Much government policy depends on strong community engagement, but there is no national picture of the people whose occupation consists of building this involvement – community development workers and community capacity builders.

This study aims to illuminate the level of professional community capacity building taking place nationally and locally, drawing on a previous national study and carrying out new detailed studies in six contrasting areas in England.

The policy context – Government sees community engagement and participation as crucial components in the management of society at local level. Community capacity building is crucial to this, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The new Local Area Agreements (LAAs) also invite greater community involvement at neighbourhood level.

A national survey of community development workers, produced by CDF and CDX in 2004, forms an important backdrop as community development is the main source of community capacity building.

The six case study areas are:

Visits were made to each area, and data was collected through postal questionnaires, phone and face-to-face interviews and focus groups.

There are the full-time equivalent of 20,000 community capacity building workers in the UK, but that around a quarter of this work is provided in small components by other professions. This amounts to a considerable national investment but the fragmentation and insecurity of the work suggest that it needs to be better organised to produce maximum impact.

Local strategies will need to be based on a set of core aims combined with local priorities.

These should empower the community to:

Community Development Foundation
admin@cdf.org.uk

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//2006

Peter Taylor, a Community Development Foundation associate

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Capacity building