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CAPACITY BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING
CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
6.1 The preceding chapters have shown that there is a great deal of commitment to the aims and practice of CP across the public sector partners in Scotland, particularly as might be expected among those officers responsible for leading its development. However, there are some real constraints on building up CP capacity. These are related to such factors as:
- confusion about what CP means and the absence of a learning culture around CP, which was still at an early stage of development
- the lack of any real incentives for partnership working, within a context in which organisations tend to see working to their own objectives and in-house targets as a less complex and risky course of action
- the "Knowing-Doing Gap" - the difficulty of moving from awareness and understanding to implementation and delivery of community planning
- institutional restructuring within partner organisations
- fragmentation and under-supply in the delivery of training services
6.2 Although the forthcoming CP guidance should help address some of these issues, this study suggests that further action is needed to build up the capacity of agencies to engage in community planning processes. One of the most striking findings of the study was how little planned and co-ordinated training and capacity building work was taking place among staff leading the development of CP in their own organisations. Many participants in the focus group sessions remarked that these sessions represented the first real opportunity they had had to share experiences and discuss their training and development needs.
6.3 This chapter therefore sets out an approach to improving the capacity of partner organisations to overcome some of these constraints and building up the competencies of staff leading the CP process in their organisations. The main conclusion from the study is that there is no "one size fits all" training programme for officers, waiting to be devised and applied to all CPPs. Partners and partnerships are all at different stages in their development and adoption of CP principles and practice, and it is unlikely that any one single training programme will capture the range of capacity building needed.
6.4 The range of competencies for progressing CP, as presented under the Learning Development Framework in chapter 4, suggests that while some CPPs will have moved successfully beyond the "values and visioning" stage towards practical issues of making their partnerships work at various levels, other CPPs are still at the embryonic stage and need to develop their values and visioning skills before they can establish shared priorities and operate at a strategic level. The motivation and commitment of people in very senior positions and the ethos of the partner organisations in promoting certain values, attitudes and behaviours was found to have a particularly important bearing on progress with CP and the development work associated with this.
6.5 The analysis of current provision, in chapter 5, points to a patchwork of provision for the delivery of training relevant to community planning, against a backdrop of relatively unplanned and ad hoc demand and a lack of co-ordinated effort for such training - representing a lost opportunity for partners to share development costs. The study has also revealed a relative lack of awareness among consultees of informal modes of learning and how these might be accessed. One of the most promising provisions in Scotland has been the Working Together Learning Together programme for Social Inclusion Partnerships and Working for Communities Pathfinders, and the forthcoming evaluation of this could well provide pointers for rolling out this programme into other areas of partnership activity.
6.6 For all of the above reasons the study has concluded that there must be flexibility and a considerable degree of local ownership in the identification of capacity building requirements.
CAPACITY BUILDING PLANS
6.7 This study has shown that very little training and development work for CP is taking place on the ground, and this strongly suggests that as an essential first step CPPs should prepare their own Capacity Building Plans. The Capacity Building Plans would be expected to promote a strategic approach to capacity building for CP and commit CPPs to carrying out certain supporting actions within a self-determined time scale. Plans could incorporate the following elements:
- Statement of key aims and objectives
- Baseline or scoping study
- Audit of agreed capacity building requirements
- Formulation of delivery options and agreed approaches
- Costed-out programme and project plans for delivery over an agreed timescale
6.8 As their title suggests, the Plans would be jointly owned and developed by the agencies and interests represented on the Community Planning Partnership. There would be an assumption that all members of the CPP would work collaboratively with each other to develop and implement the Plans, with a view to capacity building for CP being firmly embedded - on a sustainable basis - in each partner's human resource policies and organisational development plans. The focus would be on the capacity building requirements of officers working at a range of levels and areas of activity in the community planning process, with reference to the learning development framework presented in chapter 4. Although the study did not specifically address the training needs of elected members, board members and community representatives, it is likely that Plans would need to address these as well.
LEARNING APPROACHES AND METHODS
6.9 In developing their Capacity Building Plans, CPPs will want to consider a wide range of approaches AND learning methods to building up their capacity, having regard to the point that there is unlikely to be any one single or best approach and that an appropriate mix of different approaches may be needed for different audiences. Approaches could include any of the following:
Networking
Opportunities for officers to learn from colleagues within their own CPP and in other CPPs about progress being made with initiatives, processes or structures. The networking could be formal or informal. Ideally there should be some formal opportunities created which are more productive than the existing Community Planning Officer Network sessions (regarded as too top-down) and a range of more informal groupings where officers in similar situations can link up and discuss common issues and experiences as they arise. The Discussion Groups established for this study could have some potential in this latter respect. At a formal level the use of newsletters, websites, intranets and other media would be useful.
Secondments or shadowing
Some partners have already made considerable progress in this area. Communities Scotland and the police have a track record in secondments to partner organisations, such as local authorities. The police have done this particularly in the context of Community Safety Partnerships. The study also identified examples of shadowing in health boards as an effective way of developing strategic level awareness of the issues of partnership working. There are a number of potential drawbacks to secondment - fear of missing out on promotion or career advancement, concerns about relative terms and conditions and a traditional belief that secondees were "other organisations' problem people". South Lanarkshire Council have drawn up protocols for secondments and this might be disseminated to other CPPs. It is important that secondments and shadowing programmes are properly devised, planned, monitored and evaluated to ensure the learning is harnessed and embedded. Just leaving it to the secondee to make the most of it often results in leakage of learning and a failure to apply the knowledge productively when "back at the ranch".
Learning forums
Some organisations have established these as a means of developing the networking and best practice dissemination necessary to spread the skills, competencies, attitudes and behaviours relevant to CP. Such forums can harness a wide range of learning methods such as an intranet database of sources, seminars, newsletters, visits, shared problem solving. There is evidence that Aberdeen and West Lothian councils have developed these around partnership working. It would be effective for CPPs to adopt an integrated learning forum involving all key partners.
Internally devised and delivered workshops and training events
There are opportunities for some formal or informal seminars and training sessions around relevant subject matters from the Learning Development Framework. There can be real benefits in the partner organisations having the commitment to the design and delivery of the materials that comes with ownership of these. This is particularly true where the subject matter is more related to information giving or briefing, such as initial awareness raising. In some cases a "train the trainers" event might assist with the rollout of such materials. Mixing participation across partners would assist with the trust-building objectives. This will have links with Learning Forums.
Externally devised and delivered workshops and training events
There will be a place for formal seminars, facilitated events and training sessions covering elements of each of the four parts of the Learning Development Framework. The differing needs of partners and partnerships and the wide range of relevant subject matters means it is not appropriate to develop a comprehensive capacity building programme at this stage. However there would be benefits in some form of co-ordination here to ensure that duplication is avoided and that added value can be built into the materials.
Development of electronic networks
Discussion forums, databases, websites etc. for promoting and sharing experience and good practice, disseminating training and development materials and providing links to other key sources of information.
Working with or through further and higher education, community and voluntary sectors and private sector and other agencies.
CPPs will want to map out and explore the scope for working with or through the range of agencies that can advise on, facilitate or support the delivery of any of the above or other approaches. The further and higher education sectors and the private sector have key roles to play in the professional development of staff likely to be involved in CP processes. The community and voluntary sectors are likely to have a large fund of experience, knowledge and skills that can be drawn upon in building up the capacity of staff to engage with communities. Private sector and specialist training or other agencies may be able to advise or assist with the development or implementation of particular projects (feasibility studies, training needs audits, programme design, etc).
RESOURCING
6.10 As the study has shown, CPPs are at different stages of development, with only limited evidence that some have placed a real emphasis on building up their capacity through training and other capacity building work. The legislation on CP will no doubt create an environment under which building up the capacity of partners will form an essential element of the "core business" of CPPs. The study nonetheless suggests that some form of incentive may be needed to kick-start the process, and the provision of some central pump priming funding is therefore suggested. The pump priming money involved need not be very large, as there would be an expectation that the CP partners themselves would fund from their mainstream budgets the greater part of the development costs of making CP work. Funding could either be linked to the proposed cost of implementation or be based on a pro-rata formula. The Scottish Executive, in the financial memorandum to the Local Government in Scotland Bill, has already indicated its commitment to consider the provision of assistance to cover the development costs of CP.
6.11 It is not possible to give more than a notional cost of development, since the approach suggested is based on the identification of capacity building needs from the bottom up; but it is roughly estimated that initial development work might cost up to l million across all 32 CPPs in the first year, depending on which of the following elements are built into this:
- 3 to 4 days baseline studies at each CPP - 100,000
- Awareness raising workshops for large volume of staff - 250,000
- Modular training sessions for key staff - 500,000
- Networks, forums, electronic forums, good practice dissemination - 150,000
Additional costs would be incurred by CPPs in carrying out their own training needs audits, producing their own materials and carrying out other ongoing work (e.g. workshops).
QUALITY
6.12 Consideration should be given to Capacity Building Plans meeting certain quality standards, both at the initial Plan approval stage and at subsequent stages of development. One advantage of this approach is that it would help to promote certain minimum standards of provision from the start, and encourage CPPs that are less far forward in their development to give greater emphasis to training and other capacity building work.
6.13 Plans could be underpinned by general guidelines setting out the main elements that should figure in the plans, with reference to the key elements set out in paragraph 6.7 above. The guidelines could also draw upon other related studies, notably other research commissioned by the Community Planning Task Force, the forthcoming evaluation of the Working Together, Learning Together programme for Social Inclusion Partnerships, and the Communities Scotland study of inter-professional training for regeneration, and any other emerging work.
6.14 Consideration should also be given to the piloting of different approaches, in a range of settings, to support development work and inform good practice wider afield. This pilot work could draw on the experiences of CPPs that are furthest forward in their development, as well as support CPPs that are having greatest difficulties. The range of capacity building issues to be addressed would be built into research specification for this work. Pilot work might be scoped over six months to a year or more, depending on the types of issues covered.
6.15 Serious consideration should also be given to the proposed Improvement Agency, as described in the white paper Renewing Local Democracy3, providing longer-term development support for CP capacity building. This support could include the review and evaluation of Plans, as well as the promotion and dissemination of good practice. Community Planning partnerships, as well as other stakeholder interests, would be brought into these processes to provide for a measure of peer review and practitioner support.
NEXT STEPS
6.16 On the basis of this study and the approach suggested above, the next steps for the Community Planning Task Force to consider would be:
- the development of Community Planning Capacity Building Plans - with the aim of all 32 CPPs having well-developed Plans in place, say by around spring 2003.
- the provision of pump priming funding for CPPs submitting Capacity Building Plans.
- the commissioning of pilot projects to support development work and inform good practice in CP capacity building
- the development of general guidelines to promote quality standards in capacity building for CP
- the potential role of the Improvement Agency, which Ministers seem minded to set up, in providing longer term support for CP capacity building
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