Every action counts

Every action counts is a UK government initiative involving voluntary and community groups across England. The three-year scheme was launched on June 28 2006 by Environment Secretary David Miliband.

What the initiative seeks to deliver

 * More than 500 individual sustainable development action plans prepared by key Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations nationally, regionally and locally
 * 100 staff from VCS organisations trained to put environmental sustainability into practice
 * More than 800 community workers trained to make the links between environmental sustainability and their existing work with community groups
 * New good practice guides prepared for VCS bodies, covering issues such as sustainable procurement and green office management

VCS involvement
Every Action Counts involves half a dozen or so national voluntary organisations including and is reportedly "backed" by 16 others. The government is expecting more VCS organisations to join.
 * Community Development Foundation
 * British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres (BASSAC)
 * Federation of City Farms and Gardens
 * BTCV
 * Urban Forum

Comment
Potential concerns over this programme may tend to be about what might get left out.

In particular it may not be clear what the programme has to offer
 * existing local sustainability groups and networks
 * informal and emergent groups and networks
 * groups or networks concerned with the bigger picture beyond relatively small scale and perhaps relatively unambitious actions.
 * groups or networks which may be percieved as having a radical agenda. It may be worth reflecting that action against climate change, for example, which the government now supports, just a few short years ago may have seemed radical.

There may also be a concern that the intitiatve is too top down. Specifically that all of the above groups and networks, arguably the most passionate about sustainability, do not have a voice in how the initiative is run or develops.

Related topics

 * CA2020 Development Workshop November 24 2005, Report
 * Community Action 2020 development workshop, November 24 2005
 * Community involvement
 * Community Involvement via Community Action 2020
 * Talk:Community Involvement via Community Action 2020
 * Do our top sustainability organisations get active citizenship?
 * How can Community Strategies be turned into Sustainable Community Strategies?
 * Securing the future
 * Sustainability network for England
 * Sustainability networks
 * Together we can secure the future
 * Towards a national meeting of local sustainability organisations and networks

Reference

 * Defra News release