Westmeath Community Development

Opportunity to exploration how your community can adapt and thrive in these challenging times

Westmeath Community Development in an endeavor to create a more sustainable way of living in the county are offering community resilience training to community groups in the county.   The goal of the training is to examine our vulnerability from a global and local perspective and explore how we can build community resilience to adapt to a changing world.

The training material has been developed by Cultivate www.cultivate.ie and is being offered free of charge as a result of many requests from community groups for training in this area.

The Powerdown Programme has been completed by many community groups nationally and the response by trainees has been very positive.  The course is designed for anyone interested or working in the areas of sustainability, local resilience, the environment, community regeneration, development, green business and Transition towns. Using a participative learning format, featuring short presentations, case studies, games, discussions and multimedia, the sessions will be delivered by trained facilitator from Irish Rural Link www.irishrurallink.ie.

1. The Challenges Ahead – Economy, Justice, Climate, Energy and Sustainability

2. The Power of Community – Social Capital, Resilience and the Local Economy

3. It’s All Connected - Whole Systems Thinking and Permaculture

4. Rethinking Energy – Conservation, Curtailment, Efficiency and Technology

5. Getting Around - Transport and Mobility

6. Deconstructing Dinner - Food Miles, Trade and Food Systems

7. Shelter - Future Proofing Our Homes and Buildings

8. Energy Descent Pathways - Post Carbon Cities, Transition Tow   and Eco Villages

9. Global Citizenship - Opportunities for Change

10. Where Do We Go From Here? – Communication and Exploring New Livelihoods

After completing the full programme participants will have the confidence and knowledge necessary to implement successful community projects that will deliver sustainability at the local level and allow the learner to engage critically with global issues.  Outcomes following completion include participants being able to:

• Develop a range of practical skills for appropriate community responses
• Present and articulate the need for building local resilience & strengthening the local economy
• Identify a pathway for personal and community energy reduction
• Be empowered and inspired to apply what they have learned in their local community
• Understand the social, environmental and psychological issues of peak oil and climate change

Each module is 2 hours long and are available free of charge.

This community training is expected to be a precursor to further training and facilitation to take place next Autumn that will assist community groups in the county towards undertaking initiatives such as energy projects, environmental audits and transition town projects.

For further information contact Tony Mc Cormack at 044-9348571 by Friday 26^th March.