more difficult when those undertaking the transforming process do not understand or focus on readiness as a pre-condition for their work.

Understanding community readiness is about due diligence and intentionality. The second webinar in the transforming communities’ series focused on problem identification and scoping. You can access the webinar recording here. You can also access a copy of the slidedeck here.

A Light in the Window

Posted by Liz Weaver on January 19, 2018

In the deep darkness of a winter night, there are lights in windows of homes across Copenhagen.

These lights are welcoming beacons, warming the coldness of winter and creating light in the darkness. This is only one action of many that create ‘lykke’ or a level of happiness that has Denmark leading the United Nations annual happiness index.

Putting a Stake in the Ground

Posted by Liz Weaver on January 8, 2018

Over the last two weeks, there has been a theme that has resonated across different meetings and presentations that I have attended and facilitated. Tamarack supported a series of workshops hosted by the Ontario Trillium Foundation with Michael McAfee, President, PolicyLink. These workshops, in London, Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa were an opportunity for organizations to consider how to more effectively engage their community partners. Michael pushed participants to consider clarifying their community change approach. He told them if they did not have a clear, evidence-based understanding of what it was they were working to change, they were spinning their wheels. This is critical when you think about community engagement. Purposeful engagement means that you know what you want to engage others around. You put your stake in the ground. It does not mean that there is no flexibility, but if you have done your research, and have your evidence, it is easier to engage others. The engagement is focused and driving toward change.

Global Changemakers Build Community in Israel

Posted by Liz Weaver on January 8, 2018

It started in 2011 with a small group of changemakers and grew into the Global Roundtable for Community Change. These passionate leaders were interested in the intersection between citizen voice and community impact. They also explored the differences and similarities of community change efforts across different country experiences.

Some Big Changes at Tamarack

Posted by the Tamarack Institute on October 19, 2017

Big things are happening here at Tamarack Institute―and we have a big announcement to share―but first we want to give you some context.

Bringing Collective Impact Backbones into Focus

Posted by Liz Weaver on October 10, 2017

Building an effective Collective Impact effort is understanding how to apply the framework to both the unique context of the community and the issue being addressed. The five conditions of Collective Impact provide a minimum specifications approach: developing a common agenda; building shared measurement; aligning efforts through mutually reinforcing activities; focusing on continuous communications and engagement and supporting the work through backbone infrastructure.

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Building Readiness to Tackle Complexity: Problem Identification and Scoping

A Light in the Window

Putting a Stake in the Ground

Global Changemakers Build Community in Israel

Some Big Changes at Tamarack

Bringing Collective Impact Backbones into Focus

Tamarack

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