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FCDL Annual Conference and AGM 2008
The Circle, 33 Rockingham Lane, Sheffield S1 4FW
Tuesday 20 May 2008


Following on from the success of last year's FCDL conference and AGM, our conference for 2008 took place at our new offices.

The theme of the conference reflected current issues important to our members and others in the voluntary and community sector promoting the benefits and impacts of community development learning.

Community Empowerment - Themes and Perspectives
The role and contribution of community development learning

Effective and inclusive community empowerment needs to be underpinned by community development learning and practice. This event aimed to provide the opportunity for us to:

  • share and record evidence of how community development learning and practice promotes a more inclusive approach to empowerment;
  • explore how community development learning can bring forward the themes and perspectives that are important to communities;
  • discuss how to identify and address the learning and support needs of all stakeholders involved in community engagement strategies.

Workshops

1. Community Empowerment Policies & Community Development Learning

Community Empowerment is much talked about at present by Government and is becoming increasingly enshrined in policy and strategies such as the 'Duty To Involve' being required from local authorities from 2009.

This workshop looks at current government policy and seeks to identify opportunities for promoting community development learning, routes to empowerment.

The workshop will:
- explore an overview of current and emerging policy relating to empowerment.
- critically assess challenges and opportunities for community-led learning and development within such initiatives.
- discuss ways of influencing decision and policy makers to incorporate CDL practice based on the values and practice principles of community development work.


2. Informal Adult Learning - Shaping the Way Ahead

This workshop will discuss the above consultation paper and identify the key points that FCDL members want to make in our response.

- The contribution of community development learning and practice to informal learning
- The obstacles that exist, both historical and due to current government policy
- Needs and opportunities for resourcing community development learning
- The link between individual learning from experience and collective action


3. Listening and Learning from Practice - Capacity Building with Black and Minority Ethnic Organisations

This workshop will share the experiences of some of the work done during the last year by the Federation and partners such as TWICS as part of the Improving Reach project.

This project was driven by a bottom-up approach to identify and meet learning and development needs within black and minority ethnic communities across four regions in England.

This workshop aims to:
- Share the lessons, experiences & challenges from this work.
- Offering insights and reflections from groups and individuals who contributed to this work.
- Explore the challenges andopportunities for embedding this approach in empowering communities.