Community Learning Development Resource 500 – 05
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – ISSUES OF SUSTAINABILITY
SUMMARY
Using the concept of sustainability to exploring our understanding of regeneration and community development practice:
- to sustain – to cause something to continue; to give support or relief to; to buoy up the spirits/keep someone from flagging
- sustainability (current) – can be maintained at a fixed level without exhausting natural resources or damaging the environment.
Exploring two concepts of sustainability in relation to understanding community development & neighbourhood regeneration practice:
- Sustainability of the natural and community environment
- Sustainability of regeneration and community development activity and outcomes:
- Sustaining the developing community-based human resource
- Sustaining the worker resource
- The sustainability of input funding and support for regeneration and community development work
1. The concept of ‘sustainability of the natural and community environment’
Current commentary and reports on the Internet about Sustainability and Community Development – from theUK,EU,US, etc., focus mainly on the physical, geographical and environmental aspects and issues. Clearly a focus for many engaged in neighbourhood regeneration and community development activity.
UK Government definition of ‘Sustainable Communities’ identify the following components:
- Promoting Enterprise and Learning – economics, services and education
- Reducing Crime and Improving Safety – behaviour & environment
- Improving Health & Wellbeing – environment & services
- Strengthening Communities and Involving People – behaviour, education, (learning?), identity & belonging, voluntary sector, services. (‘capacity building to develop the community’s skills, knowledge and confidence’)
- Improving Housing and Affordability
- Promoting Resource Efficiency and Enhancing the Environment
- Promoting Sustainable Transport
2. The concept of ‘sustainability of regeneration and community development activity and outcomes’
The commitment of funding to support neighbourhood regeneration and community development work is commonly in the form of ‘project-funding’ – for short-term (one year or less) or medium term (up to three years) projects. In this context, ensuring the sustainability of developments and changes is an ever-present challenge for those engaged in such work. Is there often a major sustainability challenge that momentum and changes not being lost? Three issues are explored here:
2.1. How do we sustain the developing community-based human resource?
- How in working with local people can we enable and support them to develop a sustainable capacity for self-development, social and economic independence, choice and self-direction? Is learning the key process, which puts in place such sustainable behavioural changes? (One definition of successful learning is that it produces sustained behavioural changes in people). How can capacity building learning engagements be designed to build in sustainability?
- How do we ensure continuing growth and development, if the worker/agency input is reduced or withdrawn – so much of the work is short term/project funded?
- How important are the values that underpin and inform regeneration and community development work of the work that they needs to be sustained, beyond the life of projects, within individuals, neighbourhoods and communities?
- How do we identify points at which there can be planned withdrawal of external support and inputs? What identifies sustainable capacity within local people, and signals that they can ‘go it alone’? (A dual indicator of the achievement of successful teaching and learning is the self-aware learning independence of the learner and the resulting redundancy of the teacher!) Is there such a model of sustainability within community capacity building?
- Do we need to ensure that we drive input models of community services and provision towards community development models, characterised by active community participation, ownership and management? What are the learning models, which might deliver sustainable collective and community capacity building? Is learning a core process in strategies that empower local people?
2. 2. Sustaining the worker resource
- The experience of working within the regeneration and community development field is one often with a limited time-span, shaped, targeted, and driven by demands, beyond the influence and control of workers. Does the nature of the work, give workers and projects little scope to gain space and time for learning from experience, through reflection and review, self-assessment and individual support & development opportunities?
- Have workers been effectively grounded and inducted into regeneration and community development work? Are workers recruited or transferred into regeneration and community development work from other fields, without significant professional and personal development opportunities? Do they have relevant understandings and skills, developed through training and experience?
- Do workers often find themselves continuously needing to ‘do the job and deliver the goods’? How can we sustain (maintain and develop) worker effectiveness within regeneration and community development practice? Should we encourage and enable workers to build their individual capacity to effectively self-direct and self-manage?
- Most in-service development and networking opportunities seem to be concerned with addressing gaps and shortfalls in the work, or addressing the legal and organisational requirements of the working environment. Does networking provide opportunities for workers to share and learn from experience, and to explore their understanding, new thinking and innovations in practice?
- Do the organisational settings of regeneration and community development work have the resources and infrastructure that to address a worker entitlement to support and development opportunities, e.g., adequate line-management, appraisal and personal development planning, training opportunities? Is there evidence that under the direction of government, funders and agencies, the demands of targets and performance, constrain this worker entitlement?
- What arrangements should be put in place by organisations to ensure the care and wellbeing and to sustain their ongoing learning and development as regeneration and community development workers?
2.3, Sustainability – funding for regeneration and community development work
- Most of the funding, which starts and supports regeneration and community development work is provided for a limited time-span. As a result much of this work is delivered through the development of short and medium term projects? What are the issues that arise for those seeking to organise and work within this funding regime?
- If we seek to plan for the sustainability of changes and developments in neighbourhoods and communities, will we need to ensure that this can be appropriately resourced? What are the expectations within neighbourhoods and communities about the continuity of funding?
- Do we find that performance targets and deadlines set for regeneration and community development work, upon which adequacy and continuity of funding depends, can be inappropriate – e.g., unrealistic, impractical or unachievable? How realistic are the expectations of funders and agencies in terms of the resources required to ensure the sustainability of changes and developments, after funded work ceases?
- Must workers and agencies engaged in regeneration and community development work, ensure that effective monitoring, evaluation and review systems and practice, are in place alongside all activities? How important is the analysis and reporting of performance and outcomes, in relation to sourcing funds to sustain and develop the work?
- Are there situations where the continuity of funding for pieces of regeneration and community development work, or for projects, may be inappropriate?