Societal Transformation Lab

The Societal Transformation Lab (in partnership with HuffPost’s This New World initiative) was a global initiative launched in January 2019 in which 300 teams from 35 countries simultaneously tackle social challenges using collective systems mapping and design processes. The Lab included focused support for transformation initiatives centered around climate change, youth-let movement building and private and public sector organization.

The Societal Transformation Lab initiative was created with the intention of activating a global ecosystem of innovation that worked towards creating more wellbeing for all. The lab convened teams of social innovators who were working to bridge the environmental, social and spiritual divides of our time and was built on a train-the-trainer model. Over 300 teams (across 30+ countries) with 3000+ team members embarked on a four-month innovation journey that helped them achieve impact at the scale of the whole system, connected them to potential collaborators worldwide and provided training and a platform to tell their story of change in a way that inspires a movement of similar initiatives.

A small team from the Presencing Institute designed and facilitated the online-to-offline learning environment through which team leaders learnt Theory U-based methods, had access to professional and peer support and applied the methods with a group of stakeholders locally who needed each other to create systems level transformation.

Archive from the sessions:

Beyond GDP | Creating economies that generate wellbeing for all | Guests: Kate Raworth and Lorenzo Fioramonti

Nature | Adressing the disconnect between infinite growth and finite resources | Guest: Winona LaDuke

Bridging the disconnect between work and purpose | Guests: Palak Shah and Dayna Cunningham

Awareness Based Systems Change | with Otto Scharmer

Technology | Guest: Ethan Zuckerman

Education | Guests: Angel Acosta and Jonathan P. Raymond

Societal Transformation | Live at the "Berlin Campus"

• Part 1 takes us to small Scottish communities that are taking control of their future by taking control of their land. The short animation on land reform is available here.
• Part 2 takes us inside America's housing crisis to look at the realities facing the homeless population in Los Angeles.
• Part 3 looks at the prevalence of plastics in our oceans, in the bodies of birds and fish, and possibly even in ourselves.
• Part 4 looks at permaculture as a solution for large-scale, slash and burn farming that has been putting environments in jeopardy.

You can also check the archive of the This New World initiative on HuffPost.