Community Development for Social Change

Dave Beck, Rod Purcell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781315528595
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

Community Development for Social Change provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of community development and associated activities, discusses best practice from global experience and links that to the UK context. The book integrates the realities of practice to key underpinning theories, human rights, values and a commitment to promoting social justice.

A range of practice models are described and analysed, including UK models, popular education and community organising, as well as a range of practice issues that need to be understood by community development workers. For example, strategies to promote individual and community empowerment, challenging discrimination, building and sustaining groups, and critical reflection on practice.

Finally, a range of case studies from the UK and overseas illustrates good practice in diverse contexts. These case studies are analysed with reference to the values of community development, the promotion of social justice and the underpinning theories. It is an essential text for those on community development courses as well as for a range of workers, including local government, national and local voluntary agencies, and community-based organisations.

Section 1

The Context of Community Development Work

In this section we explore the underpinning values of community development practice. We begin with (in the UK) the professional values for practice. The discussion then broadens out to explore ideas of Social Change and Human Rights. We then discuss how the belief in human rights operates at a micro level through Anti Oppressive practice. The discussion then opens out to explore current debates about the impact of Globalisation and neo-Liberalism. Finally, we set the scene for the next section through analysing the development of community development in the UK.

1.1Values and Purpose of Community Development

Introduction

The purpose of Community Development is to work alongside people to establish a new social settlement; in other words, a world in which people, the economy and the state interact with each other in radically different ways. The New Economics Foundation (Coote, 2015) proposes the following goals of this new settlement.

Social justice – every individual has an equal chance to enjoy the essentials of a good life, to fulfil their potential, and to participate in society. Where well-being, equality, and satisfaction of needs are central to that understanding.

Environmental sustainability – living within environmental limits and respecting planetary boundaries, ensuring that the natural resources that are needed for life to flourish are unimpaired for present and future generations.

A more equal distribution of power – the formal and informal means by which people participate in, and influence, decisions and actions at local and national levels, and to challenge the inequalities of power between groups caused by combinations of economic, social, and cultural factors.

Community Development has a pivotal role in the establishment of such a new settlement. However, abstracted from a clearly understood framework of values and principles, Community Development is reduced to a set of practices that have as much potential to manipulate and exploit communities as it has to support its empowerment. In order to avoid this negative outcome, practitioners must develop a set of values and principles that ensures that their work helps people harness their individual and collective power in ways that make the world a more human, creative and equitable place.

It is important at this stage to make it clear that throughout the book when we discuss Community Development we refer to the various forms of practice found under this broad umbrella term. It therefore includes youth work, community-based adult education and other forms of practice that are participatory in their nature and have a goal of social change.

The centrality of values and principles is clearly reflected in the various definitions of Community Development that cover the many forms of practice described above. For example, the national occupational standards for community development in the UK describe community development as, a long-term value-based process which aims to address imbalances in power and bring about change founded on social justice, equality and inclusion (Lifelong Learning UK, 2010). They go on to identify the core values of community development as:

•Social justice and equality

•Anti-discrimination

•Community empowerment

•Collective action

•Working and learning together

The International Association for Community Development (Craig, 2004) facilitated a process whereby more than a hundred community workers, researchers, donors and policymakers, and representatives from government, civil society organisations and community groups, from 33 countries across the European Union and beyond, produced the Budapest declaration which outlines the importance of community development processes in the building of international co-operation and cohesiveness. Within that they define community development as, ‘a way of strengthening civil society by prioritising the actions of communities, and their perspectives in the development of social, economic and environmental policy. Within this declaration there is also a set of core values/social principles covering human rights, social inclusion, equality and respect for diversity; and a specific skills and knowledge base.’

These, and many other, statements of values lead to a set of beliefs that are held about the processes and impacts of community development. Phillips and Pittman (2008: 60) define those beliefs in the following terms:

1People have the right to participate in decisions that affect them.

2People have the right to strive to create the environment they desire.

3People have the right to make informed decisions and reject or modify externally imposed conditions.

4Participatory democracy is the best method of conducting community business.

5Maximising human interaction in a community will increase the potential for positive development.

6Creating a community dialogue and interaction amongst citizens will motivate citizens to work on behalf of their community.

7Ownership of the process and commitment for action is created when people interact to create a strategic community development plan.

8The focus of Community Development is cultivating people’s ability to independently and effectively deal with the critical issues in their community.

The above statements and the values and beliefs that they represent lead to a set of practices which operationalise them. For example, the Community Development Society (CDS) outlines those practices as follows:

•‘Promote active and representative participation toward enabling all community members to meaningfully influence the decisions that affect their lives.

•Engage community members in learning about and understanding community issues, and the economic, social, environmental, political, psychological, and other impacts associated with alternative courses of action.

•Incorporate the diverse interests and cultures of the community in the community development process; and disengage from support of any effort that is likely to adversely affect the disadvantaged members of a community.

•Work actively to enhance the leadership capacity of community members, leaders, and groups within the community.

•Be open to using the full range of action strategies to work toward the long-term sustainability and wellbeing of the community.’

(CDS, n.d.)

However, it has long been recognised that community development happens in conflictual spaces (London Edinburgh Weekend Return Group, 1980). Currently this situation is exacerbated by an increasing typification of the people we work with in communities in purely economic terms. In the context of increasing pressure on practitioners to follow agendas around employability and other prescribed agendas, it is vital that as a profession we have a clear sense of ourselves and that we are able to articulate clearly our values, principles and professional commitments.

However, our commitment to clarifying and adhering to a clear set of principles and values that are specific to our field of endeavour must not undermine our epistemological openness. As individuals and as a profession we need to recognise and celebrate different ways of knowing the complementary values and principles found in other forms of practice. The process of deconstructing or crossing those professional borders involves working within, and outside of, current discourse to create new ideas or alternative forms of knowledge (Giroux, 2005). This opens up the possibility for us to learn from different perspectives. It also opens up the possibility for productive partnerships and practice. Some examples of values statements that are complementary to those of community development are seen below.

The Scottish General Teaching Council in its Standards for Registration: Mandatory Requirements for Registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC Scotland, 2012) outlines its commitment to social justice within the teaching profession. They define social justice as:

•Embracing locally and globally the educational and social values of sustainability, equality and justice and recognising the rights and responsibilities of future as well as current generations.

•Committing to the principles of democracy and social justice through fair, transparent, inclusive and sustainable policies and practices in relation to: age, disability, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion and belief, and sexual orientation.

•Valuing as well as respecting social, cultural and ecological diversity and promoting the principles and practices of local and global citizenship for all learners.

•Demonstrating a commitment to engaging learners in real-world issues to enhance learning experiences and outcomes, and to encourage learning our way to a better future.

•Respecting the rights of all learners as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Gov.UK, 2010) and their entitlement to be included in decisions regarding their learning experiences and to have all aspects of their well-being developed and supported.

It is clear to see the commonality of the expressed position of the teaching profession and that of community development. This reveals the potential for community development to bridge the gap between schools and communities in ways that are beneficial to schools, the families that use them and the wider community; this is a potential which, as yet, is generally underdeveloped.

Similarly, we might find resonance in these statements from the Joint Statement of Professional Values from the Nursing and Midwifery Council and General Medical Council in the UK, where they state that Doctors and Nurses should:

•Listen to, and work in partnership with, those for whom they provide care.

•Work constructively with colleagues to provide patient-centred care, recognising that multi-disciplinary teamwork, encouraging constructive challenge from all team members, safety-focused leadership and a culture based on openness and learning when things go wrong are fundamental to achieve high quality care.

(Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2012)

Again, we can see that there are some cultural similarities across these professions. Given that health and well-being scholars and practitioners are seeing the advantages of community development approaches and processes in the creation of individual and community well-being, there are great opportunities for creative partnerships that impact fundamental issues in people’s lives.

Of course, it is not only health and education that yields opportunities for collaborative work. An example of the kind of cross-fertilisation that we can experience as we work across professional borders can be seen in the work of the Detroit Collaborative Design Centre (DCDC), a multi-disciplinary, non-profit architecture and urban design ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About This Book
• Structure of the Book
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Section 1 The Context of Community Development Work
• Section 2 Underpinning Theories
• Section 3 Models of Practice
• Section 4 Practice Issues for Community Development Work
• Section 5 Case Studies of Practice
• Section 6 Summing Up
• Index