CONVENING DESIGN AND FACILITATION
Food System
Visionaries Collaborate for a Better Future
A Week of Changemaking at the Bellagio
Geography
Bellagio Center: Global
Collaborators
SecondMuse
Timeline
1 Week, April 2022
COLLABORATOR
SecondMuse is an innovation firm that works to better the world through the designing, developing and implementing of a variety of innovative programming that spans sectors and seeks to benefit people and protect the planet.
This project was done in support of the The Rockefeller Foundation Food System Vision Prize program.
www.secondmuse.com
Summary
The Food System Vision Prize Program, a Rockefeller Foundation program powered by impact and innovation company SecondMuse and design company OpenIDEO, brought together visionaries from around the globe to develop visions and action plans that would change the future of suffering food systems in their regions.
10 future-changing teams from 8 different countries had been working on visions for nourishing, inclusive, and regenerative food systems since 2019. Once travel restrictions opened up, these amazing visionaries were finally able to meet in person in April of 2022 at the world-renowned Bellagio Center in Italy.
This week-long gathering, originally intended as a finale to a 15-week project accelerator program saw a joyous and vibrant joining of estranged forces and faces. It was also a week of deep community building, cultural exchange, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, and collaboration with invested contributors who volunteered to be a part of these efforts now and into the future. Knowing that this was the only opportunity to gather these action driven, food system leaders, and quite busy individuals in the same place at the same time, we worked to sequence and design our time together as eloquently and thoughtfully as possible. Guests, accustomed to being plugged in, on Zoom, and multi-tasking, were encouraged to put distractions aside and be fully present.
Challenge
Gathering top 10 visionaries from the Food System Vision Prize Program in one place at the same time was itself a challenge. Designing and sequencing the week-long gathering had to be done carefully to maximize on time and increase the quality of the outcomes of this rare joining of forces. Thinking through a number of scenarios in response to navigate unexpected last minute changes that COVID would present was a unique design challenge. This was compounded by the challenges of creating an accessible in-person (flexible enough to transition into a hybrid as needed) experience for a globally and culturally diverse cohort in the midst of an uncertain, pandemic-shaped world.
Process
Gathering top 10 visionaries from the Food System Vision Prize Program in one place at the same time was itself a challenge.
Guiding Questions
How might we support each Visionary’s inner capacity to carry their Vision forward?
How might we foster belonging and camaraderie among the cohort and build community?
How might we provide resources that serve each individual, team, the cohort, and community that extends beyond our time together at the Bellagio Center?
How can we provide fertile grounds for the growth of a powerful, peer-led community in just one week?
Visionaries as “Contributors,” Not “Experts”
The design process for the event safe-guarded the priority of building an environment that ‘flattened’ power dynamics of contributors and visionaries. The design team, joined by our contributors, worked to create an experience where all attendees felt encouraged to share their valuable lived experiences.
Setting the Tone
A group of invited contributors share their expertise on inner resilience, adaptive leadership, fundraising, momentum building, narrative change, and bringing organizational goals into action to set the tone of the event. The success of a peer-led micro community was bolstered by built-in opportunities for participants to host peer-facilitated sessions throughout the week and ample time and space for needs and ideas to naturally emerge. With breathing room in the daily agenda, ideas and emergent opportunities could be harnessed and built upon.
Making Space for Spontaneous Inspiration
Our team worked diligently to facilitate what felt “alive” in the room. We supported our agenda’s objectives and goals that were pre-identified prior to the event just as equally as we supported insights as they arose in real time. This allowed for a certain balance and fluidity that gave way to novel, unfolding ideas and game-changing paths forward as teams built their Action Plans.
Tracking Event Successes
Homegroups and the end-of-week “Unconference” provided time to track what was most alive for the visionaries. By funneling those “hot” topics and questions into a dynamic environment where transformational and insightful peer-to-peer discussions could occur, the event became a host for real change-making.
Project Outputs
A pandemic-induced hiatus only proved to make these visionaries increasingly more competent in their tasks; and their visions, more resilient. Teams had evolved and plans had been set in motion.
Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, these visionaries are now highlighted in a series of mini documentaries that will aid their teams in gaining global recognition for their work. The hope is to share their learnings and work as a blueprint for success to support systems across the world as they make their own changes to their failing food systems. These documentaries serve as a call to action, but also as a promise that there is indeed a viable way forward when it comes to shaping the future of food.
Key Insights
The hosted week-long event, intended as a finale to the main project, became its own process with its own goals and outcomes. The results will lead to powerful interactions and the challenge will continue to have a ripple effect into the future. The event showcased new ideas, but also provided incubation space for individuals, brilliant and, now joined together, armed with potent leadership tools forming a collective to make change.
This event model for guiding, convening, and change-making can also be used to drive collaboration across diverse actors. The outcome: a community that relies on each other and cross-pollinates insights to drive systems transformation.
