Community Development Outcomes:

1

• Community Development Outcomes
• Implications for practice and advocacy

2
Outline of the presentation

• This presentation will focus on
• Discussing two stages of a project to explore and
  identify community development outcomes
• Explore the issue of how community development is
  articulated between and across different
  audiences
• Examine the tools for effectively advocating the
  role of community development with the result of
  influencing policy, programs and funding
  arrangements.

3
QCOSS STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

• Policy advocacy for and with Queenslanders
  affected by poverty and inequality.
• Sector development
• building sector capacity by facilitating the
  development and delivery of training
• supporting the sector with resources
  information
• positively influencing policy framework affecting
  the community services industry.

4
Policy

• QCOSS has an integrated policy framework called
• Ending poverty and inequality
• a fair Queensland action plan
• We focus on state level issues and
• mainly target the State Government.
• We work to support ACOSS with Federal issues
  (Australia Fair).
• The focus is on policy that directly benefits
  disadvantaged people.

5
Policy
S.1 Ending poverty and inequality an overarching
framework

• S. 2 A future for the sector
• S.3 Finance and funding

6
Community Development

• QCOSS commissioned a piece of work to define
  community development outputs/outcomes as a
  result of being approached by Deception Bay
  Community and Youth Program and the Hinterland
  Community Development Association
• The project concluded with some continued debate
  about use of language however
• The project was able to define a number of
  outcome areas which QCOSS has continued to
  advocate should be funded activities.
• This stage of the project included input from 150

7
Community Development

• Not everything that can be counted counts and not
  everything that counts can be counted.
  Albert Einstein

8
Community Development

• These funded activities were
• Provision of accessible, affordable, safe space
• Strengthened individual and group identities
• Community engagement and acceptance
• Flexible responses to individuals, groups and
  communities with specific interests
• New, enhanced, maintained or sustained
  infrastructure at a local or regional level
• Collective analysis and voice
• Viable, sustainable organisation.

9
Community development case studies

• It is very early days and we have collected 8
  case studies either through interviews or a
  simple case study structure QCOSS distributed to
  members
• This is a work in progress, it is tentative and
  as yet nothing has been concluded
• We are here discussing this work as part of a
  process of exploring the best approaches to
  advocating and therefore strengthening community
  development
• A conceptual framework was used based on a
  modified resource contained within a Victorian
  Communities Report 2005
• The purpose of the framework was to capture a
  snapshot of the community centre

10
Community development case studies

• A list of all activities was collected with
  details of funding sources, the method of
  delivery, the type of intervention and what
  staffing/support arrangements were in place.
• Other information collected included the number
  of participants, hours worked by staff on a
  weekly basis (funded and non-funded), volunteer
  hours, infrastructure, administration,
  fundraising and reporting.
• The following list represents the collation of
  activities from just six community centres

11
(No Transcript)
12
Community development case studies
13
Community development case studies
14
(No Transcript)
15
Reflections

• All participants described that a significant
  amount of work was unfunded or under-funded
• Coordinators described working 60 hours per week
• Funds were inadequate to sustain coordination
  functions and to maintain adequate infrastructure
• Complex funding arrangements (often involving
  many small amounts of funds) are costly in terms
  of coordination and admin. This could be more
  efficient. Many projects are linked to
  non-recurrent funds
• Some organisations describe that it is
  challenging to describe what we do and the role
  we have played in broader processes linked to
  infrastructure and planning
• While there is evidence cited by Government that
  being connected within your community results in
  greater well-being, more trust, less crime
  these outcomes are not necessarily viewed in
  terms of CD and the potential of community
  centres

16
Reflections
17
Reflections

• There is evidence supporting the role that social
  capital plays in increased wellbeing
• The Family and Neighbourhoods Study (FANS )
  explored the impacts of some potential protective
  factors for neighbourhood social cohesion
  including
• shared norms, discipline
• shared norms, monitoring
• non-family local networks
• family local networks
• neighbourhood participation and
• local group involvement
• (Barnes 2006)

18
Reflections

• There is evidence supporting the role that social
  capital plays in increased wellbeing
• The Family and Neighbourhoods Study (FANS )
  explored the impacts of some potential protective
  factors for neighbourhood social cohesion
  including
• shared norms, discipline
• shared norms, monitoring
• non-family local networks
• family local networks
• neighbourhood participation and
• local group involvement
• (Barnes 2006)

19
Reflections

• There is evidence supporting the role that social
  capital plays in increased wellbeing
• The FANS study highlights that the elements and
  processes of social capital are relevant to the
  wellbeing of children and their families. The
  idea that child development is powerfully shaped
  by social capital is demonstrated according to
  Putnam (2000296) in that trust, networks and
  norms of reciprocity within a childs family,
  school, peer group and larger community have wide
  ranging effects on a childs opportunities and
  choices, and hence on (her) behaviour and
  development.

20
Reflections

• Snapshot that community centres provide a great
  deal of activities and options for people to come
  together on the spectrum from direct service to
  community participation
• Support for the role of social capital (which
  both assists and results from community
  development) in improving well-being and
  particular issues like child abuse
• Challenge to ensure that community development
  methods and outcomes can be influential in terms
  of policy, programs, State budgets and service
  agreements.
• Need to consider the ways we can articulate
  community development methods and outcomes across
  audiences to be effective and have influence.