"Greetings from the European RCEs" Prof. Ros Wade, Chair, RCE London 10th African Regional RCE Meeting 1 & 15 September, 2020

1. 10th African RCE Conference, Minna
Community based resilience during pandemic
disruption

2. Over 40 active RCEs across Europe
Developing RCEs as a mobilising movement which
enables people to ‘become vanguards for the
entrenchment of sustainability in human actions at the
individual and collective levels’.
General focus over the past 2 years:
 TVET
 Climate action
 Migration as a sustainability issue

3.  The most disadvantaged and vulnerable are affected
disproportionately
 Links between environmental and social justice are
laid bare
 Key workers are not valued highly enough
 Neo liberal economics is not resilient enough to
withstand shocks

4.  Change can happen fast !
 Enhanced community action builds resilience
 Virtual working can be effective for a large number of jobs
and reduce carbon emissions at the same time
 Virtual learning can enhance inclusion and diversity
 Local economies are essential
 An opportunity for reconnection with nature as a source of
joy, inspiration and resilience

5.  Quadruple helix
 Empowerment of communities
 Sharing skills and ideas
 There is no one size fits all
 Inspiration - examples of community based resilience
 COMMEET’s toolkits for community groups

6.  Through positive stories of successful community resilience
 Through working with artists and story tellers to change the
narrative
The distant music of the future
Haunts me
And I Think it will be something
Amazing to hear
A delight to the gods
Provided we don’t lose our way
More than we already have
And provided we are guided
By our deepest love
The love that connects us all
On this little globe of beauty (Ben Okri)