Over the last few days, we’ve been discussing some core principles that inform our work at the foundation. Decentralization, a place primary lens, mainstreaming efforts, community up solutioning etc are a few.
One of these - for which there was much discussion around the idea and nuances - was around not being satisfied easily, not patting ourselves on the back too often/easily, and a recognition of the fact that these are tough problems, and even as we make and track progress along various fronts, acknowledging what’s not working, what’s pending, and what’s actually getting worse from the pov of the place, the community, and the problem itself esp when looked at beyond the immediate scope and boundaries of a project itself.
Of course, it’s important to celebrate wins. But often, we miss the woods for the trees, and forget to understand if the measured efforts add up to any needles moved in a meaningful way. There’s a lot of success that’s discussed and celebrated, but doing this with an acknowledgement of the larger problem and of the next gaps that emerge is useful and honest. A culture of introspection would do a world of good for the actual goals one’s trying to work towards.