THE GLOBAL SoS NETWORK’s THEORY OF CHANGE (ToC)
–––The Feb. 25, 2011 Wall Street Journal article The Truth
About US Manufacturing does a great service by validating
the rhombus on the right side of the ToC Process Diagram
below.
However, there are some assumptions to take into account, such as a)
empowered parliaments can only emerge from sustained citizen
engagement, and b) such relationships are most effective when citizens
establish formal correspondence with their representatives in government.
Emergent results will accrue as local institutions rush to install billing
systems in order to create the income streams necessary for financing the
improvement of public services, utilities, and the construction of affordable
housing in the emerging world.
In the article, University of Michigan Professor Mark Perry says “We’re able
to produce twice as much manufacturing output today as in the 1970s,
with about 7 million fewer workers. That means yesterday’s farmhands and
plant workers can become today’s computer engineers, medical doctors
and financial managers.”
If workers of the Global South, in their role as constituents are to engage
and influence the outome of public policy, (1) they require access to the
technology that will make teledemocratic communication convenient and
economical. That is where the logistics capacity, the maturity, and low cost
of postal technology can help create a climate for enabling change.
Newly responsive governments will also emerge as a result of the
combination of a) legislative accountability and b) the systematic
satisfaction of basic civic needs. Henceforth, local institutions will also
acquire the capacity to finance improved health and education activities for
all.
Accordingly, action research that The Global SoS Network has carried out
(Globalsosnet, suggested pronunciation global-s-net, or globalsnet) shows
that the streamlining of collective intelligence of workers, focused towards
gains in sustainable productivity as the intended outcome, is best practice
for fostering citizen engagement and accountable governance.
Because SoS technology mandates complete postal delivery infrastructures,
The Global SoS Network fosters the rollout of Postal Delivery Point (PDP)
Systems in the emerging world. These consist of an address number and a
mailbox for every home, and a complete set of street nomenclature for
every municipality.
These are good news for donor countries, which will then not have to
increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) as planned in SDG 17. On
the contrary, donor countries can expect huge cost/benefit advantages
with the decrease and eventual elimination of all ODA donations.
These are similar to the goals of the Making All Voices Count programme,
which in turn concurs as being best practice for the grasping and
undertaking of the UN 2030 Agenda.
It is important to point out that the key outcome from feedback -in the
form of a reply from a legislator, is accountability. Exhibit A of proof-ofconcept indicates that countries where some constituents are accustomed
to carrying out the time-tested practice of communicating with their
legislators... are developed countries, precisely nations with good postal
services and where legislators are usually accountable to their constituents.
More to the point: if the 2030 Agenda represents an action plan for making
the voices of all citizens count towards unity of purpose, then the
streamlining of collective intelligence of workers, as laid out in this
document, could be considered as the strategy needed for attaining the 17
SDGs both in underdeveloped and developed countries.
A good example is SDG Target 16.7, which happens to be the raison d´tre of
the streamlining of collective intelligence. This target will very likely serve
as the core of the process that will facilitate the natural evolution of the
2030 Agenda, which, in turn, will result in sustainable gains in productivity,
and thus improved living standards in the Global South.
It is also fortunate that SDG targets, such as 16.a, take into account the
importance given to global security by promoting the building of capacity
for the strengthening of institutions.
Indeed, in a press and web note focusing on a New development agenda: a
generational challenge for world's parliaments, Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU) Secretary General Martin Chungong said ¨Goal 16 is the powerhouse
from which all other action will flow.” To this we must add that the IPU
website indicates that “Parliaments are the Cornerstones of Democracy.”
It is important to note that reduction of poverty emerges only at the end of
the cycle, as a result of the intended outcome of gains in productivity.
Exhibit B of proof-of-concept lies in how quality of goods, of public services,
of concern for the environment, overall wellbeing and of productivity, is
highest in those same countries. But existing social shortcomings show that
actual teledemocratic activity may not be systematic enough.
It is also important to reiterate the assumption that results always depend
on the influence parliaments can exert on public policy. This means that
accelerating the 2030 SDG Agenda will require joint IPU and Universal
Postal Union (UPU) work so that Global South parliamentarians, in unison
with their constituents, become empowered thus enabled to bring forth
pragmatic public policy and hence own the success of the 2030 Agenda.
Nonetheless, the intended outcome both in presently underdeveloped and
developed countries, will not be the result of the behaviour of any
individual organization, but of the entire system made up of other systems,
or System of Systems (SoS).
Emergent behaviour (2) starts at the ENTRY POINT TO SYSTEMIC RESPONSE
PHASE in the ToC Process Diagram below. Once the required postal
technology helps bring about legislative accountability in the Global South,
the use of postal technology will be seen to grow.
Thus, the task of The Global SoS Network includes to steward the IPU and
all legislators so that they keep their constituents informed in regards to
teledemocratic mailstreams as best practice for meeting the SDGs.
As the intrinsic value of teledemocratic mailstreams becomes manifest, the
network stewards institutions and labour groups so that constituencies acting as cohesive social groups, begin to self-organize as purposeful local
platforms for the emergent process that will match local, national, and
global expectations with the needs of the biosphere.
Lastly, the infinity sign at the left of the ToC Process Diagram illustrates
another SoS characteristic: an SoS is never fully formed or complete. Each
recurrent cycle ends at the rhombus, through which the pertinent
institutions can act upon detected increases of productivity, resulting in the
emergent and sustainable economic growth, which in turn begets
reduction of poverty. Then the cycle starts anew.
Further Reading:
(1) MITRE Corporation, B.E. White, 2008, Complex Adaptive Systems
Engineering.
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/271850127_Complex_adaptive_
systems_engineering_%28CASE%29 Retrieved on 2/21/2017
(2) Sandia National Laboratories, Robert J.Glass, keynote presentatnion,
Designing Influence in Complex Adaptive Systems of Systems: CASoS
Engineering,
http://www.sandia.gov/CasosEngineering/publications/presentations/inde
x.html Retrieved on 2/21/2017
ToC Process Diagram
––––
REDUCTION OF POVERTY SDG 1



UNDP, Inter
Parliamentary Union
(IPU), Business
Sustainable
Development
Commission (BSDC),
International Labor
Organization (ILO),
et al.
∞
UN
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
GOALS:
17 GOALS,
169 SDG TARGETS


BEST PRACTICE
UNDP monitors, IPU coordinates “Write to your Legislator” publicity and training
campaign, for SDG Target 16.7
MTUs transport computers,
Mobile Post Offices, scribes for
helping disadvantaged constituents contact MPs Target 5.b
Constituents contact their
legislators via post Target 16.10
Win-Win resolution of
constituent conflict Target 16.a
LEGISLATIVE
ACOUNTABILITY
* Teledemocratic
mailstreams catalyze
accountability towards
meeting Target 16.6
* Replies from legislators
to constituent´s homes,
give these influence
over parliamentarians,
reinforcing Target 16.7
* Strengthening of
institutions help meet
Target 16.a
ENTRY POINT TO SYSTEMIC
RESPONSE PHASE, Target 16.3
* Transparency results from
empowered legislative branch
of government overseeing
executive branch, helping meet
SDG Target 16.6.
* Accountable governance emerges and responds to requirement of meeting of goals not
listed here, such as Goal 13
EVALUATE RESULTS,
Target 17.19
 Celebrate successes (4)
 Revisit targets, goals
 Adjust strategies
 Refine principles
 Record lessons learned
& document case
studies
SYSTEMIC REACTION PHASE
CREATE CLIMATE FOR
ENABLING CHANGE
* UNDP& IPU redeploy Parliametary Outreach Mobile Training
Units (MTUs) Target 5.b (1)
*UPU, local parliaments, postal
administrations, and UNDP roll
out Home PDP Systems as part of
infrastructure Target 9.1 (2)
*World Bank’s e-Institute & UPU
train officials, to roll out Home
Postal Delivery Point Systems.
Targets 17.6, 17.7
* Home PDP Systems enable all
constituents to receive legislative
feedback at home Target 16.10
MAXIMIZED TAX BASE
Municipal authorities
become enabled to bill
municipal-tax
contributors on a
punctual basis, thus
meeting Target 17.1
FINANCIAL RETURN ON
HOUSING PROJECT
INVESTMENTS
Housing developers become
enabled to bill beneficiaries
on a monthly basis, assuring
continued compliance with
Target 17.1
QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES
begin to meet SDGs 6 & 7 as
new income streams permit
local financing of basic public
services, utilities and the
upkeep of infrastructure
Target 9.1
AFFORDABLE HOUSING, as per
Target 11.1
 Income streams allow
financing of the
construction of sufficient
low-cost housing to satisfy
demand
 End of slum urbanism (3)
 Public services and
infrastructure improve in
rural areas
TRUST IN PUBLIC SECTOR
SDGs 3, 4
 Business managers become
motivated to invest in
technology that will increase
sustainable productivity
 Improved finances allow for
the release of health &
educational resources
 No need for further ODA,
SDG Target 17.2
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC
GROWTH SDG 8
YES
INTENDED
OUTCOME
Are there
yearly
productivity
gains?
Target 8.2
NO
(1) UNDP has had experiences in helping deploy Parliamentary Outreach MTUs in South Africa and Namibia. MTUs appear to have a very high publicity value, especially as institutions work towards Goal 16 and Target 17.8.
(2) PDPs consist of home address number, family mailbox and street nomenclature systems. The UPU is conducting an Addressing the World: An Address for Everyone campaign in a small scale. South Africa has advanced a great deal in this issue; the
South African Post Office (SAPO) has already rolled out home address numbers throughout the country. In South Africa, the only PDP components that need to be installed as of year 2015 are family mailbox and street nomenclature systems.
(3) As portrayed in the UNHabitat video conference by Edgar Pieterse, 2014. How can we transcend slum urbanism in Africa? Retrieved from http://www.africancentreforcities.net/can-transcend-slum-urbanism-africa/ 2-21-2017
(4) This and other phrases, adapted from The MITRE Corporation, B.E. White, 2008, Complex Adaptive Systems Engineering.
By: A. Bramble, Industrial Engineer, http://globalsosnet.cfsites.org © Globalsosnet, 2015-2017