- Current
Occupation:
I am currently employed as a professional Community Development Consultant,
employed as Senior Project Officer (Community Economic Development)
by the Community Capacity Building Division of the Department of Local
Government and Regional Development, and have been working in this
field for the last fifteen years. My work with the departmenthas been
in the field of Community Economic Development, a field in which our
branch has been recognised as one of the leading Australian agencies.
In 1997, for instance, we were acknowledged as a finalist in the Western
Australian government’s award for excellence in the delivery of government
services to regional areas.
I am also co-founder of the Gaia
Foundation of Western Australia, an organisation committed by
its three principles to work in the areas of personal growth, building
community and service to the Earth. Members of the Foundation undertake
personal projects that meet these Foundation objectives. Started in
1987, the Foundation has conducted over 500 successful projects in
Western Australia. We currently have 171 registered members members
in Western Australia and are currently engaged in more than 50 projects.
I am also a Board Member of Sophia
College, which provides training in community development, and a
range of holistic counselling and Buddhist and artistic therapies.
In addition I am currently an emeritus member of the Living Earth
Solutions, an Eco Village Design Consultancy Cooperative, working
with Max Lindegger, who was co-founder of the Global Eco-Village Network,
and the Co-Designer of Crystal Waters Eco-Village, Queensland, which
has just recently won a United Nations International Habitat Award
for Sustainable Design. We are currently working on developing an
EcoHamlet for the town of Collie, Western Australia.
Qualifications and Experience
-
Qualifications:
* B.A. (Geog) University of Western Australia 1970 (Biogeography
and Human Planning) (offered Honours in 1969)
* Dip Ed (Best student UWA) 1974
* B.Ed (equiv) (Winner of Joseph Lauwerys Prize as best student)
London University Institute of Education 1977
* Completed Ph.D. thesis on "The relationship between non formal
(community) education and community development in the Southern Highlands
of Papua New Guinea" (London Uni & UWA) 1986
Experience:
I am currently engaged in supporting Community Economic Development
(CED) aiming at economic resilience, social vitality, political capability
and environmental enhancement, through providing traning, consultancy
and support to individuals and groups working in this field. In this
capacity I have been coordinator of a Small Town Economic Planning,
giving grants to community based organisations in that state wishing
to adopt CED based approaches. I recently was involved in producing
a series of case studies on best practice for CED in Western Australia.
I am currently working with Communities interested in Communitywise
Auditing, giving local people an understanding of the development
of social, economic and financial capital. I was also responsible
for writing and publishing the internationally renowned LETSYSTEMS
Training Pack, and has been involved in assisting over 30 LETSystems,
as well as being involved as a key organiser and speeaker at conferences
in Australia and New Zealand.
I have worked in the area of integrated rural and regional development,
community development and community education in Australia, Papua
New Guinea, Indonesia and Europe over the last 31 years. For 10 years
I worked overseas. During this time I worked as a researcher for a
British Ministery of Overseas Development Project in English Speaking
Africa, at ILO in Geneva and UNESCO in Paris, with the Indonesian
Ministry of Education and Culture (BP3K). From 1980-83 I worked as
Non Formal (Community) Education Coordinator in a World Bank funded
program in Papua New Guinea, where I was also employed by the Australian
Department of Foreign Affairs, advising the Papua New Guinean government
on its 2nd Five Year Development Plan. I have a wide experience
of rural areas in Western Australia, and has been involved in a number
of projects including the establishment of Business Enterprise Centres,
Telecentres, the Community Enterprise Development Association and
the Australian Association for Sustainable Communities.
I have been involved in community building and environmental activism
both personally and professionally at different levels including
- teaching: previously at University of Western Australia, Edith
Cowan University and Curtin University, and in a variety of formal
and informal settings
- training and consultancy: for the Department of Community Services,
the Department of State Development and for youth, womens', community
building and environmental action programs in Australia and overseas.
-
community building and environmental action practice with non-government
organisations in association with a range of government and other
agencies
-
administration and management: having been involved as manager,
director and chairman of a number of organisations in this field.
-
consultancies with many other enterprises bodies and organisations
(eg. Ministry for Planning, Department of Resource Development,
Petroleum Industry Council etc)
In the period from 1983 to 1986 I was Executive Officer for the Australian
Association for Sustainable Communities (AASC Western Australian Branch),
working with 36 groups interested in that time with Eco-Village Development.
During this time I had authored two books "Moving into the Country
in Multiple Occupancy Communities" and "Rural Resettlement:
Options and Issues". With Dr Patricia Sherwood of Edith Cowan University,
I also worked on producing a video on Eco Village Multiple Occupancy
Projects in WA, and produced quarterly newsletters for the AASC. In
that time I worked closely with Mr Ian Glew for the preparation of a
policy on Multiple Occupancy of Rural Land, passed by the State Planning
Commission in May 1985 as Policy Paper No 15. During this time I also
worked with Homeswest for the First Fremantle Housing Cooperative, and
Boranup Community, the first legal Multiple Occupancy in Western Australia.
I have also been the co-producer of the Video "Sickness Country",
looking at the plight of Aboriginal (and other) peoples produced by
the Uranium Industry in Australia and have produced many TV broadcasts
and training programs in Community Development.
I am a frequent keynote or guest speaker at numerous conferences and
international symposia ranging from such groups as the International
Transplant Nurses Association to the New Zealand Green Dollar Conference.
My current interests include approaches that integrate personal growth
and empowerment, community building, community economics and environmental
action within the new paradigm of "deep ecology" and have
written and published widely in many fields.
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Current Occupation:
Qualifications:
Experience:
Contacts and Further Information:
Can be obtained by writing to
John Croft
PO Box 1417
East Victoria Park
WA 6981
By email to
jdcroft@yahoo.com
By phone to
(Australia) (08) 9470 5334
John Croft Writings
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