Support communities who want to bring about positive social change LEGACY
Overview
The purpose of community development is to support communities to organise collectively to effect change. This involves making sure that community groups and communities have information about opportunities to express their views, how to find allies, and how to plan for and implement collective actions and campaigns to tackle their identified concerns.
This standard is relevant to all community development practitioners.
The community development standards are arranged in six key areas:
• One - Understand and practise community development
• Two - Understand and engage with communities
• Three - Group work and collective action
• Four - Collaboration and cross-sectoral working
• Five - Community learning for social change
• Six - Governance and organisational development
This standard is within Key Area Three.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
1 support groups to agree what challenges need addressing in a community
2 facilitate groups to research, plan, and seek support, allies and resources to help in bringing about social change
3 advise on the use of participative methods to allocate roles and responsibilities and review plans
4 advise on ways of resolving skills gaps in planning for action
5 support groups to collectively resolve any conflicts that develop during a campaign
6 support groups to use media to publicise their campaign
7 facilitate awareness of the information and communication needs of those involved in a successful campaign
8 encourage participatory evaluation to review plans and the campaign's impact on decision-makers
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
The context
1 the contribution of social movements and community action in bringing about change
2 the impact of power relationships upon individuals and communities
3 participative ways to challenge local and national policy decisions
4 the benefits of recognising and valuing diversity; inclusive and anti-discriminatory practice
5 how to overcome barriers to involvement in collective activities
6 positive and negative effects of conflict
7 how to develop community-based strategies which build the confidence, skills and independence of community groups
8 the importance of independence in bringing about positive social change
Setting common goals
9 collective and participative approaches to agreeing common issues, goals, plans, capacity, reviews and evaluations
Group dynamics and processes
10 equality and anti-discriminatory practice within groups
11 transparent and accountable practice and structures
12 how to support the roles people take in groups
Campaigning
13 how to build support through strategic alliances and different media
14 media and publicity strategies to get a campaign's voice heard
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Community development is underpinned by a set of values which distinguish it from other, sometimes related, activities in the community. These values are at the core of community development and underpin each of the standards. The values are;
1 Social justice and equality
2 Anti-discrimination
3 Community empowerment
4 Collective action
5 Working and learning together
The following examples illustrate how each of the community development values might inform practice in this Standard. These statements are not part of assessment requirements.
1 people's skills, knowledge and diverse experience are recognised and used in planning a campaign
2 open and consensual community decision-making structures are valued and adopted
3 simple and clear mechanisms are put in place to demonstrate accountability to the community for all decisions and actions
4 collaborative working relationships with other groups, networks, voluntary sector organisations, and public bodies are developed
5 the approach used in the campaign is analysed for future actions