KEYNOTE & SESSION SPEAKERS
Ela Bhatt
Elaben R. Bhatt is widely recognised as one of the world’s most remarkable pioneers and entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development. Known as the “gentle revolutionary” she has dedicated her life to improving the lives of India’s poorest and most oppressed women workers, with Gandhian thinking as her source of guidance.
In 1972, Elaben Bhatt founded the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) – a trade union which now has more than 1,000,000 members. Founder Chair of the Cooperative Bank of SEWA, she is also founder and chair of Sa-Dhan (the All India Association of Micro Finance Institutions in India) and founder-chair of the Indian School of Micro-finance for Women.
Elaben Bhatt is one the Global Elders. For more information see: http://www.theelders.org/elders/ and http://www.sewa.org/
Michael Shuman
Michael Shuman, an attorney and economist, author and co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). He has written, co-written, or edited seven books, including most recently, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (Berrett-Koehler, 2006) and Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age (Free Press, 1998). In recent years Shuman has been promoting local-economy concepts through a variety of projects, including: creating a small-business venture capital fund; launching a community-owned company; organizing university-government-business collaborations to study opportunities for import replacement; analyzing the impact of devolution in the former Soviet Union for the United Nations Development Programme; preparing a buy-local guide and coupon book; developing a web site (CommunityFood.com) to support marketing by family farmers; serving as a senior editor for a recently published Encyclopedia of Community; and building the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). He writes and speaks about local economies, local stock exchanges, profits for justice, Going Local, the importance of local small businesses for community economic development.
Confirmed Speakers
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Katherine Gibson (Australia)
Katherine is an economic geographer working on rethinking economic concepts in the light of feminist, poststructuralist and class process theory. She has a strong commitment to action research with communities interested in reconstituting economic practices in place. She shares a collective authorial presence as J.K. Gibson-Graham with her long-term collaborator Professor Julie Graham.
Peter Kenyon (Australia) (confirmed)
Peter Kenyon is founder and Director of Bank of I.D.E.A.S. which incorporates The Centre for Small Town Development. Peter is a social entrepreneur and community enthusiast who has worked with over 1000 communities through out Australia and overseas.
In 2003, Peter was awarded a Centenary of Federation medal for services to 'Community Development in Rural Australia'
Alex Ruhunda (Uganda)
President of the International Association for Community Development, Director of the Kaborole Research Centre and a well known Civil Society Leader across East Africa.
Alan Twelvetrees (United Kingdom)
Community Development author and researcher – Alan Twelvetrees is community development specialist with over 40 years experience in social, community work, public participation, organisational development and public policy. Alan has written extensively about community work and Community Economic Development, including two classic texts, 'Community Work' and 'Neighbourhoods Organising Themselves'.
Wayne Coolwell (Australia)
Wayne Coolwell is of Aboriginal heritage and has spent most of his working life in communications and the media. His traditional country is the Beaudesert/Mt Tamborine region of south east Queensland. Wayne is chairperson of the Centre for Aboriginal Independence and Enterprise. For the past 15 years Wayne has been actively involved with indigenous arts and cultural activities, as a practitioner and as an advocate on government steering parties and committees. Wayne’s current focus is to produce initiatives and incentives for the Aboriginal community which will provide for economic independence and self-empowerment. He hopes these goals and ambitions will generate greater self-belief and purpose within the Aboriginal community to enable its members to move forward without a complete reliance on government agencies for support.
David Beurle (Australia and the US)
David holds a firm conviction that the future of rural and regional areas, lies in the hands of the local people. He created Innovative Leadership Australia, with the mission of bringing the tools and skills to the people who care the most - the people who choose to make rural towns, centers and regions their home.
These days, David splits his time between Australia and the US, as he pursues his passion for community revitalization and creating vibrant and prosperous regions. Until recently he served on the Board of Directors of the Western Australian Community Foundation. His work in community and economic development has earned him – and his work – international, national and State awards.