Community Development Journal - Advance Access

Reflections from the field: The Axis of Influence - evaluating and improving community influence

Bedford, J., Gorbing, S., Hampson, S. — 2008-09-04

The Axis of Influence presented in this article provides a practical way of exploring whether or not the current political climate of promoting participatory democracy is evidenced through community influence and how the ‘performance contribution’ of communities can be facilitated or blocked by public sector structures and other external forces.

Governance and Civil Society in the European Union; vol. 1: Normative Perspectives Governance and Civil Society in the European Union; vol. 2: Exploring Policy Issues

Lorenz, W. — 2008-08-23

Editorial

Miller, C. — 2008-08-23

Utilization and management of maternal and child health funds in rural Nepal

2008-08-21

Maternal and neonatal mortality rates are highest in the poorest countries, and financial barriers impede access to health care. Community loan funds can increase access to cash in rural areas, thereby reducing delays in care seeking. As part of a participatory intervention in rural Nepal, community women's groups initiated and managed local funds. We explore the factors affecting utilization and management of these funds and the role of the funds in the success of the women's group intervention. We conducted a qualitative study using focus group discussions, group interviews and unstructured observations. Funds may increase access to care for members of trusted ‘insider’ families adjudged as able to repay loans. Sustainability and sufficiency of funds was a concern but funds increased women's independence and enabled timely care seeking. Conversely, the perceived necessity to contribute may have deterred poorer women. While funds were integral to group success and increased women's autonomy, they may not be the most effective way of supporting the poorest, as the risk pool is too small to allow for repayment default.

Youth Work: Voices of Practice - A Research Report by Durham University and Weston Spirit

Shukra, K. — 2008-08-12

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Wells, P. — 2008-08-12

Traduccion al Castellano de Los Resumenes Del Volumen 43: Resumenes en espan ol de los articulos del volumen 43

Ramos, O. — 2008-08-12

Social capital: a necessary and sufficient condition for sustainable community development?

Dale, A., Newman, L. — 2008-08-11

Research in Canada and Australia has shown that social capital is a necessary condition for sustainable community development as it enhances linking ties that increase access to resources outside the community. Social capital in and of itself, however, is not always sufficient to sustain and develop local community initiatives, as infusions of economic and human capital are often necessary; the larger ‘social safety net’ can play a critical role in local community development initiatives. More importantly, government policy alignment may be critical to establish a stable environment within which organizations can sustain and increase the scale of their operations. Governments have a critical leadership role to play by re-aligning policies and incentives to complement the existing social capital network formation by strategically targeting their interventions at pivotal points in the evolution of local organizations to optimize their access to outside economic and human resources. The role of government is explored in a case study outlining the actions of a local community initiative in a marginalized neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada.

Revue de Developpement Communautaire: Resumes en francais des articles de volume 43

Carmichael, L. — 2008-08-04

Classic texts: no. 10

Leung, J. — 2008-08-03

Community development and the contested politics of the late modern agora: of, alongside or against neoliberalism?

Geoghegan, M., Powell, F. — 2008-07-14

In this article we argue that community development is an expression of the political and politicised assembly of an active citizenry in civil society, and may therefore be characterised as a late modern agora – the ancient Greek concept describing the interface between the public and private spheres of social life. Drawing on Bauman (in Globalization: the Human Consequences, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1998), we argue that the enemy of political association – of the agora – in late modernity is neoliberalism. The meaning of community development as the late modern agora is then explored, and we note the subsequent contestation over its status, as revealed in variant ideological perspectives on the role of civil society. In particular, we identify three dominant understandings and practices of community development: a neoliberal version where civil society is subservient to the needs of economic development; a corporatist version that advocates a partnership between the state, market and civil society; and an activist version, where community development is envisaged as local, nodal and global resistance to neoliberalism. In essence, we are posing the question: ‘community development: of, alongside or against neoliberalism?’

Education, social mediation and community development: an ethnographic research in a rural area

Ferreira, F. I. — 2008-07-10

The ethnographic research presented in this article was focused on a local solidarity institution, called OUSAM, founded in the 1980s in the ambit of a community development project promoted by a multidisciplinary team from the local Health Centre in a small rural municipality, Paredes de Coura, situated in the North of Portugal. This institution has been carrying out activities involving children, families and communities in the most isolated parishes of the municipality, by a system of bussing whereby children are picked up from their homes and driven to five small pre-school centres and later returned. This research reveals, however, that this project should not be seen as a restricted school activity or as an outdated solution to existing problems, but as a broader process of education in a community development perspective.

Staging Maralinga and desiring community: (Or why there is no such thing as a 'natural' community)

Arvanitakis, J. — 2008-07-10

Though the concept of community crosses all political divides – from the reactionary, progressive and radical – it is a notion that is rarely problematized. Rather, ‘community’ is seen as something natural that emerges organically, reflecting all the elements of oxygen: it is unseen, cannot be felt unless it disappears and said to be vital for our survival. This paper raises concerns about such an approach, arguing it can lead to exclusion and divisiveness. Building on the arguments of Brent (in The desire for community: illusion, confusion and paradox, Community Development Journal, 39, (3), 213–223, 2004), I argue that community can only be created through ‘reciprocated’ desire. Using a community development project as a case study – the stage production of ‘Maralinga’, a story of nuclear veterans exposed to fallout – I highlight how community building can fail and how desire for community can emerge from unexpected places.

Post-Socialist Community Action in Lithuania

Walsh, A. M. — 2008-05-22

Local economic development initiatives from the bottom-up: the role of community development corporations

Squazzoni, F. — 2008-05-13

This paper deals with the pivotal role played by community development corporations (CDCs) in local economic initiatives from the bottom-up. These non-profit organizations are challenging the top-down approach of political decision making, mobilizing community assets, connecting inside and outside resources, synthesizing visions, expertise and methods from private, public and community sectors. In doing so, they are demonstrating the relevance of non-profit organizations and institutions in fostering social capital and promoting collective action across different sectors and actors. To illustrate these arguments, this paper has reported two case studies of local economic development initiatives in North America that are centered on two CDCs. The positive effects and critical points of CDCs have been addressed.

Framing development: community and NGO perspectives in Mali

Ward, C., Solomon, Y., Ballif-Spanvill, B., Furhriman, A. — 2008-05-13

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper analyzes how development is articulated by three distinct groups of actors, donors/development sponsors, facilitators/program staff, and the beneficiaries/local village residents, within a specific development situation in the Ouelessebougou region of Mali, West Africa. The findings indicate some overlap among these groups regarding what the development process is intended to produce, i.e. self-reliance. However, there are important disparities in the specific meanings attached to development by each group of actors. Similarly, there was little consensus regarding stakeholder views of the role that they played in the development process. This case study suggests that persistent failures with development can be attributed, in part, to this incongruence of approaches and worldviews and concludes with several recommendations for a more nuanced and responsive approach.

Teaching community development to social work students: a critical reflection

Mendes, P. — 2008-02-20

Community development is generally considered to be a core component of social work practice and knowledge. Yet much professional social work education and discourse seems to relegate community development to the margins. This paper critically analyses the development of a community development subject within one particular Australian social work course. Particular attention is drawn to subject objectives, content, reading material, teaching methods and assessment. Some suggestions are made for new educational initiatives that could potentially enhance the contribution that community development skills and processes make to social work practice efficacy and wisdom.

Repaying favours: unravelling the nature of community exchange in an English locality

Williams, C. C. — 2008-02-11

A recurring assumption in community development has been that when material support is provided on a one-to-one basis to the extended family or social and neighbourhood networks, such favours are repaid by offering help in return rather than money. Reporting a study of the community exchanges of 120 households in an English locality, however, the finding is that well over one-third of these were repaid using money. The outcome is a call for the community development literature to recognise and respond to the existence of this sphere of ‘paid favours’ which demonstrates how monetary transactions can be neither market-like nor profit-motivated.

Community development as health promotion: evaluating a complex locality-based project in New Zealand

Adams, J., Witten, K., Conway, K. — 2007-11-16

This article examines the evaluation of a complex public health intervention – the Ranui Action Project (RAP). The RAP utilized a community development approach to address the social determinants of health inequalities in a high need, ethnically diverse, urban locality. The rationale and impetus for the project was emerging evidence in the public health literature on the significance of working intersectorally with an emphasis on social capital and social cohesion as neighbourhood-level determinants of health. This article describes RAP and examines the strengths, limitations and challenges of the formative, process and impact evaluation model used to evaluate the programme's effectiveness. Responding to diverse evaluative expectations, while sustaining research integrity and rigour, requires a pragmatic multi-methods approach, responsiveness to local context, regular communication between funders, community stakeholders and evaluators, and flexible, reflective practice.

Building community capacity for locally managed ecotourism in Northern Thailand

Laverack, G., Thangphet, S. — 2007-11-14

This paper provides an approach for building community capacity and two case study examples of improving locally managed ecotourism in Northern Thailand. It provides an analysis of the practical application of the approach and the implications for community development. Nine ‘operational domains’ were used to build and measure community capacity at the community level. This allowed community-based organizations to scrutinize their achievements, to address their constraints and to measure their progress over time, enhanced by a simple means of visual representation. Experiences in Northern Thailand demonstrate that the key to this approach was in the use of strategic planning to initiate community actions towards sustained locally managed ecotourism. The knowledge, skills and competencies gained by the two communities led to an improvement in their ecotourism enterprises.

An integrated approach to assess the impacts of tourism on community development and sustainable livelihoods

Simpson, M. C. — 2007-10-17

A key challenge in sustainable tourism is to develop economically viable enterprises that provide livelihood benefits to local communities while protecting indigenous cultures and environments. Such ventures are difficult to assess due to a general lack of effective assessment and monitoring methods, a lack of consensus about methodology and the inability of some monitoring systems to incorporate all elements of tourism impacts. This article presents a structured integrated assessment approach to assess the impacts of initiatives that purport to deliver net livelihood benefits to communities living adjacent to or within the tourism destination. The approach has been developed to enable generic use in different geographical contexts taking into account a variety of aspects including ownership structure, levels of employment, infrastructure, governance, and sustainable livelihoods (SL). The article examines two pilot case studies conducted in Maputaland, South Africa, to reflect on the implementation and theoretical underpinnings of the protocol.

Bottom-up community development: reality or rhetoric? the example of the Kingsmead Kabin in East London

Turner, A. — 2007-10-15

This paper summarizes the results of a case study, emerging from the author's ten years as community development worker at the Kabin, a project on the Kingsmead Estate in Hackney, East London. Using a reflective practitioner approach, informed by the author's own experience and referring to focus groups and semi-structured interviews, the research identifies the significance of relationship in nurturing a bottom-up approach to community development. Research findings support the need for community development processes to reconnect with community-defined purposes, engaging with how power is utilized to nurture participation and radical social change. The case study is grounded in practitioner knowledge, promoting a more nuanced understanding of how a vital but not easily assimilated area of research can lead to change in the community, while confronting pressures to change and conform.

Images for change: community development, community arts and photography

Purcell, R. — 2007-09-19

This article explores how community development objectives can be achieved through critical photographic practice. It summarizes the literature relating to community arts practice and its potential for social regeneration. Photography is then located within this context and explored as a critical practice, with particular attention being given to photo-elicitation, photo-novella and photovoice methods. The literature is discussed and analysed to explore how far critical photographic practice can meet the objectives of community development.

Working collectively in competitive times: case studies from New Zealand and Australia

Morrison, J., Branigan, E. — 2007-07-30

Collectives offer an alternative organisational structure to service delivery organisations that seek to embody critical social change. This model is challenging to implement as its assumptions and values are contrary to the dominant socio-political climate of economic rationalism. This paper explores experiences of two workers employed as coordinators in collective-based organisations in Australia and New Zealand. They share the joys and challenges of these experiences, and conclude with five key reflections about implementing this model: keeping reflective and honest about philosophical assumptions, keeping process central, having robust conflict resolution processes, reflect about the external factors influencing organisational structure, and finding ways to value workers.

The practice of principles: an examination of CED groups in Vancouver, BC

Lo, J., Halseth, G. — 2007-07-30

The community economic development (CED) framework has its roots at the margins of society but has gained a broader interest. This paper examines some key principles associated with the CED framework. Interviews with practitioners within three CED organizations in Vancouver resulted in themes that link CED as a strategy for sustaining a broader vision of the organizations. CED ventures provide opportunities that enhance the connection for marginalized peoples to participate in local community organizations. Yet, there are challenges around delivering services within an alternative framework operationalized within a market-based paradigm. Nevertheless, CED initiatives can have far reaching impacts beyond the individual and the organization. Indeed, CED is about networks of communities within communities.

Contradictions in hinterland development: challenging the local development ideal in Northern British Columbia

Markey, S., Halseth, G., Manson, D. — 2007-07-27

Northern British Columbia, Canada, has undergone a considerable economic, social, and cultural transformation over recent decades. Specifically, economic and political restructuring processes have destabilized commitments to community infrastructure and exacerbated the variability of boom and bust patterns across the north. This paper, drawn from ongoing regional research, provides a critique of emerging arguments that advocate for greater levels of local control over northern development to address these development challenges. Our research reveals strong sentiments from northern people and agencies to construct ‘made in the north’ solutions. Findings illustrate, however, that the assumptions inherent within such calls for local and regional development require critical review.

Institutionalizing citizen participation and community representation in natural resource management: Lessons from the Social Responsibility Agreement negotiation in Ghana

Marfo, E. — 2007-07-25

Many attempts to institutionalize community-based natural resource management have focused on mechanisms to secure accountable representation through participation. Within the framework of co-management, negotiation has become a prominent strategy for dealing with conflict. Using a case study of the negotiation of the social responsibility agreement for acquisition of timber rights in Ghana, the paper explores citizen expectations of participation compared with reality and the factors influencing citizen preference. Specific lessons learned were the need to be sensitive to opening social and political spaces for citizen participation, flexibility to allow dynamic interplay between the influencing factors and the representation process, and some empowerment interventions to create civil consciousness to ensure demand for downward accountability.

Exploring community connections: community cohesion and refugee integration at a local level

Daley, C. — 2007-07-25

This article reports on the findings of a case study that explored community relations between refugees and asylum seekers, other migrants and long-term residents within a local area of refugee settlement in the UK. A lack of meaningful relationships between people from different backgrounds, significant prejudice, underlying tension and few opportunities for inter-group contact were found. Shared aspects of identity helped bring people together but small differences in culture and faith were also linked to strong divisions. Community initiatives and social support for both newcomers and existing residents were needed to enable real dialogue across difference and the development of relationships based on shared goals and equality.

Community change for diverse democracy

Checkoway, B. — 2007-07-12

This paper presents ideas about community change for diverse democracy. It provides perspectives on change, identifies three types of practice, and examines some of its elements. It draws upon secondary literature and empirical studies of practice in various communities and concludes with observations about future work in the field, with the general conclusion that democratic societies, especially ones whose populations are becoming more diverse, will depend in part on their ability to both recognize differences and also build bridges across cultural boundaries. The paper is based on the belief that strengthening the study of these phenomena can contribute to their practice.

Local community's support for post-tsunami recovery efforts in an agrarian village and a tourist destination: a comparative analysis

George, B. P. — 2007-06-20

The present paper examines the local community's support for the post-tsunami recovery of two affected places in India: one a tourist destination and the other an agrarian village. The investigation begins with the proposition that social capital is a vital influence upon local communities' willingness to support tsunami recovery efforts. The underlying assumption was that the resident community at the agrarian village with its rich social capital and tradition of community activities would proactively participate in the reconstruction program and thereby make a speedier and more meaningful recovery than the resident community at the tourist destination. However, an empirical survey conducted to prove this point provided us with contradictory results: the survey revealed no significant difference in the levels of social capital across the communities. Consequently, the researchers carried out a focus group discussion with the locals at the tourist destination. The interesting conclusion is that it is probably the richness of the very same social capital that provoked local participation at the agrarian village and eliminated it at the tourist destination.

Responding to intercommunal conflict - what can restorative justice offer?

Verity, F., King, S. — 2007-06-10

Restorative justice as popularly conceived is intertwined with ‘community’. Building trust within ‘communities’, restoring damaged social and interpersonal relations, widening the ways in which conflict and violence are understood and responded to are all elements of restorative justice. There are parallels here with the activities of community-development workers working in conflicted neighbourhood level communities. Might some of the practices within a typical restorative justice initiative be useful to community development? We highlight the potential benefits of dialogical processes and structured ‘healing’ relationships that are inherent in restorative justice work. We argue that some longstanding understandings within community development could usefully extend the ways in which restorative justice is typically enacted.

What's in the box? Issues in evaluating interventions to develop strong and open communities

Kemp, L., Chavez, R., Harris-Roxas, B., Burton, N. — 2007-06-05

The complex range and scope of interventions put in place to address the needs of socially disadvantaged communities present a number of challenges to service providers and funders who need to be convinced that their investment is making a difference. Our experience as evaluators of complex sets of interventions in two socially disadvantaged communities has raised four questions that we feel require thoughtful reflection by those intervening and those evaluating the impact of the interventions. Are we doing what we say we are doing? Are we measuring what we say we are doing? Are we measuring what we say we are measuring? Are we introducing evidence-based practice for which there is no evidence? Using examples from our work we explore a number of theoretical, practical and logistical issues in evaluating interventions to build strong and open communities. This paper is intended to open debate rather than provide solutions to these questions.

Peace, reconciliation and a shared future: a policy shift or more of the same?

Hughes, J. — 2007-06-05

Astract

Developments in the late 1990s, including paramilitary cease-fires and the advent (albeit, short-lived) of devolved Government, offered a new dispensation from which to appraise the community relations problem in Northern Ireland and advocate policy action. This paper considers an emergent policy framework entitled A Shared Future. Drawing on the experience of delivering better relations through education in Northern Ireland, it argues that whilst A Shared Future reflects progress in how the problem of community relations is defined, many uncritical assumptions are made about the potential of suggested actions to address problems of intergroup fear, mistrust and hostility.

Implementing the Yaounde Declaration: practical issues on participatory processes in community development projects

Dorsner, C. — 2007-06-05

Throughout the 2005 Yaounde Declaration, participation of community stakeholders was emphasized as a key condition for sustainable development in Africa. While acknowledging the complexity of community participation, this article proposes an innovative analytical tool and a methodology that can help practitioners monitor and improve participation in community development projects. The tool and methodology are tested against a field example from Senegal. Notwithstanding, it seems that dealing with the complex mechanisms behind community participation must always be considered a challenge for field practitioners whose initiatives must be accompanied by State and local governments' actions.

From tokenism to social justice: rethinking the bottom line for sustainable community development

Manteaw, B. — 2007-05-25

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become the new flagship programme of businesses and corporations. Much as the idea and practice of social responsibility is good and appreciated in most communities, it is the manner in which they are carried out, especially in voiceless communities that call for a critical evaluation of the discourse. In the current era of globalization and neoliberalism, where sustainable development has also become a global quest, it is imperative that CSR practices are located within the wider discourse of social justice. In doing so, the bottom line needs to be redefined; this paper, therefore, calls for approaches that are knowledge based and have the potential to enhance the capabilities of local people to pursue transformative and emancipatory possibilities for sustainable development.

What's left in the community? Oppositional politics in contemporary practice

DeFilippis, J., Fisher, R., Shragge, E. — 2007-04-26

The growth of community-based not-for-profits in the Anglo-American world has been mirrored by weakened political demands and a diminished set of critical political perspectives. Nevertheless, significant efforts in Anglo-American communities still exist and provide examples of community-based organizing that have not lost sight of the goals of social and economic justice. This article explores practice examples that demonstrate the existence and possibilities of politically oppositional community organizing in the current difficult and complex political economy. These examples present effective, if imperfect, community initiatives. The three discussed – The Fifth Avenue Committee, ACORN, and Immigrant Worker Centres – offer alternatives to contemporary forms of community practice moderated by economic globalization and the policies of neo-liberalism. The article ends by drawing lessons from these experiences and their potential in the contemporary political economy.

Empowering communities through evaluation: some lessons from rural Spain

Diaz-Puente, J. M., Montero, A. C., de los Rios Carmenado, I. — 2007-04-26

The practice of evaluation has generated a culture that has become part of the implementation and management of public policies in Europe. Rural areas, with little tradition of evaluation, have been most challenged by its introduction. This paper analyses the influence of evaluation activities in three local programs and partnerships created in the rural areas of Madrid under the European LEADER initiative, whose aim is to encourage rural development at the local level. The results show the capacity of evaluation to foster community empowerment. The expansion of evaluation culture at the local level can translate into one of continuous improvement that supports empowerment and community development.

Classic texts

2006-05-16