I’ve been working in remote and rural communities for several years. Everyone I talk to is concerned about losing their local heritage. Alongside that concern is that many development programs end up railroading the local community. Organizations and governments come in with outside plans without giving the local community much say in how things are done. Many times even ignoring the local concerns. These lead to failed projects at best or dependence or extractive damage to the local ecology.
This is documented over and over again in the research. However, I don’t see much being done to address these issues. Even in regenerative spaces, the solutions continue to focus on bringing outside resources and teaching people how to push for policy changes. With a cursory warning about making sure the locals are included in the decision making.
Any regenerative project, must start on a foundation of the local knowledge.
Likewise, when we are teaching and learning to apply technology it must be integrated into the local culture. You can’t do that if you don’t know the community. Yet we constantly have people with good intentions bringing technology training without even demonstrating how it can be applied locally. The result is brain-drain, people going through education and leaving to find work to apply their newly found knowledge.
I’ve been doing it differently. In my missionary and technology training programs, I focus on community first. I work alongside the educational services in the community while encouraging projects that are based on local needs first. It makes things more difficult, but keeps everyone grounded to the community.
The shift to a knowledge economy brings a unique opportunity to improve how we address rural resilience. Digital storytelling and virtual tourism can help capture and preserve the communities heritage; while integrating local wisdom with sensors and automation to build more robust ecological systems are ways we can address these issues. But it starts with getting to know your community.
Just this morning, I saw two articles that demonstrate the importance of local knowledge and community storytelling. First, news out of COP30, tells about the importance of indigenous communities for maintaining the forest. It is a two-way street, preserving the culture and knowledge in one direction; while through knowledge platforms, these communities can share and profit from their stories.
The second was a Substack note lamenting the loss of local newspapers. Local news is giving way to national and online sources. We don’t even know our neighbors, which makes it impossible to make and maintain real connections.
This is why I’ve been working on the Local Knowledge Weaver’s Toolkit. As part of my mission work, I focus on getting to know the community. I have been training missionaries on this, and recently decided to bring release a version for rural community building. It is centered on my 30-day journal which encourages exploration and learning about your local community. I package that along with some guides to ways to use that local knowledge. One includes options for regenerative development in the local community. While the other provides ways the local knowledge can promote job skills in the knowledge economy, and ties them to specific jobs of the future.
The toolkit is now available under a pay what you can offer for a limited time. If you are a paid subscriber, or have donated recently, you will be receiving a link to download the kit within a few days.
The toolkit is part of my Bridging Worlds training program for missionaries working on developing communities. Becoming a paid subscriber or purchasing the toolkit helps keep that training free for missionaries working in poor communities.
Last month we competed in an hackathon hosted by NASA. I you are not familiar with a hackathon, it is a programming event where your team works to address a challenge. This event was over a weekend, we developed a system using AI and NASA weather data to help people plan an event several month out.
Yesterday we received word that our project was selected as a finalist from our region to continue into the global judging. Winners are to be announced by the end of the month.
I have for several years offered a fractional CTO/COO service, we can now bundle that into a full software development offering. If you are looking for someone to automate some portion of your business, develop a web application, or implement a solution that AI has mapped out for you. Schedule a meeting with me.
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