Seasons greetings from Transition Network and celebrating 2013!
By rob hopkins 20th December 2013
Today we sign off for 2013. We’re back on January 6th with our new monthly theme of ‘Scaling Up’. It’s going to be fascinating. We really hope you’ve enjoyed our output this year, and thanks for all your input and support. Everyone at Transition Network would like to extend their very best wishes for a peaceful and relaxing festive period. Celebration, stopping to reflect on what we have achieved and patting ourselves on the back, are among the most important, and often undervalued, aspects of doing Transition. Therefore we thought this would be a good time to present Transition Network’s Annual Report and Accounts, which may sound mighty dull but are actually an amazing read, capturing what an amazing thing Transition has become. Download them and have a look at what a wonderful thing we have all created. Here is a brief summary of some of the best stuff in it:
(Very brief!) highlights of 2012-2013 included
- Excellent sales and hundreds of screenings of the In Transition 2.0 film
- A Transition conference in Battersea, London, including a “re-imagine the High Street of the future” process and a 2-day meet-up of National Hub representatives from 17 countries
- Innovative pilot work in new areas including education and Inner Transition – our cultural worldview
- Launch of the www.reconomy.org website and on-the-ground pilots seeding more sustainable and resilient local economies focused on wellbeing
This – and much more that you can read in the Annual Report – laid the foundations for exciting work during the rest of 2013, including:
- Publication of Rob Hopkins’ new book, The Power of Just Doing Stuff
- Two new members of staff, Sarah McAdam as Delivery Director and Mike Thomas as Initiative Support Co-ordinator, really increasing our capacity to support Transition groups
- A very successful pilot On-line Transition:Launch training course, greatly increasing access to this support and guidance
- Publication of REconomy reports on Local Economic Blueprints and the 20 Top Transition-orientated Social Enterprises
- Great energy in the international development of the Transition approach, with new National Hub organisations forming, and a second National Hub meet up strengthening this network
We are working on a new organisational strategy, and in early 2014 we’ll be asking for your thoughts and input at the consultation stage. A taster of some of the work we’d like to do in 2014-2015 includes:
- Doing more to communicate a clear, compelling and internationally-relevant story of Transition that inspires people to act, connect and experiment.
- Updating the range of support we can offer, so that Transitioners are better able to access and share information, tools, skills, resources, support and training when needed.
- Increasing the capacity of the National Hubs to support Transition in their own countries.
- Working with Transition initiatives in an on-the-ground pilot on community-supported investment for Transition enterprises.
We are very much looking forward to 2014. So many things feel like they are on the verge of “tipping”. Momentum is building, and recognition is growing. Amazing things are happening at the local level, and those things are increasingly being noticed higher up. The insights and resources needed to strengthen and focus on the inner life of Transition groups are growing and deepening, and the breadth and depth of what is being manifested on the ground is taking similarly impressive strides. We look forward to writing this post next year, and the dazzling achievements and treasures that we’ll be able to share.
Have a wonderful, peaceful and relaxing festive period.
From Isabel, Filipa, Ben, Amber, Jo, Nicola, Sarah, Rob, Ed, Sam, Mike, Sophy, Naresh, Fiona, Sally at Transition Network.