An online survey ran between 9th and 24th November 2009 which aimed to find out more about UK Buddhists’ interest in and knowledge about Buddhist-inspired and Buddhist-led development work and social action in Asia; also to find out how Buddhists understood the relationship between personal and social transformation.
Ultimately, we wanted to find out if there was interest in a project the Karuna Trust www.karuna.org and the Clear Vision Trust www.clear-vision.org were planning to propose to the Department for International Development (DFID) which has funded Karuna before, for its work in India.
295 people contributed and the figures for each question are shown in the summary. 77% of the contributors were part of the FWBO because of the nature of the project and the organisations circulating the information. (Karuna and Clear Vision are FWBO projects.)
The overall summary is here.
The main comments have been divided into three parts for ease of reading and comparison.
When asked “Personal and social transformation are indivisible.” Do you agree?
116 said Yes. You can read their comments here.
45 said Sort of. You can read their comments here.
12 said No. You can read their comments here.
The outcome of this process is that a project application has been submitted to the Department for International Development for £273,186 by Karuna in partnership with Clear Vision. The plan is to focus on selected examples of socially-engaged Buddhist projects in the global South and demonstrating their relation to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). The result of the application will be announced probably in March 2010.
The project will set up ten groups across the UK of Buddhists from various traditions including several within FWBO centres. Original study materials on will be created including video footage of projects in the global South. This will be accessed on an online learning hub. There will also be exchange and networking spaces such as inter-group meetings, retreats, conferences and a web hub.
We would like to thank all those who contributed to the survey. We were impressed with the responses, both in the thought given to them and the number completed in such a short time. The information will have value beyond this project as we think it’s the biggest survey ever completed on Engaged Buddhism and certainly the most current.