EVENT: Supporting Community Action

19 August 2013


Supporting Community Action – Lessons from Australia and the UK

Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

25th September 2013 – free event

11am – 3pm.

Registration and refreshments from 10:30am.

This event is for the wide range of practitioners and policy makers with an interest in working with, and learning from, small and emerging community groups and networks. These are often best placed to identify community needs and aspirations and take action to address the issues confronting communities. Despite this, they are not found around the tables of policy makers or ‘going for influence or tender’ consortia.

The event is for community activists, developmet workers, community learning providers, health, housing, education, environmental and other practitioners and will draw on lessons from Australia and the UK.

The event will focus on:

  • Sharing approaches to supporting small and emerging groups to develop and take collective action around their own identified interests
  • How to support communities of interest and identity in a climate of localism and neighbourhood
  • The links between informal learning and community action
  • Supporting community members to recognise and build on their existing strengths, knowledge and experience.

Click here for more information (includes outline programme).

This is a free event but places are limited. Early booking is advised. To reserve a place please download this booking form and return it to FCDL by Friday 13th September.

CDJ Special Issue on Extractive Industries

Extractive Industries

16 August 2013

The CDJ Special Issue on Extractive Industries is now available. All articles will be freely available until the end of September.

The collection of papers presented in the issue reflects upon a broad range of emerging community development challenges surrounding the growth of the mining, and oil and gas sectors in different settings across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Melanesia.

Recognizing the distinction between ‘community-led’ development and ‘corporate-controlled’ development, the contributions critically explore how different stakeholders respond to extractive industries development and reflect upon the role that communities might play in mitigating some of the problematic issues that arise.

The collection sheds new light on the complex relationships between communities, companies, governments and non-governmental actors and provides a more nuanced picture of the challenges faced in pursuing more sustainable community-led trajectories.