On episode #3 of Talking Radical Radio (from March 13, 2013), Gerald Wheatley of Calgary, Alberta, talks about his work with the Arusha Centre. Arusha was founded in 1972 with a mandate to do international development education. In 1994, the federal government ended funding to such organizations, but unlike most similar formations acorss the country, Arusha chose not to close but instead reinvented itself with an emphasis on supporting local environmental and social change. Not only does it have a history of initiating and anchoring projects aimed to have a broad appeal to Calgarians, it also offers infrastructure and other supports to a range of groups, from an anti-pesticide campaign to Occupy to many more. In doing all of this, it manages to maintain a diverse range of funding while embodying an interesting example of a non-hierarchical organizational form that operates largely by consensus. Weatley talks about the many roles that Arusha plays in the Calgary community.
To learn more about this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2013/03/20/talking-radical-radio-infrastructure-for-change/
