Community development

The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems."[1] It is a broad term given to the practices of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities.

Community development is also understood as a professional discipline, and is defined by the International Association for Community Development (www.iacdglobal.org), the global network of community development practitioners and scholars, as "a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings".

Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect change within their communities. These skills are often created through the formation of social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions.

 

'"Community development". UNTERM. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.

 

Different approaches

Community Engagement

focuses on relationships at the core of facilitating "understanding and evaluation, involvement, exchange of information and opinions, about a concept, issue or project, with the aim of building social capital and enhancing social outcomes through decision-making” (p. 173).[5]

Community capacity building

focusing on helping communities obtain, strengthen, and maintain the ability to set and achieve their own development objectives.[7]

Social capital formation

focusing on benefits derived from the cooperation between individuals and groups.

Community economic development (CED)

an alternative to conventional economic development which encourages using local resources in a way that enhances economic outcomes while improving social conditions. For example, CED involves strategies which aim to improve access to affordable housing, medical, and child care.[8]

Community-driven development (CDD)

an economic development model which shifts overreliance on central governments to local communities.

Asset-based community development (ABCD)

is a methodology that seeks to uncover and use the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development.[11]

 

Faith-based community development; 

which utilizes faith-based organizations to bring about community development outcomes.[12]

 

Johnston, K. A., Lane, A. B., Devin, B., & Beatson, A. (2018). Episodic and Relational Community Engagement: Implications for Social Impact and Social License. In K. A. Johnston & M. Taylor (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication Engagement (pp. 169-185). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

 

United Nations Development Group. "United Nations Development System- A Collective Approach to Supporting Capacity Development" . Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.

Clay, Roger A.; Jones, Susan R. (2009). "A Brief History of Community Economic Development". Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law. 18 (3): 257–267. JSTOR 25782846.

Mathie, Alison & Cunningham, Gord (1 Jul 2010). "From clients to citizens: Asset-based Community Development as a strategy for community-driven development". Development in Practice. 13 (5): 474–486.

Faith-Based Organizations in Community Development". berkleycenter.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2017-05-04.

 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_development#cite_note-unterm-1)