This is adopted as a move towards our understanding of Community Development.

• Community Development is crucially concerned with the

issues of powerlessness and disadvantage: as such it should involve
all members of society, and offers a practice that is part of a process
of social change.

• Community Development is about the active involvement of

people in the issues which affect their lives. it is a process based on
the sharing of power, skills, knowledge and experience.

• Community Development takes place both in neighbourhoods

and within communities of interest, as people identify what is relevant
to them.

• The Community Development process is collective, but the

experience of the process enhances the integrity, skills, knowledge
and experience, as well as equality of power, for each individual who
is involved.

• Community Development seeks to enable individuals and

communities to grow and change according to their own needs and
priorities, and at their own pace, provided this does not oppress other
groups and communities, or damage the environment.

• Where Community Development takes place, there are certain

principles central to it. The first priority of the Community
Development process is the empowering and enabling of those who
are traditionally deprived of power and control over their common
affairs. It claims as important the ability of people to act together to
influence the social, economic, political and environmental issues
which affect them. Community Development aims to encourage
sharing, and to create structures which give genuine participation and
involvement.

• Community Development is about developing the power,

skills, knowledge and experience of people as individuals and in
groups, thus enabling them to undertake initiatives of their own to
combat social, economic, political and environmental problems, and
enabling them to fully participate in a truly democratic process.

• Community Development must take the a lead in confronting

the attitudes of individuals and the practices of institutions and
society as a whole which discriminates unfairly against black people,
women, people with disabilities and different abilities, religious
groups, elderly people, lesbians and gay men, and other groups who
are disadvantaged by society. It also must take a lead in countering
the destruction of the natural environment on which we all depend.
Community Development is well placed to involve people equally on
these issues which affect all of us.

• Community Development should seek to develop structures

which enable the active involvement of people from disadvantaged
 groups, and in particular people from Black and Minority Ethnic
groups.

The CDS Vision

Members of CDS believe community is a basic building block of society, and that:

•community is complex and multi-dimensional

•the human dimension, which is capable of growth and development, is the most critical
aspect of community

•development of each community can be fostered through improvement of individual,

organizational, and problem-solving knowledge and skills

•adherence to the CDS' Principles of Good Practice is essential to sound community

development

•the Society must be proactive, providing leadership to professionals and citizens across the
spectrum of community development.

a global community, those helping to develop and sustain communities must understand a
variety of complex and ever-changing systems. The profession of community development
integrates knowledge from many disciplines with community development theory, research,
teaching and practice; these important and interdependent functions are vital in both the
private and public sectors.

The Community Development Society International provides leadership to professionals and

citizens across the spectrum of community development

Principles

•Promote active and representative citizen participation so that community members can
meaningfully influence decisions that affect their lives.

•Engage community members in problem diagnosis so that those affected may adequately
understand the causes of their situations.

•Help community leaders understand the economic, social, political, environmental, and
psychological impact associated with alternative solutions to the problem.

•Assist community members in designing and implementing a plan to solve agreed-upon

problems by emphasizing shared leadership and active citizen participation in that process.

•Disengage from any effort that is likely to adversely affect the disadvantaged segments of a
community.
•Actively work to increase leadership capacity (skills, confidence, and aspirations) in the
community.

Community development

Talking about community development

People talk about community development in many different ways. Neighbourhood and Community Centre
Coordinators have described community development as:

• planning services
• servicing self help groups
• running support and social action groups
• building community networks
• participating in inter-agency meetings
• undertaking needs assessment
• increasing people's skills
• resourcing the community to meet needs
• improving quality of life
• defining priorities
• working towards social justice
• empowering individuals and communities.

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Community development

Talking about community development

People talk about community development in many different ways. Neighbourhood and Community Centre
Coordinators have described community development as:

• planning services
• servicing self help groups
• running support and social action groups
• building community networks
• participating in inter-agency meetings
• undertaking needs assessment
• increasing people's skills
• resourcing the community to meet needs
• improving quality of life
• defining priorities
• working towards social justice
• empowering individuals and communities.

Several uses of Community Development

 People use the term community development in many different ways. Three of the principal uses are outlined
in the table. They are contrasted with direct service.

Role of CD
Process Driven by Values
worker
People in
the
Participation Facilitate
A. "Community community &
Empowerment people in the
development" perceived
Democracy community
community
needs
Government
Community policy Coordination Collaborating,
Development B. Capacity Integration Working with
building/infrastructure Government Efficiency other agencies
development and Whole of Facilitating
nonprofit government agencies
agencies
Business & Facilitating
C. Economic Return on
government business
development investment
policy development
Respect for
Provision of direct Needs of Provide direct
Direct service services individuals
the individual,
service
etc.

The term community development is often used to include A. "community development", B Capacity
building/infrastructure development and C. Economic development.

A more detailed model of community development language is here (PDF)

There remainder of this section highlights some points on A."Community development process " and B. The
connection with social capital.

A community development process

There are many approaches to community development and many community development definitions. For
example:

The West Yorkshire Community Work Training Group

The West Yorkshire Community Work Training Group gives a systematic description of a community development
process. The steps in the process are seen simultaneously from the point of view of the group of people in the
community development process and the community development worker:

1. Group: Vaguely dissatisfied but passive.

Worker: Simulates people to think through why they are dissatisfied and with what.

2. Group: Now aware of certain needs.

Worker: Simulates people to think about what specific changes would result in these needs being met.

3. Group: Now aware of wanting changes of some specific kind. Worker: Stimulates people to consider what they
might do to bring about such changes by taking action themselves.

4. Group: Decide for themselves to meet some needs.

Worker: Stimulates people to consider how best they can organise themselves to do what they now want to do.

5. Group: Plan what to do and how to do it.

Worker: Stimulate people to consider and decide in detail what to do, who will do it, and when and how they will do
it.

6. Group: Act according to the plans.

Worker: Stimulate people to think through any unforseen difficulties or problems they may encounter.

7. Group: Evaluate the result of what they have achieved.

Worker: Assists people to reflect on what they have achieved, how they achieved it. What they learnt from this and
what they might do next.

8+ Restart the process.

This community development process could be used with a small group of people, a street, a neighbourhood or a
whole community.

Susan Kenny

Susan Kenny in Developing Communities for the Future: Community

Development in Australia (1994) does not define community development. She discusses the nature of community
development in terms of principles and processes. She sees the principles of community development as:

• objectivity and impartiality

• social justice
• citizenship and human rights
• empowerment and self-determination
• collective action
• tolerance of diversity
• working for change and involvement in conflict
• liberation and participatory democracy
• accessibility of human services.

Kenny notes community development has been "identified as: a job or profession in itself; an important component
of all human service work; a method or approach in social or economic development; a philosophical and
intellectual approach to the world; and a political activity" (p25).

Community Development Outcomes

Community development processes are open-ended and can lead to many different outcomes:

• individuals developing self-esteem and confidence

• people participating in social activities to overcome social isolation
• increased participation in political and citizenship activities
• practical outcomes such as a changed bus route or a new pedestrian crossing
• government funding for new or additional services.

The connection with social capital

Whatever view one has about the nature of community development, it is clear that it is distinct from social capital.

Social capital is a prerequisite for community development processes. Without social capital, community
development processes could not operate. There would be no family, neighbourhood and community networks;
people would not trust each other; there would not be reciprocal relationships and so on.

Where there is sufficient social capital to support community development processes the community development
process will also generate social capital which can then be used in other community development processes.

Community development is one way of producing social capital. There are many other ways and places including
workplaces, sporting events, religious activities, schools and carnivals.

Low Social Capital

If there is no or low social capital in the group, neighbourhood or community, it will not be possible for those people
to work together for the common good.

If there is no social capital present the causes may be:

• the human capital required for social capital's core building blocks is absent eg. self-esteem, trust,
communication skills
• there are inadequate levels of material well-being - people are struggling for survival
• there is inadequate physical infrastructure - such as places to meet, public spaces, telephones,
newspapers
• the human, economic and physical infrastructure pre-requisites are present but there have been no
opportunities to develop the networks and interconnections between people.

Where there is insufficient social capital to support a community development process, the community
development worker may need to:

• undertake activities that develop the essential human capital pre-requisites, eg. self-esteem,
communication skills
• work to increase the material well-being of the group through advocacy, social policy development and
material assistance
• work to develop the physical infrastructure - meeting rooms, public spaces, etc
• undertake activities through which people can make interconnections with each other in a safe
environment.

High Social Capital

Where there are high levels of social capital people will:

• feel they are part of the community

• feel useful and be able to make a real contribution to the community
• will participate in local community networks and organisations
• will pull together for the common good in floods and bush fires they
• will welcome strangers
• all will help out with something but no one will do everything.

Community development processes will be much easier to develop with high levels of social capital than with low
levels of social capital.