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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE CENTRAL RESEARCH UNIT

Development Department Research Programme Research Findings No.138

The Role of a Local Co-ordinator
Findings from Working for Communities

Alison P Brown

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This report is one of a series which summarises research into the impact of the Scottish Executive's Working for Communities pathfinders, which aimed to test innovative ways of delivering local services. This report focuses on the ways in which pathfinders used local co-ordinators or managers, the difficulties these workers encountered, and what helped them do their job effectively.

Main Findings

Factors that helped pathfinder co-ordinators or managers do their job effectively included:

• a degree of autonomy, but good staff to work with and support with day-to-day administration

• clear aims and objectives for the pathfinder and partners that sign up to these

• means to influence 'powerful' service providers

• an ability to facilitate and involve people, but also to set direction and take the lead

• diverse skills and qualities including an ability to communicate at all levels.

Background

The Scottish Executive's Working for Communities programme aimed to test innovative ways of delivering services to local communities. Thirteen pathfinders were funded from 1999 to 2002. Their objectives and activities were very diverse, but all were managed locally. (Pathfinders are summarised on p.5). Given the ambitious aims of pathfinders and their relatively small size in terms of budget and staffing, the role of the co-ordinator was crucial. This report considers three aspects of the co-ordinator's role: project management, strategy co-ordination, and community involvement. The findings are based on interviews with pathfinder co-ordinators and pathfinders' monitoring reports.

Pathfinder structure

Pathfinders were very diverse in their organisational arrangements, particularly in the degree to which the pathfinder was a separate organisation or project or was an integral part of the work of an existing organisation (e.g. Social Inclusion Partnership, local community centre, local authority area office, housing association, limited company or voluntary organisation). Co-ordinators were employed by lead agencies, and only in two cases directly by a management committee from the community or community-based housing association. Most were accountable to a multi-agency steering group. All had a base in the community with which they worked. Many, but not all, were on secondment from a local authority.

Although it is difficult to generalise, pathfinders benefited from a degree of autonomy on the part of the co-ordinator. Specific achievements of pathfinders were perhaps less apparent where a large employer had kept pathfinder co-ordinators as part of its existing structure and utilised them towards its broader service development objectives.

Elements of the job

The term 'co-ordinator' is used below, although some pathfinders chose the title of manager or development worker. There were three main aspects of the co-ordinator's job which received more or less priority depending on the organisational arrangements and aims of the pathfinder: project management, strategy formulation and partnership co-ordination, and community development and support.

Project management

The pathfinder co-ordinator was a project manager, responsible for premises, staff, finance, ICT, publicity, monitoring and evaluation. In most cases, the project manager was also responsible for seeking continued funding for activities after the end of Scottish Executive pathfinder funding. The degree of emphasis given to this aspect of the job depended on, for example, how many separate projects with their own staff and budgets the pathfinder established. Most co-ordinators found that the workload was far greater than they had anticipated. Although most had only one or two staff to manage, this rose to seven or eight in some cases. Where the pathfinder had ambitious projects such as refurbishment or construction of buildings, or had to move premises, this also fell to the co-ordinator to manage.

Project management challenges

• dealing with ICT and other infrastructure over which they had little control

• difficulties with individual staff which took up large amounts of time and energy.

Keys to effectiveness

• support from a lead agency in administration, finance or ICT to free the co-ordinator for strategic working and direct contact with partners and the community

• realistic and clear pathfinder aims and objectives

• good staff to work with (short-term contracts may put off good staff), and an experienced employer and personnel unit to handle sensitive staffing problems.

Strategy and partnership co-ordination

A key task for the co-ordinator was to bring together service providers in the pathfinder area to 'join up' services. This task included administration for committees, boards and working groups, networking, bringing new partners into partnerships, negotiation over funding of projects, providing new ideas, information exchange, 'selling' the pathfinder and its approach. In practice, co-ordinators often had to take the lead in formulating strategy rather than leaving it to a Board.

Partnership working challenges

• location in a department which carried little weight in a local authority
• lack of strategic direction from some or all partners
• lack of independence from service providers
• turnover of partner agency staff that hindered strategy formulation
• particular agencies that did not have a partnership working ethos
• 'jobsworths' in particular departments.

Some of these were seen to be unavoidable and partly what pathfinders aimed to address.

Keys to effectiveness

• location of pathfinder in a 'powerful' department in order to have influence (this must be weighed against independence from service providers in order to be closer to the community)

• to be able to work with groups with changing memberships, to facilitate the process of gathering ideas

• to find a balance between allowing boards to lead, and ensuring that strategy is made within short timescales, to be directive when required and take strategic decisions if a group is unable to

• lead-in time to allow establishment of community involvement and partnership working structures, including joint training prior to implementation

• to ensure that all partners sign up at the start to a shared vision and active involvement

• not to attempt pathfinder initiatives in the midst of wider reviews or restructuring of services.

Agencies in one pathfinder's Youth Strategy Group highlighted the role of a co-ordinator who could: encourage them to turn a strategy into action by chasing progress, lead them to think differently, co-ordinate between agencies, maintain an overview of initiatives, expand the range of contacts, disseminate research and good practice, keep momentum going, and make links between themed groups.

Community development and support

The co-ordinator worked with local residents or service users to develop their skills and ensure progress on their priorities. This involved recruitment, providing information, training, expenses, negotiating with service providers, and administration of meetings. It also included organising wider community events or consultations, and establishing community facilities e.g. buildings. Most co-ordinators worked with a steering group, most of which also included agencies. Those that were new to working with communities found it challenging but rewarding. A common approach of co-ordinators was to 'allow the community to lead' the pathfinder, to ensure the work was 'based on community demand', or, more actively, 'to get what's best for the community'. In most cases, community representatives were involved in selection of the co-ordinator. In return, some co-ordinators were expected to find continued funding for community initiatives.

Community development challenges

Not all co-ordinators were in post from start to finish. In some pathfinders, a several month gap between co-ordinators or even simply a change of co-ordinator and a change of approach meant having to regain the trust of the community. Some co-ordinators had expertise in other aspects of the job but not particularly in working with the community.

The history of an area played a large part in how the work progressed and a degree of freedom from existing tensions had advantages. Difficulties with the area context included: a history of mistrust and discord in the area, conflict among community groups, the impact of local authority politics, and too many initiatives causing burnout and confusion.

Keys to effectiveness

• continuity in staffing

• to be able to support a small group but also encourage wider involvement

• to know what is most likely to be funded, to explain this clearly, and have a consistent approach to the use of public money

• to locate initiatives such as pathfinders in areas with less turmoil or mistrust in community structures.

What co-ordinators found most satisfying about their job was largely related to working with communities. For example:

• successful delivery of services: young people or drug users taking computer courses, signing of a community banking agreement, local residents using a new facility e.g. a one-stop shop, a community health shop

• satisfaction with the process: foundations laid for mainstream services to set up a community planning team, community members able to present a coherent case to meetings with agencies, a changed approach in agencies towards working with the community, part-time staff drawn from the community becoming confident and effective, increased community involvement in management of pathfinders.

Skills and support

Very few pathfinder co-ordinators had effective supervision arrangements. Most had vague job descriptions and lack of strategic guidance. This contributed to 'burnout' and stress. Most felt a lack of supervision; very few had regular meetings with their manager or felt confident that they could seek advice from management at any time. National pathfinder networking meetings, however, provided an opportunity for co-ordinators to share experiences. Good line management support or a mentor in a key agency is essential, otherwise the job can be very isolating. The professional backgrounds of co-ordinators varied considerably, and included employment and training, community development, rural development and local authority service management (housing or environment), and town planning. All, however, had experience of either the partnership working or community involvement roles. Most co-ordinators had far more varied and onerous responsibilities than they had anticipated. The most successful pathfinders had co-ordinators with the required diverse range of skills and qualities, including communication at all levels, strategic thinking, project management, negotiation, diplomacy, tenacity and enthusiasm.