Integral Community Empowerment of the most Marginalized in India

Innovation = Regenerating Knowledge | Integral Innovations

Integral Community Empowerment
of the most Marginalised in India
by Zarah Kronbach and CORO India

Lead by Zarah Kronbach, Junior Fellow of Trans4m, together with CORO India, this Integral Innovation focuses on the explicit articulation and further development of CORO’s approach to integral empowerment and collective knowledge creation. It helped CORO to express its implicit knowledge base and paved the way for the co-creation of “CORO’s Integral Model of Community Empowerment”.

Calling: Evolving the unique Knowledge Creation and Empowerment Processes of CORO India

The burning issue of this this research-to-innovation, lead by Zarah Kronbach, was to explicitly capture and evolve further some of the unique knowledge creation and empowerment process still implicitly embedded within CORO, an integral partner organisation of Trans4m. The aim was to strengthen its long-term sustainability and continuing success, especially of importance due to the 25^th anniversary of CORO. The objective of the six months project was to co-create an Integral Community Empowerment Model that on the one hand is understood and can be applied within the organisation, and on the other hand can also be shared with a broader audience. Consequently, the society and also the world are able to benefit from CORO’s successful approach and collective knowledge creation between grassroots and academic knowledge creation is strengthened.

Trans4m Junior Fellow Zarah Kronbach in Dialogue with Members of Coro India — *Intensive Listening to CORO’s “implicit Knowledge”, embedded in its vast Communities, was at the beginning of the Research-to-Innovation*

Innovation Ecosystem: Included CORO members, Fellows and Campaigners

The built-up of an innovation ecosystem team was crucial to fully actualise the co-creation process and thoroughly understand the Maharashtrian and Indian context. Under the stewardship of Sujata Khandekar – Co-founder and director of CORO – the team included core CORO members, leaders of the fellowship program and a regional campaign. With this innovation ecosystem, an institutional ground was created allowing the research-to-innovation to have a real impact. Trans4m regularly supported the process, thereby a rather global perspective helped to enrich the local viewpoint.

The Coro Innovation Ecosystem with Trans4m Junior Fellow Zarah Kronbach 2015 — *The Coro Innovation Ecosystem with Trans4m Junior Fellow Zarah Kronbach*

CORO Innovation Ecosystem with Trans4m Junior Fellow Zarah Kronbach — *Extended Innovation Ecosystem*

Sujata Khandekar - Co-Founder of Coro India — Stewarding the Innovation Ecosystem:
CORO’s Co-Founder Sujata Khandekar

Integral Innovation: CORO’s Integral Community Empowerment Model

The integral innovation was pursued with an Integral Research design as a transformative process. Based upon CORO’s existing knowledge creation process, the innovation ecosystem co-created an approach to “Integral CORO Community Empowerment”. It was surfaced that the community truly stands at the core of CORO. Hence, the model is to empower the community in all four worlds, the South (Healthy Community Relationships), East (Awakened Community Culture), North (Community Learning Ecologies) and West (Sustainable Community Livelihood), thereby constituting a holistic approach on the level of Self (individual grassroots leaders, CORO members, CORO) and Other (community).

Additionally, the newly developed model is designed to bridge the gap between academic and grassroots knowledge and knowledge creation and is thus providing a culturally resonant solution with societal and even global impact outreaches.

Integral Community Empowerment Model of Coro India, co-created with Trans4m Junior Fellow Zarah Kronbach 2015 — *Integral Community Empowerment Model of Coro India*

Integral Impact: A Tool for Continuous Organisational Renewal and a Foundation for CORO’s forthcoming Grassroots Leadership Centre

The Integral Model of CORO’s Community Empowerment was implemented for the first time at CORO’s 25^th anniversary, the “Umeedon ki Udaan Festival of Compassionate Leadership from Grassroots Up”.

Zarah Kronbach, with CORO's Co-Founder Sujata Khandekar, at the Grassroots Festival on CORO's 25th Birthday — *Zarah Kronbach, with CORO’s Co-Founder Sujata Khandekar, at the Grassroots Festival on CORO’s 25th Birthday*

At this festival, a richly illustrated brochure about CORO’s Integral Community Empowerment was distributed to all participating speakers and universities at the session “Conference on Collective Knowledge Building”. This brochure in addition to the Bachelor Thesis facilitated the sharing of the newly and explicitly expressed knowledge inside and outside CORO.

With Members of the "Rights to Pee" Campaign, partner of Coro India, with Surpriya Jaan, Trans4m Junior Fellow Zarah Kronbach and Alexander Schieffer — At CORO’s Grassroots Leadership Festival in November 2015, where CORO’s new Integral Model was widely shared with the public / Here, at the “Rights to Pee Campaign” stall, with campaign leader Supriya Jaan

For an even more thorough understanding of this holistic model within the organisation, the regular innovation ecosystem sessions were employing co-operative inquiry, a participatory form of action research methodology. Thereby, the research-to-innovation activated a process of organisational renewal towards continuing the 25 years of success. The bachelor thesis thereby became a tool for continuous organisational knowledge creation, leading for example to the establishment of an innovation ecosystem team and providing a foundation for CORO`s forthcoming “Grassroots Leadership Center”.

Kronbach Zarah - India 2 — *Zarah Kronbach after the final presentation of her results with CORO leaders Biju Bhosle and Nagesh Jadhav*

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CORO – Summary Integral Community Empowerment Zarah Kronbach