The annual conference of Adult and Community Education (ACE) began with a traditional Maori welcome powhiri. As the ancestors were invoked to bless the deliberations with open mind and open hearts, it became evident that the gathering in Wellington (New Zealand) held last week was more than an intellectual debate.

Democracies serve needs of all citizens only if they are not held ‘hostage’ to some special interests. When common public interests are allowed to be surrendered to the special interests of one group or community, democratic governance becomes a burden.

This is the report of an Asia Pacific consultation held on 12 – 13 February 2015 by ASPBAE, the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education, the Department of Non-formal Education of the Ministry of Education and Sports, and the Regional Office for South and Southeast Asia of DVV International based in Vientiane, Lao PDR.4.

Having left the teaching career at IIM Calcutta and ventured into the field of social development through a voluntary organisation some years ago, I was surprised to learn that an article had appeared in The Marxist (June 1984) which argued that ‘action groups and voluntary organisations  in India were a part of western imperialist strategy’. Written by a party activist Prakash Karat, it described such efforts, based on foreign funding, to be undermining the ‘leadership of the party and misguiding the revolution in the country’.

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) at UTS has released a new resource to help local governments create, adopt, and evaluate a Community Learning Plan for local government areas.