Project Aim The project “Active Citizens Reimagining the Community” aims to set up a program of adult education directed at training “community mediators”. The objective is to train selected members of the public to act as mediators between the community and professionals working in urban development. This project is grounded on the premise that our communities need to be reimagined with radical new approaches for their future development with citizens as active agents in the process. Urban development is at a crossroads with half of the global population now living in cities. According to UNESCO, two thirds of the world’s population forecast to live in urban areas by 2050. This mass internal migration from smaller towns and rural areas to ever expanding urban hubs means planners and policy makers have to rethink how to manage a range of complex challenges such as; air and water quality, waste disposal, transportation , sustainable economic development, housing, care, health, policing, parks, leisure and community services. If urban hubs are to cope with increased inward migration and consequently smaller towns and rural areas an increased external migration, there is a need for a reorganisation of services. These services need to be founded on sustainable land use, inclusive economic growth and greener communal transport systems to enable citizens and communities to contribute to future development. The traditional model of top-down, urban planning led by a combination of municipal planning and private sector led agencies will not be capable of managing the challenges associated without actively engaging citizens in community development. There is a pressing need to democratise urban planning and to place citizens and their needs at the heart of future growth. At the heart of this approach is our learning that small mechanisms and radical incrementalism can cumulatively affect wider social change and the redesign of cities. Target Audience This project is aimed at N.G.O’s and other organisations who are involved in the field of Community Development who are proactively engaged with Community Leaders to empower them to drive positive urban transformation. It is also aimed at Adult Education providers enabling them to deliver: a. A formal accredited learning programme of Community Development aimed at Adult Educators b. A non-formal programme aimed at volunteer Community Champions/Mediators It will create new opportunities for people who are passionate about their communities and want to develop the skills and knowledge to positively engage with the urban planning process, enabling them to link between the professionals and the general public. The project will develop the outcomes : IO1. A training curriculum for a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for adult educators with a learning outcome matrix (LOM) based on EQF/NQF. The course will concentrate on effective pedagogical methods deliver the informal and formal adult education programs. It will also contain module of creating links between community and decision makers. IO2. On-line tool kit of training material aimed at Front-line workers. The material will contain both formal and non-formal methodologies on helping deliver 10 areas of community development to facilitate upskilling of Community Mediators to engage with the community 1O3. On-line tool kit of training ideas aimed at Community Mediators, members of the community working as volunteers. The material will contain both formal and non-formal methodologies and cover of 10 areas of community development chosen to help Community Champions facilitate a dialogue between the professional and the community Part 1: 1. Transport & Connectivity 2. Leisure & Amenities 3. Children and Play 4. Maximising Community Assets & Unlocking New Opportunities 5. The value of History, Heritage and Urban change 6. Embedding Community Ethos and Values e.g creating ‘connecting spaces’ 7. The Commercial experience 8. Enhancing community aesthetics 9. Environmental factors e.g. air quality, recycling, 10. Culture e.g. faith, mutual aid Part 2: 1. Networking 2. Using social media 3. Communicating etc IO4. A Methodology Handbook aimed at decision makers, containing the theories and ideas behind the learning programme with case studies of successful people-led change. The handbook will also contain an Implementation Strategy for Communities and Municipalities wishing to engage with the program. The Impact will: - Improve the skills of adult educators in using innovative methodologies and tools for adult educators - Enhance personal and professional competence of managers, team leaders and company owners in the city development and democracy sphere; - Create a continuous professional development course for adult educators on transferring the latest developments in city development and democracy.
There are several outcomes that the project set out to achieve: • Creating a socially inclusive project, which assists people to participate fully in life from an economic, social, and cultural perspective and to enable and empower engagement in the complex processes of shaping sustainable communities through urban development. The idea of the project was that every member of society, no matter their background or situation, would be able to participate in the community and is encouraged to contribute to social, cultural, and work life. The focus of ACRIC project was the enhancement of intercultural competences of adults and the improvement of social inclusion capacity through the provision of continuous professional development courses for adult educators. • Extending and developing educator's competences. This was through high quality and well-trained educators who in turn would help adult learners to develop key competences for the labour market and in everyday life. The project is based on a methodological approach designed to maximise impact through the eLearning platform and sharing of OERs based on practical classroom and work-based training activities and on the use of the modules.
This project was grounded on the premise that cities and towns in the UK and Europe, need to be re-imagined with radical community-driven approaches to their future development. We looked through body of evidence to suggest towns and cities in general are becoming increasingly unsustainable (Shelley Poticha 2018) and how urban growth is at a cross roads with a forecasts that two thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2021). Attempts to create more sustainable communities has been hampered by declining civic engagement as residents become increasingly disengaged and disillusioned with current models of community engagement used by formal institutions (Hannah Greinetz 2014). Despite the attempts of academic institutions and local government to become more engaged with communities, this decline in civic engagement represents a significant threat to their future prosperity (David Watson et al 2011). Through this project we explored how to adapt urban spaces and functionalities with radical new design principles where residents play an active and prominent part in this dialogue. This requires the development of new sustainable and inclusive partnerships, fostering civic engagement, that include the involvement of all the diverse actors in the process rather than one single top-down perspective. The idea is that change, and development needs to be more democratic, with many groups of workers other than architects, city planners, decision makers and city counsellors having access to knowledge about the community and how to develop it. The project facilitated sustainable partnerships to establish and/or further develop national, regional, and sectoral skills and competences through a series of informal and formal upskilling pathways of adult education for residents in towns and cities. The partnership has created a set of informal training materials for residents and formal training material front line- workers, plus a curriculum for a continuous professional development (CPD) course for adult educators working in participatory practice in urban development. The is to bridge the gap between professionals in city planning and the public. The intellectual outcomes of the projects are suitable for adult education in Community Learning Environments working with local stakeholders with an interest in gaining new skills on influencing change in their neighbourhood and community (EQF level 4 -7) The project was based on a methodological approach designed to maximise impact through the eLearning platform and toolkit and sharing of Open Education Resources based on practical classroom and work-based training activities.