"New Players May Come; Old Players May Go"

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Saturday June 04, 2005 13:01 by Sean Crudden - Cooley Environmental and Health Group sean at cooleyehg dot com Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

Community Development Work

It is interesting to consider in the abstract some of the principles which may apply to community development work and to see how these ideas sit with our own organisations.

What is community development work?

In the first place it is to be noted that communities may also be defined by interest as opposed to geographic area.

The key purpose of community development work is collectively to bring about social change and justice by working with communities to:

- Identify their needs, opportunities, rights and responsibilities
- Plan, organise and take action
- Evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the action all in ways which challenge oppression and tackle inequalities.

The key values of community development might be expressed under headings such as: Social Justice, Self-determination, Working and Learning Together, Sustainable Communities, Participation, Reflective Practice.

For example reflective practice might involve:

- Promoting and supporting individual and collective learning through reflection on practice
- Changing practice in response to outcomes of reflection
- Recognising the constraints and contexts within which community development takes place
- Recognising the importance of keeping others informed and updated about the wider context.

The above ideas are culled from a leaflet entitled "A Summary of Good Practice Standards for Community Development Work" issued by Community Work Education & Training Network under the aegis of the Department for Social Development NI.