Focus: The roundtable focussed on the inherent benefits of community economic development as an approach which integrates social and cultural change processes with small business development and local economic planning.

ACOA Partner: St. Francis Xavier University

Location: Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Dates: June 21, 1995.

Co-chairs: Dr. Teresa MacNeil of St.FX, and Martin Abrams of ACOA.

Comments:

The audience included academics drawn from universities across Atlantic Canada, as well as practitioners from local development groups, a small number of provincial officials and ACOA observers from Head Office and each region.

A keynote paper was prepared and distributed in advance and discussions were facilitated by Dr. R. Williams of GTA Consultants Ltd. Plenary and group discussions were used to structure the proceedings. Feedback received both at the event and subsequently, was very positive. Participants expressed appreciation at having had their views sought, generally felt that they had learned from the exchange and expressed pleasure with the format and management of the session.

Issues Summary:

• Strengths include the potential of CED to enable communities to overcome local conflicts and reduce dependency on outside agents to address their challenges; it provides a mechanism for planning and for administering projects, and it is a mechanism to mobilize volunteer resources. A number of specific "success indicators" were identified, which are enumerated in the report.

• A weakness of the CED approach is that it is not universally applicable, particularly where communities lack the will and cohesion to take ownership of their problems. In some cases, it is difficult to get individuals with critical resources for successful development (e.g., entrepreneurs) involved in a community led process.

• There is a challenge to establish CED as an element of a broad economic development policy. CED has social, cultural and political aspects, as well as economic ones, and it is necessary to put in place a program framework which can operate in this context. It was argued that it is necessary to balance emphasis on business development with other community goals. The challenge is to devise program approaches that are sufficiently generic to address unique community needs and opportunities while maintaining a broadly consistent policy direction.

• A number of specific recommendations were offered toward development of an ACOA policy on CED addressing: accountability mechanisms, level of community commitment and accountability, use of information technology, selection of initiatives to be supported, as well as suggested criteria for support of CED. A new policy approach to CED which has subsequently been developed reflects much of the substance of the above discussions.

The views expressed reflect the comments and opinions of Roundtable participants and do not necessarily reflect those of ACOA or the Government of Canada.