WHO ARE WE?

What is Community Development?

Community development is about taking back one's power to name and create one's world.  Here are two definitions of community development:

Community development is a process designed to create conditions of economic and social progress for the whole community with its active participation and the fullest possible reliance upon the community's initiative. United Nations, 1955.

Community development is a process of empowering individuals, groups and communities to collectively shape their environments and take control of their own destinies for the benefit of the whole community.  A community development process can lead to better health care, better education for everyone, higher income, or more specific goals such as a new community hall or a successful crafts co-operative.  It almost always involves an improvement of the communication and decision-making apparatus in the community.  And it always involves people learning things they didn't know before about themselves, about their community or about technical matters important to the further growth of the community.  Learning is  the main goal of community development because it generates new human potential.

"Community development".   Four Worlds Development Project

SUSTAINABILITY		We believe that all societies and cultural practices must exist in accordance with natural law in order to be sustainable. Winona LaDuke.  "Voices from White Earth: Gaa-waabaabiganikaag"
ANALYSIS AND ACTION FOR CHANGE		In our attempts to make the industrial world understand our position, we have used many approaches.  We have used ceremonies, demonstrations, preentations and invitations to our territory to hear our voices. Marjorie Johnson Williams and Colleen Nadjiwon Johnson "Minobimaatisiiwin - We Are To Care For Her"
POPULAR EDUCATION		Because dialogue is an encounter among men [and women] who name the world, it must not be a situation where some name on behalf of others." Paulo Freire
CASE STUDIES		We used many case studies and  examples of community development as a way of learning about community sustainability and change.
COMMUNITY ANALYSIS		Communities differ substantially in this capacity to act collectively and respond constructively to both internal problems and external threats." Roy Bowles in  "Social Impact Assessment in Small Communities"
RELATED WEBSITES		These are some websites that we found valuable, and we hope that you find them useful too.

THANK YOU TO THE GUESTS WHO SHARED THEIR KNOWLEDGE WITH OUR CLASS:

LEANNE SIMPSON, DIRECTOR, INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE PROGRAM, TRENT UNIVERSITY.  MIIGWETCH, LEANNE!	SIM AKPALIALUK, FORMER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, PANGNIRTUNG.  MANY THANKS FOR ALL YOU SHARED, SIM!!	MARNEY GIRVAN, PAST DIRECTOR, GENDER EQUITY, CIDA, OTTAWA AND PAST DIRECTOR, MATCH INTERNATIONAL.  THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES, MARNEY!

CYNTHIA CHATAWAY FROM YORK UNIVERSITY PRESENTED A WORKSHOP ON RESOLVING CONFLICT.  THANKS, CYNTHIA, FOR SUCH  STIMULATING DISCUSSION!	VERN DOUGLAS OFFERED HIS WISDOM ON SUSTAINABILITY, SEVEN GENERATIONS,  PAULO FREIRE, SAUL ALINSKY, AND MANY LIFE EXPERIENCES.  MIIGWETCH, VERN, FOR GUIDING OUR FINAL CLASS IN THE TEEPEE.

Back to Trent's home page.