Saturday, 1 March 2003
Red Room at Clubland Methodist Church
54 Camberwell Road, Elephant and Castle
5:30pm – 8:00pm.

The Southwark & Lambeth Community Action Network (SALCAN) is an independent project that aims to build a democratic and inclusive network for social change. For too long we have advanced our individual concerns, but have failed to come together as a force able to challenge local and central government’s wrongdoings. SALCAN is part of a process to strengthen our community by bringing together community groups and interested individuals.

SALCAN is about reducing our reliance on governmental institutions and building confident, self-reliant, supportive communities. However, we also believe it is important to challenge local governments; to ensure genuine democratic accountability of institutions within our community. Essentially, we want the educational, housing, health and social needs of everyone in our community to be satisfied.

To avoid any one group dominating the process we propose that all groups have equal say in the process (i.e. one group one vote) and that all decisions within the network should be reached through consensus.

In order to ensure that SALCAN is as open and non-hierarchical as possible we believe it is necessary to establish a clear framework. We propose the following aims and principles:
· A rejection of all forms and systems of domination and discrimination.
· An affirmation of the importance of social transformation through debate, direct action and the development of autonomous and sustainable alternatives.
· SALCAN should reinforce the work of local groups and networks through the formation of a participatory, non-hierarchical and decentralised decision-making process.
· SALCAN should highlight the global context of local issues and build links with similar bodies nationally and internationally.

The basic program for this first meeting is as follows:
· Welcome
· Short talk by representative of Unite! (Hackney-based community network).
· Brief introduction by all groups present of their current activities in the community.
· Breaking into smaller groups to discuss expectations of network and then feedback to main group.
· Formation of action groups and next meeting.

Please contact us on 07753 217 648 or email  info@salcan.org.uk for more information or to confirm your attendance.