Is a fair and equitable world possible?
Community Dreaming
Is a fair and equitable world possible?
We believe that it is, and that the work starts at the community level.
Everyone on the planet is entitled to human rights, which assure human dignity, autonomy, health, safety, and freedom for cultural participation. Though everyone should be enjoying what we call ‘everyday human rights,’ there is no nation where this has been fully achieved in practice. Evidence of this usually becomes apparent when examining persistent social inequalities in a given place.
Unfortunately, for a long time, social inequalities have been the reality for many in our local communities, even though the nature of those inequalities and the different groups that they affect may shift over time and space.
Through a complexity of social structures, systems, institutions, and constructs, there are great disparities at play where power, wealth, and resources are concentrated in small parts of the population, whereas the rest of us struggle with little to no political voice, sub-par infrastructure and amenities, and a lack of access to necessities, such as education, affordable housing, health services, employment, transportation, healthy food options, green spaces, public safety, and the list goes on and on….
Part of the inherent problem in this dichotomy is that even though there are more people in our communities with fewer resources, the power of the few is a significant limiting factor in the advocacy that we can do within this current system.
So what can we do?
Though we are aware of this conundrum, we still push back against this in our ways of working by striving towards the ideal as well as the real. Incorporated in all of our work—research, consultancy, education, and community development—we harness the power we do have within our communities towards creative collective co-creation. Our dreams and ambitions for our communities inform and guide our goals, theories, knowledges, and praxes. This co-ownership of ideas and methodologies is a powerful way to create and affirm unity, allow everyone a seat at the table, and empower people to shape and contribute towards building the fair and equitable communities we want and deserve.
If you would like to hear more about how we can support you and/or your organisation in your community work or in dreaming about and enacting what is possible for social change, please see below in our page footer to contact us either by email or through our contact form to be in touch with us.
We look forward to hearing from you!