Why Community Matters
The importance of community should not be underestimated. Community plays an important part in this year’s Royal Commonwealth Society theme for 2019 of “A Connected Commonwealth”, fostering relationships between nations with differing communities, working together towards common goals of equality and inclusive society.
Building relationships within communities is important in developing the skill to communicate effectively with a variety of people, making you a more diverse person. It’s an undervalued quality that can define and differentiate you by offering employable skills and enhancing your individuality. It is a journey of discovery – of those around us, the environments in which we live, and ourselves. Learning about each other takes the scope of our world from standard to high definition, focusing all the colours and details that we would otherwise miss.
Exploring and being part of your community is important not only for yourself, but society’s collective development. The Big Lunch is an Eden Project Communities idea that brings local communities closer, fostering better relationships and enriching lives through communication. It takes place 1-2 June 2019, with 6 million people now taking part annually, including around the Commonwealth.
It’s a few hours out of your day where shyness goes out of the window and neighbours join together in the street to meet, share, swap stories, laugh and engage with each other. It is a celebration of community, friendship and fun to join in and bring forth communication to improve lives.
In Wales, joining with your local community offers the opportunity to be involved in the conversation. Equally, through following the Royal Commonwealth Society of Wales, you can have a voice on a global stage. The power of community can impact real change.
For this reason, The Big Lunch was featured as a topic at the South Wales Youth Summit 2018, giving attendees the chance to learn to be an active citizen within the Commonwealth. It is important in effecting change alongside protecting and preserving our environments for our lives, and future generations who follow. Communities make history, and the legacy that we leave behind us. It is why they are an essential element of the Commonwealth story.
Be a part of the conversation and follow us @WalesRCS on Twitter and @RCSWales on Instagram. Take a look at the campaigns we are currently a part of in communities around the world.
