Activating the Resource of Community with Libby Hoffman

What can happen when we invest in supporting people and communities to have a voice and take leadership rather than imposing solutions from the outside? This conversation with Libby Hoffman explores the story of a community-led process, begun after the civil war in Sierra Leone, to reconcile and work together to lead change at the local level. We see that when the health of a community is restored, all kinds of resources can be activated. March 14, 2023.   

Resources and links: 

Kinship: A Hub to Amplify the Power of Community: This is Beth Tener’s current initiative. These Ways of Kinship videos highlight some of the themes of this podcast conversation.

Libby Hoffman’s website featuring her book The Answers Are There

Catalyst for Peace - A peace and development foundation that Libby founded and directs.

Fambul Tok - The Sierra Leone organization, led by John Caulker, that works with post-conflict countries to create community-led reconciliation that leads to peace.

Fambul Tok documentary - This award-winning film tells the story of the community-based approach to reconciliation in Sierra Leone. It is free to watch online.

Inviting Leadership - This inspiring short video is about  inviting and encouraging leadership of local people, featuring Lilliam and Fatim, who Libby mentioned.

The Community Cup - In this video, Libby does a live demonstration of  the metaphor of the community as a cup that is broken and can be healed.

Mending the Community Cup - In this blog, Beth Tener shares learnings from her trip to Sierra Leone, with links to more articles and resources. 

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Questions 

1. Libby and John came into communities with “eyes to see” their innate resources and leadership potential. Where have you encountered a person or group situation where people saw you this way? What was then possible? 
2. This conversation explored the idea of investing time and creating space for learning and reflection, whether as groups, in a friendship, or as collaborators, as John and Libby had with their car talk time. How do you create time for this in your life and work? Where could you invest more in this valuable practice?

Audio editing by: Podcasting for Creatives