Areas of Interest and Engagement

We have specialist expertise in some key areas:

• Community Development

  CEA directors have worked in this field since the early 1990s, recognising the need to engage people and communities way beyond the core ‘green’ community of interest. Chris has worked and trained with the Community Development Foundation since 1994, producing a range of publications, focusing on linking communities and sustainable development.

• Network planning and management

  How groups and organisations work with each other has been one of our key issues for many years. Chris chairs the Low Carbon Communities Network (which links 800 organisations across the UK) and for ten years chaired the London 21 network. Jan is a Trustee of the UK Faith-Based Regeneration Network. We combine hands-on experience with theory and analysis. We can offer support to help build or revive networks of any type and advice on how any network is or isn’t working.

• Faiths and Environment

  Jan has specialised in how faith-based organisations and communities work on environment and sustainability issues for many years. She is a Trustee of the Faith-based Regeneration Network (FbRN UK) and represents the London Buddhist Centre on Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum (THIFF). She is on the Steering Group of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environment Management’s Faiths and Environment Network.

  In 2005 Jan and Chris led the Sustainable Development Commission / WWF report ‘Two sides of the same coin’  on the engagement of faith groups in sustainable development initiatives across the UK. Since then CEA has worked with partners and associates on various local initiatives to build faith group engagement. We can advise any organisation seeking to work with faiths within a community. Find our current work here.

• Environmental Justice

  CEA has been active in work on environmental equity and justice since the 1990s. Chris’s report in 1997 ‘An Environment for Everyone’ was the first to link local action on poverty, health and environment. In 2004 Chris Co-authored the ‘Environmental Justice in London’ report funded by the City Parochial Fo9undation. CEA work as Associates to Capacity Global, the leading NGO in this area, and help set up the UK Environmental Justice Network.

  This can be a difficult issue in many communities. We can offer sensitive advice on ways to tackle issues of inequality and unfairness linked to sustainability issues, and we can also advise on how to build the engagement of those currently marginalised. In 2010 Chris worked with Maria Adebowale, Director of Capacity, on the ‘Hard to reach?’ report which set out goals and challenges for a more inclusive approach to environment and sustainability, and showed how working with diverse and marginalised groups can strengthen work and bring new insights.