Transition to learning-empowered communities
We need to learn to survive and thrive under radically different conditions – conditions humans (and the ecosystems in which they live) have never before experienced. At the moment none of us fully have the answers to how we are going to make the transitions.
In order to navigate them, we will need everyone’s contributions as we learn our way forward together, and to do this everyone needs to be an empowered learner.
Case Studies
Transition underway: Awel Aman Tawe
Awel Aman Tawe (AAT) provides an example of working to reduce emissions in ways that engage, empower and upskill local communities.
AAT is a Welsh community energy project founded in 1998 with the purpose of addressing climate change at a local level by developing community renewable energy schemes. AAT is embedded in the community – its small staff and active volunteer group live in the area, and are committed to protecting the outstanding natural environment of the neighbourhood. AAT works to raise awareness of the importance of clean energy in the fight against the threat of climate change through a sustained programme of information, communication and consultation and, more recently, through an innovative range of arts activities related to climate change that often reach people at a deeper level and empower communities. The quality of its work has been recognised nationally and internationally.
It has made a difference to the lives of people at the top of the Swansea and Amman Valleys by bringing clean electricity, jobs and regeneration to the villages near the Mynydd y Gwrhyd. Among other projects, it has built a two-turbine community wind farm high up on the Gwrhyd, a £6 million asset that has brought in low-carbon energy and construction contracts to the area, together with an annual income stream of around £200,000 from the sale of electricity that helps to fund local projects. It has also created energy efficiency training and jobs for local people in energy surveys, insulation and other improvement work. It has initiated and delivered many local projects, and supported projects developed by other communities.
Transition underway: Auckland Council
Auckland Council set up The Southern Initiative (TSI) to champion, stimulate and enable social and community innovation in South Auckland. Because TSI takes a systems view, it recognises that for the community to transform, and be ahead of the curve in an increasingly globalised and technological world, its people must have skills and access to meaningful and high value employment opportunities. Working with businesses and training providers, two of the programmes it offers are free trades training to Māori and Pasifika people, focusing on courses connected to council activities, such as infrastructure and construction, and Youthful, a free digital job opportunity and micro skills training platform targeting employers willing to accept applicants based on attitude and potential.