Rural Europe on the move English_chapt1_6 | Page 55

Learning to listen Imagining the future - Action plans For a local community to really need local actors to be involved in local initiatives and projects from the very beginning, taking account of their needs and working through different “Ownership must be with the community” be involved in the sustainable ways to meet them. Ownership must development of its own place requires be with the community, if these former Director of PLANED explains. building a vision of what they want strategies are to continue. This also “Thematic working groups from the to see it become in the future. What helps should funding run out. Community Association Forum take would their ideal community look like? “Well, the catalyst to start a process them forward. According to the project Beginning with such big questions, we is usually a challenge, an opportunity topic, we link them to our networks: take a step back to turn visions into or an issue to solve in a community,” Community Energy Network, Heritage, tangible actions. the PLANED staff tell me. “We are here Sustainable Agriculture etc. If they This is to counter an often used to enhance the process and filling the are interested in joining, they get the top-down approach to development, gap if the community lacks support for opportunity to share experiences, get which rarely takes into serious instance”. They do this by gathering to know other people, have access to consideration the needs or wants community members to draw up an decision-makers and carry the lessons of communities or regions. This is Action Plan. learnt back to their communities...We ethically problematic and unlikely “People suggest how the proposals keep in contact with people on the to be a sustainable, long-term that come out from the Action Plan phone, asking if they need support, development strategy. For that you might progress,” Helen Murray, linking up constantly.” Leaving with a Welsh love spoon Members of the PLANED team It sounds almost common sense also talk about the importance but it is still rare to find such rural of celebrating what has been development projects where achieved. “We invite communities real participation and community to a celebration that acknowledges engagement are foregrounded. them as stimulating and supporting Seeing examples of how this the dialogue,” she says. So PLANED actually pans out is vital and accompanies these projects from the we, the participants, continue initial dreaming exercise right through our Civic Dialogue Journey to the celebration. Perhaps we can through Europe inspired and think of it as a kind of support network, curious and armed with a something which creates the space for Welsh love spoon, a traditional people to work out what it is they want hand-crafted offering to for their region and what steps they sweethearts, under our arm as need to take to actualise that vision. a parting gift. 51