realisedevelopment.net

Just another WordPress site

Cameron as PM on Community…

by

Some extracts from David Cameron’s first speech that seem relevant to the community development sector.  There is much here to hold him to.  Emphases are mine!

One of the tasks that we clearly have is to rebuild trust in our political system…it’s about making sure people are in control and that the politicians are always their servants and never their masters.

Real change is not what government can do on its own. Real change is when everyone pulls together, comes together, works together, when we all exercise our responsibilities to ourselves, to our families, to our communities and to others.

And I want to help build a more responsible society here in Britain, one where we don’t just ask ‘what are my entitlements?’ but ‘what are my responsibilities?’. One where we don’t just ask ‘what am I owed?’ but more ‘what can I give?’.   And a guide for that society, that those who can, should, and those who can’t, we will always help.

I want to make sure that my government always looks after the elderly, the frail, the poorest in our country.

Above all it will be a government that will be built on some clear values — values of freedom, values of fairness, and values of responsibility.

I want us to build an economy that rewards work, I want us to build a society with stronger families and stronger communities, and I want a political system that people can trust and look up to once again.

“About making sure the people are in control and that politicians are always their servants.”  Perhaps time for a serious consideration of person centred and responsive methodologies instead of policy centred and strategic.  Be interesting to see what happens to Communities and Local Government under the new coalition.

Cameron’s full speech is reported here.

Real Change, Grass Roots, Bottom Up….

by

“I learned as a community organiser in Chicago, real change comes from the bottom up, the grass roots, starting with the dreams and passions of individuals serving their communities.” – Barack Obama – Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship 2010

We know this as community development practitioners.

Our funders know it too.

So why do we still so often corrupt the community development process in order to impose the strategic objectives of our planners and policy makers on the grass roots?  Just to pay the mortgage?

In the second city of the Empire
Mother Glasgow watches all her weans
Trying hard to feed her little starlings
Unconsciously she clips their little wings

Are we still clipping wings….?

Asset Based Development

by

I have just had an interesting twitter conversation with @asset_transfer the twitter feed for the Asset Transfer Unit.  They pointed me to this site call Building Community.

Lot’s of great work and some inspirational stories.

However, (and it is a big however) I think this goes to show how, in the UK at least, ‘asset’ has become synonymous with ‘building’.  And the process of ‘asset based development’ has become synonymous with asset (building) transfer from local authority ownership to social enterprise.  There is no doubt that this can be a part of an effective community development strategy.

But, it is not the only game in town.  And it can be an expensive game.  While the buildings may be sold for a pound, the cost of refurbishment frequently runs into millions.  Once developed sometimes these buildings continue to demand cash to keep them open as business plans don’t quite work out as anticipated and they may become cuckoos in our communities – sucking up investment as their funders claim they ‘cannot be allowed to fail’.  This is a ‘shadow side’ that occasionally becomes a very real, very expensive and very persistent problem.

What is more, listed building regulations sometimes mean that the refurbished buildings are not very green.

But the real problem is that in many of the communities that I work in lack of infrastructure is not the key challenge.  Buildings are not the barrier.  Lack of bricks and mortar for community use is not the bottleneck.  I am not against asset transfer.  In some communities, at the right time they are the perfect and logical step.

But when the bottle neck is not infrastructure but capability and confidence or ability to organise, then let’s not pretend that a new building always holds the key.  We may get a better return on our investment from good old community development work – using existing spaces in the community to bring people together and help them to organise for a better future.  Informal education and outreach work may be the best ways to develop the limiting assets of knowledge, skills and self belief.  I believe there are communities that would love to go down these more ‘people centred’ routes but for whom available investment is tied to the transfer of buildings.

So good luck to the Asset Transfer Unit.  But let’s remember that the principal assets in our communities are people and their potential.  Not run down buildings.  If we really want to  get a  return on our investment in asset based development then let’s at least consider putting that investment into the real assets – people.

There are other approaches to asset based community development that could be considered.  At the moment policy and funding in the UK tilts the playing field so heavily in favour of community ownership of bricks and  mortar that it is hard for the alternatives to get an airing.

But perhaps this is set to change?

I’d love to hear your thoughts…..