Embracing Poverty as a Complex Challenge and Some Implications for Practice

This workshop will explore a complexity-based orientation to understanding and addressing poverty. It includes an exploration of (1) the differences between different(e.g., simple, political, complex), (2) the characteristics and importance of ‘adaptive’ leadership and management in addressing poverty, (3) how to use principles rather than recipe-type approaches in our efforts, and (4) the necessity of zooming out to work on the long term work of changing the systems underlying poverty and a short term focus on making a difference in our ‘zones of influence’. Workshop participants will also receive a list of helpful resources and tools.  

Facilitator

Date and Time

  • Wednesday May 15, 8:30 - 3:45.

Registration

  • Registration available here.

Fee

  • $100.00 - Early Bird (Before April 1)

  • $130 - Regular (After April 1)

  • Low-income - No Charge

About Mark Cabaj

Mark is President of the consulting company From Here to There and an Associate of Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement. While studying the Solidarity movement in Krakow, Poland, in mid-1989, Mark experienced a variety of tumultuous events that signalled the end of communism in Eastern Europe – including walking on the Berlin Wall with a million people the week it came down in November 1989. He worked as an Investment Advisor in Poland’s Foreign Investment Agency, the Foreign Assistance Coordinator for Grants in the new Ministry of Privatization, and the Mission Coordinator for the creation of the United Nations Development Program’s first regional economic development initiative in Eastern Europe.

Back in Canada, Mark was the Coordinator of the Waterloo Region’s Opportunities 2000 project (1997-2000), an initiative that won provincial, national and international awards for its multi-sector approach to poverty reduction. He served as Executive Director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) (2001) before joining the Tamarack Institute and becoming Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Canada (2002-2011).

Mark’s current focus is on developing practical ways to understand, plan and evaluate efforts to address complex issues. This includes addressing the systemic roots underlying issues related to poverty and homelessness, community safety, educational achievement, health and climate change. He is particularly involved in developing and promoting developmental evaluation, a new approach to assessment which emphasizes real time feedback and learning in emerging, messy and often fast-moving environments.

Mark lives in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) with his wife Leann and their children Isaiah and Zoë.