Principles in community development: it’s ‘how’ we ‘do’ that matters

Spending time recently thinking about how to articulate my work, it made sense to commit some time to defining what community development means to me. In the absence of a universally accepted definition, community development is a concept that means many things to many people.

For me, community development has always been much more than a role descriptor, an occupation, or a department title. During my time in local government the language of ‘community development’ was often used in this way, giving rise sometimes to the misconception that you need to have ‘community development’ in your title to be doing community development work. This never made a lot of sense to me. I’m someone who believes community development is about how you approach ‘the job’, not the job itself. Regardless of the role I’m in, the community development approach provides a framework for working with communities in a way that facilitates, enables, and empowers them to act collectively to achieve positive social change.

Whilst those of us who practice community development undertake a diverse range of activities under this banner, there are some consistent principles that underpin ‘how’ this work is done. I believe that community development is fundamentally concerned with these questions of process, meaning ‘how we do’ is just as, if not more, important than ‘what we do’.

Community-led

Community development approaches support communities to develop and implement solutions their way, rather than imposing solutions that have been devised by 'experts'. This doesn't mean that communities should ignore the evidence base that may have been established around responses to particular social issues. It does mean that communities need to be in the driving seat and be empowered to play a leading role in the design and implementation of solutions to issues that impact them.  Having undertaken international research myself on approaches to social inclusion, I'm a big advocate of the benefits of looking at how other communities may be approaching a problem. I'm also conscious that what works in one community may not work in another. Either way, the focus here is on the community voice taking the lead in articulating solutions.

Place focused

Community development asks us to identify how issues play out in particular places. Practitioners like me ask who is needed at the table to develop solutions to complex issues, the impacts of which reverberate beyond the individual who is directly impacted. We bring those people together, facilitating discussions that map a path forward. Take mental health, youth disengagement, social isolation, or racism. We ask, who does the problem affect  – individuals, families, neighborhoods, local businesses? We spend time listening to individual stories and creating platforms for people to share their experiences with others. We then help identify the assets and resources in a community that can be leveraged to develop solutions – businesses, community groups, goodwill ambassadors, services, religious institutions, community spaces, schools, and networks. At all times, the solutions developed by the community and supported by services are specific to the local context; the place being affected is the place that drives the solutions and will be the place in which community members come together and feel connected.

Systems thinking 

Importantly, community development calls us to look beyond individual service responses to solve complex problems. I believe this is where we operate at the strategic end of the spectrum, using our grass roots knowledge and connections in community to help facilitate solutions to barriers that prevent individuals and communities from reaching their potential. Take homelessness for example. It is a complex problem, right? One that impacts more broadly than just the person who is directly experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Whilst a service response may look at the experiences and needs of the individual, a community development approach looks beyond this, to interrogate the systems that they interact with in a community or ‘place’, to get their basic needs met. Through this process we help communities to identify gaps and structural inequities that may impact their ability to live their best lives. We help build capacity in communities and amplify their voices to advocate for longer term changes that address these challenges.

Values-driven

Community development is not the exclusive domain of those who have the title or the degree. To be effective in facilitating community development outcomes you need to be interested in the greater good, and committed to principles of social justice and inclusion. You need to be able to listen authentically to diverse opinions and be able to see a solution that brings elements of them all together. Importantly, you also need to be able to lead while letting the individuals within the community find their own solutions.

During my time in local government, I’ve seen examples of these principles in practice in a range of contexts and some of the most powerful examples come from spaces that may seem unlikely:

• Governance teams who have worked with Aboriginal communities to understand traditional forms of governance and co-created strategies to engage their communities in political participation;

• Waste teams who work with multicultural communities to understand their sustainability practices, then empowering them with the tools, resources, and knowledge to be champions for recycling in their own communities; and,

• Librarians who work with communities to connect them with resources and enable them to drive their own initiatives that promote literacy and address barriers to accessing library services.

These examples reaffirm my view that community development is an approach that has broad relevance and can be applied across a range of settings. Fundamentally it is about working in a way that builds on the strengths of individuals located in a community, bringing diverse perspectives together to achieve positive social outcomes. There is a lot of complexity in this work. Developing the mindset and skills to navigate this complexity enables us to make lasting impacts and brings a host of genuine personal, professional, and social benefits.

Stay tuned for my next article in which I will focus on practice skills for community building and how to apply a community development mindset.