The challenge of living the values
The challenge of living the values
Discussing our respective careers, Eloise and I were struck by the great rift between purported values and real practices of some of our employers and colleagues. We were also keenly aware of the mounting anger that was consuming us as we were trying to stop further damage to the social fabric of societies and to our common home which was nature. Why was the NGO sector incapable of living its own values? Why was it turning us into angry and cynical people we hardly recognized?
Together with Joanna Maycock and Angela Philips, we wanted to find out. So we embarked on a journey to interview more than 100 women leaders in the CSO sector in Europe. What we found was both shocking and not terribly surprising. In a sector hard-wired by a commitment to do good in the world, but without the power, means and capacities to achieve its own goals, caring for self and for others seemed indecent, especially in the ocean of despair that is unfolding before our very eyes. In this context, women face double punishment. Most of them held deeply internalized beliefs that they needed to be caring for all, except for themselves, whether it is at work or at home. No matter what they accomplished, they always felt that they fell short of what was expected of them, leading to a mix of anger and exhaustion close to burn out. One of the participants in the study nailed it by saying: Our biggest mistake was to believe that our problem was personal, while it was systemic.”(source)
To avoid falling into the same pattern, we have tried to design Pro(to)topia with a commitment to care to self, others and the living world, inside and outside of the organization. During our inaugural retreat last year, we discussed the non-negotiables ingredients of our collective care mix: joy, freedom, belonging, meaning and creativity.
We also wanted to find a way to express how our relations would resemble and we turned to the natural environment for inspiration. The image of a bird murmuration came through.
Søren Solkær Black Sun #102 Rome Italy 2022 Archival pigment print on 325 gsm Hahnemüle Baryta paper © Søren Solkær
Murmurations are large, coordinated flocks of birds—especially starlings—that move together in mesmerizing aerial patterns. Research shows that each bird responds mostly to the movements of their nearest neighbors. This creates a ripple effect, allowing the entire flock to change direction swiftly and synchronously, further minimizing the risk of predation. These displays allow each bird to join a safe place with strong social bounds, to protect themselves from predators, to keep warm at night and to share information, such as the locations of good feeding areas. Based on this, we started developing ways of working (the murmuration principles), which we hope will help each of our associated experts and artists to feel care for and to be able to care for others—whether inside or outside of Pro(to)topia.
If you want to join the murmuration-as an artist or/and an expert associate, please get in touch! We also created a murmuration meditation to kick off our retreat and help us reflect on our hopes and fears with this project. If you are creating a new collective or project, feel free to adapt to your needs!
Starting a new NGO in a context in which development aid is cut off and civil society space is shrinking is of course unreasonable at best, demented at worst. This is why we decided that Pro(to)topia --during its incubation phase and as a permanent feature-- would be first and foremost funded through commercial activities aligned with our values. We are very thankful for the trust of our clients amongst NGOs, public authorities, and within philanthropy. Without all of you, our dream would not have come true!