The Community-led Development Framework is for testing and adapting.  Here we write about the Framework in practice with some links to examples.We will continue to develop these links and examples and welcome any that you want to let us know about.

Community and Leading

We have defined 'community' by place, as the people living geographically close to each other.

Communities, by their nature,  are composed of  all sorts of people with diverse interests. With each person having a part to play in the community's development; no individual or group holds the solution.

Having residents identify their own community priorities is absolutely crucial.  It is the people who work, care, connect and invest in a local community who help create and develop that community together.

Working Together

The trick in developing communities is to find the common ground and to work together around the same table, to achieve tangible results.  Leadership in a community is never prescriptive and can come from any corner of the community - resdients in a street, a voluntary organisation, the council, shopowners or a large corporation, Iwi, school or a funder.

Finding common ground and vision can happen in a number of ways. It can be through community visioning workshops, which involve lots of different people and sectors, or it can be by bringing people from different local projects and initiatives together to identify common hopes and aspirations.

It can happen in reaction to a crisis such as massive and sudden unemployment, a development driven from outside (eg an urban renewal project), or through a natural disaster like a fire.

Or it can happen by deliberately asking local residents what matters most to them by knocking on every front door in the neighbourhood and talking to the community face to face.  Often what works is combining several of these ways of working.

Demonstrating and building change

Our experience shows that the key to success is to consciously build connections between the vision and activities.  For examples statements like:

• A community with full and meaningful employment,

• A community that is a great place for children to grow up, or

• A community that is well-connected

Need to be underpinned with practical, immediate, visible activities

It is difficult for communities to maintain sustained enthusiasm for their vision without small gains.

Tangible, short term activities are important to success. Seeing is believing – quick visible activities help build confidence within the community, showing that they can create change.  Ensuring these smaller activites are aligned with the bigger goal is crucial.

There is a huge difference between running a series of disconnected events or services in a community that end up depending on the energy of one or two people, and having a clear intention to connect the events with an agreed outcome such as local employment and economic development, or kids being safe and cared for by neighbours.

Learning and Adapting

When communities complete activities with a bigger goal or vision in mind they can take stock, think about what has worked, learn from their mistakes and adapt their approach. This flexibility also allows for unplanned opportunities or connections, which are often great chances for developments.

Sometimes this is called act, react and adapt but it is essentially about learning.  Learning is at the heart of Inspiring Communities approach to community-led development - both learning within each community and between communities across Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Strengths-Based

Not all communities are created equal but every community does have strengths and assets to build on. Capitalising on strengths and assets is a core feature of community-led development.

Building on strengths can range from identifying and supporting local leadership and innovation to formal strengths-based approaches such as Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and Appreciative Inquiry.

Whole Systems Change

Sometimes a family, street or a community achieves a change it has dreamt about only to have it quickly disappear. A key person in the street, or the Council, or Government or business might leave, uprooting the basis of the initiative.

Our community-led development is looking to embed change within the neighbourhood, family, Council, business and government 'systems' to ensure longevity and durability.