PEOPLE
Current Board Members
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.
Mish Colla is a Qualitative Action Researcher and Social Worker. She is currently a Project Coordinator at Borderlands and holds the Communications Directors Portfolio. At Borderlands, Mish dedicates her time to action research and participatory project evaluations, as well assisting in the promotion of Borderlands Cooperative. Mish is also a part-time contractor for Action Learning Action Research Association (ALARA) in which she designs and promotes the ALARA World Congress 2010 (held in Melbourne).
Mish is the Managing Director of her own new (2009) small business ‘Regeneration X’ which specialises in restaurant food waste environmental solutions, vegetable gardens, children’s gardens, children’s environmental parties and environmental education. Mish has a long-term commitment to grass-roots community agency and organisation; being previously been involved in Food Not Bombs waste management, St Mary’s house of Welcome, St Vincent De Paul and being the curator of art mixed-media exhibitions (including music).
B.A. Social Work
Dr Olga Bursian: Lectures in social policy, welfare law, rights and ethics and welfare state formations at Monash University Gippsland. Social Work trained with practice in youth work, social policy and research on community services industry, management in family support and migrant resource centre and community development for culturally diverse communities. Research interests young people and employment; family/work nexus. comparative welfare states, multiculturalism, gender studies, cross cultural epistemologies and gender issues; post colonial theory; community development; decolonising and feminist research methods.
And info coming soon about:
David Buller
John Mackenzie