XO MAGAZINE “We are seekers of congruency between subject and action. To find this we continuously ask ourselves who we are, why we do, and what we do. “ - from the manifesto of the XO magazine
we are
XO The vision of XO was to create a constructive language for the debate around human development, gender and sexuality through a magazine in which strong pictures, slow-journalism, illustrations, essays and pieces of text as well as actual debates would inspire for conversation. https://issuu.com/nannaamaliedahl/docs/prototype1_58cd837d89b74b
OBJECT_HAIR //Linguistic deconstruction: Being inspired by grammatical linguistic analysis and discourse theory, the magazine wished to disturb the world of it’s readers by putting focus on the human being both as a subject (X), action (O) and object (r). These pictures were taken as part of a photo-reportage investigating our relationship with hair.
//Nerds: XO was a niche magazine r e targeting s e t a tthet h i s c ersati as u ber paper nerd as well as the ones interested in the l e s aIn- d sel r si plicit theme of identity, art and creative writing. spired by the idea of the project period a l l being r e eanr r e d t a s le le are da c open play field, the very process of engaging with e r s h e h a e b e e t l d t u ld their contributing artists as well as the process of testing content development methods, the quality of da ce i rds hat is t tra slate their the magazine including format, size, paper and e e t s i t the r at a colors, became an essential part of the project. This article is an interview with the fictive character a a i e he piece the re er t is “Alex�, conducted with the dancer playing Alex in a a p i e c e i hich asculi it is e pl red theater piece.
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(whomever that is)
II really really enjoy enjoy dancing dancing naked. naked. It’s It’s kind kind of of aa liberation. liberation. But But it’s it’s not not aa liberation liberation like like dodoing this [Alex through their hands into the ing this [Alex through their hands into the wall wall to to show show the the movement movement of of aa chair chair bebeing ing thrown thrown in in to to the the wall] wall] but but it’s it’s aa liberaliberation. tion. The The strongest strongest is is your your vulnerability. vulnerability. And And that’s that’s very very much much aa feeling feeling II like: like: To To be be strong in my vulnerability. And about masculinity and femininity, I think it’s like this: [Alex puts the hands next to each other] and then you open them like this [opens the fingers so the spectrum becomes wider]. It’s like black and white, maculine and feminine. You put it together and then you have a rainbow. Like, I don’t know how to explain it. We are not one thing or the other. We can be many things at the same time. And that’s the message I would like to spread. We do not necessarily need to be only one thing. And that is good. There are no right and wrong. It is much more complex than than this. this. To To break break this this ‘yes-no’ ‘yes-no’,, complex ‘black- white’ white’,, ‘right-wrong’ ‘right-wrong’,, ‘man-woman’ ‘man-woman’,, ‘black‘left-right’ we we are are divided divided in in to to all all the the time time ‘left-right’ is what what II would would like like to to do. do. Is Is itit possible possible to to is explode this this ’two’ ’two’ and and have have aa Big Big Bang Bang explode where everything everything is is possible? possible? where
II lliikkeedd t h e ssttrriipp bbeeccaauuss e
THIRD SECTOR SUMMIT How do we make girls aware, that being a participant or official in sports- and voluntary associations, can strengthen their professional leadership potential? And how do we broadcast the global benefits of girls playing sports - and especially team sports - to the right people? These were two of the questions asked and found solutions for during the Third Sector Summi, may 2016. The third sector summit arose from a network meeting prior to the Women Deliver Conference taking place in Copenhagen, May 2016. Representatives from 5 organisations (DGI, DIF, Spejderne, EIR Soccer, Red Barnet) had the idea to use the conference as an occasion to create a shared summit focusing on women in sport and volunteer organisations. Yet we only had 3 months, no budget and neither a clearly defined shared goal with our collaboration. Only the gut feeling that this had to happen. Leading the proces and project it became my task to: 1) In collaboration with the other representatives define a shared goal and political agenda between the 5 organisations. 2) Raise money for, develop and carry out a one-day workshop for leaders within the field of sport and volunteer organisations as well as for the creation of a magazine gathered the solutions found on the day. 3) Create a conversational concept for the day that would enable us to attract and use the strengths of the participants as much as possible as well as to gather all the learning for further use. 4) 3 days after the workshop to co-host the presentation of the results for an international audience at the Women Deliver Conference. This in order to make a second iteration of the outcome and present the workshop concept for further use. Link to material: https://issuu.com/nannaamaliedahl/docs/third_sector_summit_on_gender_equal
//Conversational Concept: Inspired by the concept of Open Space Technology, 10 experts were invited to ask 10 different questions prior to the workshop. The questions were printed on A1 posters and the participants were invited to join a conversation around the question that they found most interesting or found that they had the most knowledge to share. The discussions were afterwards gathered as a series of articles unfolding solutions for change: //Comment from participator: “Big applause to you [Nanna Dahl and Rikke Rønholt, CEO Global Goals World Cup] for a well planned, clever and elegant Third Sector Summit (…). Your vigorous facilitation and creative workshop design came off on us, the participants” - Thomas Ravn-Pedersen, CEO of World’s Best News. Receiving this email in my inbox the day after the workshop made me realize that as a workshop designer and facilitator I do not only have something to offer within the political field of which I engage but also within the field of how to design spaces for engagement. //Stake holders and result: The project being a collaboration between more organisations, arising as a reaction to another event and targeting both leaders and experts within the field meant that many stake holders were involved. As a result of this, the pre-jecting phase of defining a shared goal within the organisations became a large part of the project period. Allowing time in the beginning to discuss and find out where and why the organisations should to cooperate, however became key for the creation of a well thought through workshop with the potential to be repeated in other settings - an idea that we are currently in collaboration with Hansen Agenda applying for funding for.
Key Drivers for Change 1 Create innovative partnerships When establishing new partnerships locally and globally time should be spent on: A. Creating a shared goal. B. Identifying contributions and contributors. C. Establishing an openness towards shared and possible conflicting interests within the project. D. Securing the economic foundation
2 Answer specific needs When establishing new projects, clubs and associations must make sure to identify and cater to any social or gender specific barriers or challenges faced by marginalised youth.
3
How do we leverage the power of multi sector partnerships to ensure that we leave no one behind when it comes to offering sports and leisure time activities to young girls and boys?
Parents and social networks create sustainable change “It takes a village to raise a child”. In the modern era, sometimes the third sector of sport and voluntary activities represent an important additional part of that “village”: a safe haven where children gain physical and social competences, self esteem and an expanded social network.
These are the Key Drivers of Change we came up with during the Third Sector Summit on 9th of May 2016. Do you have a comment or want to add one? Send us an email on ft@9maj.dk
Key Drivers for Change
1 Deliberate recruitment of women Clubs and federations must develop guidelines for spotting and nurturing female talents. Furthermore the federations must formulate and vote for a strategy, with specific action plans and goals towards larger gender diversity.
2 Promote the benefits of diversity The optimal gender representation of an organization is 40/60 %. Gender balanced organisations perform better. Make the business case for gender balance known to clubs and federations.
What will it take to remove the gender specific barriers that block the path towards more female leaders in the international governing bodies of sport?
3 Limit the maximum length of tenure on boards Have regular and open elections in order to create turnover and prevent the maintenance of the “old boys club�.
These are the Key Drivers of Change we came up with during the Third Sector Summit on 9th of May 2016. Do you have a comment or want to add one? Send us an email on ft@9maj.dk
THE COMMITTED
Play x Method description x Communicating personal values When so many of the young authors in in this book emphasize the independent initiative it must be a sign that the established system has not yet understood that: “to much wood kills the fire”, as Nanna Amalie Dahl from the Danish Scout and Guides association concludes: “It doesn’t make sense to ask what they burn for if we at the same time overwhelm them with our own ambitions, predefined learning goals and ideas” - Writer Peter Øvig Knudsen in the postscript of “The Committed” (De Engagerede)
De Engagerede 22 fortællinger om engagement af den danske ungdom
UNGDOMSBUREAUET
In Autumn 2016 Ungdomsbureauet (The Youth Bureau) asked 20 young leaders from 20 Danish Youth Organisations to write an essay answering the question: “How do we best engage the youth in the development of our the society?”. My contribution was an essay on how to put less focus on learning goals in youth institutions and more focus on the beauty of engaging with the unknown. The essay was based on my previous experiences with outdoor leadership training of kids and youth. The book was printed in 6500 examples and can be found at: http://www.ungdomsbureauet.dk/de-engagerede.html
//Extract one: Between fantasy and reality lies critical thinking: “But how do we create spaces for development outside nature which are so interesting that nothing in this world attracts the attention of the youth more? First point of the agenda must be to kill the learning plans (...). Achieving satisfying results with purposeless activities takes an ambitious break down of the relationship between teacher and student, experienced and unexperienced. We have to learn from each other. By not defining the goal of a shared activity from the beginning we require ourselves to throw as much energy in to the project as we require from the participants. We will have to play along. Take part. Laugh, cry, wonder. Or drop the project if we can’t.”
//Extract two: Adequate challenges: If we want more young people to take part n the development of society we have to start with what excites them instead of with what is predefined in the text books. As we for instance do at Forlev Scout Center when a course in project development is not founded in theory but in defining the adequate challenge. Of for instance giving 60 participants a week to build a machine able to both transport after and fire.
//Extract three: A strong civic society: “As to the question of how to continue the development of a strong civic society I think the relationship between the known and the unknown is crucial. It is in the meeting with other people, other realities and even other worlds that an active, critical and creative sense is developed. It is through the development of individuals each capable of taking actions based on their believes and conviction of good and bad that a strong civic society is created.�