Supporting people who support communities in Scotland

Community Development in focus The purpose of community development is:  To collectively bring about social change and social 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. National occupational standards for CD

Community Development  Combines a broad range of creative processes  Difficult to box and tick  Exposes power imbalances  Nurtures independent community activity  Focuses on change  Has a unique contribution to make

Challenges Is anyone listening to CD practitioners?

Reality behind the rhetoric  Engaged with 356 CD practitioners across Scotland  Excellent examples of communities being supported by CD practitioners to address local needs and build community strengths  Less evidence of work that helps communities to analyse and understand the root causes of the issues that they are working on.

CD practitioners - context  Top down environment  Externally determined outcomes  Short time-scales  Little space to nurture independent community activity or to analyse implications of decisions, programmes or policy directives

CD practitioners - context  Grass roots holistic approaches are rare  CD skills are underutilised  key processes missing  Driven by fear and job insecurity  General lack of understanding of the complex skills involved in CD  Undervalued, under-resourced and over stretched.

Potential impact of this context  Communities are less equipped to really understand the root causes of disadvantage, social injustice and inequalities SO  To what extent, within this context, can communities work collectively to achieve sustainable, positive change?

More effective and empowering practice  Starting point at community level  Outcomes developed with communities through discussion, dialogue and analysis  Practitioners supported by those who understand and value CD.  Practice would be value based: focus on human rights, equality and social justice.  Compassion would be evident  Communities challenge inequalities and social injustice  Long term investment in CD to enable more positive and long term impact

Join SCDN Build a strong collective voice for CD practitioners in Scotland.