Goats on Backs #19 #cong20

 The Covid pandemic showed the essential and important role grassroots organising plays in communities and the lives of individuals. Charities and social enterprises role in Society 3.0 will be critical to an inclusive and fair society.

During the Covid pandemic charities and social enterprises faced huge and rapid change. There was incredible work done in communities in North Donegal. Society 3.0 will need the energy and bravery that they, and kid goats, have shown through lockdown.

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1. Society 3.0 will need the energy of the kid goat jumping on the backs of other goats.
2. Bravery, willingness to fail, creativity to try new things will be key in Society 3.0.
3. Rapid change can overwhelm. We could loose experience and passion of individuals if change overwhelms them.
4. Groups in the community doing important work can help to develop the energy of the kid goat through design thinking and fear setting tools.

From Derry originally, Carlene spent six years living in Switzerland where she worked in Business Development with a technology company.

After her son Aidan was born, the pull home grew too strong and in 2017 Carlene decided to move to her mothers’ home – Inishowen, Co Donegal – where she has a large family network.

She continued to work with the tech company remotely from her home office before deciding to the take the leap in February 2019 to set up her own business consultancy firm called Sáilespin.

Working from her home office in Inishowen, Co Donegal, Carlene is involved in a number of interesting projects including Inishowen Algae looking at land based algae as a biomass, Spraoi a social enterprise with digital fabrication lab, and a marine engineering company looking to reduce the carbon emissions of the local fishing fleet.

Carlene is planning to continue building on the projects she started in 2020 and is particularly excited about the Inishowen Algae project that she’s working on.

You can connect with Carlene via email, LinkedIn or see her work in  work with Sáilespin.

By Carlene Lyttle.

With only a 2 kilometre radius to explore, I found a field with goats. I would spend the early days of lockdown cycling there with my son to watch the kid goat jump on the backs of the adults. I was rapt with the unbridled energy of the kid, launching itself at the nanny goat, often missing her back, getting shrugged off, or slipping off the side, all to the disinterest of the other goats. The memory of the goat kid’s energy and bravery, in the face of a community who were weary and indifferent,  made me think that society, amidst the global pandemic, worked best in the groups that channelled the kid goat’s energy, willingness to fail, and ability to keep trying.

For some, the challenges of people cocooning, job losses, isolation, brought out the kid goat, bouncing with enthusiasm. When the physical value of many community groups – like a hall or community centre, became redundant, the brave and creative community groups realised their strength was in the role to connect and communicate with their community. The Clomany Community Centre who organised the local sewing group to make face masks for those working in care homes. Fab Lab Inishowen who used their digital fabrication tools to make face shields for those working in local shops. The Exchange Buncrana who used their centre as a distribution point for a quickly established food bank. The Carndonagh Gaelic Club whose members distributed shopping to more that 400 people cocooning in the first 6 weeks following lockdown. Spraoi agus Spórt who moved the respite for children with disabled families first to Zoom and then, when safe to do so, rushed to relieve the unrelenting pressure lockdown had on some families.

Looking to others for help and interaction. Jumping on the backs of a wider group who were displaying the eye rolling exasperation of the adult goats. Others, without their familiar role in society, were crippled with a fear. For some community groups, designing by committee results in risk-averse reactions, waiting for direction (and money) from government bodies before trying something new. For all of the brave groups jumping about like kids, there were the others in the field who could not join in or support. They still had staff whose roles were continuing to be paid. They still had members and contact lists. But the rapid change had overwhelmed them, and they could not adapt or change to make any impact.

Adaptability and creativity are needed for Society 3.0. At last year’s Cong, technology as a forcer of change, was an overriding theme. Not many people foresaw a global pandemic as a quicker catalyst for change. So we don’t loose the experience, passion, and contribution of community groups who have struggled to adapt we need to provide them with tools to change.

Tools like design thinking approaches or fear setting. Design thinking for community groups where new services are problem based and designed with the user at the centre and prototyped and revised with an acceptance that some will work and some will not. Fear setting where the need to act is framed not in terms of what will be achieved but what will be lost by inaction.

Were it not for the pandemic I may not of discovered the delight of kid goats climbing on the backs of nanny goats. Were it not for the pandemic many community groups may not of had their strengths and weaknesses shown to them so starkly. At the last Congregation there were predictions of change coming to communities because of technology. This is still coming and has been accelerated with this year’s pandemic. Communities and especially the groups that play a key role in them, need to be equipped to be brave and energetic – like the goat kids.