Community, Empowerment and Sustainable Development

This book explores a compelling range of community-based activities from different cultures and nations which help nurture intercultural understanding and practices of sustainable development. The specially commissioned chapters from practitioners and academics offer a set of interconnected case studies, personal stories, philosophical discussions and critical reflections on direct experiences focussing on co-operative action, creative media innovation and community empowerment connecting individuals, groups, organisations from across our converging world. At the bookís core is a central belief that ecological sustainability can only be attained through social learning, community empowerment, participation and a commitment to global justice. It is the first in a series of books addressing issues emerging from the Schumacher Instituteís Converging World Initiative.

The Converging World
Empowerment through education ñ SCADís experience
Global education as sustainable community education
Diaspora communities: global networks and local learning
Emmaus: equity, empowerment and partnership
Human well-being and the natural environment
NGOs & carbon trading: a potential space for Convergence?
Drawing on life: using local radio in Africa to bring about change
Picturing the lives of others

John Blewitt

Dr John Blewitt is Director of Lifelong Learning at Aston University. He is author of Understanding Sustainable Development (Earthscan, 2008) and a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Commission on Education and Communication.