Published in September 2008
The Diploma in Local Democracy project has completed two sessions involving 35 participants over the last two years. The course focused on the practice of local democracy as perceived and experienced by the participants.
The theory and practice of Local Democracy is essential for the development of democratic communities where practical expressions of social solidarity through cooperation, neighbourhood mobilization, and personal responsibility are normal.
Local democracy is about applying the virtues at home, work, and in the organizations that sustain our communities.
The course format consisted of eight evening classes in the fall and winter which emphasized participants’ experience.
Participants have ranged from people connected to Working Centre projects, Kitchener-Waterloo citizens, new Canadians, interns from Ugunja, Kenya, and students from the University of Waterloo. University students have taken the course as a BA level reading course and as a supplement to their M.A. course work. Internally, the Diploma in Local Democracy has been a way for new and old staff at The Working Centre to engage the thinking of Local Democracy. At our first graduation ceremony, Carmetta Abbott, Professor Emerita of French Studies at St. Jerome’s University and the University of Waterloo and active citizen gave the commencement address. Each student received their diploma and gave a five-minute speech on what they learned through the course.
Ken Westhues and Joe Mancini have guided the development of this course and project. Ken Westhues is a Professor of Sociology and a distinguished practitioner of that discipline for 40 years. He has been a board member of The Working Centre for 20 years. Joe Mancini, Director of The Working Centre has offered his 25 years of community development experience. Both are satisfied with the Diploma course structure that emphasizes dialogue, equality and reciprocity.
This dialogical approach has laid a foundation for further growth of this community based approach to teaching the skills of local democracy. Up to now, minimal resources have been allocated towards the conceptualization, recruitment and teaching. This past fall we opted to take a break to think about its structure and to consider its long-term integration as a viable Working Centre teaching project. We will be offering the next Diploma in Local Democracy course in the Fall of 2009.
