As we’ve begun to get to work on building the Bega Circular Valley program, our values have naturally taken shape.
We’re a small, developing co-operative so don’t need a complex overly thought-out set of values, but, because we are community centred and work with so many partners and collaborators, we do need to have a base set of values to guide our everyday actions.
The following summarizes our current organisational values; we fully expect them to keep evolving as we continue to refine how we work, but, for now, they provide us with a pretty good set of guard rails within which all our work can travel.
The Regional Circularity Co-operative’s Core Value
As a co-operative organisation focused on creating ‘a Bega Valley that is a vibrant and resilient circular region for all those who live, work and visit here and a place-based circularity beacon for the world’, the values we aspire to are as important as the work we are striving to do.
We have six core values that we look to place at the heart of everything we do, as well as using to help us make decisions across every aspect of our work (and who we partner or work with).
1. COMMUNITY-CENTRED
We are wholly focused on making the Bega Valley – the community in which we are based – an even more vibrant and resilient place to live.
Every project we initiate, or decision we make, is made with the future of our community in-mind.
2. COLLABORATIVE
We know that we will never achieve our ambitious vision alone.
We collaborate with the community, business, government, academia, indigenous groups and other circular institutions – and anyone else who can help build the circular economy.
Once we find a circular solution, we then share it with others to help make their own circular future a reality.
3. INCLUSIVE
We believe that for a circular economy to work, everyone in the community needs to benefit from it.
Our work is designed to be of long-term benefit for all in the Bega Valley (and beyond), and we will always challenge ourselves to consider every sector of society in all that we do.
4. AMBITIOUS
We were established to help change the world for the better, starting in our own small corner of it.
We are impatiently ambitious in all that we do, whilst always striving to be long-term when pursuing our circular vision.
5. TRANSPARENT
We have nothing to hide – and, in fact, are deliberately designed so that everything we learn in fast-tracking the circular transition can be shared with other communities in Australia & around the world.
We will always endeavour to be open about what we are doing (and why), as well as ‘owning’ the mistakes we will inevitably make in trying to forge a path to a more circular future.
6. HUMBLE
We don’t claim to know all the answers and know that solutions often come from the most unexpected places.
We are humble in how we approach our work and open-minded when it comes to finding solutions to the challenges posed by the circular transition, and who we need to work with to make the transition happen.