Global Centre of Possibility
What We Do
Whanganui will:
House the leading training organization in Possibility design, innovation and entrepreneurship
House the Possibility Hot House of access designers and entrepreneurs
Establish the national cluster of Possibility enterprises
Become the place to trial, teat and learn for new and emerging access products and services
Become the best place to raise a child with disability
in the world by creating Possibility Pathways.Host the Designing Futures of Possibility Symposium series.
Projects:
The first access entrepreneurship project is already up
and running in partnership with Thrive Whanganui an organization that specializes in supporting grass root businesses get off the ground.
In August 2024 the team at Thrive are piloting their first ever access entrepreneurship program!
Watch out for more on this exciting iniative!
The GCOP
The Global Centre of Possibility (GCOP), along with its founder Minnie Baragwanath who recently relocated from Auckland to Whanganui will be at the heart of this journey; championing Possibility and the ‘with’ philosophy, coaching individuals and organisations, attracting investment and networks, and providing a strategic lens to guide development. This approach continues GCOP’s strategy of working “with” not ‘to’ or “for” the access community.
The GCOP is a catalyst and changemaker, creating the runway for Possibility transformation in Aotearoa and around the world for people living with a disability. The Possibility lens which sits at the heart of the GCOP, is unique to Aotearoa and was created here by a group of access citizens, innovators and designers as a new lens for the 21st century.
At the heart of this approach is the idea that unless we learn to work “with” (not doing “to” or “for”) our access leaders, designers and innovators we will never actually achieve true parity for access citizens locally and globally.
Theory of Change (TOC)
The TOC that underpins this 25- year City of Possibility concept, is that unless we embrace a Possibility approach to Leadership Design and Innovation, unless we understand what it means to be truly ‘with’ our access leaders, designers and innovators we, society will never create a fully accessible future for all. Instead, we will continue to design people, talent, creativity and contribution by people with disability, out of our society, economy and communities. In this VUCA (Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world we currently live in, we also run the risk of losing many of the hard fought for gains by the access community which could propel this community even further back than we are at present.
By creating the first City of Possibility and by modelling a place-based approach we can truly test out a new future, one full of Possibility for/with our access citizens of today and start to reimagine a future full of possibilities rather than barriers. By using a place based approach we can use Whanganui as a pilot community for the rest of Aotearoa. We can be a ‘safe’ place to trial new products and new services with the access community in real time. We can also nourish an emerging eco system that will support access innovators, designers and entrepreneurs to flourish in a set of conditions designed for that very purpose. An accessible Silicon-valley if you like!
What is the Whanganui City of Possibility?
Imagine a place, a city, a truly progressive world leading community, here in beautiful Aotearoa where people living with an impairment not only thrive, but are leading the design, innovation and transformation of the world around us. Imagine a place that models what is possible when we embrace future-focused accessibility leadership at the heart of everything we do.
That is what a City of Possibility will create.
In 2024/2025 the GCOP, under the skilled leadership of blind social entrepreneur and access innovator Minnie Baragwanath, along with a talented local and international project team, is leading the activation of the city of Whanganui as the first ever City of Possibility in the world.
As the first City of Possibility, Whanganui will not only become the most accessible city in Aotearoa to live, work and play as an access citizen, but it will also become a global leader in design, innovation, research and development of accessible products and services fit for a contemporary global market of access consumers that is close to 2 billion people and has a spending power of $US13 trillion.