Our October Newsletter - Inner shifts for outer transformation

Last month we celebrated five years of Unity Effect as a social enterprise. This month we would love to share about and celebrate the purposeful projects we have brought to life with our partners and clients. Welcome to our project portfolio!

But do you know why we started Unity Effect in the first place?

Like so many of you out there, we were overwhelmed by the quantity and complexity of crises facing our planet. And deeply concerned that so many of the solutions seemed to just contribute more to the problem. 

We’ve always believed that real change has to go deeper. It requires us to shift the entire paradigm we are operating from, because as we know from good old Albert, we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking that we created them with. 

Our work is about supporting this shift from the inside out, whether we are supporting our partners and clients with strengthening teamwork and collaboration, creating lively learning spaces or bringing a regenerative approach to measuring what matters.

This month is all about creating inner shifts for outer change, and building ecosystems that embody the principles of the paradigm we are moving towards: relational, regenerative and life-centred. 

This is what this newsletter is all about: 

• Upcoming events and opportunities to engage with us

• Events and opportunities from our network.

Yours, 

Emily and the Unity Effect Team

Free workshop: Nourishing Regenerative Innovation Ecosystems

Imagine a future where innovation isn’t just about the latest tech, but about healing our planet and uplifting our communities—that's what Regenerative Innovation Ecosystems are all about. 

In our workshop, we will explore: 

• How regenerative principles can guide innovation development

• The role of living systems thinking in building ecosystems

• We will introduce our Impact Garden framework and introduce practical strategies for applying it for innovation and ecosystem building

When: Thursday 28th November, 4-5:30PM CET

Facilitated by: Laila Martins

Sign up here: https://eveeno.com/regenerative-innovation-ecosystems-1124 

Want to learn more about Regenerative Innovation Ecosystems? Check out our blog article here. 

Curious what the impact garden for ecosystem building looks like in action? 

• We recently used the Impact Garden as guiding framework to ideate project ideas at the IDG Summit in Stockholm and online, where we hosted the track “Transforming Systems: Inner Development for Climate Innovation” in collaboration with a team of co-creators and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and their Global Innovation Hub. 

• Joyce Lee-Ibarra recently used the Impact Garden to guide a two day participatory process where representatives from 12 Hawaiian organisations came together. You can find the case study here. 

• Kamil Barbarski used the Impact Garden as part of a 3-part workshop series at a large university to support ecosystem development in higher education. You can find the case study here.

Insights into our work

At Unity Effect, we envision a world in which every person, team and network is empowered to have an impact beyond themselves and take conscious, compassionate and collaborative action to create a just and thriving world together.

Our contribution to the world we want to see is to support the leaders, teams, organisations and networks who are key to creating healthy social systems and ecosystems for all. 

Are you wondering what this looks like in action? We get this question all the time, and even after all these years it is hard to pinpoint exactly what we do, because it is so diverse. So we thought the best way is just to show you some of our projects! 

We invite you to check out our brand new project portfolio, where we share some of our favourite and most impactful projects with clients including the Kofi Annan Foundation, International Labour Organisation (ILO), German Development Cooperation (GIZ), FLOCERT and the Network of European Foundations .

Check out our portfolio.

Events and opportunities from our network

Here’s an overview of our network’s upcoming events and opportunities we’d love to share with you: 

• 4th November 16:00 - 19:00 CET: join greaterthan for The Money Game Experience, an online or in-person experience to explore your habits and unconscious beliefs around money.

• 5th November 9:00-10:00 AM CET: the Systems School invites you to join others in connecting to hope, healing, and optimism in the big and small systems we live in, as part of their collective optimism book(ish)club. More information and register here. 

• 13th November 6:00-7:30 PM CET: collaboratio helvetica’s next community call is on the topic of Trauma Awareness and Applied Trauma Sensitivity: How can they foster healing and contribute to systems change? 

• 26th November, 9:00-10:30 PM CET: Leadership Learning Community’s next BIPOC Leaders Affinity Group session.

• Starting in March 2025: Social Tides are launching the second cohort of the GROW AI Accelerator, a six-month equity-free program designed to empower impact organizations harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to create meaningful social change. Apply by December 8th 2024. 

• Circle Generation’s new podcast Alive and Learning, sharing True stories from practitioners around the world, using collaborative approaches to taking action on global challenges.