Participation, Power and Progress: Community Development towards 2030

On Monday 25^th June Mary Robinson delivered the opening keynote address at the World Community Development Conference held in the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

The conference taking place 24^th -27^th June, was organised by Community Work Ireland, the International Association for Community Development and the Department of Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University, brought 400 delegates from 40 countries together to address the theme of Participation, Power and Progress: Community Development towards 2030 – Our Analysis, Our Actions. Throughout the conference community development practitioners and academics from around Ireland and across the globe will address themes such as women’s rights, gender, environmental justice and sustainable development and economic social and cultural rights. Participants will share best practice experiences, present research findings and generate collective understandings and analysis of some of the key challenges impacting communities around the world, as well as seeking ways, old and new, to address these.

Delivering the keynote address, Mary Robinson remarked on the close alignment between community development and climate justice, identifying the similarities between many of the themes under discussion at the conference and the Principles of Climate Justice. Noting that “we cannot have peaceful and prosperous societies without taking urgent action on climate change” Mary Robinson highlighted the importance of meaningful participation of people in decision making process that impact their lives. Focusing in on women’s participation in particular, Mary Robinson noted that “increasing women’s participation in the design, planning and implementation of climate actions can lead to improved environmental and development outcomes for the everyone – women’s leadership and inclusion at all levels has led to improved outcomes of climate related projects and policies.”

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