Transcript A MANIFESTO FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN SCOTLAND?

A MANIFESTO FOR
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
IN SCOTLAND?
Today’s event
 A contribution to the process of manifesto
building.
 An opportunity to discuss challenges with
key partners.
 An essential step in building a forward work
plan for CDAS .
“Community development makes
curial but often invisible
contributions to the achievement
of policy objectives”
The policy context
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Regeneration
Health promotion/development
Community safety
Social cohesion
Cultural entitlement
Citizenship and work with young people
Adult learning and capacity building
Manifesto
“A public declaration by individual or a body of
individuals….” (Oxford English Dictionary)
“A means of expressing publicising and
recording ideas….”
“A public declaration of principles and
intentions, often political in nature….”
(Wikipedia)
From rhetoric to action
 A good manifesto needs to say what its
promoters are setting out to do.
 Many new manifestos are now appearing to
a world-wide audience due to the Internet.
Values
 Social Justice - enabling people to claim their human rights, meet their
needs and have greater control over the decision-making processes
which affect their lives.
 Participation - facilitating democratic involvement by people in the
issues which affect their lives based on full citizenship, autonomy, and
shared power, skills, knowledge and experience.
 Equality - challenging the attitudes of individuals, and the practices of
institutions and society, which discriminate against and marginalise
people.
 Learning - recognising the skills, knowledge and expertise that people
contribute and develop by taking action to tackle social, economic,
political and environmental problems.
 Co-operation - working together to identify and implement action,
based on mutual respect of diverse cultures and contributions.
(CDX Website)
Community Development
Alliance, Scotland.
Where did CDAS come from?
 The Community Work Forum- SCEC
 “its explicit purpose, networking, promotion and
policy development relating to community work
and community development”
 The Community Development Alliance
 An autonomous network funded by Learning
Connections, Community Scotland
 Serviced by Volunteer Development Scotland
Review and re-focus
 The starting point for the 2006 Avante review of
CDAS was to ask the question : was an ongoing
need for a national alliance of organisations which
have the promotion of community development as
part of their objective?
 The answer was “yes”
 A number of specific recommendations for action
 Commissioned background paper to promote
discussion
Underpinning principles
 Empowerment - increasing the ability of individuals and
groups to influence issues that affect them and their
communities.
 Participation - supporting people to take part in decisionmaking.
 Inclusion, equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination recognising that some people may need additional support
to overcome the barriers they face.
 Self-determination - supporting the right of people to make
their own choices.
 Partnership - recognising that many agencies can
contribute to CLD to ensure resources are used effectively.
(Working & Learning Together Scottish Executive)
CDAS – aims and objectives
 Aims - The Community Development Alliance aims to
influence policy, management, practice, and training that
relates to community development in Scotland, in
accordance with the principles endorsed by the Budapest
Declaration 2004.
 In order to achieve its stated aims, CDAS will:
 enable regular exchange of information on community
development policy and practice;
 provide a forum for the discussion and debate of issues of
national importance relating to community development;
 provide opportunities for the study of specific aspects of
community development;
 contribute to the development of national strategies.
Membership
 National organisations which seek to
promote community development and
influence policy.
 Membership is open to regional and national
organisations, or networks of organisations,
whose aims include the promotion of
community development and who are willing
to endorse the principles of community
development.
Policy support
 The preparation of materials, information, and
recordings.
 Supporting members to effectively represent views
on current issues.
 Assisting in the dissemination and promotion of
learning.
 Liaison with and support to CDAS members.
 Liaison with national agencies and networks on
behalf of CDAS.
 Supporting the efficient organisation of meetings,
seminars and events.
 Supporting the administration of CDAS and the
development of the website.
Administrative support
 Providing the arrangement for meetings, including
the preparation and distribution of relevant papers
and agendas etc.
 Arranging for seminars, conferences and other
events.
 Producing and distributing briefing papers and
other publications.
 Maintaining and developing CDAS membership
database and mailing lists etc.
 Maintaining and developing the website.
The workshops
 Today's participants are representative of
the key stakeholders in the field of
community development in Scotland.
 We are inviting you to engage in this
process of manifesto building and,
simultaneously, generate the next work plan
for the Alliance.