Earlier this year the Yorkshire and Humberside Community Development Network (Y&HCDN) ran a workshop looking at the new Duty to Involve legislation and how this impacted on community development.

Click here to got to the Y&HCDN website and download the report.

A Look At Corporate Capacity Building

Reproduced from the Community Work Skills Manual

Introduction

We’ve heard a lot about Community Capacity Building, but what’s the point of developing community voice if the people and bodies that largely control the resources and services going into these communities aren’t listening, or asking?

As well as working to develop the voice of communities, Community Development Workers have a responsibility to develop the ears and active listening of those who make decisions and hold power. This article outlines some of the efforts of a County Council Community Development Team (CDT) to change the culture and approach within its own authority.

It offers a brief illustration, based on the premise that corporate or agency capacity building is fundamentally little different from community capacity building, and every bit as important strategically for community empowerment.

Background

The CDT was established in 2000 to support elected members in their new role required by the ‘modernising local government’ agenda. The team currently consists of 9 full time equivalent Community Development Officer (CDO) posts¹, a Training Officer, 2 Senior CDOs and administrative support.

Since then the team has reviewed and refined its role in the light of an ever-changing environment, although its strategic objectives remain constant:

• improved community governance

• improved community capacity

• improved partnership working

• improved social inclusion.

Capacity building is central to improving the Council’s community governance. As with community capacity building, it’s about ensuring that the organisation has the necessary understanding, confidence, knowledge and skills, underpinned by appropriate values and supported by effective structures and mechanisms.

The key challenge for the team has been to assist the County Council in changing its culture in order to engage more fully and meaningfully with its communities. It has done this through three principal approaches:

1. Developing the underpinning corporate strategies, policies and values.

2. Developing the understanding, commitment and skills of people within the County Council (Officers and Elected Members)

3. ‘Brokering’ appropriate structures and mechanisms at the interface between Council and communities

Developing strategies and policies

‘Getting closer to communities’ is everyone’s business in the Council and a key role for the team is to support the Council in ensuring that there is a corporate approach across all Services.

The first significant step towards this was the Community Development Policy and Strategy (CDPS), adopted in 1999 and revised in 2002. This key document established corporate commitment and a mandate for new ways of working. It set out the principles and values and was supported by a cross-service action plan.

As in community development the ‘process’ can be as important as the ‘product’. The policy was not taken ‘off the shelf’ of another authority, but was developed over time by a cross-service working group chaired by the Cabinet portfolio holder for Community Development. The awareness-raising value of this approach should not be underestimated and many of these members formed the core of the subsequent officer group that developed the next significant policy, the Community Engagement and Consultation Strategy (CECS), adopted early in 2006.  This re-affirmed the principles and strengthened the corporate commitment to involving communities, but it is the comprehensive action plan, reviewed annually, that will determine how well the strategy is implemented.

In this plan, the services take responsibility for ensuring that community engagement and consultation are part of their annual plans and thus become mainstreamed and regularly monitored. The cross-service officer group for the project, now entitled “Durham Listens and Responds,” oversees and co-ordinates the processes.

Implementation of the policy is strengthened in other ways. All committee papers prepared by officers must include a reference to relevant consultation in the ‘implications’ appendix (alongside consideration of finance, staffing, equality & diversity etc). “Community Engagement and Consultation” is now also included as one of the four ‘cross-cutting issues’ that need to be addressed in all service plans.

Developing understanding and skills

There is always the danger that policies, strategies and mechanisms of this nature, however worthy, are seen as ‘centralist’ or ‘top-down’ instructions imposed on officers. Whilst corporate commitment, mandate and accountability are essential, it’s not normally the best way of winning hearts, minds and co-operation.

The CDT undertakes a range of roles to try to ensure that the officers and members can develop their own awareness over time, together with the skills and methods appropriate to their needs. These include:

• Seminars for Officers and seminars for Members

• Training courses – for officers and members – initially around Achieving Better Community Development model but now a rolling programme of 2 courses: ‘Community works’ (a basic introduction to Community Development) and ‘Community Engagement’ (on principles and techniques). In the pipeline are: Partnership Working; the Compact (with the Voluntary & Community Sector) and short ‘technique’ workshops for specific engagement and consultation methods.

• Toolkits – to support (not replace) the training sessions

• Professional advice and practical support to Services, officers and Members on planning and carrying out work with communities. A ‘protocol’ has been developed that provides a framework for agreeing the outcomes anticipated, methods, costs, target participants, equality and diversity considerations, respective roles of CDT and Service Officers, monitoring etc. This clarifies expectations and encourages good practice, and reinforces the Team’s role as ‘facilitator’ rather than as the team that undertakes the work on behalf of Services.

• Working alongside officers – this approach has been very useful in demonstrating more participative and ‘fun’ methods of consultation e.g. ‘washing-line’ exercise; use of instant electronic voting equipment.

• Input into specific Council programmes – eg Urban and Rural Renaissance (environmental improvements), Building Schools for the Future, All our Tomorrows (Older People’s services), Day Services Improvement programme (for Learning Disabled people)

• Induction of new staff – to ensure awareness of the CDP&S and CECS by reference in the Corporate Induction presentation, supplemented by a leaflet on the team’s role in the induction pack.

Structures and mechanisms

Part of the Community Development Officer’s role is to help develop, support, or facilitate the Council’s involvement in local partnerships, fora and networks. Thus they will help establish local working groups on specific projects (eg redevelopment of a town centre) that bring together local representatives, Council officers and other stakeholders.

As well as encouraging officers and members to reach out into communities, the CDO signposts and introduces them to the right people and organisations, and briefs them on local issues. Some have regular meetings with the Director or a Senior Manager who represents the Council on the LSP. They attend local Member Area Panels to support and brief Members and will advise Members on the use of their Members’ Initiative Fund (a small fund to support community groups / projects).

“Inreach”

The team spent time last year reviewing its approach and sharpening its focus on the internal capacity building work. Each CDO now has the lead or ‘link’ responsibility for certain areas of work. In addition to having responsibility for a geographic area (based on Local Authority Districts, the CDOs have responsibility for ‘reaching into’ Service areas or sections within the Authority and establishing and maintaining links. This is a developing role, but it tackles a long-standing issue within the County Council (probably a universal issue) that no-one really knew what the CDT did!

A standard presentation has been developed which is being rolled out as the link CDOs introduce themselves and the work of the team to the various Services and sections. The link is two-way and the CDO brings information on current work within the Services into the team which can then discuss opportunities for improved co-ordination and joint working.

Each CDO also has a link responsibility for a community of interest or ‘diversity strand’ (BME, Gypsies and Travellers, Faith Groups, LGBT, physical / learning disability etc) to ensure the Council is able to engage more effectively with these.

Conclusions

It’s not been an easy transition for the team and the tensions remain in finding the appropriate balance between internal and external work, and between its strategic and operational roles. It has meant less opportunity to work directly with community groups, which is why and where we probably all started in Community Development. However, a judgement is needed on how limited resources are used most effectively. There are 9 CDO posts in the County Council and some 18,000 employees, a significant number of whom (in Environment, Highways, Planning, Corporate Policy, Treasurers, Children & Young People’s or Adult and Community Services etc) could be working more creatively and effectively with communities.

It is so much better if communities can speak to them directly and they are eager to both listen and respond!

Further reading

‘The Grit in the Oyster’: Community Development Workers in a modernizing local authority. Sarah Banks and Andrew Orton. Oxford University Press and Community Development Journal 2005.

Lee Ling

lee.ling@durham.gov.uk