RCE West Sweden-2014
a) Criteria/ indicators used to assess aspects of RCE work/ project: Character count 300 words:
During an evaluation of the involved partners these are the criteria we have used in the telephone interviews. Activities/projects with connection to RCE West Sweden. Actual and potential collaboration/connection to other partners. Aspects of strong sustainability in each activity/project. Participation in RCE WS network meetings and workshops. Emerging ideas and initiatives from networking with other RCE WS partners. Participatory Action Research approach in the emerging nodes. Agency; hosting RCE WS meetings and inviting other potential partners to RCE WS.
b) Successes of the RCE and lessons learned: Character count 300 words:
The broad network meetings, where partners with various backgrounds and areas of action meet, are very important to all the contacted partners. They give new inspiration and broader perspectives to their own projects. They spread knowledge and experiences among the participants and generate a learning process. They lead to new relations and collaborations. They empower the participants as we all meet as equals. They give a broader understanding and context to the separate activities and projects. They generate a multitude of stories that give input to what a sustainable development could look like.
c) Challenges experiences: Character count 300 words:
One challenge is to balance between driving the RCE WS too proactively and to have a too lay back trust in the process waiting for partners and nodes to have agency. One of the partners shared an experience from a project and illustrated this dilemma with a metaphor. In the beginning of the project they were so concerned that the ‘ship should be seaworthy that they kept on building the gunwale until it was so high that no one else could embark’.
A challenge that keeps popping up is the organisational form of RCE WS and the implications this might have on funding. So for we have not changed our polycentric form.
A challenge that keeps popping up is the organisational form of RCE WS and the implications this might have on funding. So for we have not changed our polycentric form.
