As one door closes, another opens…

For those of you who know me or follow me on Twitter, you will have been aware that I have recently moved back to London, leaving behind my time with the Brighton and Hove Green Party and throwing myself back into life back home.

It’s been an amazing three years down by the coast and I’ve been lucky enough to take a small part in some historic successes for the Green Party. Many of the political lessons I’ve learnt there have found their way into my blog pieces over the last year and in spite of leaving the city, I will be keeping a close and supportive eye on the achievements and challenges facing my friends in the local party. As recent events with the Council budget have shown, this is never going to be a quiet term of office for them and I intend to continue following the political context in the city.

As a political activist, moving to Lambeth GP will involve new exciting opportunities. Back in the centre of the city, I will be joining a vibrant local party facing a different set of issues and voters and with a greater electoral mountain to climb than Brighton and Hove. As such, I will be writing much more about how I find my place within my new community and re-engaging with the London Green Parties.

This change of location has prompted me to re-evaluate Green Politics: Sustainable Futures and to take the opportunity to upgrade my capacity to blog. I have made a decision to make this my last blog post for the site and to transfer to a new personal blog site with Wordpress, with better functionality and more ability to improve it over time. Don’t worry though, as I intend to be more engaged and productive as ever!

I hope that my regular readers will make the journey across and start following my new blog. In the coming weeks, I’m going to be talking about my experiences of changing party, the upcoming London Assembly elections, my work as Chair of the national LGBTIQ Greens caucus, as well as continuing my challenges to the Green Party to modernize and develop itself to reflect and represent modern Britain.

Please join me and subscribe to regular updates by email, because in the current financial climate, political activism has never been so important and urgent.

My formal candidate statement for the GPEX Equalities & Diversity Co-ordinator role

The nominations have now closed for the Green Party Executive elections 2011. I have written the following 350 word statement for my bid to be elected to the Equalities & Diversity Co-ordinator role and this will be included with the voting papers for Green Party members. For those able to vote, I hope you will consider me as your preferred candidate - and for those not, I would love to hear any feedback you might have as to how the Greens could improve our record in this area.

At our best, the Green Party inspires people to picture their lives within our policies and vision. We achieve this when we reflect diverse perspectives amongst our membership. When we resonate with the aspirations of the general public. An effective Equalities and Diversity Co-ordinator must remove barriers to involvement, using limited resources to open spaces where everyone can contribute to building a representative political party.

Why am I qualified for this role?

Experience as a gay man has instilled a commitment to challenge discrimination. As an active member of Brighton & Hove GP, I have served as party Secretary during the General Election, where I joined hundreds contributing towards electing our first MP. I’m also chairing a major Constitutional Review for my party.

Professionally, I co-ordinate a research department in an international development charity. This involves managing heavy workloads, encouraging teamwork and strong communication skills. Experience as a union steward and currently as a board member for the Institute of Development Studies equips me for the complex challenges facing the organisation. I’m confident in my ability to handle the substantial workload and excited at the prospect of contributing my energies to the party.

What would I seek to achieve?

1. Advocate stronger commitment to equality and diversity as a prerequisite to electoral and organisational success. Make the role transparent, measure progress, communicate achievements and opportunities more clearly to encourage new people to become involved. Work in partnership with relevant groups to ensure their ideas shape my priorities.

2. Facilitate self-organisation for under-represented groups and support those that already exist to ensure their views are included in policy development. Consult members around capacity-building and broker resources through smart partnerships across GPEX and beyond the party.

3. Broaden dialogue with under-represented parts of the wider community, such as ethnic minority and disabled communities. Support members conducting outreach to new audiences and facilitate shared learning through party conference and online resources.

Contact me by email: stephen_a_wood@yahoo.co.uk or phone: 0770 3120709 to speak further, either individually or as a party. Read my blog: http://greenpoliticssustainablefutures.blogspot.com/ for a sense of my values and priorities.