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Natural Capitalism Solutions • Global Community Initiatives • America’s Development Foundation Guide to Community Development Gwendolyn Hallsmith L. Hunter Lovins Michael Miller Bernard Lietaer Christopher Juniper Wayne Fawbush Guide to Community Development authors— Natural Capitalism Global Community America’s Development Solutions Initiatives Foundation L. Hunter Lovins Gwendolyn Hallsmith Michael Miller Christopher Juniper Bernard Lietaer Wayne Fawbush Global Community Initiatives LASER Guide to Community Development by Gwendolyn Hallsmith, L. Hunter Lovins, Michael Miller, Bernard Lietaer, Christopher Juniper, Wayne Fawbush * Test Edition * © 2006 Global Community Initiatives Natural Capitalism Solutions America’s Development Foundation Copyediting, design, and layout by Tom Daley Unless otherwise noted, all the interpretations and findings set forth in this publication are those of the authors. Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Mobilization, Vision, and Strategic Planning Organization and Leadership ..............................................21 Local Models for Economic Renewal Organizations .....22 Stakeholder Recruitment and Training ..............................26 Participatory Visioning ..........................................................35 Ideas for Public Participation ...............................................39 Chapter 2 Creating Real Wealth Global Trends and Local Development .............................46 Conducting an Asset Inventory ...........................................64 Evaluating the Potential for Economic Renewal ..............73 Setting Goals for the Future ................................................82 SMART Targets ........................................................................84 Chapter 3 Designing Strategies for Sustainable Economic Renewal Ten Types of Community Capital ........................................90 Capital Development Strategies .........................................96 The Qualities of a Sustainable Enterprise ......................125 Optimizing Entrepreneurial Potential ..............................130 LASER Growth Industries for the 21st Century The Creative Economy .......................................................136 Information Technology and Communications .................138 Sustainable Energy .............................................................139 Ecotourism ..........................................................................141 Sustainable Agriculture .......................................................142 Chapter 4 LASER Project Implementation Engaging the Business Community ...................................146 Implementation Partnerships ............................................150 Preparing a Project Budget ................................................152 Funding Strategies ................................................................155 Procurement .........................................................................158 The Project Logic Model ....................................................160 Monitoring and Evaluation Performance Measures ......................................................162 Indicators ............................................................................163 Public Reporting ...................................................................165 *test edition* The LASE R Workbook This Guide is dedicated to the memory of Jane Jacobs (1916 - 2006) iv Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal Preface by Oscar Motomura Life happens in local communities. A paper about reinvention, about the renewal of the system we all live in, could be expressed – in essence – in that five-word sentence. But why does the reality around us seem to diminish the idea of community? Why do there seem to be other dimensions of life that actually reduce the importance of local communities? Are we distorting the very meaning of life when we “force” local communities to “feed” larger, supposedly more important systems? Is that the central distortion that is the cause of all major problems we can see in the whole, on planet Earth? Let’s go back to basics for a moment. Let’s reflect on a simple story. Suppose a group of friends decides to start a new community in the countryside of a specific region (it could be anywhere in the world). Let’s say it’s a group of 30 families. They buy land in the same area and help each other build houses and all the facili- ties necessary for survival. And from the beginning, the whole group – all thirty families – talks a lot and decides everything together. The assumption here is that since everything is going to affect the whole group, everything should be decided together. 1 *test edition* The LASE R Workbook They even select a central space in the area for their meetings and social gather- ings. Every weekend they meet and make all the necessary decisions. Children and young people also have a voice in the meetings, to make sure their needs (a place for sports, play, etc.) are properly included in the group decision-making process. The whole group makes decisions about the water system, the energy system, com- munication, roads, transportation, health, education; about production, principles for bartering, problem solving of all kinds. The process always focuses on the well-being of all the members of the community, of all 30 families. There is no exclusion of any kind. And the community evolves … Slowly the community becomes the ideal place for living that all thirty families had dreamed of together. They are all very happy. Gross National Happiness is at a maximum … Since they are not isolated from their friends who did not join the group in the “adventure,” each member of the thirty families starts to share with those friends their stories about how and why they’ve become so happy … The consequences of that sharing are predictable, right? Yes, the other friends now want to join the community as well. And they start to come. And the community grows… And grows. And grows… Soon, the weekend meetings are not effective anymore. There are too many people. The community has a problem: it’s more difficult now to reach a genuine consensus, and decision-making processes are slower. As a result, other problems develop… How can they solve this new problem created by growth? There’s a lot of discussion and many suggestions. Finally, a consensus emerges: since it’s not possible anymore to hold a meeting in which the entire community partici- 2 Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal pates, groups of families from the same region will now choose a representative. And so the weekend meeting becomes a gathering of the representatives. From here, you can probably imagine how the story evolves. The representatives become overloaded with work – during the week they are supposed to interact with the families they represent, while also being productive members of the community. So, they make a proposal: they want to become fulltime representatives and be com- pensated (with a salary?) so that they can “make a living”… In the beginning, this new arrangement works okay. Later, however, distortions ap- pear: there are conflicts of interest, power plays, the representatives become distant from the represented (from lack of genuine interest on the part of representatives, lack of deep dialogue, etc.), and much more. Instead of making decisions by consensus, the representatives also start to make decisions by voting. More and more people become dissatisfied. “Gross National Happiness” declines… The local economy also struggles with the same issues of scale. It used to be enough to produce for the small group of people who started the adventure, but as the community grew, larger and larger production processes seem to be required…Gradually the economy becomes professionalized and grows away from the community needs. Over time, another kind of logic replaces the links between the community and the needs that their economic activity was satisfying in the first place. The search for wealth of the new production system takes the place of the wealth of the whole community. Before long, new rules are created so as to facilitate the effectiveness of emerging production institutions. “Gross National Product” becomes an obsession… The values of the community are transformed day by day… From the search for each-family evolution and the search for the common good to more egotistical objec- tives, from a concern for the well-being of all living beings and the environment to a concern for better conditions for growth, economic growth…From cooperation, soli- darity and mutual help to competition. And, awkwardly, community members seem unconscious of the change process… 3 *test edition* The LASE R Workbook Now, let’s go back a step. Let’s imagine a different development of our story from that point on. Other friends want to join. Yes, they are welcome. But rather than make the first community grow, they are invited to start new communities in the vicinity. And so it goes. And the whole region grows… Now the region has many communities of 30 families. And they are all doing well. The different communities even collaborate, join forces, have joint celebrations, even produce things together, etc. A natural process of self-organization evolves. Each community maintains its own identity, develops its own forms and degree of con- tentment. The “organic” process of growth that existed in the original community remains intact. Each small community focuses on how their economic activities

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