10 Pathways to Scaling Regeneratively
As part of regenerosity.world webinar series, we invite voices from the field to help us delve deeper into the emerging field of regenerative philanthropy.
In our second webinar, we invited Joseph Ntunyoi from Laikipia Permaculture Centre, in Kenya, Boniface Gomes from Bangladesh Association for Sustainable Development, Bangladesh and Sheeba Sen from Alaap, India to together with our participants explore the theme of scaling regeneratively.
Together with a global audience of other projects, partners, funders and network weavers that make up the Regenerosity network, we identified the following ten pathways for helping projects to scale regeneratively.
Re-awaken Indigenous Knowledge
In the minority world, most of our communities are many generations removed from the wisdom of our ancestors who were connected to Earth’s rhythms and knew how to be good stewards of life. However, there are still many around the world where despite colonialism, their elders or their stories are alive, or remaining memories are coded in their culture. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is growing in presence and popularity in the global conversations about how to transform our world. One path to scale regeneratively, is to begin by creating a bridge to the existing practices, stories, rituals and ways of knowing rooted in ancient cultures that worked regeneratively with the land, water, soil and air cycles.
Change culture and mindsets
It is said that the biggest leverage point we have is at the level of our worldviews or mindsets. Financial capital invested in regenerative projects should be transformed not only into natural or living capital but also cultural capital, changing mindsets and embedding nature-inspired principles in the culture of the funder. In that way, scaling can happen organically, arising from deeper levels of understanding of nature. Through expanding the worldview of all involved, hopefully we can achieve the critical mass needed for planetary-scale transformation. Stories, inspiration and opportunities for reflection help both identify the seeds of a regenerative culture in the dominating culture and also offer mirrors for potential blind spots.
Go for Adaptability over Replicability
There are no two places alike, no two people, no two cultures, no two soil biota... Each place is unique and has its own essence. Scaling regeneratively means increasing people’s capacity to understand their contexts, discover their unique potential, and adapt to their local opportunities. In the Laikipia Permaculture Centre, their project scaled by looking at a problematic invasive species with the mindset of potential, then turning that into a source of income for the communities. By producing oil out of the seeds of the prickly pear, they helped to interrupt the spread of the exotic plant.
Another possible route to increasing the reach or scale of an initiative is to onboard other existing partners, organised ‘wholes’, integrating another village, an existing women’s or community group. Tapping into structured groups may accelerate adoption and adaptation of new practices into their existing networks and contexts. In Laikipia, they also increased their reach by onboarding more and more women’s community groups from nearby villages.
Discover Potential, then Find the Trimtabs
One of the key principles of regenerative design is to find the leverage points of intervention, acupuncture points or as we say in permaculture “maximum result for minimum effort”. That sweet spot is what Buckminster Fuller called a trimtab - that little part connected to the rudder of a ship whose small movements can create big changes in direction. One pathway to scaling is to identify the early adopters, build their capacity to create change, and their potential to inspire. Ideas can also be trimtabs. Find strategies that can demonstrate how a new way of thinking can create an outsized ability to increase a community’s potential for holding more life - human, wild animals and plants alike. In the story of Alaap’s project, the trimtabs are old water tanks, that when regenerated will bring not only tangible benefits of reversing drought and igniting the economy, but also creating cultural connection, re-awakening indigenous knowledge and helping to develop the potential of the landscape.
“I’ll Believe it when I see it”
This old adage of “I’ll believe it when I see it” is the reason why so many projects start with a pilot or demonstration site. These are high leverage spaces that can be used to not only show alternative practices, but also train and build capacity around those practices. They help prototype strategies and designs specific to that place so that the learnings from a pilot phase can inform how the project can grow in that particular context. Especially for smallholder farmers or other stakeholders who are already under hardship, being able to see the positive benefits of changes in their practices can melt away some of the barriers to transitioning to nature-informed design. Focusing on immediately visible value that new approaches can bring helps create interest and increase the will to engage.
Transfer Knowledge and Learning in Relevant and Agile ways
At the heart of any regenerative practice is the principle of increasing the capacity and capability of living systems to evolve and generate more value. This often starts with developing the capacity and unique genius of people in that place. It is important to design into programmes opportunities for reflection, learning, exchange and evolution in a way that also grows people's capacity to support scaling programmes. A common strategy is to build the capability of community multipliers to engage new participants into the programme, a training of trainers approach. Such processes are also full of challenges, mistakes and adaptations, so creating opportunities for different groups to come together, celebrate, integrate learning, and cross pollinate can help with scaling successfully. Transferring knowledge in ways that are locally and culturally relevant can go a long way. In BASD, for example, the team created songs to spread good practice around dealing with Covid19 in vulnerable communities as part of a large group designing a permaculture radio programme.
Support Translation between Paradigms
Often one of the limiting factors for many regenerative projects as they endeavor to find funding for scaling is a difference in paradigm. The projects’ more holistic and systemic approaches, highly place-based and designed for multiple benefits, often don’t fit neatly into funders’ and investors’ traditional focus areas and tick-boxes. There is definitely much needed work to be done amongst funders to evolve their funding practices and overarching strategies; however, this is long-term work. In the meantime, it can be useful to invite in bridge builders, people who understand both paradigms and can help adapt requirements of funders to the needs of the projects and vice-versa, especially in the initial trust building phase.
Resource and Support at Higher Levels of Scale
As is reflected in evolution, regenerative projects will also develop towards more complexity, maturity and diversity. Scale can be achieved not only by growing one initiative but by weaving initiatives together at the level of the larger ‘whole’ the project is nested in. When thinking about funding projects at scale, it can be beneficial to also support capacity building, better governance, and collaboration at a higher level of scale than the project itself. Identifying and designing strategies to meet common needs, common dreams and overcome common barriers at a network level can help increase the impact of many initiatives at once.
Power to the People
There is no better way of scaling a project than one that increases sovereignty, independence and self-determination for the people that are part of the project. For true long-term sustainability and growth, it is paramount to design projects that have shared power in their core principles through initiatives which address land rights and land access, strategies for the development of the commons, shared infrastructure and finally, support for community-level governance.
Build Financial Management Capacity
Even if initiatives can access funds, many initiatives lack the experience of managing large amounts of financial capital. In early stages of the project, it is advisable to identify talent in local organisations and communities who can be supported in mastering such tasks. For more participatory approaches, start with smaller sums so all stakeholders can build trust in the process, while using these opportunities in a developmental way. Eventually initiatives should be encouraged and supported to create their own funds and other financial instruments towards more financial autonomy for their members.