Community incubation is about helping communities come into being.
We understand incubation in its original sense: “to maintain (something, such as an embryo or a chemically active system) under conditions favorable for hatching, development, or reaction”. There are various links between this and our understanding of communities.
Communities are alive; they are not mechanical. Because they are alive they have the potential to take care of themselves. Recognising this means supporting them in a way that they can fulfill their own potential.
Part of an enabling and empowering environment is asking constructive questions that can help in the development of an endeavour, enterprise, organisation, or community. To develop self-reflective capacity for the long-term communities are deeply involved in this endeavour. Embarking on an collective enquiry opens peoples minds, exposes opportunities, and opens doors. It allows for foundation building.
In line with our general approach we value the social processes at the core of human endeavours. We are about creating favorable conditions for communities to emerge. Helping communities to grow into a space, take up opportunities, develop capacity, etc. means they can develop relationships, communication patterns, and, crucially, develop the capacity to self-organise.
Community Enquiry
Seeing means understanding. We help people observe and listen. When there is a large degree of uncertainty, embarking on a collective enquiry is a sensbile way to go. We help by adding our facilitation and research expertise to the group.
Spaces for Change
We help communities and organisations with transformational change. Rather than manage change processes we support the carving out of enabling (offline/online) spaces for positive change to occur.
Community Facilitation
We work with groups, teams, and organisations by facilitating social processes at the inter-personal level. This ranges from meeting facilitation (online and offline) to working with groups on an ongoing basis to help them navigate the practicalities of self-organisation.