What a delightful conversation - on why community economics is a crucial part of CD history, and why it's more important than ever now. In this 23 minute yarn an almost 80 year old Jacques (from Borderlands Cooperative, recovering academic and editor of Australia's Community Journal) and Peter discuss issues such as the meaning of economy/ecology, examples of community economics and how we must examine the principles of a brutal hyper-capitalism as we search for new forms of gift-obligation community economics. 

In this 20 minute conversation Peter and Sue continue to explore the importance of strengthening civil society as a response to right wing populism. With relief we riff off the Australian election labour party win (with women/independents/green resurgences), foregrounding local strategies such as kitchen table conversations - places where people can really listen and discuss - not debate with a view to winning arguments. Part of the work of community development practice includes fostering these civil society spaces of learning (and unlearning) and learning the 'manners' of engaging a broader inclusive community (that expands historically). 

In this 2nd episode on our series on right ring populism and community development, Sue Kenny discusses the significance of strengthening civil society. Then, drawing on the story of Putin's rise to power in Russia, Sue explains some of her personal story of seeing civil society gradually closed down there - a classic way that right wing populists draw from their own 'playbook'. We finally consider the intersections of populism and privatisation - economic interests. 

In this first conversation on right-wing populism and community development, Professor Sue Kenny explains the key characteristics of right-wing populism (mentioning left-wing too), and we explore why it's so important to understand for community development practitioners. Sue, with fire-in-the-belly, starts to describe the difference between community development ways of thinking and populist ways. 

In this 3rd and final 23 minute conversation Charlie talks about some of his dreams and aspirations to support the professionalisation of the CD practice profession around the world. We finish riffing off one another - foregrounding the need to hold BOTH CD as a movement and a profession. Disclaimer - as Charlie says upfront, in any mention of the International Association of Community Development (IACD) he is not speaking in any official capacity (they're Charlie's personal views). 

Riffing off one another for 20 minutes Charlie McConnell and Peter explore the the possibilities and challenges of professionalisation of community development. As a starting point Charlie describes what he was saying in his opening chapter of the new IACD book (International Community Development Practice, Routledge, 2022), 'The Making of an Empowering Profession'. Peter and Charlie then briefly explore what is needed in the professional development space - not just CD workers, but managers, policy makers and so forth.

This 1st of three 20 minute conversations introduces the listener to Charlie McConnell. Charlie's had a long long history in CD; was a past president of the International Association of Community Development (IACD), has worked for Schumacher College, the CD Foundation, Carnegie Trust and has been instrumental in national training standards for CD in the UK. In this episode we catch a glimpse of Charlie's early days in CD world, and begin to discuss why there is a need for CD professionalisation. 

In this 3rd part of our 1 hour conversation Cormac Russell explores community as a better narrative than ones institutions provide, moving from discovery to connecting elements of our practice. Telling stories, sharing wisdom, expressing some anger, Cormac provides some potent and poignant analysis of what ABCD approaches to CD can offer. Listeners can learn more by googling Cormac's work, checking out his web site www.nurturedevelopment.org (which curates a huge array of free resources), buying the book Rekindling Democracy (and also looking out for his latest in September - The Connected Community).

In this 2nd part of our 1 hour conversation, Cormac Russell chats with Peter Westoby about the ABCD 'model' and some of the challenges of institutional assumptions and how community development or/and community offers a different way forward. We also start to explicitly draw on Cormac's new book with John McKnight, The Connected Community, which offers a profoundly accessible framework of practice. 

In this first episode (21 mins) of a 1 hour conversation (split into 3 episodes), Cormac Russell shares personal and professional parts of his story in discovering community development, particularly the assets-based-community-development (ABCD) 'model'. Loved every minute of this, riffing between Australia and Ireland. I can't wait to meet Cormac over a pint of Guinness in Dublin one day.