Indigenous Thinking
The following article is from United Indians of All Tribes. If every grant, strategic plan and business plan included these sixteen principles we would witness a new humanity in a sustainable world.
These 16 principles have emerged from thousands of hours of consultation with Indigenous communities and many years of testing and application around the world. These 16 principles describe how it is necessary to work in order to achieve sustainable wellbeing and prosperity.
*Developed and published by Four Worlds International. For a detailed description see “Recreating the World” by Michael and Judie Bopp (2006), Four Worlds Press. Calgary.
1. Human beings can transform their world. The web of our relationships with others and the natural world which has given rise to the problems we face as a human family, can be changed.
2. Development comes from within. The process of human and community development unfolds from within each person, relationship, family, organization, community, or nation.
3. Healing is a necessary part of development. Healing the past, closing up old wounds and learning healthy habits of thought and action to replace dysfunctional thinking and disruptive patterns of human relations is a necessary part of the process of sustainable development.
4. Justice. Every person (regardless of gender, race, age, culture, religion) must be accorded equal opportunity to participate in the process of healing and development and to receive a fair share of the benefits.
5. No vision, no development. A vision of who we can become, and what a sustainable world would be like, works as a powerful magnet, drawing us to our potential.
6. Authentic development is culturally based. Healing and development must be rooted in the wisdom, knowledge and living processes of the culture of the people.
7. Interconnectedness. Everything is connected to everything else. Therefore, any aspect of our healing and development is related to all the others (personal, social, cultural, political, economic, etc.). When we work on any one part, the whole circle is affected.
8. The hurt of one is the hurt of all; the honour of one is the honour of all. The basic fact of our oneness as a human family means that development for some at the expense of wellbeing for others is not acceptable or sustainable.
9. Unity. Unity means oneness. Without unity, the common oneness that makes (seemingly) separate human beings into “community” is impossible. Disunity is the primary disease of community.
10. No participation, no development. Participation is the active engagement of the minds, hearts and energy of the people in the process of their own healing and development.
11. Spirit. Human beings are both material and spiritual in nature. It is therefore inconceivable that human community could become whole and sustainable without bringing our lives into balance with the requirements of our spiritual nature.
12. Morals and ethics. Sustainable human and community development requires a moral foundation. When morals decline and basic ethical principles are violated, development stops.
13. Learning. Human beings are learning beings. We begin learning while we are still in our mother’s wombs, and unless something happens to close off our minds and paralyze our capacities, we keep on learning throughout our entire lives.
14. Sustainability. To sustain something means to enable it to continue for a long time. Authentic development does not use up or undermine what it needs to keep on going.
15. Move to the positive. Solving the critical problems in our lives and communities is best approached by visualizing and moving into the positive alternative that we wish to create, and by building on the strengths we already have, rather than on giving away our energy fighting the negative.
16. Be the change you want to see. The most powerful strategies for change always involve positive role modeling and the creation of living examples of the solutions we are proposing. By walking the path, we make the path visible.
Capacity Building - Beyond service delivery, individuals and communities have a critical role to play in their own healing and development. Wellness and prosperity cannot be delivered to people through programs, no matter how well conceived and executed those programs may be. Development comes from within. Healing comes from within. For this reason, a significant portion of the Foundation’s programs and initiatives focus on building the capacities of individuals, families and communities to address their own sustainable wellbeing and prosperity.
