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>View discussions about this entry Country: Canada
Organization: The Otesha Project
Sport: Other
Year the initative began (yyyy) 2002
YouTube Upload:
Project URL: http://www.otesha.ca
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? Cycling teams of young sustainability ACTors model their message as they travel across Canada by bicycle and perform a play about living lightly.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? The Otesha Project's unique combination of bike touring, and peer-to-peer sustainability education sets it apart from others in the field The cycling component of the program is unique in that it:
- Showcases biking as a viable and fun form of sustainable transportation as teams travel thousands of kilometres across the country. - Attracts media and increases the 'coolness' factor of our sustainability ACTors as they perform the Otesha play in schools and communities. - Increases the cohesion of bike tour teams over the two months that they ride together, creating a community to support longterm behaviour change amongst team members. - Increases the diversity of youth volunteers who participate bringing together those interested in 'sport' and those interested in advocacy. - Turns team members, many with no previous cycling experience, into cyclists for life! What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change? Canada's consumption practices are unsustainable and inequitable. As consumers we are polluting the earth, widening the gap between rich and poor, and failing to meet our potential to create positive change. We seek to build a movement of people who rethink what they really need, conserve resources, and vote with their dollars for the kind of future they want to see.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? Otesha bike tours are 2 months in length and bring together 15-20 young volunteers. These youth bike an average of 80km on cycling days, for a total of 1000 km - 1,500 km total. The teams perform the Otesha play as they travel in schools, community centres or anywhere that people are gathered! Each team builds on the script from previous teams to make the performance locally relevant to each area of Canada.
Each tour strives to build a strong mobile learning community that operates by consensus. Team members develop a sustainability commitment – a set of guidelines that minimizes the tour’s ecological and social footprint. In the past, as part of this commitment, tour members have decided to eat local, vegetarian food; to wear used clothing; to reduce water use and waste; to enjoy electricity-free entertainment, and buy fair trade products. These teams not only “walk their talk,” but also show Canadians that a globally consious lifestyle is both possible and a lot of fun! How do you plan to grow your innovation? We plan to double our annual program delivery from five bike tours per year to ten, increasing the number of sustainability ACTors trained to over 150 youth per year by 2011. These participants will take an active role after their tour is finished in spreading the Otesha message in their community and building a movement of sustainable consumption in Canada.
The Otesha Project is also expanding internationally. The Otesha Project UK (www.otesha.org.uk) launched in May of 2007 and is planning their first bike tour for the summer of 2008. Plans are also underway for The Otesha Project Australia to do bike tours in 2009. Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. To use bike touring and theatre to mobilize young people to create local and global change through their everyday consumer choices.
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries? Since 2003, the Otesha Project has run ten bike tours, collectively covering over 40,000 kilometers. These adventures have brought together 200 young people to deliver Otesha performances and workshops to their peers across the country.
There are two main beneficiaries of the program: 1) Bike Tour Participants: These youth ages 18-30 receive extensive training and experience in public speaking and media relations, global issues, youth engagement, bike repair and touring, expedition style cooking, theatre, and non-profit management. They also gain a community of their peers who will understand and support their sustainable lifestyle for years to come. 2) Audience Members: Youth aged 13-18 years old are our target audience for the Otesha Morning Choices Play. In evaluations conducted 92% of students reported that the presentation made them more aware of the power they have to make a difference, and
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation? The Otesha Project collects stories from participants as one way to assess the impact of its programs:
"Otesha helped me to refine my direction, remove my hypocrises, take a more holistic approach, massively changed the way I make my personal decisions, changed the type of questions I ask, expanded my sphere of acceptance and love, and helped me become more aware as both an individual and a global citizen." -2003 Tour Member What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact? Main barrier include:
- Rural areas often lack the infrastructure to facilitate sustainable lifestyle choices. - A one hour performance is a only a short time period to catalyze personal action. - Many Canadian communities lack spaces where community members gather, therefore it can be difficult to find places to perform. - Team members can find it difficult to transition to their home communities and continue their new sustainability committments. How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? In the past the majority of our funding has come from foundations, government agencies, and corporate grants. We are currently working to build a model of financial self-sufficiency by 2011 that will be based on 5 alternative income streams:
- participant fundraising, - online mail campaign, - annual fundraiser to build a multi-year donor base, - Otesha book sales - performance keynote and honourariums. 2007 is the pilot year for these alternative income streams and we have already been able to significantly reduce our dependance on grant based funding. If known, provide information on your finances and organization. Estimated annual budget for 2007: $229,800 CAD
Estimated annual revenue for 2007: $244,500 CAD Currently there are seven full time staff. What is the potential demand for your innovation? We believe that in five years there will be enough youth interested in the Otesha bike tour experience, and enough schools or communities interested in Otesha performances that we can have ten two month tours travelling Canada each year.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? Our main barrier to financial sustainability is balancing program accessibility with program costs, and generating performance honourariums from schools.
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. Jocelyn Land-Murphy and Jessica Lax met in Kenya in January of 2002, when they were both 21 and studying sustainable development in a traveling field school. Like so many others, their experiences left them overwhelmed with the inequality between life in North America and the lives of many Kenyans.
They were sickened by the excess that prevailed in their home country, and by the blinders that they, and their fellow citizens, had in place--blinders to inequality in resource allocation, and to the global effects of their consumer society. They felt powerless as individuals to change such extensive problems--until they sought their own solutions by bringing it down to a personal level. They began to alter their own lifestyles to reflect the change they wanted to see in the world. And with each small action they took, their hopelessness turned to hope. These two young women began to dream of the impacts that could result should this mindset of conscious choices spread amongst Canada's youth. Thus, on Feb 16, 2002, on a beautiful sunny day in Kitale, Kenya, the Otesha Project was created. Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. Jessica co-founded The Otesha Project when she was 21 years old, and currently acts as the Executive Director. Jess has spoken directly to over 20,000 people and trained over 200 sustainability advocates over the past 5 years. She has been awarded the Youth Action Net Fellowship, and received on behalf of The Otesha Project the CAMBIO award, Tooker Goomberg award, and the EECOM award for Outstanding Non-Profit Organization.
Contact Information:
Jessica Lax
Executive Director The Otesha Project (NGO) Discussions about this entry |
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Kevin Carroll
Changemakers Featured Commentator
Sport for a Better World Competition
I see a lot of opportunities here to “dimensionalize” your project. For instance, have you looked at using PV (participatory video – see the entry at http://www.changemakers.net/node/2578) as a way of telling your story?
Do you have a destination or website so non-cyclists can join the movement?
A few questions about your students: Is it difficult to get the two-month commitment from them? That seemed long to me. Also, do students train in advance to prepare them for the rigors of the road? You may want to look into Team in Training (http://www.teamintraining.org) for ideas.
Also, I thought you could provide more details about the Otesha play in your materials. Give people a picture of this interesting mix of sport and theatre.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for you feedback. The ideas behid PV video seem like a perfect fit for us. Thanks for pointing it out. A number of our alumni have made their own videos about the bike tour experience already, but we have been talking about supporting their efforts in a more formal way for awhile.
We have a website (www.otesha.ca) where non-cyclists can join the movement, as well as a book that people can read and add to (available to dowload and buy on the website). We also have another program called the Hopeful Highschool Hooligan Program where we train teams of highschool students (who don't bike to performances) to perform the play in their community.
To date it hasn't been difficult to get the two-month committment from our volunteers, in fact most of them report back that they wished that the experience had been longer. The two month period allows for team members to really work on their performance and advocacy skills while forming a tight community.
We do suggest that tour members train before hand and we provide them with a suggested training schedule. Most of our volunteers are new to bike touring, so before they get on the road we do our best to support them in preparing their equipment (and themselves!) for the experience.
Thanks again for your comments!
jess
Pastor Mwandha michael.
Executive Director ,
I have a question and a comment.
Do you contact people later to encourage them to do the things that they said they would on their postcards?
Also, check out the Clif Bar Development CycloCross Team. These are some of the top young racers in the US (and the world) and they use their races to increase awareness of environmental issues and encourage action. They are really having an impact in the US.
http://sustainablecycling.blogspot.com/
http://sustainablecycling.com/
It would be fun to have a show at one of the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross events next year but it might be a bit out of your way.
Keep up the good work.
Catherine Humblet
Portland, OR
Hi Catherine,
I hadn't heard about the Clif Bar Development CycloCross Team. It's neat to see that there is a push for sustainability in the bike racing community. Our cyclists tend to be far from competitve racers, but we have found that there is common support among two-wheeled communities so I'm sure a performance (if it is ever enroute) would be a lot of fun!
As for the postcards, we do track them and then send out an email 2 months after we receive the postcard. We ask the sender about what actions they are taking, what they found most impactful in the performance, and provide links to The Otesha Book as a follow-up tool. Most people respond to this e-mail with raving reviews, however a lot of the postcards we receive don't list a working e-mail address. We are hoping to develop an additional online postcard to try and increase the contact information that we are able to collect.
If youare in Portland you should check out another organization that we have worked with that runs a similar program: www.commoncircle.com
Thanks for your support!
Jessica
Hi Dana,
Thanks for your comments and interest in the Otesha postcards. They are some of our favourite decorations in the office and act as our proof that change is happening! We've received over 1,200 postcards from people all over the world. Here are some that we have received:
"Since seeing your presentation I have not driven my car in almost 3 months! It needs repairs and I have opted instead to use bikes and buses, thereby reducing pollution and saving lots of money. A very empowering presentation. Thank you!" - Sandy, 58, Nelson, B.C.
"Today, I bought a composter and set it up in my backyard. Also, I plan on saving my empty peanut butter jars (and ask my friends and family to do the same) to make toilet dams! I've also been taking staggered showers!" - Sandra, 16, Barrie, ON
We are planning on creating a publication that tells the stories of Otesha's impacts in the new year. I will be sure to link it to the application once it is completed.
Thanks for your support!
Jessica
I agree with others that this project has great potential and I am impressed with the impact that you have already had. I have a few questions that might help you improve your future impact. For one, I am not sure why the trek is the length that it is. It seems like you could have greater impact if you included more people , more often. Would it dilute your goals if you had these longer treks as well as shorter weekend rides (perhaps the rides could open and close with the play)? I imagine that you could have people sign up for short rides, and their fees could help sustain your organization as well as generate more money for more projects or funding for the longer rides. Right now, it sounds like you have to find people to participate who have interests in drama/acting and in cycling. Is there a way to tap the people who only care about one or the other and get them involved and collaborating? Doing so would possibly help you find additional funding sources and you could also see sustainability effects on drama groups and on cyclist groups (as well as on those who benefit from the play or from hearing about the project). This project seems to have huge potential for application in many countries (I see you are already spreading to other countries) and I am impressed with your unique offering. Great work!
Lisa
Lisa Jones Christensen
Faculty Commentator
UNC Chapel Hill
Thanks for your comments Lisa. Right now our tours are two months long so that participants have enough time to learn the play and to help solidify their sustainable living choices as a 'habit'. Some tour members have told us that the tours are too short!
However, I agree that some shorter treks would increase the number of people who could go on tour. We are trying to plan our first week long tour and open it up to participants over 35. Our goals for the tour will be quite different than our longer tours because participants won't have the time for extensive training, or even learning/creating a theatre piece. However we hope that the shorter program will introduce a different audience to bike touring, alternative lifestyles, and spreading the message and will act as a catalyst for future involvement. As you mentioned, we also hope that these shorter tours can generate core funds for the organization.
We have another program called the Hopeful Highschool Hooligan Program which taps into theatre groups in highschools and does not involve any cycling. However we don't have anything that taps solely into cycling groups, so we will have to think about that!
Thanks again for your comments and support,
Jessica
Hi Jesscia,
re: the theatrical side of your project - what´s the play about? Is there audience participation? Do you have writers/acting coaches in your team? Is rehearsing and developing playing techniques part of building Othesha teams?
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Hi Jasper,
Thanks for your questions about the play.
The play is called 'Morning Choices' and features Careless Consumer, Hopeful Hooligan, Mother Earth, and a variety of live props. The 25-minute play connects global problems with everyday actions in a typical morning between 8-9am. With 6 scenes, moving from getting ready in the bathroom, getting dressed, morning entertainment, buying coffee, packing lunch, and getting to school, the emphasis is always on choice and our ability to have a positive or negative impact. Throughout these scenes, the actors use comedy and pop culture references to touch on issues such as climate change, fair trade, and over consumption in a hilarious and hope-filled fashion.
There is some audience participation, and there has been some experimentation with Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed teachniques, but the majority of performances are not interactive.
We don't have any actors or writers on our team, however most of our staff have been a part of performance teams in the past and we have had many theatre buffs lend their skills as volunteers. Team trainings focus on theatre techniques that we have learned over the years as well as creating a system to evaluate and continually improve each performance.
We will be posting a video of a performance online in the next few weeks so check out the website in the new year if you want to see a performance in action!
Jessica
Inspiring video and exciting project! How many of those postcards have you received in the mail? It would be great if you could include a couple examples of how your presentations have made people change their lifestyles and behaviors. For example, that one person decided to sell his car because of your presentation! That is huge! Please include a few of these stories in your application.
Its great to see a sports entry with an environmental focus. I think that the Otesha project also relates to our upcoming competition with National Geographic addressing sustainable tourism. We hope that Otesha will consider entering that competition when it launches on January 30th. Keep up the great work!
Dana Frasz
Changemakers