Title of Event:

Name of Organisation:

Date and time of the session:

Power and Hope of Sustainable Community Development: Building Strong Local Leadership and Active Public Participation

Harmony Foundation of Canada

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 (13:30-15:30)

Key Highlights

1. Estimated no of participants: 120 + Standing Room Only
2. Stakeholder group representation at the event: government, NGO, education, local authorities, private sector, professional and research institutions
3. What were the expected objectives: Discuss successful sustainable community development initiatives from around the world and the key role of citizen participation. Identify opportunities and methods to strengthen public participation in local planning and decision-making.
4. What did the networking event achieve: Productive discussions on the key role of citizen participation in communities around the world and successful sustainable community development initiatives. Session was successfully broadcast live over FM radio to demonstrate how community media can help promote sustainable community development. Compiled ideas on how to improve local leadership and public participation in sustainable community development initiatives.

2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII?

• The importance of building local leadership committed to long-term strategies rather than short-term economic or political goals,
• The importance of increasing active citizen participation in local decision-making,
• Need for greater cooperation among business, government and community groups to realize the benefits of sustainable community development, and

• Need for more education programs to provide the knowledge and skills for people to work together to transform harmful patterns of development into ones that provide prosperity that is ecologically and socially sustainable.

3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion? Need to improve local leadership and public participation.  Overwhelming agreement on importance of community based education to improve knowledge of issues, skills and commitment needed to create solutions.  Education requires greater priority and more support from government and funding agencies to achieve this goal.

4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality?  Harmony Foundation and Earth Council Alliance launched the International Community Leadership Training Program (ICLT) at WUF to create a national community leadership training program in China. The program will train trainers who will, in turn, provide instruction to local leaders on how to build sustainable communities. Many participants agreed that local level initiatives like ICLT are very important and to succeed need to train for more effective community leadership and public participation. The China program is part of a larger international effort.