Our paper focuses on delineating and scoping international Women's Sheds, a movement that has emerged within the past decade, mainly in Australia, Ireland and the UK. It addresses two main research questions. Firstly, what is the origin, distribution, nature and intent of Women's Sheds internationally to March 2021? Secondly, how might Women's…

While active citizenship education programs are assumed to have positive benefits for the active citizenship practice of participants (UNESCO, 2009, p. 4), there is actually little evidence that programs do (de Weerd, Gemmeke, Rigter & van Riji, 2005, p. vii). This paper discusses a research project that aimed to determine and increase the…

The Whole of Community Engagement (WCE) initiative commenced in July 2014, led by the Office of Pro Vice Chancellor of Indigenous Leadership at Charles Darwin University (CDU). WCE aimed to build the aspiration, expectation and capacity of six remote and very remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory to participate and achieve in…

Smallholder farmers are the backbone of food production in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Due to an increasing need to pay for schooling and health costs, many farming families are seeking ways to move from semi-subsistence farming to activities that generate more income. The long tradition of agricultural training in PNG to support the development of…

This paper explores the informal and social learning dimensions of activists as they learn skills and knowledge through participating in social action. In doing this I draw on Lave and Wenger's epistemology of situated learning and Bourdieu's theory of "habitus". I argue activists learn an array of community development skills in the…

These notes and questions have been prepared to promote discussion of the ideas set out in the Clarifying paper, "Living and learning in EcCoWell cities" to be found on the PASCAL International Exchanges (PIE) website. This Discussion Paper sets ten questions for discussion. We are hoping to encourage discussions of these issues around the world.

The study is situated within a national youth organisation called the Australian Air League Inc (Air League). We examine the recent progress of the Air League in South Australia, starting as a loose network of volunteers engaged in a sporadic array of activities, to become a learning community that worked collaboratively and then developed further…

The 21st century has seen renewed interest in activism, community development and social change globally (Kenny 2006). This paper outlines the educational significance of the learning practices of activists as they engage within and against the state. In an era of adult education which emphasises lifelong learning and learning in the workplace,…

Interviews with 33 community development practitioners in 5 countries revealed the following sources that guide practice: (1) values and beliefs about community; (2) learning from colleagues; (3) literature-based theories; and (4) implicit, practice-based theories that are developed through reflection-in-action. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

This article reviews research into the genesis and spread of both neighbourhood houses and learning centres in Victoria and community-based men's sheds in Australia to identify some similarities and differences. Our article asks questions about the gendered communities of practice that underpin houses for women on the one hand, and sheds for men…

Adult educators can support communities in search of sustainability by helping them resist globalization and build civil capital (community action that blocks or challenges unsustainable activities). Grounded in life values, civil capital can form the basis of a civil society. (SK)

Interviews with 120 rural Nigerian women found that 96% participate in self-help community development projects and 68% were engaged in farming. Constrains on participation included domestic responsibilities, lack of funding and resources, male domination, and politics. There was a significant relationship between their sociocultural beliefs and…