The Community Council Learning Journey (or CCLJ)
The CCLJ is a training programme offering a wide range of tools and perspectives that can enable a community to truly thrive. The programme is rooted in a particular tradition of indigenous wisdom that has flourished in the Americas for many generations. We also blend in contemporary concepts and because the system has been embodied by communities for thousands of years they are perfectly suited to the kinds of challenges that our modern day societies now face.
Our Main Aims
- To seed communities/community groups (and support the evolution of existing groups) that are resilient and able to adapt to the challenges of our modern times.
- To establish systems of true democracy within community groups and support these in breathing real and sustainable change into the world.
- To ensure that ‘safe-guarding the continuation of life’ lies at the heart of all community projects and practices.
The Benefits
The CCLJ Programme can support communities and community groups with:
- effective communication and agreements
- self-knowledge (both of the group and of the individuals)
- purpose and vision
- conflict resolution
- self-organisation
- surfacing collective wisdom
- decision making
- resilience
- and much more…
Who can attend a CCLJ?
Ideally you will be a group of individuals that live in close geographical proximity to one another. This may be…
- an existing community group (intentional or local community)
- a group of friends who feel passionate about forming a community but need support in realising this
- a business or organisation
- you may also be a lone individual who feels passionate about community – working together we may just be able to bring a community to you!
For any vital and functional group of people it is essential that at the core are individuals who take responsibility for their actions, and for self-authoring their lives – people who are committed to the group process. This is why tools for individuals and self-development are so important in this programme. Not only can the above benefits give rise to a more resilient, self sufficient and vibrant community, but the individual’s themselves will often experience a marked increase in well-being.
The Council
One core tool is the ‘Council Wheel’. This is an elegant device for drawing the collective wisdom from the people in a way that addresses the different perspectives of a particular issue or question. It facilitates a truly democratic process that engages, and ‘hears’ the voices and viewpoints of all concerned. It is this powerful system that informs the name of the training and can be used by individuals as well as groups.
The Give-Away!
From day one of attending a CCLJ programme, participants are expected (as a group) to apply their studies to the formation and implementation of at least one community-based (or community benefiting) project. This strengthens the group and helps to integrate the learnings whilst also benefiting the wider local community.
It has a cost, but let’s make it happen!
As with all things in our current societal model to attend the programme will incur a fee. This will be to cover the time of the programme guides and their expenses and to cover training expenses such as writing materials etc. And, we just want to make it happen – for you, and for our future generations. We believe that together, we can! We know all too well what it’s like to attend training programmes that have been well beyond our financial means. And it has been noted by some that the divide between those who can easily afford to attend a programme, and those who can’t even afford to get to the venue, is getting much wider. What we recommend is that groups adopt this “let’s make it happen” ethos and combine the groups resources to make it viable. This is a wonderful community building process in itself. To actually get to the point of being able to make it happen will often require that prejudices and long-held beliefs are let go of. We will support you in this process, as if it can be done (which it can) it is highly rewarding for all concerned. It may well be that even with combined resources the group has challenges in meeting the requirements, but do not despair! There are many ways to raise abundance, especially with the advent of the internet there are now some fantastic resources available for those who are determined. As well as this, The Children’s Fire Movement is building a bursary fund for our training programmes – it may well be that we can help fund your training too! Interested? We would love to hear from you.
