"The United Nations defines community development as 'a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems.'"
This topic covers the principles and practices of community building and development, including community engagement, coalition building, and the creation of community-based organizations.
Understanding Community: Introduces the concept of community, the different dimensions of community, and how to identify a community.
Community Assessment: Explains the different steps involved in assessing a community, including gathering data, analyzing the data, and identifying the strengths and challenges of the community.
Community Engagement: Discusses different strategies and techniques for engaging community members in the community building process, including outreach, communication, and community organizing.
Community Development: Covers the principles of community development and the different models of community development, including asset-based and needs-based approaches.
Collaboration and Partnership: Explains the importance of collaboration and partnership in community building and the strategies for building effective partnerships.
Leadership and Advocacy: Discusses the roles of leaders in community building and the different approaches to advocacy, including legislative advocacy and grassroots advocacy.
Cultural Competence: Covers the importance of cultural competence in community building and the strategies for developing cultural competence.
Social Justice: Discusses the principles of social justice and how to apply them in community building.
Program Planning and Evaluation: Explains the process of program planning and evaluation in community building, including setting goals, developing strategies, and assessing outcomes.
Sustainability: Covers the strategies for building sustainable communities and the challenges involved in sustaining community building efforts over the long term.
Capacity Building: Capacity building is a type of community building that involves increasing the skills, knowledge, and resources of individuals and groups in a community. It can involve training or education programs for a specific population, as well as creating opportunities for people to share their strengths and experiences with one another.
Community Organizing: Community organizing involves bringing together a group of individuals or families that share common goals or challenges and helping them work together to advocate for change. This can involve organizing protests, rallies, or other events to draw attention to specific issues or working with community leaders to establish policies or programs that benefit the community as a whole.
Outreach and Public Awareness: Outreach and public awareness involve raising the profile of a specific issue or concern in a community. This can involve creating educational materials, organizing public events, or using social media platforms to spread the word about a particular cause or issue.
Advocacy and Policy Development: Advocacy and policy development involve working with policymakers at the local, state, or national level to develop policies or legislation that address the needs of a specific community. This can involve lobbying elected officials, testifying at public hearings, or engaging in other forms of political action to ensure that the voices of the community are heard.
Coalition Building: Coalition building is a type of community building that involves bringing together diverse groups or individuals that share a common goal or concern. This can involve establishing formal partnerships between organizations or working with community leaders to build support for a particular cause or issue.
Asset Mapping: Asset mapping involves identifying the strengths and resources that exist within a community. This can involve conducting surveys or interviews to identify the skills, talents, and resources of individuals and groups in the community, as well as mapping out the physical and social assets that exist in a community (such as parks, libraries, or community centers).
Community Engagement and Participation: Community engagement and participation involve involving members of the community in decision-making processes that affect their lives. This can involve creating opportunities for community members to provide feedback on policies, programs, or projects, as well as engaging in dialogue and collaboration with key stakeholders in the community.
Social Marketing: Social marketing is a type of community building that involves using marketing techniques to promote social change. This can involve creating campaigns that raise awareness about a specific issue or cause, as well as developing strategies to motivate people to take action or change their behavior.
Cultural Competency: Cultural competency involves understanding and respecting the cultural diversity that exists within a community. This can involve providing training or education on cultural sensitivity and diversity, as well as creating programs or initiatives that celebrate the unique cultural contributions of different groups in the community.
Evaluation and Assessment: Evaluation and assessment involve measuring the effectiveness of community building and advocacy programs. This can involve collecting data on program outcomes and impacts, as well as conducting surveys or assessments to gather feedback from community members about their experiences and perceptions of specific programs or initiatives.
"Typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities."
"Community development is defined by the International Association for Community Development as 'a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice.'"
"The key elements of community development include the organisation, education, and empowerment of people within their communities."
"Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect change within their communities."
"These skills are often created through the formation of social groups working for a common agenda."
"Community development as a term has taken off widely in anglophone countries, i.e. the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, as well as other countries in the Commonwealth of Nations."
"The Community Development Journal, published by Oxford University Press, since 1966 has aimed to be the major forum for research and dissemination of international community development theory and practice.Community development approaches are recognised internationally. These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU."
"These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU."
"There are a number of institutions of higher education that offer community development as an area of study and research such as the University of Toronto, Leiden University, SOAS University of London, and the Balsillie School of International Affairs, among others."