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Issue 16 People, Place and Power: the soul of community development Dundee Edition
Contents
WCDC2019 Editorial. Dr Victoria Jupp Kina & Mere Greta 4
‘People, Place and Power: the soul of community development’
Reflecting on a disruptive conference. Clare MacGillivray 6
On Belonging to an International Community: the experience of
About IACD
our conference volunteers. Alyssa Faulkner & Tanita Louise Addario 8
Children’s Parliament: giving ideas a voice. Katie Reid 10
Human Rights and Development: two sides of the same coin? Virgínia Brás Gomes 14
Page 10
IACD is the only global network for professional community Reflections on WCDC2019 from COVID-19 lockdown! Margaret Ledwith 16
development practitioners. We support development agencies The World is Ill-Divided: Reflections on public history in Dundee. Dr Erin Farley 18
and practitioners to build the capacity of communities to A Victory for Ubuntu: bringing community development practice to the
realise greater social and economic equality, environmental battle for UK visas. Daniel Muia 20
protection and political democracy. A Tale of Two Cities: Community Development and Systemic Inequality.
Anthony Cook 21
What do we do?
Awakening to Love and Soul in Community Development.
IACD links people to each other. We facilitate learning and practice exchange, both virtually Rosalind Harris & Ron Hustedde 24
and face-to-face. We work with partners to deliver regional, national and international
events, study visits and conferences. We document the work that our members are doing Storytelling around the wood fire stove of a mobile ‘tiny house’:
around the world by collecting case studies, tools and materials on community experiencing the civic sanctuary of the Welcome Hut. Christian H Hanser 26
development, and sharing these through our website, publications and ebulletins. We carry
Facilitation for Empowerment and Social Transformation (FEST): A case of Page 18
out research projects, drawing on international experience.
process-led approach to community development in Nepal. Ammar Bahadur Air 29
IACD aims to give its members a voice at the global level, advocating for community Community Development Workshop: Native Lands, Native People,
development principles and practice in international forums and consultations. IACD Native Rights. Holly Scheib 32
has consultative status with the UN and its agencies.
The Factors Influencing Power and Politics for Women in Liberia:
Contributing articles My Personal and Work Experience. Dorothy Kwennah Toomann 34
Our international Practice Insights publications are issued three times a year, each one LGBTQ+ Rights and Community Development: A Global Roundtable.
focusing on a particular theme of relevance to community development. If you would like Paul Lachapelle and Deborah Albin 37
further information or to contribute to future editions, please contact membership@
iacdglobal.org. Alternatively, IACD members are welcome at any time to contribute news
Unconferenced: The Unchampioned Views. Delight Sunday-Anicho 38
items, research, case studies or other materials to our members’ Facebook site and to the Seven minutes to share, an eternity to learn: Building and deepening
IACD website. common grounds. Mário Montez 39
Join us Reflections on World Community Development Conference
Dundee 2019. Cissy Rock 41
Page 24
For full details and to join, go to www.iacdglobal.org/join-us.
Teaching and Learning in Community Development: The Role of Praxis.
Benefits of membership include: Catherine Forde 42
• Daily Facebook News posts about community and international development;
People, Place and Power: the soul of community development:
• Access to the Global Community Development Exchange resource bank on the IACD Conference insights. 44
website;
My experience as the spontaneous minstrel for Dundee WCDC 2019.
• Opportunities to participate in Practice Exchange study visits; Dr Claire Garabedian 48
• Discounted rates at IACD conferences;
A Year On: Thoughts and Reflections from Dundee’s Practitioners
• Discounted subscriptions to the Community Development Journal; Stuart Fairweather 50
•O
pportunities to share your work and experiences with a global audience, through our Realising the Dream: identifying unexamined privilege as a path to equality in
website, Facebook sites and other publications; the field of community development Meredith Greta, Victoria Jupp Kina & Holly Scheib 52
•M
embers also have the opportunity to nominate to serve on the IACD Board of Directors.
Community Supported Enterprises as a Local Development Option. Page 44
Our next Annual General Meeting will take place in June 2021 in Kenya.
Norman Walzer 56
The Cultural Journey of a City. Stewart Murdoch 58
Practice Exchange Photo Essay. Elaine Attard 60
Visualising People and Place: embedding design-thinking in Dundee’s
development. Annie Marrs 62
DigiShakti: Digital Empowerment of Urban and Rural Women in
Maharashtra, India. Sonia Garcha
www.iacdglobal.org
65
Earth as Community: putting nature, communities and community development
The views expressed in this publication are primarily those of the respective authors and not necessarily those of IACD.
at the heart of tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and social justice.
Helena Kettleborough 68 Page 62
2 Practice Insights | Issue 15 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world
WCDC2019 Editorial
our collective strength. Through strength,
We wanted a conference that we build resistance. In this issue, Daniel Cllr John
Muia reflects on his experience of having
shifted the normal and
his visa to attend the conference refused
Alexander
disrupted traditional dynamics.
Editor: Dr Victoria Jupp Kina; Assistant Editor: Mere Greta – and the deeply political fight to have his Leader of Dundee
and five other visa refusals overturned. City Council
Thanks to Clare’s leadership, we were
successful in overturning three.
programming. Claire Garabedian Collectively, we resisted and transformed
A thank you
highlights the power of music in creating the sense of other to a sense of together.
moments of spontaneous connection, As organisers of an international
from the Leader
and feedback on the performance from conference, our moral obligation to
Vox Liminis during the closing plenary belonging is the preparedness to engage
of Dundee City
reinforced the power of music to directly in political decisions that could be
reimagine and instigate change. We viewed as beyond our control. After all it
Council
would urge future conferences to place is, as Virgínia Brás-Gomez highlights in this
creativity centrally in programming. issue, citizen power that drives change.
As introverts, we are also proud of
Dundee was honoured to
creating an event that provided spaces Collectively, we resisted and
for the quieter people among us. As transformed the sense of other host the World Community
Christian Hanser so powerfully described
to a sense of together. Our Development Conference
in his article in this issue, we need to
ensure that we listen to the silences of
moral obligation to belonging is (WCDC) in 2019. It was a
Dr Victoria Jupp Kina Meredith Greta disengagement and enable people to the preparedness to engage vibrant celebration of our
directly in political decisions.
‘retreat towards society’. Similarly, Rosalind
communities and
We are delighted to bring you this special issue of Practice Insights. The creation of Harris and Ron Hustedde beautifully
describe the need to embrace those of us the positive legacy of
this issue has provided us with the delightful opportunity to relive WCDC2019 not only with alternative epistemologies and take community development
in our memories (no doubt fogged by the task of organising over 500 delegates!), but care of the shared pain that can occupy
We hope that you enjoy reading this issue in the city.
the ‘pulsing-storied silence’ we carry with
through the lenses of our delegates. us. The changes from events like this do as much as we enjoyed creating it. As we
not emerge only from the loudest voices; look towards a global future in which the
This issue is a celebration of We are proud of what we achieved, but only certainty is that the current system
they happen through the moments of
collaboration and creativity. When the we recognise that there is still more to must fundamentally change, we end with
It was a beautiful and rare connection in spaces like the Welcome
planning committee began thinking do. We did not create a truly inclusive the words of our in-house spoken word
about the conference in early 2018, we example of collaborative event. As a majority female committee,
Hut. It is through actively seeking to create
spaces that embrace the fullness of our poetry performer, Dr Erin Farley: ‘The
were a group of strangers navigating leadership. we worked hard to overcome gender things they lived are not finished.’ Our
individual experiences as humans that we
group dynamics and looking to one inequalities however our committee was fight continues, and by nurturing our
believe facilitated the sense of belonging
another to try to locate ourselves in entirely white and the final programme collective souls we will overcome.
that emerged during our three (or eight, if
a group with no clear roles. From the reflected this. As eloquently described
you went on the Practice Exchanges!)
outset, Clare’s excitement was by Anthony Cook in this issue, systemic Meredith Greta was WCDC2019
days together. As Tanita Addaro notes,
palpable. Her pride of her city and We wanted dialogue rather than inequality is rooted in histories of explicit Operational Manager. She is IACD
one of her most valued memories is the
delight at the thought of bringing an monologue. We not only wanted to subjugation of outcast groups and we Administrator and can be contacted at
sense of belonging to an international
international conference to celebrate welcome delegates to our city, we also did not interrogate ourselves sufficiently membership@iacdglobal.org
community. The feeling of belonging is not
her lifelong passion – community wanted to welcome their experiences to overcome this history. This realisation
simply a fluffy emotion. Belonging is, as Dr Victoria Jupp Kina was WCDC2019
development – to her home town was into our lecture halls and seminar rooms. came too late, and this is not acceptable.
Margaret Ledwith powerfully articulates in Academic Director. She is an
infectious. We laughed. Meetings were As a committee, we shared our own We have learnt some lessons and would The transformation in the city over the last
her article in this issue, a counternarrative independent researcher and educator
energising and exciting. We grew to experiences of feeling isolated, unheard do quite a lot differently if we were to do decade has been led by a deep-rooted
to the inhumanity of neoliberalism. By and can be contacted at victoria@
trust and respect one another, feeling and ignored – and we designed a it all over again. So, as well as desire to embed community engagement
nurturing our connections, we are building socialresearchreimagined.com
able to admit when we had no clue programme that addressed these highlighting some of the things that in the decision-making process. Our city
what we were doing, and feeling free experiences. We prioritised dialogue, worked well, this issue also explores has been built upon a strong sense of
to run with ideas when we did. It was so we limited presentations to seven areas that need to be improved. As community and community activism and
a beautiful and rare example of minutes – and together we rode through Mário Montez highlights, despite the we are richer for that. From major projects
collaborative leadership. the waves of academic resistance. We initial resistance, feedback on the such as the Waterfront Development
prioritised creativity, so we embedded seven-minute presentations was and V&A Dundee, which were agreed
It was through the openness of our following a city-wide public dialogue, to
music, performance, poetry and film. We overwhelmingly positive and we would
discussions that we were able to gain the the £1.2 million participatory budgeting
prioritised grassroots work, so we invited urge future conferences to continue this
confidence to create our own rules. We process which allocated funding to every
activists and practitioners to be keynote approach. The unconference spaces
knew we wanted to embed the principles community in the city and gathered
speakers. We prioritised connection, so were welcomed and used constructively
of community development in the 11,000+ public votes, our communities have
we created spaces for continuing to fill in the gaps in the programme and
structure of the conference – we wanted been at the heart of the decisions.
dialogue outside of the formal continue unfinished conversations – but
a conference that nurtured and actively
conference setting. We recognised that as Cissy Rock notes, if we are to stand The WCDC2019 helped reinvigorate and
invited new voices. We wanted a
our programme would inevitably be true to our community development energise our communities, challenged
conference that shifted the normal and politicians like me to strive for better and
incomplete and have missing voices, values, we need to give such spaces
disrupted traditional dynamics. Simply, allowed us to celebrate the contributions
so we created unconference spaces to equal value and ensure that inclusion is
we wanted to ensure that the already- of so many citizens over a considerable
enable delegates to regain some control. viewed as a design issue in conference
amplified voices did not dominate. number of years.
4 Practice Insights | Issue 16 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world www.facebook.com/IACDglobal/ Issue 16 | Practice Insights 5
‘People, Place and Power:
the soul of community
development’ Reflecting
on a disruptive conference
Clare MacGillivray
Be bold, be brave, be yourself.
And rise up with confidence to
As Chair of the World Community Development Conference 2019 in Dundee, Scotland shift boundaries with radical
it is my pleasure on behalf of our conference planning team to introduce the Practice thinking and practice.
Insights: Dundee Edition.
As Conference organisers #TeamDundee Be bold, be brave, be yourself. And rise
wanted delegates to feel warmly welcomed We hoped to honour the disruptive up with confidence to shift boundaries with
in friendship, solidarity, and love to our city. tradition of our city in our inclusive radical thinking and practice.
programme with a conscious gender
We really wanted this conference to be My personal thanks go to #TeamDundee – my
balance that purposefully celebrated the
different. We wanted to create a disruptive friends and colleagues on the WCDC2019
history of Dundee’s women and continued
conference. Our intent was to shake power, Planning Group for their joyful energy,
their history through a focus on equality
shift thinking and unleash creativity. We creativity and vision that enabled an explosion
and human rights.
wanted to celebrate culture, embrace the of ideas to become a reality. In particular I’d
power of the arts and build connections in The opening song for the conference rooted like to thank the work of Marie Dailly, whose
order to find ways to explore the soul of us in the soul of Dundee. The Jute Mill Song creativity enabled over 40 local practitioners
community development. performed by Sheena Wellington and Claire and volunteers to join our global community.
Garabedien was written by Mary Brooksbank, I would also like to say a huge thank you
We deliberately took risks in the way we to Debbie Ree from Dundee and Angus
a Dundee weaver, socialist, Trade Unionist,
imagined and delivered the conference. Convention Bureau whose organisational skills
songwriter and inspiration to many:
We challenged accepted academic norms are only outweighed by her patience!
with 7-minute presentations, and built in
flexibility through unconference sessions; Oh dear me, the world is ill-divided, The soul of Dundee rooted us in an incredible
we wanted to conference to be free-flowing Them that work the hardest cohesion that I’ve rarely experienced in a
enough to enable self-organisation and collective. And the power of our collective
are aye the least provided.
create space enough to enable delegates I hope you will agree delivered a truly
to reflect and connect. We integrated These words catch my heart. My grannies magnificent World Community Development
music, art, storytelling, film, photography, who worked in the Dundee jute mills often Conference.
walking tours, community visits, spiritual sang this to me as a bairn as they engulfed
I would like to thank to our sponsors for
opportunities and dance throughout the me in warmth and love. Their singing told
their financial contributions to make this
programme. Crucially, these were just the powerful stories of working women in
conference happen.
as integral ingredients to the eight-day my home town, and of the power of the
We deliberately took risks in learning experience as the presentations, collective. As highlighted by Erin Farley in Thanks too, to Alyssa Faulkner our Volunteer
the way we imagined and workshops and keynote speakers. this Issue, Mary Brooksbank gives us a call Coordinator, and our student volunteers for
to action. A reminder that injustice exists their support and guidance throughout the
delivered the conference. This was intentionally not a traditional as the prevalent norm, and it is people conference. Their hard work and commitment
We challenged accepted academic conference. Instead, we wanted and communities who will transform the gave our guests a fantastic delegate
academic norms with 7-minute to create an event where thinking, theory turbulent times we live in. experience.
presentations, and built in and practice could intertwine. Where
culture could be celebrated and created Community development thinking and And immense thanks to you for reading our
flexibility through reflections and allowing the spirit of Dundee
in a collective exploration of the soul of practice assists us to challenge power as
unconference sessions; community development. we globally face crises: a viral pandemic, into your hearts.
we wanted to conference to injustice, poverty, human rights abuses, As you read this Practice Insights let the
In June 2019 over 500 delegates My immense thanks must go to the be free-flowing enough to Dundee is the perfect setting for a environmental catastrophes, forced
conference whose theme was People, Place words of Professor Margaret Ledwith ring
from 37 countries came to Dundee. Guest Editors of this Dundee Edition,
enable self-organisation and and Power. Our place has a rich history of
migration, neo-liberalism and the rise of loud in your ears, “Now is the time to take
The Conference theme People, Place Dr Victoria Jupp Kina, Academic Director right-wing populism.
and Power: The Soul of Community for WCDC2019 and Meredith Greta who led
create space enough to social change, community activism and the ideas from the conference forward, to
Development is beautifully explored on operations for the Conference. I think enable delegates to reflect community arts. Dundee is a city of feisty I hope as you read about the conference
tell a different story and change the course
of history!”
and continued in this edition with you’ll agree that they, along with all our and connect. women. A post-industrial working city. that the spirit of what we all achieved
inspiring reflections from global contributors, have created a magnificent A city steeped in social history and bold in Dundee will ignite renewed action for Clare MacGillivray, Chair of WCDC2019
contributors. edition that brilliantly showcases the spirit enough to reimagine a bright future through change in you and in your community Clare.macgillivray@iacdglobal.org,
of WCDC2019. culture, community, tech and innovation. development work. @Clare_MacG
6 Practice Insights | Issue 16 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world www.facebook.com/IACDglobal/ Issue 16 | Practice Insights 7
On Belonging to an
International Community:
the experience of our
conference volunteers
Tanita:
When I heard that the WCDC was coming sweetie wrapper or bus ticket and make
to Dundee, Scotland, I could not believe it into a small piece of art. I observed I would recommend
my luck! What a fantastic opportunity to and reflected on the way that individual volunteering at a conference
welcome CLD colleagues from all over the delegates’ contribution culminated in a final
such as the World Community
world, embrace them with a warm showing artwork that was made up of the sum of
of Scottish hospitality and share a ‘wee all their efforts. This was very interesting,
Development Conference to
dram or two’! As a student in the CLD and I enjoyed volunteering alongside others – you will have a
distance-learning course at the University Theresa; I learnt a lot from her. Highlights chance to meet new people,
of Dundee, and as an associate member of also included listening to Darren ‘Loki’ make friends, learn new
the CLD Standards Council in Scotland, I McGarvey – the author of Poverty Safari: things, feel part of a wider
Being on the organising thought what better way to learn from CLD Understanding the Anger of Britain’s
community and have fun!
practitioners than to put myself forward Underclass; and Davie Donaldson – a
Alyssa: Alyssa addresssing delegates at the
Youth Forum
committee, I felt that I had to
do something to include those
as a volunteer at the conference. Having
had experience of volunteering at events in
Scottish Traveller Activist and campaigner
for equality and inclusion. Both speakers
who wanted to learn but could my local community, I knew that although spoke passionately and drew upon their
I have been involved with IACD since the postgraduate students, and including
not access the resources. you give up your time, you get back so own experiences. I felt inspired to find out community arts and community activism
much more in return. I was also aware of more and use my reflections in my practice in Aberdeen. It also meant that when I
beginning of 2018 when I became one of a social work student wanting to
the considerable work that goes on behind and studies. As well as the conference was helping in the auditorium or with the
the first Youth Representatives for the volunteer and learn about community
the scenes to ensure the smooth running programme itself, there was also was also smaller group sessions, my poster was on
charity. I knew I had to get involved with development too.
conference, there was something called of large-scale events such as this, and a cultural programme which involved show and able to be read by practitioners
the World Community Development
During the conference, I interacted with the ‘unconference afternoon’ which had therefore wanted to be able to help in some fantastic Scottish music and food – a fun in their own time without me being present.
Conference (WCDC) when I found out it
individuals from all over the world. As tours of Dundee, country correspondent small way. I was interested in volunteering end to each day of volunteering! After meeting Alyssa for the first time at
was coming to Dundee, the city in which
someone studying community learning meetings, and included the youth forum. so that I could find out more about how the conference, I invited her to contribute
I live and study. I had previously attended
and development, many of those I met These forums brought something unique community development practitioners, to a CLD staff development session in
the conference in Maynooth with the help
are experienced and well regarded as to the conference, allowing for more than academics, policy-makers, students and Aberdeen alongside another student and I.
of several charities who covered my fees
those who have paved the way for future As a result of being a This would not have been possible without
and expenses. Although I had a wonderful the average drone of talks and workshops. activists can tackle challenges such as
generations. I met Margaret Ledwith: My hope is that the legacy of Dundee, of climate change, loneliness and isolation and
volunteer at the conference, the opportunity to meet at the conference
experience, it was rather inaccessible to
professor and writer of Community the youth forum and the ‘unconference increasing mental health problems in our I gained confidence, and finding out about the work Alyssa does
practitioners and students who may not
have had the means to attend an expensive
Development and Social Justice; Davie afternoon,’ will be carried forward to the communities. Complex issues such as these knowledge and a sense of in improving knowledge, understanding
Donaldson: a Scottish Traveler and Social and support for young people living with
conference but would gain a myriad of next WCDC. demand collective reflection and discussion belonging to an international
Justice Advocate; and Jacky Close: from many different perspectives. The Type 1 Diabetes.
skills and knowledge if they did so. I felt it
Development Coordinator for Faith in Another positive of the conference was CLD community.
was hypocritical for a Community Learning prospect of being able to assist at the I would recommend volunteering at a
Community. My highlight was listening to getting to know the wonderful volunteers
and Development (CLD) conference, which conference while also being able to learn conference such as the World Community
songs by Vox Liminis, who perform songs that I did not have the pleasure of meeting
is based upon values such as inclusion, to new things sounded like a great idea! Development Conference to others – you
written in collaboration with prisoners in beforehand. Meeting the volunteers and
be exclusive and I thought it was important seeing them flourish and learn during this As a volunteer at the conference, I really will have a chance to meet new people,
Scotland. Being able to host people in
to include those doing work on the ground once in a lifetime conference was a enjoyed meeting and getting to know As a result of being a volunteer at the make friends, learn new things, feel part
Scotland, teach them about the culture
and future CLD practitioners. highlight for me. One of the volunteers, my fellow volunteers. Two of my fellow conference, I gained confidence, knowledge of a wider community and have fun!
and the amazing work going on here,
and share knowledge that could shape Tanita, offered to contribute to this classmates also volunteered, so we spent and a sense of belonging to an international
As the Volunteer Coordinator for WCDC, Dr Tanita Louise Addario, MA, MSc,
the future of community development reflection on what she felt she gained from our lunch breaks reflecting on what we CLD community. On the final day and
I knew I had to ensure that as many PhD, AFHEA, FRSA
was an absolute pleasure. the conference, and why getting involved had learnt and comparing the content at the end of the conference, delegates
students studying community development
was so beneficial. of the sessions we had been helping thanked all the volunteers with a round of External Funding and Policy Officer,
who wanted to come to the conference as Being on the organising committee, I felt with. I volunteered alongside Theresa applause – it felt good to be appreciated Aberdeen City Council – taddario@
a volunteer, could. This was to make sure that I had to do something to include those Alyssa Faulkner, BA (Hons), Volunteer
Lynn, Community Artist and member and acknowledged in this way. I was also aberdeencity.gov.uk
that the WCDC in Dundee would not be who wanted to learn but could not access Coordinator, WCDC2019 – of the University of Dundee staff, who fortunate to be able to present a poster on
tailored for academics who had the means the resources. I organised a youth forum Alyssaf1998@gmail.com gave delegates a chance to explore their my community development practice and I am currently studying my PG Diploma
and privilege to access it. We ended up that brought over some of the main creativity and provide an artistic response work with the community group, VictoriArt in Community, Learning and
with 22 diverse student volunteers from the speakers from the conference and held a About to begin MSc Social Justice and
to the WCDC. It was a simple yet fun in Torry in Aberdeen. I was given time in Development (CLD) at the University
CLD cohort at the University of Dundee, free event one afternoon to ensure that Community Action at the University of
idea – ask people to take something my volunteer schedule to speak to CLD of Dundee.
ranging from incoming undergraduate to more knowledge was shared. In the Edinburgh
they were going to throw away such as a practitioners from around the world about
8 Practice Insights | Issue 16 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world www.facebook.com/IACDglobal/ Issue 16 | Practice Insights 9
Children’s Parliament:
giving ideas a voice
Katie Reid
“I enjoyed meeting people
from all over the world!
As detailed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the I felt quite nervous
most widely ratified international treaty, children have the right to participate in delivering a workshop at
matters that affect them, to be listened to and to be taken seriously. In Scotland, as in first because I’d never
many cultures, societal attitudes towards children’s competencies and capabilities done it before but after
I got the hang of it
continue to act as barriers to the realisation of children’s participatory rights outlined I thought ‘oh, it’s easy!’
in the UNCRC. Long-held views range from perceiving children as ‘innocent,’ I think more children
‘vulnerable,’ ‘cute,’ ‘naughty,’ and ‘unruly,’ to lacking in knowledge, rationality or should have the
experience, and all too often result in children’s contributions to society being opportunity to take part
in conferences. They get
trivialised, devalued or completely overlooked. to learn about different
I work for the Children’s Parliament, rights defenders in their local community. based approach across Tranent. In light of parts of the worlds
which recognises and aims to amplify This journey had begun in 2016 through the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration
they’ve never seen
the pivotal role children across Scotland the StreetsAhead Tranent project which on Human Rights Defenders and UN
– and globally – play in shaping the world explored children’s views and experiences Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Day
before or heard about.”
around us. We do this by supporting of their local community and built of General Discussion in 2018, this project Faith, aged 14
children to share their views, experiences environment; examining how these factors also contributed to global and national
and ideas in decision-making processes, impact children’s rights and wellbeing. conversations about protecting and
and by bringing children and adults Following workshops with 250 children empowering child human rights defenders.
together to demonstrate the power of a from five primary schools, 16 children
The following reflections are from a recent
children’s human rights-based approach. engaged in an intensive, participatory
conversation with Faith and Megan, two
Last June, Members of Children’s arts-based process creating a 36’ x 4’
of the MCPs who led the facilitation of the
Parliament (MCPs) aged 12 and 13 years mural of the past, present, and future of
workshop at the WCDC. As the youngest
old from Tranent in the southeast of their town, Tranent. The significant role
participants at the conference, I began by
Scotland participated in the World children played in Tranent’s community
asking the children what they took from the
Community Development Conference in development was locally, nationally, and
experience. Both Megan and Faith spoke
Dundee and led a workshop for delegates internationally recognised, and laid the During the final part of their workshop at and who are willing to speak up for, and and more equipment. From a previous
fondly about delivering the workshop and
on taking a children’s human rights-based foundations of Tranent becoming a town the conference, the children invited the stand alongside, children. study I know that one central playground
having the chance to meet new people
approach to community development. with human rights at its heart. This led adult participants to re-imagine their work may cause difficulties with regard to
from so many different parts As we near one year since the conference,
to a further project, ‘Children as Human from the perspective of an Unfeartie – a independent playground visits (children
of the world. I was curious to reconnect with some of
The children’s creative, participatory Rights Defenders’, in which 12 children termed coined by Children’s Parliament to mentioned that they were too far away so
the Unfearties we welcomed that day to
workshop was based on their own aged 12 – 13 came together to develop and “I enjoyed the conference because it wasn’t describe an adult who stands up for and that they could not go there alone or were
hear their reflections on the children’s
experiences as MCPs and child human demonstrate a children’s human rights- just sitting down and listening to people alongside children and defends their rights. facing dangerous crossings). So I advised
workshop, and to learn about how they
talk. I was quite nervous at the beginning Participants pledged to become Unfearties the community to find out, together with
have since realised their pledge as an
of the workshop because I was one of the – which you, too, can do using the link here. parents AND children, whether this is the
Unfeartie in their personal life and/or
first people to go up and start talking. I https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/ case and what solutions could be found."
professional practice. Over email, I caught
was so nervous and kept thinking ‘how am about-us/unfearties/become-an-unfeartie/
up with Hilde Wierda-Boer from the As I write this, the world is a very
I supposed to do this!?’ But, once I started, HAN_ University of Applied Sciences in different place to this time last year
I realised that people wouldn’t judge me the Netherlands. It was wonderful to hear when we looked forward to the WCDC.
so, I just talked! I think people listened and
Unfearties are individuals about Hilde’s commitment to amplifying Speaking via video-call from our homes
took us seriously. They were focused on the voices and experiences of children in during the nationwide coronavirus
what we were saying, not going to the side
who are courageous in
her research, work and personal life: lockdown, my conversation with the
on their phones. They were concentrating discussing children’s issues, children culminated in a discussion about
and taking in what we were saying.” Megan, are making a difference in “I have good memories of the workshop,
their experiences of the coronavirus
I really enjoyed it. It definitely was an
aged 14 children’s lives, and who are pandemic. Both Megan and Faith
energizer. A very recent example of me
“I enjoyed meeting people from all over willing to speak up for, and being an Unfeartie: today I was writing a
highlighted the importance of feeling
stand alongside, children. included and playing an active role in
the world! I felt quite nervous delivering a research report for a community. The policy
their local community, particularly in
workshop at first because I’d never done of the community is that playgrounds are
times of heightened social isolation
it before but after I got the hang of it I centralized (so small ones disappear, and
for all generations.
thought ‘oh, it’s easy!’ I think more children there will be only one big playground in
should have the opportunity to take part the village, a place where people of all “To me, my community is my second
in conferences. They get to learn about Unfearties are individuals who are generations could meet). In interviews on family. Tranent, our town, is quite small –
different parts of the worlds they’ve never courageous in discussing children’s issues, the livability of the village, people mention basically everyone knows everyone. There
seen before or heard about.” Faith, aged 14 are making a difference in children’s lives, that there is need for more playgrounds are misunderstandings about children and
10 Practice Insights | Issue 16 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world www.facebook.com/IACDglobal/ Issue 16 | Practice Insights 11
“I enjoyed the conference
because it wasn’t just sitting
down and listening to people
talk. I was quite nervous at
the beginning of the orkshop
because I was one of the first
people to go up and start
Join a global network
talking. I was so nervous and
kept thinking ‘how am
I supposed to do this!?’
But, once I started,
I realised that people
wouldn’t judge me so, I just The International Association for Community Development
talked! I think people listened
and took us seriously. (IACD) is the only global network for professional community
They were focused on what development practitioners. We support development
we were saying, not going
to the side on their phones. agencies and practitioners to build the capacity of
They were concentrating
and taking in what we communities, to realise greater social and economic equality,
were saying.” environmental protection and political democracy. We are a
Megan, aged 14
non-governmental organisation accredited with the UN.
There are many ways that you can become involved in IACD.
If you are a development agency manager, funder, fieldwork
practitioner, academic, student or volunteer community
teenagers. Teenagers are known for being has been amplified as we navigate
activist, IACD can help you through our international practice
“Being a Human Rights quite reckless, nasty and all round bad.
As Human Rights Defenders, we’ve proven
the coronavirus pandemic. We invite
you to join us as Unfearties to ensure
exchanges, events and publications. If you have a passion for
Defender means that you
stand up for people and
that we’re not that.” Megan children’s human rights are at the heart of
community, national and global responses
effective community development, then please make contact
what’s right in the world. So “Being a Human Rights Defender means
we’re there if anybody needs that you stand up for people and what’s
to the pandemic.
with us – we welcome your participation!
right in the world. So we’re there if Katie Reid is the Children’s Voices Project
us or is need of help.” anybody needs us or is need of help.” Faith Worker for the Children’s Parliament,
Faith Globally, the importance of human rights, Scotland. She can be contacted at
social justice, community and kindness katie@childrensparliament.org.uk
Join today and become a part
of this dynamic network!
www.iacdglobal.org/join-us
IACD has consultative status with the United Nations. Registered in Scotland as a charity, no. SCO36090.
12 Practice Insights | Issue 16 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world
Human Rights and
policies and programmes to guarantee
human rights and access to justice in
case of violation of these rights. This is
Development: two sides
particularly true for ESCR, often considered
vague and non-enforceable.
There are a number of challenges that
have a major impact on the enjoyment of
of the same coin?
rights on the ground. Let me mention just
two of them.
First, the unemployment-related
challenge. Youth unemployment, long-
Virgínia Brás Gomes term unemployment, underemployment,
low rates of participation in the labour
market and an increasing complexity
of non-standard forms of employment
The WCDC2019 Conference theme – people, place and power brought together at the – often catalogued as flexible work
core of community development – is perfectly located in a wider context of human arrangements that are no more than a
hidden informalization of work with all the
rights and development in which people are at the centre in all places, and power corresponding gaps in labour regulations
comes from meaningful participation of rights holders and transparency and and social protection – have pushed the
less qualified out of the labour market and
accountability of duty bearers. My points of departure are the International Covenant considerably increased the number of the
of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), that covers all fields of economic, working poor.
social and cultural development, and Sustainable Development in its broadest sense. Secondly, the the lowering of welfare
protection. Due to the growing difficulties
of the more disadvantaged in accessing At the Conference, conceptual
It is often said that economic, social and because it is the result of various its root causes. We only need to look at thinking, the human rights-
goods and services, the on-going
cultural rights (ESCR) are everyday rights unfulfilled needs and shortcomings discrimination against the poor, or minority
debate on the Welfare State, the Welfare based approach and real life
for everyday people that need to have the at the economic, social, cultural and groups such as Roma people, or ethnic
Society and the Welfare Mix that has came together.
conditions to live with dignity. Dignity is no behavioural levels. minorities, to know this is true.
decentralization and privatization as its
doubt an intrinsic characteristic of the
It is important to reiterate the obligation main features, permeate the entire rights
human spirit that cannot be given nor States also have immediate obligations
of progressive realization. In other words, discussion. of haphazard measures that lack global
taken away. But for individuals to live in to eliminate discrimination and ensure
States must take deliberate, concrete Taking the provision of social services as rights respected, but also an important coherence and systemic intervention that
dignity, States need to comply with their equality. In spite of some progress
and targeted steps to progressively an example, issues of the subsidiarity and policy tool that can offer a range of prevent medium- and long-term change.
core obligations to guarantee the in dealing with direct discrimination,
realize ESCR using maximum available complementarity of social services have practical measures to prevent conflict
minimum essential level of rights as a significant gaps remain, the most obvious Participating in the Conference was an
domestic resources as well as international come very much to the foreground due to and build more cohesive societies.
survival kit for everyone living under their being the lack of integrated measures to enormous privilege. Outreach work with
cooperation and assistance. the changes in the role of the public sector.
jurisdiction. Developed countries often combat intersectional discrimination and We all have experienced, as citizens and local communities at the beginning of my
argue that compliance with core the particularly negative and long lasting It is assumed that these services can, in
professionals, the differences between professional life grounded me in reality
obligations does not apply to them any effects they have on women and persons most cases, be delivered most effectively
States must take deliberate, and efficiently by entities closest to local
non-participation, token participation and helped shape my understanding
longer. This is not true because even in the belonging to vulnerable groups. There and real citizen power. Citizen power of human rights. At the Conference,
richest countries where economic growth is also a lack of recognition by States of
concrete and targeted steps communities and who are therefore more
drives change and demands accountability conceptual thinking, the human rights-
and social development have contributed systemic discrimination based on deeply to progressively realize ESCR aware of their needs. If, on the one hand,
of duty bearers at all levels and the based approach and real life came
to the improvement of living conditions, rooted societal prejudices that require a using maximum available the State is no longer the sole provider
need to exercise their decision-making together. They all make relevant specific
pockets of poverty persist at unacceptable huge change in mindsets. Governments are domestic resources as well as of social services but rather the regulator
powers in an accessible, transparent contributions but only together can
levels and many structural constraints reluctant to recognize such discrimination and the enabler of an overall favourable
international cooperation and and effective manner. they unleash a greater potential for
hinder upward economic and social because it amounts to the failure of the environment for social development, it also
assistance. has an increased responsibility for ensuring In every community, the problems
everyday people.
mobility. In fact, poverty is a consequence measures they have taken to combat
of the violation of a number of ESCR equitable delivery of and access to quality individuals and families face may be The enthusiasm and creativity put into
discrimination without really addressing
social services through an effective legal different, but they all have the common drafting the very rich and diversified
and fiscal framework. root cause of the lack of policy articulation Conference Programme led to one
and coordination that allows them to fall unwanted consequence – I could not
States have not complied with progressive Non-discrimination, participation and
through the cracks of sectorial policies. attend all the sessions I wanted to!
realization obligations. As I write this accountability are human rights principles
The multiplicity and territorial nature of the
contribution for the IACD Practice Insights that are especially relevant for community
causes that lie at the heart of poverty and I was very glad to have been invited to
Magazine, we are in the midst of the development in its various forms. Let
social exclusion have not yet been fully the Young Practitioner’s Forum to speak
COVID-19 pandemic with health systems me reiterate what we all know but needs
translated into a rights-based approach about what excites me in community
struggling to combat the virus and prevent to be reaffirmed every time we have an
that calls for integrated inclusion policies, development and struggles I faced in my
deaths, in particular of the older members opportunity to do so.
individual support benefits and services, career. It was a lively exchange. Being in
of our communities. The fact that health
The meaningful participation of rights and local development that brings about the company of young professionals eager
professionals remain true to their oath of
holders is essential for sound and economic and social change. Human rights to learn and ready to challenge is always
saving people even in the most adverse
sustainable community development. principles and obligations are the best so gratifying!
circumstances and endangering their own
Particularly in times of adversity, tools to bring about the shift from needs
lives, does not compensate for the huge Virginia Bras Gomes is Former Chair of
inclusive democratic processes that to rights. They are also indispensable for
deficits in underfunded and understaffed the UN Committee on Economic, Social
reinforce substantive participation and community development as a framework
National Health Services as a consequence and Cultural Rights. She is also the
empowerment help people deal with the that promotes a collective awareness of
of severe cuts in social spending over the Senior Social Policy Adviser in the
consequences of powerlessness. Open, social problems and the establishment
last years. Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and
participatory and meaningful dialogue of a network of partners at the territorial
Coming from a public policy background, with the rights holders is not only a means level. It is through these mechanisms Social Security / Portugal. She can be
to me law only becomes real through to ensure their voices are heard and their that it becomes possible to avoid the risk contacted at: vbrasgomes@gmail.com
14 Practice Insights | Issue 16 Read IACD’s Daily News on community development from around the world www.facebook.com/IACDglobal/ Issue 16 | Practice Insights 15
Reflections on
WCDC2019 from
COVID-19 lockdown!
Margaret Ledwith
“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be
overcome and eradicated by the action of human beings.” (Mandela, 2005)
libraries, local museums, post offices, caring, friendship, the values that most ‘If we want to change the world, we
Life is a paradox! Each day we are faced interconnect local lives with bigger political this odd idea to the world – and they pulled children’s nurseries, community and youth people say they want to live by (Barrett need to be unrealistic, unreasonable and
with contradictions that are often so taken- contexts, and which also interlink social it off, it globalised! Thatcher and Reagan centres, day-centres and residential care and Clothier, 2016). People have an innate impossible’ (Bregman, 2018: 263-4).
for-granted they become normalised. We justice with environmental justice. In this changed the face of world politics in this homes of disabled people and pensioners, need for connection, cooperation and
don’t notice! What am I picturing in my sense, we are all interconnected with each extreme right-wing movement. We have failed to create a coherent,
and the enclosure of common land, kindness, and this was experienced at the
mind as I say this? One vivid image I have other and with the planet, but local lives compelling counternarrative, but our
In the UK, poverty escalated as the rich including parks and playing fields. The conference, across gender, class, identities,
is the way people in the rich countries cannot be understood without a critical collective story is now possible, one that
became richer and the poor poorer, amount of services, facilities, building cultures, nation states, ethnicities, abilities,
of the West walk past shop doorways analysis of neoliberalism and how its puts people, not profit, at its heart, where
justified by stigmatising the poor as and land once held in common by local all faiths and none.
made home by people who have no roof, ideology has become globalised. the rights of all are central to the whole.
feckless welfare scroungers. Now, after ten communities, now sold by cash-strapped
dehumanised and reduced to begging for I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic Where we live with respect for each other
years of suffering from vicious ‘austerity’ local authorities to developers, or simply
survival, without stopping to question how offers a crack where the light gets in. and the planet that provides our home.
measures, the poor have become targeted abandoned to decay, is staggering’
that can possibly happen in rich countries. That light is shining in the murky crevices Now is the time to take the ideas from the
again. The welfare state was hard won (Tyler, 2020:170).
Another is the way that child poverty in Neoliberalism is a threat to of neoliberalism to reveal its inhumanity conference forward, to tell a different story
by generations of people fighting for the
rich countries has become accepted, poor world poverty, and this The results have been disastrous. In 2018, and its disregard for the planet. My hope and change the course of history!
common good. It brought free education,
children going to school hungry, without pandemic shines a light on its Philip Alston, the UN Rapporteur on is that from the critiques the conference
dignity and care. In lockdown, I see images inhumanity.
a free national health service, good quality
public housing, social security in times of
extreme poverty and human rights, visited offered we can now concentrate on a “Sometimes it falls upon
of teachers mobilised to feed pupils who
need and decent employment conditions.
communities in the UK and shamed the
government saying that the evidence is
counternarrative of belonging. Lockdown
has demonstrated that immediate change
a generation to be great.
do not get free school dinners because
schools are shut… At the same time, I see
Now, it is being siphoned out of public
‘obvious to anyone who opens their eyes is easy, it can be achieved overnight. You can be that great
ownership by privatising welfare provision
people rediscovering an innate kindness, a
and by selling off these hard-won assets
to see the immense growth in food banks But Bregman describes us as being in generation.”
soul connection for one another and for the and the queues waiting outside them, the a coma. He tells us to ‘talk differently,
Earth as life slows down and gives us time
Hayek first came up with this rather strange that have benefited all. But, if we explore
people sleeping rough in the streets, the think differently, and… describe the (Mandela, 2005)
idea that we should all be governed by the idea of the welfare commons, we
to reflect. Many people are enjoying less growth of homelessness, the sense of deep problem differently’ (Bregman, 2018:47).
the market and that profit is the driving come up with new ways of seeing this, Professor Margaret Ledwith is Emeritus
pressure and slower lives. But, underneath despair that led even the government to
force, more important than people or the the commons belong to the people, they But we cannot dismantle the dominant Professor of Community Development
this lurks the shadowlands where the most appoint a minister for suicide prevention…’
planet. He shared this idea with a carefully are not for sale! (Tyler, 2020; Sayer, 2016). story without another to replace it, and a and Social Justice at the University of
vulnerable are hit hardest by COVID-19 (cited in Ledwith, 2020:6). He accused the
selected group of men in the little Swiss Exploring ideas like this that challenge counternarrative of belonging starts with Cumbria. She is one of the coordinators
and the government ineptitude to provide government of adopting policies that are
village of Mont Pelerin in 1947. The popular power was a focus of the world conference. the values that are at its heart (Monbiot, for the international Collaborative
protection. This is the political context in damaging the very fabric of society and
belief was that society ruled the market, But ideas are no good if they stay in the 2017). What kind of world do we want Action Research Network and an
the UK less than a year after the world breaking community roots. This, remember,
so it was not likely to be easy to convince conference space and don’t get taken to live in? What does it look like? What internationally acclaimed author in
conference in Dundee. is the world’s fifth-largest economy
people of the opposite. That is until he home and applied in practice. is a good society? What do people care
with levels of child poverty predicted to the field of community development.
The WCDC in Dundee 2019 brought us found a champion in Margaret Thatcher, about? What are our responsibilities
Now, less than a year after the conference, rise to 47% by 2022. Two years later, in margaret.ledwith@cumbria.ac.uk
together in mutual respect from all over who became prime minister of the UK in to one another? A counternarrative
this coronavirus pandemic is an coronavirus lockdown, Alston is shaming References
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opportunity for change! We need to pick governments for shutting down entire Ballatt, J, Campling, P & Maloney, C (2020) (2nd edn.)
power. It provided a critical public space practice. Before long, Ronald Reagan joined imagination and positive proposals that
up the threads of the conference and take countries without making efforts to protect Intelligent kindness: Rehabilitating the welfare state,
for engaging with the thorny issues that her as a running partner on a mission to sell bring hope and possibility. Imagine how Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
ideas for change forward. A rather large the most vulnerable saying that this yet
we could end world poverty overnight by Barrett, R and Clothier, P (2016) The United Kingdom
crack in neoliberal politics has opened up. again prioritises the rich at the expense
giving everyone the right to a universal Values Survey: Increasing happiness by understanding
First, it is vital to understand the ways in of the rest (Alston in Booth, 2020). what people value, available at www.valuescentre.com
basic income. This would be cheaper
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than bureaucratic means-tested welfare,
did we allow ourselves to agree to such a poverty, and this pandemic shines a hypocritical says UN poverty expert: Philip Alston say
is being trialled around the world, and is worst aspects of austerity policies ‘cannot and will not be
bad idea? At the conference and there was light on its inhumanity. undone’, The Guardian, 26 April
found to restore dignity and endeavour –
much debate about the way that the global Bregman, R (2018) Utopia for Realists: And how we can
The conference provided a critical space it really works! (Lowrey, 2018). Being kind
banking crisis of 2007-8 was used to justify get there, London: Bloomsbury
for sharing stories about people’s lives is a way of life that extends from family
austerity programmes that have been Ledwith, M (2020) Community Development: A critical
in local communities around the world, to the entire human family. Kindness ‘is and radical approach, Bristol: Policy Press
used as a smokescreen for the neoliberal
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project. In the UK, the extensive public
questioning the bigger political contexts 2020:16). It is a radical, transformative Mandela, Nelson (2005) at the Make Poverty History Rally,
sector provision that looked after the
that adopt discriminatory policies that concept. It is a lens on the world framed London available at www.one.org
wellbeing of our society was dismantled,
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destroyed or privatised: an age of crisis, London: Verso
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Sayer, A (2016) Why we can’t afford the rich, Bristol:
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closure of local hospitals and clinics, public community, connection, compassion, to policy to parliament. London: Zed
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