Lab
Questions and challenges that push against conventional thinking. Ideas meant to spark discussion, not settle debates.
Provocations are questions, framings, or ideas designed to challenge assumptions - including our own. They're not conclusions or recommendations. They're invitations to think differently about familiar problems.
Some provocations will resonate. Others will feel wrong. Both responses are useful. The goal is to surface assumptions that usually go unexamined.
Current Provocations
H1 (Status Quo): "Good ideas must scale universally to be valuable."
H2 (The Shift): Stripping solutions of context to make them repeatable often kills the distinctiveness that made them work.
H3 (Horizon): A network of deeply contextual, place-based solutions.
H1 (Status Quo): "Only randomized control trials (RCTs) count as rigorous evidence."
H2 (The Shift): Recognizing that current definitions of "evidence" act as gatekeepers that exclude community wisdom.
H3 (Horizon): A rigorous respect for plural ways of knowing and validating truth.
H1 (Status Quo): "Funders are benefactors; communities are beneficiaries."
H2 (The Shift): Acknowledging that control of resources is the ultimate form of governance.
H3 (Horizon): Community sovereignty over the assets and data they generate.
We're always looking for questions that unsettle our thinking. If you have a provocation - especially one that challenges our assumptions - we'd love to hear it.