Generating Strategy, Innovation, Solutions for Economic Development

GENESIS© is a methodology to conduct a quick participatory exercise to identify strategic interventions (catalytic projects with a strong leverage factor) in the context of a territorial economic development initiative. GENESIS can also be employed to conduct a Regional Foresight exercise. GENESIS gives you

  • a strategic perspective at the development opportunities of your local or regional economy, based on scenarios of future development,
  • specific proposals for catalytic activities to stimulate the development of your local or regional economy.
A GENESIS exercise involves the following steps:

  • meta-research to digest and consolidate existing research and project proposals,
  • the Futures Workshop with a focus at the formulation of scenarios, options and possible priorities for regional development initiatives,
  • the elaboration of business cases around options for development initiatives,
  • the Decision Workshop with local stakeholders and decision-takers to discuss and prioritise the options for development initiatives,
  • the elaboration of activity plans.
For a summary document on GENESIS please click here.

GENESIS has been developed under the lead of Colin Mitchell and was first applied for the elaboration of the development strategy of the Ilembe region in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The methodology has been refined with the support of the GTZ LED Project in South Africa. The refined methodology was tested in April 2005 in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The copyright in GENESIS is jointly held by GTZ and mesopartner. The contact person in GTZ is Gabriele Trah.

GENESIS and PACA are complementary methodologies. Depending on the local situation, you may prefer the one or the other to initiative or re-focus your local or regional economic development initiative. GENESIS may give you strategic orientation to guide PACA Exercises. PACA gives you the buy-in of relevant players, and it providers you with a clear definition of the first steps to implement your strategy. We recommend to conduct PACA before GENESIS, especially in constellations where we need mobilisation, motivation, exploration and learning before going into strategic activities.