In the last few years many groups have been working to achieve changes to their local food system and, by default, their communities. Local community food initiatives are being mapped leading to projects like the City of Yarra Community Food System Google map, the VEIL food map, Local Harvest, gleaning maps such as Falling Fruit Bendigo Google maps for finding local bonanzas of forgotten or neglected fruit trees, regional producer guides and ‘foodprinting’ at a local level such as Know Your Foodbowl, inspired by the Oxford Foodprint report, being just some examples.
As I sat recently talking with a group of locals in a semi-rural area the conversation once more turned to mapping. This time the focus was slightly different. The approach discussed was called asset based community development and is a type of mapping that focuses on strengths, similar to the strengths based programs so effective in mental health work, rather than focusing on a problem to be solved. If you are interested in looking at reality as if it is ‘resplendent with possibilities and potential’ then you may find this approach as exciting as I did. It is claimed that tapping into this potential has ‘the capacity to leverage social and organisational change well beyond the expectations of existing practice’. In other words, when we put our mind to it, a new voice can emerge for change in a community at all levels.
How do people know what is possible? This is where leadership and local knowledge come in. Whatever the realm, there will be someone who has experienced or understands what is being done locally or elsewhere, and the strengths and successes of that approach. By listening to these stories a conversation can begin to define what the new narrative or story is that can emerge when we all join with the assumption that what has been done in the past may be built on to serve our needs into the future. When people started to outline what they would like to see, the how can start to emerge coincidentally. In the case of the food system, community resilience and climate change that certainly is the case.
So many people are aware of the need to change our practices when it comes to sourcing fresh, nutritious food that treads lightly on the planet regarding resource inputs for its growth. Witness the booming local and organic movements, premised on a sustainable environmental impact of what we choose to eat and how we prefer it to be produced.
Why not invite a few people involved in different community groups of interest to you for a cuppa and see what conversations emerge? Just as each of us differs, so, too do our communities. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to understanding our unique strengths but there are some good examples of how to learn about the whole being more than the sum of the parts.
