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Notes from the third meeting of the PASCAL Learning Cities Networks “Reimagining Inclusive Economic Futures” (RIEF) on 6 Jan 2021

Judith James introduced the meeting and explained that Michelle Murphy has been in touch to explain that a funding bid had not been successful, so Derry and Strabane Learning City were urgently seeking funding in order to continue. As a result she would be unable to present slides today.

The first presentation was by Nishat Tasnim Maria, and was a combined presentation about two major cities in Bangladesh- Dhaka (the capital) and Khulna [presentation appears below].

Some points of note:

Dhaka: 25% of people are in informal employment and 27% are unemployed. 34% are living below the poverty line.

Khulna: 20% are in informal employment and 9% are unemployed. 20% of people are living in slums and are below the poverty line, with 40% of people considered poor.

The ambition of Khulna is to develop lifelong learning for all. Both cities are part of the PASCAL-led Sustainable Healthy Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods Project (SHLC), funded by the UK Global Challenges Research Fund. They have been surveying neighbourhoods and have identified that there are in total 11 types of neighbourhoods in Dhaka and 9 types in Khulna.

The cities are also connected through UNESCO IEEP – legislative framework to support the development of Learning Cities.

Regarding formal education, NGOs are active in the slum neighbourhoods and provide a multi-layer education, with a small amount of elementary free education and other education being private. It is hard to keep children in elementary education because their parents need them to work to add to family income.

A discussion followed about access to learning in Bangladesh, as it is apparent that there is a difference in class access to learning.

Shilpi pointed out the diversity of the cities they are working with and how they have different economic challenges. Khulna is a post –industrial town without a stable economic base. There are second generation unemployed people who do not have an appropriate skills base for new employment opportunities, there is a real skills gap. There are LLL opportunities through NGOs offering training and financial support, but there is a need to explore the landscape and the existing ecosystem and identify the gaps.

Dhaka is a dynamic city with a high growth rate and a stronger economy. However, it also has a high sprawl rate and many people attracted to the city are working in an informal economy in production roles. Most of these roles are not sustainable and many have lost their jobs- as a result there is outward migration with people moving back to their villages, where the skills they have learned in the city are of no value. There are also climate migrants in the cities without tangible assets.

The challenges faced by Khulna because of a ‘brain drain- where more highly skilled people find better employment in Dhaka- was also discussed. As a result, there are posts not being filled, because people with the right skills do not want to stay in Khulna.

Annie Tubadji represents Swansea University in the network. In her presentation (attached below), she explained that poverty has many different faces and occurs in different ways, so it is important to try to distinguish between these and capture assets.

She identified that people can have poverty in terms of culture and illustrated this with an example from Swansea, where the Taliesin Theatre provides cultural events streamed from London and other world-wide sources. The mission is to enlighten, within respect for different identities. Referring to Bourdieu, she discussed cultural capital and why this should not be neglected in an all-round education. It has been found that those with less cultural capital gain lower marks in formal education systems. Her presentation reminded us of the Banner for Peace movement which was founded on the development of cultural capital.

All exclusion has been exacerbated due to Covid -19 and this includes access to culture. There is, in the UK, a levelling up agenda, and this should include access to cultural events and facilities. We need to invest time and budget to deal with these issues. Some sectors of society are being left aside and we need to share knowledge about this and find ways to tackle the issues.

In conclusion, she explained that there are different issues of exclusion in a Learning City- economic, digital and cultural- - all have been exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic and we need to address them together in a holistic manner.


The presentations were followed by a discussion about the next steps for the network.

Mike reminded us that we need to focus on lifelong learning as well as economic development, as there are other Learning City networks focusing on inclusivity, faith and remote and rural communities. Mike also provided a paper about how mature students decided to re-enter formal education (attached).

We will revisit this discussion at the next meeting.

It is also hoped that Massimo Bardus will be able to present about the Universite delle Libereta in Udine.

NEXT MEETING: 10th February, 9am UK time


The third meeting of the Pascal Learning Cities Network “Reimagining Inclusive Economic Futures” (RIEF) on 06-01-2021

Attendees:

  • Mike Osborne, Director of PASCAL
  • Judith James and Chris Shepherd, Joint Coordinators of Pascal Learning Cities Network “Reimagining Inclusive Economic Futures”
  • Shilpi Roy and Nishat Tasnim Maria, SHLC, Khulna University, Bangladesh
  • Orna Magor and Zimra, Modi’in Learning City and the Israeli Centre for Learning Cities, Israel
  • Peter Dewhurst and Bill Esmond, Derby University and Derby Learning City, UK
  • Diane Tabbagh and Jac Torres Gomez, Wyndham Learning City, Melbourne, Australia
  • Annie Tubadji, Swansea University, Wales UK
  • Jean Preece, Swansea Learning City, Wales, UK

Unable to attend on this occasion:

  • Rob Mark, Pascal Learning Cities Coordinator
  • Massimo Bardus, Università delle LiberEtà Fvg, Udine, Italy
  • Michelle Murphy, Derry and Strabane Learning City
  • Leone Wheeler, Australian Learning Communities Network
  • Japheth Habinshuti, Kigali City Rwanda
  • Kristiina Erkkilä, Espoo, Finland
  • Nafisa Anjum, Dhaka and Khulna, Bangladesh.

 

AttachmentSize
lcn_bangladesh.pdf1.91 MB
osborne2004_article_becomingamaturestudenthowadult.pdf130.63 KB
presentation_at_pascal2.pdf634.97 KB
 

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