Appearing here, in reverse chronological order, are posts that presented evidence to support NCIA’s perspectives, alongside views and opinions about the changes that were taking place over the period of our work.
The article below appeared in the Winter 2005/6 issue (No. 34) of Green Socialist magazine (quarterly journal of the Alliance for Green Socialism). The author retains copyright but it may be reproduced and quoted as long as the author and Green Socialist magazine are given acknowledgement.
As seasoned travellers on the highways and byways of community sector life, all of us are used to exercising a healthy scepticism in relation to rhetoric, which can often sound great, and delivery, which disappears down the memory hole.
Anyone remember the 2001 Neighbourhood Renewal Action Plan words about the Local Strategic Partnerships being a … Continue reading
“Community empowerment is local government’s core business”
Simon Milton (in DCLG’s 2007 Action Plan for Community Empowerment)
“Power is never given.”
Operation Black Vote organising slogan
One of the ironies of community empowerment networks (CEN’s) was that they couldn’t empower themselves, or more accurately save themselves from the crude dynamics of how power works at … Continue reading
By Nick Seddon, Third Sector, 20 February 2008
There was a sumptuous moment last spring when a leaked internal government memo revealed that Ian McCartney, then trade minister at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, had told officials to cancel meetings with charities opposed to the new EU economic agreements “if they don’t change their tune”.… Continue reading