Our Flourishing Communities Training has been delivered in over 15 countries to a wide range of community facing practitioners. Their feedback has told us that our Flourishing Framework has brought new thinking about what’s possible in their communities and has reawakened a connection with a holistic humanity. Our emphasis on Strength Based Community Development has been like holding a mirror to communities, enabling them to see the wonderful strengths and perspectives they already have. Our focus on social entrepreneurship has encouraged many to look to train up the next generation of spirited entrepreneurs. And our complexity mapping tools have been seen as a powerful way to look more fully at intractable community issues.

For the past two years we have been working closely with Rema Burundi, a local NGO, to support Gatumba - an informal settlement on the outskirts of Bujumbura. Due to climate change, Gatumba is flooded on average twice a year. Using Strength Based Community Development tools taught by us, Rema strengthened their connection with the community. They brought a group of leaders together in an ongoing conversation to explore community resources and their hopes for the future. When the government declared that it would no longer help the community, because they refused their solution of a total relocation, that group and others were perfectly positioned to bring the community together to work on their own solutions. Since then, the community has created a common savings account to secure the resources necessary to divert and work with the water. That and other strength-based outcomes are helping move the community out of poverty.

Pakistan Partnership Initiative (PPI) is an umbrella organisation for around 200 local NGOs whose work consists of activities such as running schools, feeding programs, creating employment and small businesses, disaster recovery, and the empowerment of women. In 2023 we were invited to train a group of PPI partners in how to create Flourishing Communities. Although most of the material was new, the feedback from the participants was so positive that PPI invited us to come back and not only train a further cohort but train a group to be trainers. Our material has now been adopted as the community building methodology for the network. There are already signs of local NGOs adopting the language and practice of Flourishing and Strength Based Community Development.

A small group of ten Australian community workers came together to embark on a 12-month journey to transform themselves and their communities. We took them on a deep dive into the Flourishing Framework®, Appreciative Inquiry, Asset Based Community Development and a host of other practical tools. We led the group to reflect on their practice and began to recognise where in fact they were already working in a strength-based way and how they could positively build on their practice despite many inbuilt systemic issues.

During the COVID-19 Melbourne Lockdowns, we partnered with North Richmond Community Health (NRCH) to deliver free online training for community service workers. We encouraged them, even in times of crisis, to think about community Flourishing as an outcome of their work and how COVID presented a unique opportunity to rethink their practice. As a result of this training, we worked with NRCH over the following 12 months to welcome community back into public spaces on the North Richmond public housing estate. By working with residents to tell their stories of trauma and strength during the lockdown period and by creating spaces for them to be creative, we were able to create a legacy of ongoing community-led creative practice in the housing estates.

Hepburn Shire is located approx 110km North-West of Melbourne in Victoria’s Central Highlands. A beautiful community, but one that is spread across the mountains creating transport issues. We were tasked with mapping existing transport options and consulting on how to better meet community expectations. Instead of doing a standard consultation we brought in our concept of flourishing and looked at the role effective transport can play in the creation of flourishing communities. This enabled the exploration of some alternative options, including a local ride-share service.