Rural Community Organising in England

James Derounian

About James

33 years in (rural) community development

NCVO – RCC – RDP - CA

Central involvement in Winchcombe NP & Examiner

CLP: Skeffington - RWP2000 - Localism Act 2011

Continuing community-based trajectory

James

Where are we?

Importance of faith-based support for CO

CofE “financial support since 1990 for the development of Community Organising in several English cities” Furbey (et al, 1997: 141)

Ashington CDT; Gloucestershire RCC; Keystone Development Trust (E. England); Cambridgeshire Community Foundation; Kirkgate Arts – Cumbria social enterprise & Penwith CDT, Cornwall

From organizing to Organising

547 (13%) considered rural in base, coverage or

activities

Literature Review – practice, academic, blogs etc.

Feedback: 20+ key stakeholders incl. COs & agencies supporting/hosting

Contacted by ‘snowballing’

The approach

Findings & discussion

Rural England = 13,000 Christian churches (Farnell et al, 2010); little evidence of proselytising, exclusion or discrimination

Links and cross-fertilisation urban-rural CO

US – UK CO

Neighbourhoods = urban = where community organisers operate

CD Experience/ expertise (colonial origins) of promoting self help

CO: C19th US reformers & e.g. Southern Tenant Farmworker Union

Reinforcement: what CO & CD can learn from each other

“Across the UK there are…about 20,000 CD workers, including many who use a CD approach as part of another job” (CLG, 2006: 4)

Parish & Town Councils: 1894, rural-urban crossover

Paulo Freire: education for community action "can never be neutral: its political function is to liberate or domesticate” (Ledwith, 2005: 53)

Findings & discussion II

CD + CO represent different approaches to gain similar results. Coexisting on a ‘messy’, diverse and overlapping spectrum

Blight of short-termism & other issues/ possibilities

CO + CD = mutual reinforcement in pursuit of community action

Continuing community-based arc, though detail may change: Big Soc

Localism (2011 Act) and localism

Engaging a

Questions questions…

What can CD learn from CO in rural contexts and vice versa?

What are the key challenges for organising in & with rural communities?

What are the ways forward for rural CD and Organising?