Community based change management

In tribal areas – where life totally depends on natural resources – the Center for Environmental Education (CEE) supports sustainable development by improving the quality of life of communities through initiatives led by ‘community entrepreneurs’. The latter are selected from Rural Higher Education Institutes. They originate from and adopt the tribal areas as their home. They work with village committees to introduce the necessary changes to improve drinking water, livelihoods and primary education. In Gujarat (India) ten community entrepreneurs focus on generating financial and social capital in the thirty villages. They have a direct stake in the joint venture with the communities. Their core business is change management. Change without loosing the existing sustainable values and practices of the villages. Learning takes place at the individual, organizational and social level. The approach is called Samvardhan which stands for ‘nurturing nature and people’. This was a project that really resonated with me when attending the Tiblisi+30 conference.