3 - Community Development: Principles and Practice

Summary

There is no greater service than to help a community to liberate itself.

Nelson Mandela, 2003

If society needs ‘community’, and community doesn't necessarily just happen, what is needed to help bring it about? How does community work support networks and promote greater connectivity? Chapter 3 provides an overview of community development. It traces the history of community development as a form of funded or external intervention over the past century and up to the present day. The role of community workers in supporting networks is highlighted briefly, in preparation for a more detailed consideration in the following chapters.

This book generally views community development as a professional occupation, a paid role with established values and skills, and associated responsibilities to achieve certain outcomes. I fully acknowledge that many factors contribute to the development of communities, most importantly the time, energy and expertise of local community members themselves, as well as resources, technical expertise and activities offered by partner organisations. Many communities function well without professional inputs, although all can benefit from even small amounts of support, for example advice, facilitation, mediation and reflection.

Community development in the UK has tended to emphasise a generic approach to strengthening community capacity and tackling broader issues around equality and social justice (Gilchrist and Taylor, 2016). Processes and principles are regarded as paramount and this is reflected through an emphasis on working with, rather than for or on behalf of, people. In this book, the term ‘community development’ is used broadly, encompassing a number of approaches to working with communities, and these different models will be explored further in this chapter.

Definitions of community development

The United Nations referred to community development as ‘a process designed to create conditions of economic and social progress for the whole community with its active participation’ (United Nations, 1955). This definition captured an approach to working with people that can be used across all countries. It recognised the position of many underdeveloped nations that were on the brink of independence and urgently needed to establish basic infrastructure for transport, health, welfare, water and so on. In the global North the situation is different in that, for most people, these basics are available, even if access to services is not always fair, straightforward or satisfactory.