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Community development worker: Job description and activities

Job description

A community development worker works with particular communities in order to collectively bring about social change and improve quality of life. They work with individuals, families or whole communities to empower them to:

• identify their needs, opportunities, rights and responsibilities;
• plan what they want to achieve, and take appropriate action;
• develop activities and services to improve their lives.

Community development workers often act as a link between communities and local government and other statutory bodies. They are frequently involved in addressing inequalities, and projects often target communities perceived to be disadvantaged, for example due to race, economic circumstances or geography.

Typical work activities

Community development work seeks to engage communities actively in making sense of the issues which affect their lives, setting goals for improvement and taking action through empowerment and participative processes. A good deal of the work is project-based, which means that community development workers usually have a specific geographical community or social group they focus on.

Tasks typically involve:

• identifying community issues, needs and problems;
• developing new community-based programmes and resources;
• evaluating and monitoring existing programmes;
• enlisting the cooperation of government bodies, community organisations and sponsors;
• helping to raise public awareness on issues relevant to the community;
• providing leadership and coordination of programmes;
• acting as facilitator to promote self-help in the community;
• preparing reports and policies;
• networking to build contacts and fundraising;
• developing and agreeing to strategies;
• liaising with interested groups and individuals to set up new services;
• mediating between opposing parties;
• recruiting and training paid as well as voluntary staff;
• planning, attending and coordinating meetings and events;
• overseeing the financial management of a limited budget;
• encouraging participation in activities;
• challenging inappropriate behaviour and political structures;
• administrative work.

Community work can be generic or specialised. Generic community work takes place in a given geographical area, focusing on working with the community to identify their needs and issues, formulating strategies and developing services to address those issues. The setting is either urban or rural, with rural community development work increasingly attracting attention in recent years. Specialised community work focuses on either specific groups within a region (such as the homeless, the long-term unemployed, families with young children or ethnic minorities) or on particular concerns (such as public transport, mental health or drugs action).

AGCAS

Written by Paul Gaunt, Liverpool Hope University

Last updated:

December 2008

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