The purpose of this paper is to look back over the three years of Community Economic Development Action Research (CEDAR) project and share some of the learnings with policy makers and with those engaged in community economic development work. The paper provides a summary of the issues emerging from CEDAR and offers valuable insights into factors that help/hinder communities in their journey towards economic and social development. A more detailed discussion of the specific issues identified in this paper can be found in our issues papers series ‘CEDAR\ Issues\01-10\2003’ which are available on request.
We hope that this paper will also serve as a starting point for discussions with relevant policy agencies. We will share the findings, through seminars and presentations to agencies and Senior Officials Groups, which will demonstrate, by way of tangible examples, some of the effects of policy on communities/community organisations. The paper also describes the next steps for the CEDAR project (2003-2005), and how we plan to build on its lessons in the Department’s future work.