Waterlution- A Water Learning Experience
at The Shire Learning Centre, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
17-21 August 2005 - $700 CAD

Connecting change-makers
in co-creating a healthy water future

We are pleased to announce that Bob Sandford, Chair Water for Life Decade – Canadian Partnership Initiative will be our special invited guest for the duration of the Learning Program

Do you feel overwhelmed by the diversity and scope of water-related issues and seek a way to manage more simply this complexity?

Are you interested in developing skills and tools to design deep inquiry processes around water in your organisation and/or the community where you live?

Would you like to collaborate with an international group of people who are concerned about water, and to use this experience to develop local initiatives in your own environment?

An Invitation to Journey with us
We invite you to engage with the land and water at The Shire, Nova Scotia - an ecological and creative Learning Centre - as we inquire into what we can learn from water to inspire our leadership in this work. Through interactive water experiments, perceptual and artistic exercises, systems thinking and practices for hosting meaningful conversations about water, we invite you to this diverse and experiential learning experience exploring our relationships with water - in the natural world, in our lives, and in our work. It is an opportunity to connect locally with water as well as learn from colleagues in water work from across Canada and internationally. A combination training / retreat space, Waterlution @ The Shire is an opportunity to cultivate your personal and professional leadership, inspiring a vision for water in our lives. Our promise to you is that when you leave The Shire you will be well equipped with the skills to support, initiate and/or develop water learning programs in your own organisation or community.

"It has given more courage than I really expected,
I never really expected that our water forum will make a whole lot of change in this our little world…”

The Process
This journey is a fluid blend of experience and content. We believe that we learn best when head, heart and hand combine. The process is designed so that we walk our talk - living the change, reflecting on our experience and engaging with new understandings. Drawing on creative and participatory methodologies, the hosts encourage participants to co-create the learning environment. The workshop will offer spaces for project work, experiential learning, networking and personal retreat. Our journey will be one blending stages of observation, reflection and action.

The flow of the programme combines group, small break-out and personal experiences to explore questions such as:

• How can you as an “agent provocateur” (change agent) in your organisation more effectively and creatively bring about greater awareness and action around water issues?
• What can we learn from the environment/water systems and local region of The Shire and Nova Scotia to experience what a deeper inquiry around water can be?
• Why can combining process and content offer us guidance in truly solving the complexity and diversity of water problems in regions throughout the world?
• How can water be a metaphor - and a teacher – for the type of new leadership that is being called for to meet the challenge of sustainability?
• What do we need to take our vision(s) for a healthier relationship with water into meaningful and manageable action?

Places on your Journey
You will be spending time in three main places during your journey:

The Oasis - where the whole group and system comes together to experience adventures and share learning.

The Campfire - where you gather with two or three other people to share your reflections in relation to your own journey and map-making

The Pond - where you will spend time on your own, reflecting on how your learning here relates to your specific context and question, and developing your own personal map.

Your Guides
Your hosts and trainers – Karen, Tatiana and Tim - will guide you through your journey. The team comprises a partnership between Waterlution, The Shire and Engage! InterAct. We have many years of experience in designing interactive and participative learning processes, coupled with practical experience in putting sustainable living into practice. We love to learn as well, and will be making the journey with you - ensuring a fresh, professional and innovative process.

The Venue
The Shire is a protected ecological learning community, leadership training ground and venue for the common good. The Shire is an exploration into the best of human potential and an example of how self-reliant living could be. The Shire sits on Mink Lake, a beautiful spring-fed body of water. The land has a series of smaller and larger ponds, streams, marshland, forest and open meadow. The Shire is 20 minutes drive from Yarmouth, arrival details including possible transfer from Halifax will be provided upon booking.
See www.oftheshire.org for more information.

Costs
The fee for this workshop is $700CAD (including campsite lodging, meals, workshop materials and taxes). As we do not want to exclude those who feel called to come and cannot afford the whole amount, contact us with a proposal. Or if you can afford to contribute a bit more than the standard fee, you can help make scholarships available. Our philosophy on payment is "contribute what you can and a little bit more".

We also encourage people who are working in teams to come as a small team; supporting each other afterwards adds significantly to the sustainability of the learning.

Registrations are due June 1, 2005
Please complete and return the attached Registration Form and Information Sheet
10% discount for payment with your registration by June 1, 2005!

For more information