The second meeting of the Urban and Rural Learning Initiatives featured a presentation from Mr Max Eastcott from Gwydir Shire; the introduction of the region of Zelva in Belarus and the sharing of ideas and resources.

Attendees:

Professor Norman Walzer, Professor Emeritus, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs; USA; Professor Mike Osborne, Dr Rob Marks, and Dr Margaret Sutherland, Glasgow University, UK; Max Eastcott, CEO, Gwydir Shire Council, NSW, Australia; Ms Michele Murphy, Learning Region Coordinator, Derry City and Strabane Region Learning City, Ireland. Ms Elena Leshenok, Korma, Belarus; Professor Idowu Biao, Université d’Abomey Calavi, BENIN, Cotonou;  Dr Annalisa L Raymer, Lifelong Learning and Leadership, Cornell University, New York, USA; Professor Marius Venter, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Facilitator: Dr. Leone Wheeler, Hon. CEO ALCN, Australia;

Apologies:

Ms Elena Kazyro, Information Director, Zelva District Institution of Sustainable Regional Development and Ms Natallia Glusenia, Zelva District, Belarus

Dr Gideon Baffoe, Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

Mr Andrei Rutkevich, Project Manager, Learning Cities and Organizations (LCaO) Program, DVV International, Belarus

General Discussion

Ms Michele Murphy, Learning City Region Coordinator, from Derry City and Strabane Region Learning City, and Dr Annalisa L Raymer, Lifelong Learning and Leadership, Global Development, Education, Cornell, and Professor Marius Vener, University of Johannesburg, were welcomed to the group.

Topics of interest that were raised by group members:

• Mental Health and Young People including how young people have been affected during the pandemic. Linked to this was a request about strategies/ideas about the prevention of suicide.
• A lack of broadband in rural areas which hampers people in all sorts of ways – learning, health, staying connected and so forth.
• A lack of knowledge about food production resulting in less people farming the land and not enough people to harvest crops.
• Finding out more about the North American Alliance of Learning Cities – NAALC which Dr Raymer is establishing.
• The Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities program run successfully in the secondary sector in Illinois. This program encourages entrepreneurial thinking.
• Men’s sheds and how they operate in rural areas.

Presentation from Gwydir

Mr Max Eastcott reported on Gwydir Learning Region and some of the issues faced. Fortunately, at this stage the Shire has not been directly affected by COVID. Droughts and floods are more of a pressing issue for rural people in this area.

The story of Gwydir was told. The strategies to attract families. The need to increase the entrepreneurial spirit in young people and to develop civic responsibility courses in schools. A baby born in Gwydir is given a book and a Gwydir birth certificate. Young people then have access to a range of support to stay in school and to fulfil their potential.

The council also offers school-based apprenticeships. More information about Gwydir is attached in the notes about Dr Wheeler’s visit to Gwydir and information on the Circular Economy – a concept that the Council is working to develop within the Shire (see attached diagram).

New member profile.

The PASCAL LCN family is incredibly pleased to welcome the district of Zelva, in Belarus has officially joined the PASCAL LCN family and the profile can be found at http://lcn.pascalobservatory.org/participants/zelva. Thank you to Elena Kazyro and Natallia Glushenia for providing this information.

Actions:

• It was agreed that the network was not ready to offer a webinar in June but would rather stay in the information sharing phase. Members were interested in continuing to share ideas and resources. It may be possible to co-badge a webinar with another organization.
• Publishing opportunities – it was agreed that this network is not ready to develop a special issue of Local Development and Society (Local Development and Society - see https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rlds20), but as topics develop we could consider contributing a paper. Mike suggested sending an invitation to publish to the wider PASCAL family. Professor Norman Walzer promised to send details about submitting an article to Professor Mike Osborne for publication on PASCAL.
• Professor Norman Walzer to send information on Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities in secondary schools to share with others.
• Professor Marius Venter to send information about the requirements for publishing a case study in a publication his Centre is responsible for.
• Please send information about practical strategies to prevent youth suicide in rural communities.

Date for next meeting: Tuesday 4 May, 10 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Resources that were shared by members:

1. Ms Michele Murphy shared a free online suicide training module that she found especially useful in her work:  Ohana Zero Suicide - https://www.ohana.ie/
   
2. Article about urban rural links in Ghana shared by Dr Baffoe.
   
   Baffoe, G, Zhou, X, Moinuddin, M, Somanje, A N, Kuriyama, A, Mohan, G, Saito, O, Takeuchi, K,  Urban–rural linkages: effective solutions for achieving sustainable development in Ghana from an SDG interlinkage perspective, Sustainability Science, Springer. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-021-00929-8
   
   
3. Report shared by Dr Margaret Sutherland about youth loneliness in rural communities in Scotland: https://www.supportinmindscotland.org.uk/news/ruralcovidlife