Encourage and support public bodies to build effective relationships with communities LEGACY
Overview
This standard is for community development practitioners who have responsibility for implementing local and national government policies and/or initiatives which require dialogue, working relationships and lines of accountability to be developed between public bodies, other organisations and communities or community groups.
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 Four.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
1 communicate the potential benefits, challenges and wider implications when public bodies seek to engage with communities
2 work with public bodies to enable them to respond effectively to diverse communities seeking improved services based on community-identified needs
3 work with public bodies and other organisations to identify resources to support community representatives
4 support decision-makers to establish equitable and inclusive values, perspectives and approaches when working with communities
5 assess the extent to which government policies and initiatives promote the values of social justice, equality, anti-discrimination and inclusion for communities
6 communicate to public bodies the benefits and contribution of a community development approach to achieving policy objectives
7 support public bodies and other organisations to use inclusive and empowering approaches when engaging communities
8 promote the use of local, regional or nationally agreed frameworks as the basis for developing working relationships with communities
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
The rationale and context
1 how representative and participatory democracy work in practice
2 concepts of political literacy, citizenship rights and responsibilities in relation to governance
3 relevant local, national and international government policies,
4 the contribution that diverse communities and autonomous groups can make to decisions affecting communities
5 how injustice, discrimination and social exclusion impact on the lives of individuals and communities
6 how power relationships affect collaborative working
7 the social, political, cultural and economic context of communities
8 the links and disparities between concepts of community development and key ideas presented in government policies and initiatives
9 the powers of public bodies and the duties and obligations they have to communities
Factors which support effective partnership working
10 the different levels of representation and accountability involved and required for effective partnership working
11 barriers to involvement and a range of approaches and techniques for overcoming them
12 how to examine institutional practices and perspectives and their impact on communities
13 how to get others to reflect on institutional practices and perspectives and how they impact on communities
14 how to work together to obtain resources
Techniques and methods
15 inclusive and participatory techniques for relationship building
16 how to identify training and learning needs required to build effective relationships
17 different models of community advocacy
18 techniques and approaches to increase accountability to communities
19 communication systems and processes to inform and support collaborative work
20 the benefits of community development values and processes in building relationships
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 the complexity and diversity of communities is recognised and used to inform the planning of community engagement processes to ensure equality
2 practices that discriminate against individuals and communities are highlighted and addressed
3 the skills and knowledge needed to engage with and empower communities is recognised and learning opportunities created
4 meaningful commitment to collective action aimed at improving localities is demonstrated
5 reflection and evaluation techniques are used to review how organisations build relationships with communities