Community Organising and Community Development- ground

level reflections

Marion RaynerCommunity Development Manager

Rural Communities: development and organising…state of play 2014 8 Jan 2014

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www.communityfirst.org.uk

Community First isCommunity First is……

… the Rural Community Council (RCC) for Wiltshire

and Swindon

A rural county

Market towns

257 parishes

Salisbury Plain

Community areas= market town + parishes

Our CO project

• Motivation- a different approach

• Hosting 3 Trainee COs - 1 F/T, 2 P/T

• Recruited April 13

• 2 based in Roundway

• 1 in Bishops Cannings

• Our impressions so far…

• Choice of area

• Recruit ‘out of area’

• New neighbourhoods

• Practical concerns- safety, getting around, lack of

meeting places, mobile signal, toilets!

• Existing relationships

• Rural vs urban differences

Practical issues

CD & CO approaches

Some similarities with CD approach:

•Community empowerment values

•Capacity building support

Differences:

•No predetermined agenda

•Works with individuals rather than groups

•Starts with individual’s needs rather than community’s

•Less collaborative with existing networks and processes

•Legacy- ‘holding team’ with contacts and asset lists

Strengths of CO approach

• Reach people that traditional methods miss• Builds resource of community concerns, ideas and

assets• Builds sustainable relationships, networks and

capacity• New way of initiating community led activities• New path into volunteering

Challenges

• Not invited in

• Door knocking- safety issues

• Emerging priorities differ from ‘official’ ones

• Operating at ‘grass roots’ -no linkage initially

• Care needed with existing relationships

• Reputational risks

• Community holding team?

• Sustainability

Opportunities

• Engage with ‘hidden voices’

• Role in supporting community rights

• Citizen involvement and volunteering

• Parish Council involvement

• Another ‘tool in the box’?

• A new approach for Community First

Community Organiser perspective…

Alex North

Trainee Community Organiser

for Roundway, Devizes

Sustainability?

• Employment start up grant £15K, match required

• Several scenarios:

1.Continue in existing areas

2.Expand into neighbouring areas

3.Combine CO work with CD support

4.‘Hit squad’ approach

5.Develop volunteer CO network

• Employed or social enterprise?

• Modify for sustainable rural CO

Any questions?

www.communityfirst.org.ukmrayner@communityfirst.org.uk

Further information

For further information about the work of the Community Organisers programme nationally

www.cocollaborative.org.uk/

Community Organisers in Wiltshire:

www.facebook.com/devcomorgwww.twitter.com/devcomorg