Activity: Web Of Interdependence

This page showcases an activity which explains “What holds communities together? What makes them fall apart?” If you are building any-kind of community then I invite you to explore further and give it a try !!

Being one of the participants of Vishwas Parchure‘s The Practitioner’s Pod Program , I had to showcase one of the activity and receive feedback during the session on 15th June’25. I could have showcased any activities but I thought of building a new one.

I was looking for an idea and then came across a book (referred by a friend) – Gandhian Economic Thought by J. C. Kumarappa, which presents a vision for a cooperative, community-centered society where economic organization fosters moral and spiritual growth over material accumulation and conflict. After reviewing it and going over a few iterations I created the activity – Web Of Interdependence.

For a quick understanding of the activity, if we take an example of a village where the circular economy is in motion and everyone helps each other. A carpenter helps other villagers with their furniture needs, a community gardener grows veggies for everyone, A teacher takes care of education and so on. Now think, a corporation comes and starts selling cheap furniture and some villagers start buying from it. This would impact the earnings of the carpenter and he/she would try to save somewhere else, which would affect someone else’s earnings and this spiral continues. Eventually these skilled workers would move to the cities and no-one would be left in villages. 

Our individual choices make a huge difference and we should be mindful while making our decision. This activity just highlights that. At the start of the activity we start with a model circular economy and create a web with a thread. Then as corporations come and make offers to lure villagers and as soon as one or two accept the offers, we start cutting the threads and that’s when we see how the web breaks. It gives goosebumps to all whose connection is cut. 

In the last 2-3 weeks I got the 3 opportunities to run this activity

• At the Paripoornam Community
• At the The Practitioner’s Pod Program
• At Learning Societies unConference (LSuC) 2025

Every time people appreciated the activity and some tried to connect with their daily choices. Do share your feedback and comments.