Julian Dobson usefully reminded me this morning;
Cracking on with ideas is good. Rooting them in community development principles and practical action is even better.
But what are these principles? A quick bit of web research found this list from CDX in Sheffield:
Values
Community development workers support individuals, groups and organisations in this process on the basis of certain values and practice principles.
The values at the core of community development are:
- social justice
- self-determination
- working and learning together
- sustainable communities
- participation
- reflective practice
The practice principles that underpin these values are:
Social justice
- respecting and valuing diversity and difference
- challenging oppressive and discriminatory actions and attitudes
- addressing power imbalances between individuals, within groups and society
- committing to pursue civil and human rights for all
- seeking and promoting policy and practices that are just and enhance equality whilst challenging those that are not
Self-determination
- valuing the concerns or issues that communities identify as their starting points
- raising people’s awareness of the range of choices open to them, providing opportunities for discussion of implications of options
- promoting the view that communities do not have the right to oppress other communities
- working with conflict within communities
Working and learning together
- demonstrating that collective working is effective
- supporting and developing individuals to contribute effectively to communities
- developing a culture of informed and accountable decision making
- ensuring all perspectives within the community are considered
- sharing good practice in order to learn from each other
Sustainable communities
- promoting the empowerment of individuals and communities
- supporting communities to develop their skills to take action
- promoting the development of autonomous and accountable structures
- learning from experiences as a basis for change
- promoting effective collective and collaborative working
- using resources with respect for the environment
Participation
- promoting the participation of individuals and communities, particularly those traditionally marginalised / excluded
- recognising and challenging barriers to full and effective participation
- supporting communities to gain skills to engage in participation
- developing structures that enable communities to participate effectively
- sharing good practice in order to learn from each other
Reflective practice
- promoting and supporting individual and collective learning through reflection on practice
- changing practice in response to outcomes of reflection
- recognising the constraints and contexts within which community development takes place
- recognising the importance of keeping others informed and updated about the wider context
This looks like a pretty good list of design criteria.
- Anything missing?
- Anything better?
Reading through this list and reviewing some of the current enterprise and entrepreneurship programmes being delivered in the name of community developement and regeneration I am finding it hard to find (m)any that don’t significantly fail several of these tests of principles and values.
Filed under: community development, strategy | Tagged: community, community engagement, professional development, strategy
principle of adaptiveness has been left out as it helps the community to rectify their mistakes during their development
Ibellive that lteracy is the key component of sustainabale development
Dear Sir.
Thank you so much , please provide us with materials in issues in community development.
Deng