Telelearning Session 16: Building a People-Centered Economy
How the Social Economy is co-constructing a new public policy framework for social and economic development and environmental sustainability
- What are some public policies that support a people-centered economy in Canada and internationally?
- What materials are currently available to support public policy and the social economy in Canada?
- What are the international descriptions of outcomes and trends in public policy identified in the research and do they have relevance to current settings and priorities?
- What are the opportunities for engagement on these issues?
This special telelearning session features Rupert Downing, former Executive Director of the Canadian CED Network and Co-director for the Canadian Social Economy Research Hub. Crystal Tremblay, second year PhD student and researcher for the Social Economy Research Hub at the University of Victoria in public policy and Jorge Sousa, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. With facilitation by Leslie Brown, Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount Saint Vincent University, practitioners and researchers will discuss how the Social Economy is co-constructing a new public policy framework for social and economic development and environmental sustainability. Please join us!
CALL LOGISTICS:
- Session Date: Thursday, December 3rd 2009
- Call begins at 12:00 pm Eastern time, 9:00 am Pacific time
- Call-in information will be given upon registration
- Register before November 27th to obtain dial in information and background papers
- This session is in English.
SESSION FORMAT:
- Duration: 1 Hour
- Welcome: 5 min
- Presentations: 10 min by each speaker
- Discussion: 25 minutes
REGISTRATION:
Register by phoning 250-386-9980 x 102, or e-mailing with your name, location, and work or volunteer position.
Limited number of spaces available – Register soon!
BIOGRAPHIES:
Jorge Sousa is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He holds a PhD from The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. His primary inspiration for working in the realm of community development was based on his experiences of converting public housing to co-operative housing and as president of the Graduate Students’ Union at the University of Toronto. Jorge is comfortable working with different research methodologies, in particular mixed methods approaches. His primary research approach is community based, which results in research outcomes that have significant social value. He often works with community-based non-profit organizations to conduct research as well as participate in planning processes relevant to capacity building and development.
Areas of research expertise all fall within the context of the intersection of community development and adult education. He is primarily engaged in research aimed at understanding and strengthening Canada’s Social Economy. He is currently working with stakeholders interested in converting public housing into some form of tenant managed arrangement. The objective of this work is to develop appropriate learning strategies and to institute a process that can account for the needs of citizens as they take control of their housing community.
Crystal Tremblay is a second year PhD student and researcher
for the Social Economy Research Hub at the University of Victoria in public policy. She completed an undergraduate honors degree with a specialization in resource management from the Dept. of Geography at Concordia University in 2001, and an MA in Social Geography from the Dept. of Geography at the University of Victoria in 2007. Her MA research explored the socio-economic significance of the informal recovery of recyclable beverage containers in Vancouver, British Columbia. The results of this research indicate that the appropriate policies valuing the ‘binning’ activity, as the collection of recyclables is locally called, have the potential to make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation, social inclusion and more sustainable waste management strategies (Thesis can be found on the CBRL website at: https://www.cbrl.uvic.ca/).
Since completing her MA, Crystal has worked on projects in Canada and Brazil with the Community-based Research Laboratory (CBRL) at the University of Victoria, focusing on participatory community development and livelihood enhancement. She is currently in her second year of PhD studies, working under the supervision of Dr. Jutta Gutberlet. Her proposed study will monitor and evaluate Participatory Video (PV) as a tool for community development with recycling cooperatives in Brazil. Crystal was awarded the SSHRC Joseph Armand Bombardier Doctoral Fellowship in 2009 for her PhD research.
Since 2008, Crystal has also worked as a researcher for the Social Economy Research Hub at the University of Victoria on the public policy program. She has published for the occasional working paper series “Advancing the Social Economy for socio-economic development an environmental sustainability” (available on the Hubs website) and “Social Economy Public Policy instruments and trends: International perspectives” (in review). Crystal is also the recipient of the Hubs PhD fellowship, in which she will explore community initiatives in Canada that synthesize socio-economic and environmental objectives for development.
Crystal will be traveling to Brazil in the winter of 2010 to continue her PhD field research. She can be reached by email at .
Rupert Downing is the former Executive Director of the Canadian CED Network and Co-director for the Canadian Social Economy Research Hub. The Network is a national member-based NGO committed to supporting community economic development and building Canada’s social economy, with offices in Victoria, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Ottawa supporting the work of thousands of community based organizations and other stakeholders in every province and territory. The Network is committed to reducing unemployment, poverty and social disadvantage in Canada by supporting the work of grass roots community development organizations through public education, policy development, research, practitioner development and peer learning.
Mr. Downing was previously an Executive Director of the BC Ministry of Community Development, and worked on major policy and legislative initiatives in the Cabinet Policy office, and Ministry of Employment and Investment of the BC government.
Prior to joining government, Mr. Downing worked as a community development practitioner and policy advisor in rural, urban, and Aboriginal communities in Canada, Latin America, and Europe for over 25 years. He has written several publications on the importance of community led approaches to building dynamic and sustainable local economies inclusive of disadvantaged people and communities.
Mr. Downing lives with his wife, Christine, in Victoria, British Columbia, has two daughters and three grandchildren.
Dr. Leslie Brown is Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount Saint Vincent University. She has a longstanding interest in organizational democracy, co-operatives, and community development, and has written and presented extensively in these areas. In recent years she has worked in the area of social accounting and reporting and is currently conducting research in that field as part of the Southern Ontario Research Node on the Social Economy. Dr. Brown is the Director of the Social Economy and Sustainability Research Network, a collaborative partnership of over 80 community and university based individuals and organizations that has come together to study the Social Economy of Atlantic Canada. Dr. Brown is also on the Board of the Canadian Hub, a national Social Economy Research Network co-directed by Dr. Ian MacPherson and Mr. Rupert Downing. In 2003 the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council awarded the Distinguished Co-operator Award to Dr. Brown, and in 2009 the Canadian Association of Co-operative Studies recognized her contributions to co-operative research by presenting her with their Merit Award.
