PEOPLE
Current Board Members
Dr Jacques Boulet: Dr Jacques Boulet: early inspiration by living with Romani and Kenyan communities shaped lifelong university teaching of social work, social research and community development in Belgium, Germany, USA and Australia. Former Ass Pro RMIT Social Work. PhD dissertation about structure/agency theoretical underpinning for community development. Ongoing networks with Latino, European, Indian Sub Continent and Chinese university research centres. Facilitating social work curriculum development in Hong Kong and India. Vision for a suburban university to continue the mission of transformative education eclipsed by Australia’s neo-liberal cultural revolution
Linette Hawkins has been a participant in
the Borderlands Cooperative since its origin. Borderlands has auspiced
several groups with which she is engaged : Community Links with Cambodia,
the Victorian Branch of the IACD (International Association for Community
Development), New Community Quarterly and a group of Women Writers. In her
position as BSW Field Education Coordinator at RMIT affiliation with
Borderlands has enabled numerous students to engage in unique field
placements. Linette is committed to community development, participatory
action research, flexible learning and living which promotes collective
approaches to community activism and social justice.
Dr Rob Nabben: 20 years in research, policy, academia and youth services, including 10 years as Lecturer RMIT Youth Studies. Social research expertise in evaluation and the development of quality systems for community development. Past projects focus on community inclusion for marginalised groups, using a whole-of-community approach, often in collaboration with the Municipal Association of Victoria. Current training and education role in Borderlands Cooperative and Oases’ Community Learning and Research Centre.
PhD - ‘People’s revolution or government imposition. Working the spaces between the contradictions of community development’
Master of Social Science - ‘More than managerialism? – The development of quality management systems in local government youth services’.
Ken Fernandes is a social activist and community development practitioner. With others he founded many groups, institutions and local and regional programmes. He has worked and continues to work closely with communities in several countries, including Australia, Cambodia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Philippines, Malaysia, East Timor and Fiji. He has spent the last thirty years reflecting and learning with low income communities and developing processes that improve living conditions. He has worked as a consultant to UN agencies and was on the UN experts panel that drafted Guidelines for Development Based Displacement in 1997. He has authored several books, reports, articles on community processes, housing rights and urban issues. He lectures at Victoria University in the international community development stream.
M.Sc Economics research thesis: Women in the survival economy,
Diploma in the Protection of Human Rights, from Abo Akademi, Finland.
Elyse Rider is dedicated to ecological and interfaith peace-building through education, community building and activism. She is the current Chair and co-founder of GreenFaith Australia, an eco-interfaith organisation that brings diverse Australians together to explore the spiritual, social and ecological aspects of our changing world.
Elyse has a long-term commitment to grass-roots community building and organising. Professionally, she has worked as a community development project worker and coordinator at Borderlands Cooperative. She is currently the Streets Ahead Officer for Brimbank City Council where she is working on developing initiatives for children's independent mobility and engagement with neighbourhood spaces. In addition, she has worked internationally on community development projects in Uganda (through Student Partnerships Worldwide), Nepal (through Duke of Edinburgh) and India (at Sadhanna Forest reforestation project). In a voluntary capacity Elyse has been active in local interfaith organisations and projects in Melbourne including the COMMON, Globalisation for the Common Good, and the Parliament of the World's Religions.
Elyse is on an Independent Spiritual Path and has a faith in panpsychism as the manifestation of the divine in the world. She works to realise this potential in the creation of cultures of peace for all living beings.
PhD Candidate in the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies - researching the emerging intersection between the interfaith dialogue and eco-faith movements at the grassroots level.
B.A Political Science and Development Studies,
Combined Honours in Political Science and Gender Studies.
And info coming soon about:
David Buller
Dr Phil Connors
John Mackenzie