News From Other Organisations: Firm Foundations: framework for community capacity building

This brings to a conclusion the Government's review of support for community capacity building, and builds on the results of the consultation at the beginning of this year on Building Civil Renewal.

Firm Foundations has clearance across Government, and provides a clear reference point for future work on community capacity building and community engagement.

The report identifies six underlying principles and puts forward priority areas for Government action to bring about change. The six underlying principles are:

• Adopt a community development approach, accepting as a starting point the values on which community development is based
• Recognise and build on what exists - focusing on the assets and strengths of communities, as well as their needs or deficiencies
• Take a long view - there are no quick fixes if change is to be lasting
• Ensure that support is accessible at neighbourhood, parish or community level
• Accept that learning is a key to success for everyone involved
• Embrace diversity and recognise solutions are needed which respond to local circumstances, rather than taking a 'one size fits all' approach

The four priority areas are:

• The development of a much more comprehensive and coherent menu of learning opportunities for community engagement, both for citizens and communities, and for professionals, practitioners and policy-makers
• The targeting of efforts to build strong, sustainable community anchor organisations which can provide a crucial focus and support for community development and change in their neighbourhood or community, and for the building up of the community sector
• The promotion of local action-planning as a vital tool for involving citizens and community groups and giving them the confidence to influence their quality of life, shape the services that affect them and contribute to achieving sustainable development in the wider world
• Stronger collaboration and co-ordination at local, regional and national levels, working through the networks and partnerships that already exist, so that we make much more effective use of the effort and resources that are already available to support community capacity building

Firm Foundations can be downloaded from this website: Firm Foundations (712Kb PDF)