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Via Institute | Global Dialogue
Event Calendar - October 2009
Intentions
- Form an international community for dialogue, learning and exchange
- Seed the next generation of transformational leadership
- Build capacity for community and organizational sustainability
- Create an emerging global network of support that is
cross-generational, diverse,
inclusive and grounded in systems that create a more responsible way of living and a better quality of life.
Objectives
- Recognize and convene transformational community leaders
- Establish Via International Scholars program to actively engage students from institutions of higher education in dialogue and exchange with community leaders
- Design an effective format that provides the space and time for creative exchange and candid dialogue to explore pressing issues
- Develop a continuum of learning that connects participants over time and space and engages them in an on-going series of dialogues, gatherings, and experiential learning opportunities
- Provide a substantial body of educational outreach support including multi-media, workshops, service learning trips, courses, research, etc.
Participant Overview
"Participants represent a wide array of individuals on many continents. They are entrepreneurs, organizers, and spiritual agents who have against extreme odds and forces pressed on to create transformative programs, organizations and systems that address human issues and have had a broad impact on situations of poverty (both physical and spiritual).
Truly leaders, these individuals have called forth principles, organized people around those principles, and established systems that serve significant numbers of people. They have confronted existing tensions that limit human potential by addressing issues that include hunger, poverty, war, the misuse of natural resources, and the decline of indigenous cultures in lieu of the drive for commercial market economies.
These individuals have formed new kinds of communities and responses that demonstrate new possibilities for humanity’s evolution. The approaches, methods and strategies, although grounded in certain cultures, are nationless and provide, we believe, the seeds for new ways of organizing as a human community.
We began to envision the possibility of gathering these people in one room and pondering what would they say about their experience? How have they made what they do scaleable? What are the forms of governance and leadership that can transcend nation-states? If they were all together what would emerge? And, who will replace them in the future? ..."
Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne
Sarvodaya
Sri Lanka
David Arrivillaga
SHARE Guatemala
Guatemala
Bhavana Dee
Auroville Village Action
India
Dr. Larry Emerson
Community Activist
Navajo Nation
Andrew Morikawa
Community Foundation
of the New River Valley
Virginia
Elisa Sabatini
Via International
California
Javier Vargas
Iberoamericana League
Latin America/ Spain
Kathy Vargas
Community Foundation
of Queretaro
Mexico
