This document discusses the key aspects of community development practice. It begins by defining community development and noting that it aims to involve all citizens in community improvement and change. It then outlines the core values and principles of community development, including participation, representation, consensus-building, and self-help. Finally, it details the typical steps involved in a community development process, such as establishing an organizing group, collecting information, creating a vision/plan, and implementing/reviewing the plan.

1. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: THEORY AND
PRACTICE
SY 311
MASERO EMMANUEL EDWARD

2. MODULE: TWO
• COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
i. MEANING OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
ii. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT VALUES AND BELIEFS
iii.COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES
iv. STEPS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

3. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
 Community development, is a wide-ranging discipline that
encompasses economic development. Therefore, community
development, is a process whereby all citizens are involved in the
process of community change and improvement.
 If there is a success in community development leads to more
success in economic development.

4.  Any community could involve interaction among people with
common interests who live in a particular area. Or it could involve a
collection of people with common social, economic, political, or
other interests regardless of residency.
 A professional community development (CD) practice could involve
a community that is comprised of a single city, town, or village. On
the other hand, it may involve working with a community comprised
of several cities, towns, and villages, or a community of counties
that decide to form a regional development organization.

5. When considering a single city (town or village), it is
also important to realize that citizens may not be
residents. Those who make investments in, work in, or
operate businesses in a city but live outside of the city
boundaries are still very much citizens and
stakeholders of that community.

6. MEANING PRACTICING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
 Community development, is both a process and an outcome.
The practice of community development may be described as
managing community change that involves citizens in a
dialogue on issues to decide what must be done (their shared
vision of the future) and then involves them in carrying it out.

7. Issues to be considered in the process of community development
Critical issues addressed in the CD process include: jobs and economic
development (business attraction, expansion and retention, and new
business development); education and workforce development;
infrastructure development and improvement; quality of life, culture, and
recreation.
Social issues such as housing, crime, teen pregnancy, and substance
abuse; leadership development;

8. the quality of governmental services; community
image and marketing; and tourism development.

9. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT VALUES AND BELIEFS
i. People have the right to participate in decisions that
affect them
ii. People have the right to strive to create the
environment they desire.
iii. People have the right to make informed decisions and
reject or modify externally imposed conditions.

10. iv. Participatory democracy is the best method of
conducting community business.
v. Maximizing human interaction in a community will
increase the potential for positive development.
vi. Creating a community dialogue and interaction among
citizens will motivate citizens to work on behalf of their
community.

11. vii.Ownership of the process and commitment for
action is created when people interact to create a
strategic community development plan.
viii.The focus of cd is cultivating people’s ability to
independently and effectively deal with the
critical issues in their community.

12. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES
Self-help and self-responsibility are required for successful
development
• The CD consultant’s role is to organize citizens so that they
realize their power, capabilities, and potential during the process
of change
Participation in public decision making should be free and
open
• Participation may come in many forms including the
completion of surveys, volunteering for a particular project,

13. Broad representation and increased breadth of
perspective and understanding are conditions that are
conducive to effective CD
• The CD professional strives to organize a leadership
group that is representative of the community and its
stakeholders. Individuals representing all major groups
within the community.

14. Methods that produce accurate information should be
used to assess the community, to identify critical issues,
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• This assessment, or environmental scan, can result in
the creation of a community profile that details all
information collected about the community.

15. Understanding and general agreement (consensus) is the basis
for community change
• Citizens need to make informed decisions.
All individuals have the right to be heard in open discussion
whether in agreement or disagreement with community norms
• Participants in community organizations owe it to themselves
to hear and consider all ideas and opinions.

16. All citizens may participate in creating and re-creating their
community
• Young and old, rich and poor, highly educated and modestly to
uneducated individuals, and citizens of all races and cultures can
create or join a project in support of the shared community vision.
With the right of participation comes the responsibility to respect
others and their views
• Every citizen should be treated with respect and kindness.

17. Disagreement needs to be focused on issues and solutions, not on personalities
or personal or political power
• Disagreement is not a bad thing. It is a normal result of human interaction. As
thinking individuals, humans naturally have opinions and develop alternatives
based on their own life experiences, education, values, culture, and beliefs.
Trust is essential for effective working relationships and must be developed
within the community before it can reach its full potential
• Trust will only be developed if the preceding principles are practiced and
supported within the community.

18. STEPS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
 CD, is a process through which people learn how they can help
themselves.
 The cd process, is a set of steps that guide the identification of a
program of work and movement toward the ultimate cd goal.
• These steps require the involvement of community members and serve as
a guide to problem solving, planning, and completion. The steps do not
necessarily follow a sequential path. They may not follow the exact
sequence below, and some may occur concurrently. The steps are as
follows:

19. 1) Establish an organizing group
• This might be a strategic planning committee or development task force.
It could be a new, independent organization that has broad representation
from many different community organizations and includes a broad cross-
section of community leaders.
• The most successful development organizations are public–private
partnerships that involve a blend of prominent citizens, religious and
neighborhood leaders, major community stakeholders (such as major
property owners and managers of major businesses owned by external
investors), elected officials, and local business leaders.

20. 2) Create a mission statement
• This may be a mission statement for a strategic planning committee detailing
why it was formed and what they aim to accomplish. This statement is important
because it lessens the threat to and helps prevent role conflict with other
community organizations by communicating its unique mission and role.
3) Identify community stakeholders
• Stakeholders, are people, groups, or institutions which are likely to be affected
by proposed project (either negatively or positively) or those which can affect
the outcome of the project.

21. 4) Collect and analyze information
• Before beginning work, it is important to identify the current community
environment. There are many methods of conducting this environmental scan, and
many types of information that may be gathered in support of community
development. It is often useful to assemble a community profile.
5) Develop an effective communications process
• It is extremely important to keep an open line of communication with the public.
This will ensure that the process is inclusive and that activities are transparent.

22. 6) Expand the community organization
• Once an organizing group is established, additional organizations and
citizens can be involved in addressing specific problems that are of direct
interest to them. For example, an economic development subcommittee
might be created, and its membership expanded to include additional
business leaders; representatives from development boards, airport, and
port commissions; vocational educational institutions; and economic
specialists from the state or other governmental agencies.

23. 7) Create a vision statement
• As soon as the development group have identified the critical issues and
conducted a SWOT analysis, they can create a strategic vision. This
forward-looking vision statement provides guidance and direction for the
actions that will be taken to make improvements.
8) Create a comprehensive strategic plan
• After the development group have created the vision, they would like to
achieve, they begin to create a strategic plan to support the achievement
of that vision.

24. 9) Identify the leadership and establish a plan management team
• From the very beginning of the process, the CD professional needs
to identify those who will become leaders and champions of the
process when he or she leaves. These individuals may come from the
original organizing group; be the chairs of some of the committees,
subcommittees, and task forces; or come from individuals included in
the process as it expands to involve more citizens.

25. 10) Implement the plan
• When facilitating the process, the CD professional, plan management
team, and committee chairs should include some objectives with the
following characteristics
 Short time frame for implementation
 Highly visible
 Money and resources are available
 Popular with the vast majority of residents
 Low risk of failure

26. 11)Review and evaluate the planning outcomes
One key aspect of total quality management is the plan, do,
check, and adjust cycle. It is also important to realize that
planning is a dynamic process and that the plan is a living
document. Some objectives will be completed ahead of
schedule. Others will be delayed, and their time schedule must
be revised.

27. 12)Celebrate the successes
• Winning events need to be built into the planning process. In
addition to an annual report and celebration of the community’s
accomplishments, it is important to have smaller ongoing
celebrations that provide reward, recognition, and continued
motivation for volunteers and citizens.

28. 13)Create new goals and objectives as needed
• A comprehensive plan usually has several goals, each
supported by a number of objectives. It contains a multitude
of projects that will be completed at different times. Some
objectives actually lay the foundation for what must be done
done next for the community to realize its shared vision.

29. CONCLUSION
• This chapter has provided a broad overview of the practice of
community development. It has discussed community
development values and beliefs, practice principles, the steps of
community development process all these to ensure there is
outcome of development and remove challenges those might be
occurred on future.

30. REFERENCES
Pittman, R. And tanner, J. (2008), “is offshoring or farmshoring right for your
company?”,
Business xpansion journal, march: 10–11. Wall street journal (2007) “job
prospects: pain free trade spurs second thoughts,” march 28: A1.