What an exciting month it has been. Ray had the recent privilege of being invited to present at the Community Development Society and International Association for Community Development Conference on Sustaining Community Change in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Ray conducted a workshop on ‘Governance and Community Capitals’ and this was well received by conference participants. In particular, some highly respected international leaders in the field were present and expressed a keen interest to continue a dialogue around his work.
En-route to the conference, Ray participated in a UN roundtable side event of the high-level political forum on sustainable development. The focus of the event was to discuss the idea that ‘without community development there can be no sustainable development’.
Connecting through the International Association for Community Development and the Community Development Society opens opportunities to connect with community development activists around the globe. Practitioners in these groups view community holistically and recognize the interdependence, interconnections and relationships between various resources in a community. The perspective is underpinned by theories of community development, education and organisation, political, economic and social sciences, ecology, humanities and indigenous knowledge.
It is great to have had the opportunity to connect with others from around the world who are engaged in some great community development work, and continue to build professional associations that will enrich the work of aeikon.
If you would like to know more about these organisations, visit www.iacdglobal.org/ and http://www.comm-dev.org/