Unit 2 - Strategic Framework for Community Development

WHAT IS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT?

• Community Development is a process for mobilizing citizen participation in economic, social and political decision making and for ensuring sustainable development.
• Community Development is an occupation (both paid and unpaid) which aims to build active influential communities based on justice, equity and mutual respect.

APPROACH TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Integrated holistic Approach.- focuses on establishing and strengthening the institutional infrastructure and local capacity to catalyze and support needs-based, sustainable and replicable community development.
These institutions include:
• Civil society Support Centers
• NGOs, CBOs, Associations and coalitions
• Business Support Organizations
• Local Government

CIVIL SOCIETY SUPPORT CENTERS
-ensure a broad geographic outreach and ongoing services to NGOs and CBOs in skills relevant to mobilizing communities to solve their own problems in a sustainable way.

Civil Society Support Center Services include:
 Organizational Development
 Training
 Grant Making
 Partnership Facilitation
 Information clearinghouse
 Volunteer clearinghouse
 Consultations and Technical assistance
 Community outreach and community mobilization

Taking a Community Development Approach Requires Being Committed To:

 Collective working
 Equality and Justice
 Learning and reflecting
 Participation
 Political Awareness
 Sustainability


Community Development Is NOT….

 Quick
 A numbers game
 Partnership working
 Consultation
 A cheap way of delivering service
 Talking with three “community reps”
 Volunteering
 The answer to everything


KEY POINTS ABOUT COMMUNITY
 We might describe a group of people “a community” but we can’t assume that they feel like one.
 Different allegiances to groups or communities can pull people to different directions at the same time.
 Communities themselves are diverse.
 It is wrong to assume that “community” is always a positive thing.
 Some communities are exclusive and oppressive.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COMMUNITY PROCESSES…
Because it...
• starts with the issues which people in communities identify as being important to them, than starting with the issues that an outside agency wants to tackle.
• is helping people to understand why the issues they want to tackle have come about, and why some groups have more power or resources than others.
• Is working towards changes which reduce inequality and poverty.

WHAT DOES A CD SPECIALIST DO?
• Learn the language and culture
• Build relationships
• Build trust and earning the right to be heard
• Help people verbalize their needs and discover appropriate solutions
• Suggest possible solutions, opening window to new possibilities
• Help the community weigh the costs and benefits of different courses of action, helping them make decisions about their own development
• Be a partner in planning, implementing, and evaluating
• Train local people to carry out the process themselves


WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT A CD SPECIALIST?
... CD Specialist is and must be a PROCESS SPECIALIST.

CD Specialist should specially be able to:
1. relate well with people
2. adapt to different cultures and living conditions
3. learn from others and from their own experiences
4. manage themselves and bring out the best in others
5. develop plans and implement them.
6. help communities define their resources and needs
7. display healthy attitudes
8. be flexible
9. serve others with maturity

RESPONSIBILITIES OF ORGANIZATIONS
1. Have clear policies
2. Recognize that CD is a long-term process that requires long-term commitment
3. Provide information to the public about the organizations’ commitment to CD
4. Undertake CD, and allocate resources, that promote equity
5. Be transparent
6. Recruit staff and volunteers
7. Be committed to promoting health and safety
8. Have recording systems which ensure accountability
9. Have clear and well-publicized processes
10. Dedicate time and resources for evaluation



COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT … A SUMMARY
• Aims to give people in disadvantaged areas or communities of interest more control over their lives
• It builds confidence, capacity and sustainable networks in communities that are essential to effective and widespread participation
• It supports communities to develop their own activities, services and assets, to respond to opportunities from outside and to engage with the agencies and policy makers that affect their lives
• It works with professionals and policy makers to enhance their capacity to engage effectively with communities and to change ways of working that prevent people from participating effectively

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT… The Problem
It is often difficult for people in disadvantaged neighborhoods to engage in their communities.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT… The Causes
ISSUES IN CD…
1. Poverty, lack of choice about where they live, mistrust and the absence of social networks can all make it difficult for people to engage.
2. Some disadvantaged communities have very strong networks but they have few links with the outside world and are cut off from opportunities.
3. The stereotypes that these areas attract increase their sense of isolation and powerlessness. So do unresponsive services.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT…
…What’s been tried
• Developing groups and networks
• Bringing groups together
• Developing community-based assets
• Working with outside agencies

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES
1. Start from communities’ own needs
2. On TAP not on TOP
3. Work WITH people
4. Recognize and value their own skills, knowledge and expertise
5. Work collectively, not individually
6. Be accountable
7. Learn most effectively by doing
8. Participate


VALUES THAT UNDERPIN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT…

1. Social justice – claim their human rights, great control over decision-making
process
2. Self-determination
3. Working and Learning Together – recognizing the skills, knowledge,
expertise by taking action to tackle all facet of problems
4. Sustainable communities
5. Participation - facilitating democratic involvement of people in issues that
affect their lives
6. Reflective Practice
7. Co-operation – working together to identify and implement action, based on
Mutual RESPECT of DIVERSE CULTURES

COMMITMENTS THAT UNDERPIN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT…
1. Challenging discrimination and oppressive practices
2. Developing practice and policy
3. Encouraging networking and connections
4. Ensuring access and choice
5. Influencing policy and programmes
6. Prioritizing the issues of concern
7. Promoting social change
8. Reversing inequality and the imbalance of power
9. Supporting community led collective action


COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

Community Empowerment
Process Outcome
Personal empowerment A learning community
Positive action A fair and just community
Community organizing and volunteer support An active and organized community
Participation and involvement An influential community

Quality of life
Process Outcome
Community economic development A shared wealth
Social and service development A caring community
Community environmental action A safe and healthy community
Community arts and cultural development A creative community
Governance and development A citizen’s community

(from the notes of Ms Roda V Paller)