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Section two: Skills confidence and activity
Title Learning in Regeneration | Author(s) Scottish Centre for Regeneration |
Date 2005 | Publisher/ web link Scottish Centre for Regeneration
http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/ * Contact learndirect Scotland 08456 000 111 for paper copy and support | Geographical focus Scotland | Theme / topic focus Regeneration |
Size Substantial - 8 separate booklets | Accessibility Presented with summary points, examples and tools throughout. Scale could be a bit off-putting without facilitation | Cost Free downloads or registration with learndirect (recommended) | Coverage Skill needs and development |
Type Learners' Pack | Primary audience Individual staff and activists, managers |
Summary of content The pack is structured around the framework of skills for community regeneration, which is based on research into the needs of all sectors including community members involved in organised regeneration activity. It contains materials, advice and exercises designed to help people to identify their personal learning needs, and those of their organisation, to plan their learning and decide how to go about it, and to develop a learning system for an organisation and help others to learn. The SCR have developed a CLD guide to using the skills pack. This guide looks at how the skills pack can be used alongside HGIOCLD?2, LEAP, Delivering change and other frameworks. This guide is available on their website. |
Comments / assessment Although designed for use in the broad sphere of regeneration, the framework has been used even more widely in other complex multi-agency or multi-issue environments. The range of 'strategic', 'practical' and 'process' skills covered are broadly those required for community capacity building, though the wording often assumes involvement in partnerships, projects etc. Much of the material on learning styles, techniques etc is applicable to any learning situation. |
* http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_006288.hcsp
Title Health Issues in the Community | Author(s) Developed and supported by CHEX, in partnership with NHS Health Scotland and Moray House Institute - University of Edinburgh |
Date Launched 1997; Pack:2002 | Publisher/ web link Pack available from NHS Health Scotland, but users recommended to ask CHEX about training
http://www.chex.org.uk/hiic/ | Geographical focus Scotland | Theme / topic focus Health |
Size n.a. | Accessibility Not assessed directly. Though the evaluation* reports a good response, many tutors did find that the course demanded more literacy than many students were comfortable with. | Cost Pack: from £30 (community); £75 (statutory) | Coverage Health inequalities and community development approaches |
Type Community learning initiative | Primary audience Community members interested in health (but widely used by staff) |
Summary of content The programme provides an introduction to community development drawing on a social model of health. It was designed to develop community responses to local health issues, increase the involvement of community members in local decision-making and make them more active citizens. Around 280 people have trained as tutors in Scotland, though many do not deliver training. The full course is delivered in two parts, each with eight units. Starting with 'what health means to me', it progresses to community development ideas and then to ways of putting these into action |
Comments / assessment The programme has been used successfully to develop the skills and confidence of community members, to develop understanding of community development in the health sector, and to develop understanding of community health improvement in other sectors. Those taking the full course are only a small proportion of the total students who have made use of the materials in some form. Modules such as 'Working together', 'Making democracy work', 'Finding out for ourselves' and 'Working with groups' could be used in a wide variety of capacity building contexts |
* Donoghue D, Allison S, Horton P (2006) Health Issues in the Community Evaluation ReportCHEX, Glasgow
http://www.chex.org.uk/uploads/hiic_final_report_v7_formatted.doc?sess_scdc=ec05f9f58f40a25811d86c3d06ada01c
Title Grassroots Leadership Development: A Guide for Grassroots Leaders, Support Organizations, and Funders | Author(s) WK Kellogg Foundation |
Date 2001 | Publisher/ web link WK Kellogg Foundation
http://www.wkkf.org* | Geographical focus USA | Theme / topic focus Leadership |
Size 62 pages | Accessibility Moderate - some essay style material along with shorter summaries | Cost Free download | Coverage Community-led organisations |
Type Handbook/research report | Primary audience Funders, practitioners |
Summary of content Based on research whose key findings include 'Grassroots leaders have different motivations and needs than those of traditional "positional" leaders' and 'Grassroots leadership works best when the decision to invest in developing leaders is a deliberate strategy'. The importance of 'support organisations is emphasised. |
Comments / assessment Not a comprehensive practical guide to the subject, and contains many US references, but could work well as a source to clarify issues and ideas for someone approaching 'leadership as a topic'. |
* http://www.wkkf.org/DesktopModules/WKF_DmaItem/ViewDoc.aspx?LanguageID=0&CID=6&ListID=28&ItemID=60814&fld=PDFFile
Other resources
An alternative to or first step towards 'Health Issues in the Community' training for local staff of health and other services would be the use of 'Getting Our Act Together ... in Community Development and Health' (David Allan, 2005, published by Community Development Foundation, £19.95). This is usable mainly as a training manual. Aimed very much at practitioners working with communities rather than communities themselves, it aims to equip them with an initial understanding of community development approaches. Capacity building is not focused upon specifically.
The ICT for Communities programme in effect takes over from the former 'Connecting Communities' programme, but a wide variety of resources from the latter are still available at:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/communities/
Respondents indicated that they had used the Pacific Institute's Steps to Excellence and Investment in Excellence Programmes as means to building the capacity of individuals to work effectively in their communities. Materials for these are not disseminated - participation incurs fees (e.g. £450 for 3 days and £895 for 5 days respectively) - so it is not feasible to 'review' them as resources http://www.thepacificinstitute.co.uk/
A document entitled 'Leadership and Community Capacity Building: An Inventory and Analysis of Curricula and Tools' is available from Iowa State University ( http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/pubs/flora/leadership.htm). It systematically assesses and abstracts a wide range of almost entirely American sources, with web links where available.
Another American institution, the Asset Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, Illinois, is not concerned with groups acquiring land and buildings, but with making the most of the skills and capacity that exist within communities. The resources offered directly are limited, but include a useful inventory questionnaire about individual skills and experience, and a guide to the issues. http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/abcd/abcdtools.html
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