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
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