Appendix 2: The Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research

2003 Conference

The emphasis on communities empowering themselves means that encouragement must be given to actual community actors to attend so that they can share their specifics, their ideas and their lessons with each other and us. To this end, we would like to find ways of encouraging each agency and each academic to bring actual participants/subjects/community development workers to the conference.

As a consequence, there is a need for sponsorship to encourage those who would not normally be able to attend conferences to be able to participate: this would include support for travel costs or other financial support, and given the size of the conference, this is a big task. As a result, a funding sub-committee was set up in order to canvas for financial support from governments, agencies and even the private sector. The amount of support we gather will, to a large extent, affect our ability to assure a broad range of participation and learning.

Concerns were particularly acute regarding the participation of communities from Eastern Europe, Africa and South America, which were not represented at this Arkleton Trust Seminar, yet many of whom are undergoing precisely the kind of changes which inform our research and who can contribute a wealth of experience to the discussions. It was felt that it was important to target funders to help support the inclusion of these networks in the conference.

It is envisaged that the format of the conference sessions will range from academic scholarship to storytelling, with an emphasis on issues-based and tool-development workshops which will provide the opportunity for all to learn something new to take away with them which might make a practical difference in their own communities. Workshops could facilitate the sharing of good practice models, gather common threads from different experiences with development aid, or perhaps point to dangers and pitfalls in the process.

Further details of the conference are to be found on the Conference Website:
http://workforce.cup.edu/wyman/irn.htm