The problem
The escalation of war conflicts in different parts of the world, the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ecological crisis have forced many people to look for new places to live. In Basque Country, in 2023, applications for international protection increased by 50% compared to the previous year.
The call
In this context, “Preparing the Land” (PTL) is a meeting that seeks to bring together in Bilbao (Basque Country, Spanish state) agents of change who live or have lived far from home. That is, “people who take creative actions to address social problems” (Ashoka, 2016: 2) who at the same time live far from home in Bilbao or in Basque Country in general. It also convenes people who are change agents native to Basque Country but who have lived away from home at some point in their lives.
What inspires this meeting is the possibility of reflecting on the complicity of facing the development of our lives by creating and/or collaborating in initiatives while living (or having lived) far from our networks, traditions, and place of origin.
When and where
PTL will take place on Saturday November 9th at KOOP SF 34, a reference space for collaborative and intercultural work - and co-organizers of the project - in Bilbao and Basque Country in general.
How
The day will be facilitated under the Open Space methodology, a globally recognized tool that takes advantage of the complexity and diversity of ideas as a motor for the self-organization of people to propose and discuss the issues that matter most. The question that will guide the meeting will be: How to collaborate to promote integration in Basque Country living or having lived far away from home?
What for?
In a context of increasing international instability and migratory flows, we know that there are ideas that are waiting for their moment to be thought and developed, but that have not connected with the right initiatives, stories, critiques, or questions to sprout and burst forth. The PLT team has the tools to bring the right people together and properly facilitate a context for those meaningful experiences and conversations to take place.
How to participate
Register at the following link: https://forms.gle/Y4jSvK25xhnW2qcx7
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
The objective
“Preparing the land” aims to promote reflection and collaboration between people and projects that address the challenge of integration and inclusion of different cultures in Basque Country.
The key activities
We will deploy a convening and facilitation strategy inspired by the Open Space Technology. We will take advantage of its ability to navigate projects and host highly complex meetings to bring together the right people and generate a context conducive to listening, respect and sharing.
The event will be free of charge, food will be provided and there will be a childcare space so that, as much as possible, we maximize the possibilities for those invited to participate. Funding is needed mainly to cover these aspects.
Expected products
From the meeting will be generated:
- A report with the minutes of the conversations held.
- A video with testimonies and experiences of the participants.
- An investigation through a conceptual analysis using the video, the report (districts in the previous points) and the experience of the facilitation team as main inputs.
Why this is important
With whom
PTL seeks to bring together in Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) people who are changemakers who live or have lived far from home. We refer to those people who are cultural, artistic, social, economic and/or educational agents who are taking creative actions in the Basque Country far from their networks, traditions and place of origin.
Throughout history, the Basque people have had to flee their land for political and economic reasons in search of a better life, being received in different parts of the world. We believe that the people who have inherited this history bring back lessons that can be of incalculable value.
What moves us
We believe that the economic, social and cultural future of Basque Country is at stake in its ability to address the inequalities that emerge in contexts of high socio-cultural diversity and in its ability to anticipate and identify those that still remain in the shadows.
Doing the work of “preparing the land” aims at rescuing a labor that is often made invisible, which is at the same time essential for sowing and harvesting. It is also a metaphor that illustrates the importance of modifying certain characteristics of the environment in order to generate better conditions so that, when their time comes, some seeds will sprout.
Some principles which inspire us
Exploration
There are no concrete expectations in relation to an outcome or the continuity of a process. What motivates this initiative is the curiosity to bring together people with certain characteristics and histories to talk about a broad question and a methodology that accompanies it. It will be up to the participants to decide what we will talk about.
Research
This milestone may (or may not) be the beginning of a process that includes more activities. If so, it will be analyzed from the participatory action research approach under the question: What elements are recognized when change agents who work in Basque Country and live or have lived far from home meet to talk?
Epistemic justice
We recognize that our prejudices and social imaginaries can threaten the validity of the knowledge and wisdom of certain groups, especially those historically marginalized. At the same time, we are aware that there are people who have lived experiences that still cannot be properly narrated due to the lack of interpretative and conceptual resources that our cultural framework offers.
From the peripheries to the center
In any activity in the public space or related to participation, there will be people and realities that are absent. In general, it is not those who want to participate, but those who can. We assume the democratic challenge of designing the different activities and calls considering those absences that due to care work, language barriers, labor precariousness, among many other causes, are not used to participate.
Main readings on which we rely
- Rahman, R., Herbst, K., & Mobley, P. (2016). More than Simply “Doing Good”: A Definition of Changemaker. What Children, Truckers, and Superheroes all have in Common. Ashoka Changemakers.
- Owen, Harrison (1997). Open Space Technology: A user’s guide. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
- Observatorio Vasco de Inmigración (2022). Tendencias y retos en la integración de la población inmigrante en Euskadi: análisis de la Encuesta de Población Inmigrante Extranjera (EPIE) 2018. Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco.
Team and experience
Along with your contribution, “Preparing the Land” is being made possible thanks to the support of the following people from the motor team and sponsoring entities.
Joaquín Gregorio Oliva
He is a Chilean facilitator, researcher and consultant in citizen participation, social innovation and community development. He co-founded and participated in the project Circo Social La Chimba in Santiago, Chile, using the performing arts for community development between 2016 and 2019. In 2021 he moves to Bilbao, the city where he currently resides. In 2022 he finishes the Master in Citizen Participation and Community Development at the Public University of Basque Country. He is part of Glocalminds and Gune Irekiaren Lagunak.
Unai Gaztelu
He is a father in continuous learning. After 5 years living in Tanzania where he co-founded Njombe Beyond and Njombe Innovation Academy, he is back in Euskal Herria, his place of origin. He navigates creating/supporting commons of housing, knowledge, free/active education, etc. under the Peer to Peer paradigm with Liberating Structures, local currencies, self-management (holacracy, sociocracy), meditation, Getting Things Done, Strategic doing, among other frameworks.
Matar
He has been treasurer and project coordinator of Koop SF 34 for 6 years. Entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience in different community development projects in Bilbao.
Entities without which this would not be possible:
Gune Irekiaren Lagunak
It is the community of learning and practice of the Open Space methodology of the Basque Country, responsible for the organization of the 28th World Meeting of the Open Space Methodology held in Bilbao in 2022.
Glocalminds
It is an intercultural network of facilitators, consultants and changemakers whose purpose is to facilitate and accompany the evolution of systems towards a regenerative future in Chile and Latin America.
KOOP SF 34
It is an African-style co-working space that emerges in the heart of the San Francisco neighborhood, Bilbao in 2016. The main objective is to combat the high rate of unemployment suffered by the sub-Saharan population in Bilbao by enhancing the capabilities offered by this group.