Foundations of
Community
Development
Learning objectives:
• Foundations of Community Development
• A frame work for community and economic
development
• Seven theories for seven community developers
• Bases of community development
• Process of community development and its
Challenges
What do you understand by the term
Community Development
Let’s break it first
Community Development
Community…..
People who live within a geographically defined area
and who have social and psychological ties with
each other and with the place where they live.
or
A grouping of people who live close to one another
and are united by common interests and mutual aid.
or
A combination of social units and systems which
perform the major social functions . . . (and) the
organization of social activities.
(Mattessich and Monsey 2004: 56)
Growth vs. Development
Growth
Development
?
?
Growth vs. Development
Growth
Development
• Development implies
• Growth focuses on the
structural changes and
quantitative aspects of
improvements within
more jobs, facilities
community systems
construction, and so on –
encompassing both
within the context that
economic change and the
more is better
functioning of institutions
and organizations
What is Community Development
PROCESS
ORIENTATION
OUTCOME
ORIENTATION
What is Community Development……?
PROCESS
ORIENTATION
1. This aspect focus on Community Development
as an educational process to enable citizens to
address problems by group decision making
Or
describe Community
OUTCOMEDevelopment as
ORIENTATION
involvement
in a process to achieve
improvement in some aspects of community
life where normally such action leads to the
strengthening of the community’s pattern of
human and institutional relationships
All of these concepts of community
development focus on the process of
teaching people how to work together
to solve common problems.
What is Community Development
Other authors define Community
Development as local decision making and
program development resulting in a better
place to live and work
or
a group of people initiating social action to
change their economic, social, cultural
and/or environmental situation
Define community
development in terms of
actions, results, or
outcomes
OUTCOME
ORIENTATION
Combining both orientations together
• Community development is:
– A process: developing and enhancing the ability to act
collectively, and
– An outcome: (1) taking collective action and (2) the result of
that action for improvement in a community in any or all
realms: physical, environmental, cultural, social, political,
economic, etc.
What facilitates or lead to
Community Development………..?
FORMS OF COMMUNITY
CAPITAL
There are five forms of “Community Capital” often mentioned in the community
development literature (Green and Haines 2002: viii):
1.
Human capital: labor supply, skills, capabilities and experience, etc.
2.
Physical capital: buildings, streets, infrastructure, etc.
3.
Financial capital: community financial institutions, micro loan funds,
community development banks, etc.
4.
Environmental capital: natural resources, weather, recreational
opportunities, etc.
5.
Social capital: social capital or capacity is the extent to which members of
a community can work together effectively to develop and sustain strong
relationships; solve problems and make group decisions; and collaborate
effectively to plan, set goals, and get things done.
Community Capital
Human
Capital
Physical
Capital
Financial
Capital
Social Capital
Environmental
Capital
Social Capital Building or
Capacity Building
• Social capital building or capacity building is an
ongoing comprehensive effort to strengthen the
norms, supports, and problem-solving resources
of the community.
Community Development Chain
The process of community development starts with capacity building
which leads to social capital. This in turn leads to the outcome of
community development.
Capacity building
community
development process
Developing the ability
to act
Social capital
The ability to act
Community
development
outcome
Taking action
Community
improvement
Understanding difference and
linkage of Community and
Economic Development
Economic Development
“Economic development is the process of creating
wealth through the mobilization of human, financial,
capital, physical and natural resources to generate
marketable goods and services.”
The economic developer’s role is to influence the process for
the benefit of the community through expanding job
opportunities and the tax base.
• Economic development theory and policy have tended to
focus narrowly on the traditional factors of production and
how they are best allocated in spatial world. (emphasizing
more on growth rather development)
Comparing CD & ED
• Community
Development is a
planned effort to
produce assets that
increase the capacity of
residents to improve
their quality of life.
• Economic development
is the process of creating
wealth through the
mobilization of human,
financial, capital,
physical and natural
resources to generate
marketable goods and
services.
Combining CD & ED
• Shaffer, Deller, and Marcouiller (2006: 61) describe
the relationship and synergy between community
development and economic development as follows:
“Community Economic Development occurs when
people in a community analyze the economic
conditions of that community, determine its
economic needs and unfulfilled opportunities,
decide what can be done to improve economic
conditions in that community, and then move to
achieve agreed upon economic goals and
objectives”.
Community and Economic Development Chain
Community development
outcome
Taking action
Community improvement/
Development
Economic development
outcome
Capacity building
community development
process
Social capital
(Ability to act)
Developing the ability to act
Job creation
Community improvement
Increase in income and wealth
Increase in standard of living
Economic development
process
Creating and maintaining the programs,
Mobilizing recourses
Seven Theories for Seven
Community Developers
Why Theories
• Theories are explanation that can provide help in
understanding peoples behavior and framework form which
community developers develop communities by increasing
solidarity and agency.
• Seven theories are offered as a theoretical core for those who
approach community development from at least seven
contextual perspectives:
1. Relationship
2. Structure
3. Power
4. Shared meaning
5. Communication for change
6. Motivation for decision making and
7. Integration of the paradoxes that pervade the field.
Concern & Related Theories
1. Concerns about Relationships: Social
Capital Theory
• Social relationships are essential for solidarity building and
successful community initiatives.
•
Social capital is that set of resources intrinsic to social relations and
includes trust, norms, and networks (Life can be richer if there is trust
among neighbors and others in the public and private sectors. It is
much broader than the concept of “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch
mine.”)
•
Reciprocity is another cultural norm that is viewed as part of social
capital. A culture with high levels of reciprocity encourages community
development initiatives to emerge.
How Social Capital Theory serve as a
Guide for CD Practice
• Community Developers will have to create
opportunities for people to get to know each
other and build new levels of trust through
shared interests
• In other words, communities may have strong
bonding social capital but really need “bridging
social capital” if they are going to prosper and
increase their quality of life.
2. Concerns about
Structure: Functionalism
• The theoretical concept concerned with structure
is known as structural functionalism. It is also
called systems theory, equilibrium theory, or
simply functionalism.
“According to this theoretical framework,
societies contain certain interdependent
structures, each of which performs certain
functions for societal maintenance.”
How Structural Functionalism Guide CD
Practice
• A functionalist-oriented practitioner is more likely to notice
dysfunctions in organizations. If existing organizations are not
meeting local needs in this area, the functionalist would build
community capacity by transforming an existing organization to
meet the same concerns.
• A functionalist would also want to build links with broader social
systems, such as external organizations, that could help the
community’s micro-entrepreneurs to flourish. In essence, a
functionalist would see structures as important components of
capacity building.
3. Concerns about Power: Conflict Theory
Conflict theory suggests that:
1. Conflict is an integral part of social life.
2. There are conflicts between economic classes, ethnic
groups, young and old, male and female, or among
races.
3. There are conflicts among developed “core” countries
and regions and those that are less developed.
4. It is argued that these conflicts result because power,
wealth, and prestige are not available to everyone.
How can conflict theory serve as a guide
for CD practice?
• Community developers need conflict
theory because it helps them gain
insight into why specific differences
and competition have developed
among groups and organizations in a
community.
• Conflict theory can help communities
understand the kind and extent of
competing interests among groups.
The Case of Conflict
“Appalachian Community”
4. Concerns about Shared Meaning: Symbolic
Interactionism
• Herbert Blumer (1969) named the theory “symbolic
interactionism” because it emphasizes the symbolic
nature of human interaction rather than a mechanical
pattern of stimulus and interaction. For symbolic
interactionists, the meaning of a situation is not fixed but
is constructed by participants as they anticipate the
responses of others.
How can Symbolic Interactionism
serve as a tool for CD practice?
• Symbolic interactionism is essential for community development
because it provides insight into the ways people develop a sense of
shared meaning, an essential ingredient for solidarity.
• A symbolic interactionist would be keen on bringing people together
to develop a shared understanding.
• Symbolic interactionists probe into the factors that help people
understand what they say and do by looking at the origins of
symbolic meanings and how meanings persist. Symbolic
interactionists are interested in the circumstances in which people
question, challenge, criticize, or reconstruct meanings.
5. Communication for Change: Communicative
Action Theory
• “Communicative action” describes the seam where monetary and
bureaucratic structures (rational systems) meet the lifeworld.
• Habermas (in presenting this approach) is concerned about the
domination and rationalization of the life-world, in which science and
technology are the modi operandi to address complex public issues.
• Habermas’s communicative action theory is guided by the intersection
of technical and corporate knowledge with local and practical
knowledge. Combined, they can lead to a new kind of “emancipatory
knowledge” that offers fresh ideas and action.
The Case of
“Appalachian Community”
How can Communicative Action Theory
guide CD practice?
• There are many ways for community developers to carry
out Habermas’s communicative action theory.
One of the best practiced example is the National Issues
Forums
National Issues Forums are conscious acts of deliberation that make it easier
for the system and the life-world to interact.
6. Motivation for Decision Making: Rational Choice
Theory
When applied to community development, rational choice theory is
concerned with finding appropriate rewards and minimizing risks to
individuals who become involved in community initiatives.
• There are four structural factors relate to individual participation in a
collective activities.
1.Prior contact with a group member
2. Prior membership in organization
3. History of prior activism
4. Biographically availability
7. Integration of disparate concerns and paradigms:
Giddens’s Structuration theory
• All the previously mentioned theories are essential
concepts for building community capacity.
• However there is obvious tensions inherent in these
theories due to the dualism macro versus micro
perspective.
• In his structuration theory, Anthony Giddens (1984,1989)
offers a perspective that is more fluid and offer a third
dimension, or an “in-between” level of analysis, which is
neither macro nor micro.
How can Giddens’s structuration theory
guide CD practice?
Structuration theory provides many theoretical insights for
those engaged in community development because
1. It links disparate macro-theories about structure and conflict with
micro-theories about individual and group behavior such as social
capital, rational choice, and symbols or symbolic interactionism.
2. Giddens’s concept of modalities is essential for community
development Practice.
Basis of Community
Development
Needs-Based
Community
Development
Asset-Based
Community
Development
Basis of Community
Development
Needs-Based
Community
Development
The conventional or
traditional
approach which is to
identify the issues,
problems,
and needs of a
community
.
Basis of Community
Development
Contrary to need based
approach, asset based
approach focuses on a
community’s strengths
and assets
.
Asset-Based
Community
Development
Community Needs & Asset Maps
Process of Asset-Based Community
Development
• Community organizing
• Visioning
• Planning
– Data collection and analysis
– Asset mapping
– Community survey
• Public participation
• Implementation and evaluation
A Community Development Process
Framework for Community Development
ASSUMPTIONS
VALUES
PRACTICE
PRINCIPLES
Community Development Assumptions
People are capable of rational behavior.
Significant behavior is learned behavior.
ASSUMPTIONS
Significant behavior is learned through interaction
over time.
People can give purposeful direction to their
behavior.
People can impact their environment toward a
desired future.
Community Development Values
All people have basic dignity.
People have the right to help make decisions on issues that impact
their well-being.
Participatory democracy is the best way to conduct a community’s
civic business
People have the right to strive to create the environment they want.
VALUES
People have the right to reject an externally imposed environment.
The more purposeful interaction and dialogue within a community,
the more potential for learning and development.
Implied within a process of purposeful interaction is an everwidening concept of community.
Every discipline and profession is a potential contributor to a
community development process
Motivation is created through interaction with the environment.
Community Development Principles
Self-help and self-responsibility are required for successful
development.
Participation in public decision-making should be free and open to
all citizens.
PRINCIPLES
Broad representation and increased breadth of perspective and
understanding are conditions conducive to effective community
development.
Methods that produce accurate information about the community are
vital to the process.
Understanding and general agreement are the basis for community
change.
All individuals have the right to be heard in open discussion, and the
responsibility to respect opposing viewpoints.
Trust is essential for effective working relationships.
Community Development Practice
Process
People develop the ability to
collectively help themselves
and reduce reliance on external
resources.
An orderly set of steps lead to
problem solving,
program planning
and task completion.
Practice
Without process, the
desired outcomes may be
diminished or unrealized.
Without successful
outcomes, the process can
be devalued or abandoned.
Successful communities
understand the role and
contribution of each.
Outcome
The results that occur from the
community development
process.
Outcomes can be physical,
environmental, or human
capital; financial resources; or
social capital.
The Process of Community
Development
1. Establish an organizing group
PROCESS
The CD process provides
the basic framework
within which the
community should work,
altering details based
upon its issues and
resources.
2. Create a vision statement
3. Identify community
stakeholders
4. Collect and analyze
information
5. Develop an effective
communications process
6. Expand the community
organization
The Process of Community
Development
PROCESS
The CD process provides
the basic framework
within which the
community should work,
altering details based
upon its issues and
resources.
•Create a comprehensive strategic
plan
•Identify the leadership and
establish a plan
•Implement the plan
•Review and evaluate the planning
outcomes
•Celebrate the successes
•Create new goals and objectives
as needed
Challenges of the Community
Development Process
• Difficult
• Time Consuming
• Costly