WHY and WHAT to HOW

Dear all,

We have been engendering the fromulation for WHY and
WHAT, this is entirely necessary and must have its
wordings concise and exact to the point of why and
what
it is we intend to do. WHAT is generally a Vision,
followed in close stead by a Mission Statement. The
differences here is that the vision outlines the
ultimate goal and The Mission Statement outlines a
clear path to go down to reach the vision. The
HOW then leads on to Action Plans, which with WHO,
WHERE and WHEN get to the very intricate details
needed to fulfil the overall goal that the WHY first
identified.

The above structure is not rigid, but is generally
used across the board in development, business,
government, et al.

So according to the above WHY and WHAT, which is still
in debate and according to the reiterative approach
should be always open to change, I have outlined a
Vision. This takes from my last post, but should
follow from the WHY wordings in the initial
presentation pre-amble that we have been working on.
So when that has a more solid take then the vision
will change to echo it. Please, this is only my take.



The Rural Development Project Vision is of ISKCON
farms managed according to established sustainable
farming principles and practices, thus encouraging
participation in a lifetime-protected cow-based
agricultural system giving lifestlyle security to the
participants.


HOW

Mission Statement

Now I will not make one here, I have done this before.
What I will say though is that after the Earth Summit
in Rio a Sustainability Plan was envisaged and two
leading practices came out of this Agenda 21 (local
participation of a broad group of stakeholders, both
local and global) and Environmental Management System
(EMS) that leads to ISO 14000 certification (this is
highly sort after in large businesses and local
governments - as well as ISO 9000 - Total Quality
Management).

An EMS leads to a full plan in sustainable terms - the
first stage is Audit - What have you got? Then
Accounting - What are you doing with it - inputs,
stores, flows, outputs? Then a Management Plan.

The above, I outlined in the plan I posted here and
sent to some as a document. Once we have finalised the
wording of WHY and WHAT then we need to look carefully
at HOW. But this involves to WHOM are we ‘playing the
game’ with.

If a really good Sustainability plan were to be made
it could have many effects. One could be "WOW! Check
that out, it's easy to follow, makes complete sense,
and at the end of the day could yield results". An
other could be "Oh my God! Some Technobabe got to
this, they've gone totally secular in appeal, it’s far
too complicated and fits not into our way of thinking
and being".

The above is very important. For example, I came on
this conference 8 months ago and because of varied
factors, what I presented was rejected. Now, with a
greater understanding and bridges being built, and a
new enthusiasm for progress, then real progress is
being made. For this to be sustained though we need
participation from a wide grouping both on the
conference and in the ISKCON bases who will be the
ultimate benefactors of the Project.

Another factor must be taken into consideration. This
is that people often need to be lead, so there must be
a balance between seeking consensus and not being
bogged down by trying to please everone and in the end
not pleasing anyone.

Please excuse my pertinance but I would like to
outline my personal Vision for this project -

A) Bottom-up grassroots development:

1) To get the devotees who work on the farms, and the
"non-devotees" to believe in the value of what they
are doing and to feel sufficiently "life-style
remunerated", thus to have a greater chance of
engendering success.

2) To get the consumers of the goods and services from
the farms to have absolute confidence in the system
and its practitioners, and to be active stakeholders
in the LVCSA system.


B) Top-down impositional development.

1) To get the ‘Big Shots’ behind an ultra professional
Project, both in content and presentation.
By ‘Big Shots’ I mean i) On this conference Balahbadra
and Chayadevi prabhus, Syamasundra, Hare Krsna Devi
Dasi and many others, ii) To get the GBC fully behind,
or if not fully then at least in principle, iii) To
get prominant ‘names’ behind it - Hinduja, McCartney,
Ford, etc.

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