We keep hearing that communities must become more collaborative and resilient in dealing with the problems they face. Successive crises from the global credit crunch to the coronavirus pandemic have piled on the pressure, especially in areas where people are not accustomed to or supported in pulling together to respond to social and economic challenges.
Mere rhetoric won’t change anything. No one should be under any illusion that political mantra about leaving ‘society’ to take responsibility for its own wellbeing while cutting back the state is little more than a code for letting people slide into greater insecurity and suffering.
If communities are to take on a more influential role in the future, they need to be helped in their development, and that should be guided by informed views of what works and what does not in practice. There are many important lessons to be learnt from the numerous cases of effective community-based transformation. We can look at 12 key findings under three categories:
How to achieve transformation of socioeconomic relations in communities:
[1] Substantial improvements to economic health and social cohesion can be achieved by establishing the legal and financial framework for community-based organisations to develop their assets, facilities and services to respond to local concerns.
[2] Alternative mediums of exchange such as local currencies and time banking can promote an ethos of mutual support in otherwise fragmented communities, as well as increase the overall resources that are retained in the local economy.
[3] Raising the understanding and influence communities have in relation to regeneration initiatives that affect them, can help build an informed consensus on what to prioritise and how to maximise the impact of the available resources.
[4] The development of businesses that are owned and democratically controlled by local people who work in them can, with the help of platform technology, increase the quantity and quality of income-earning opportunities.
How to achieve transformation of collaborative behaviour with communities:
[5] The distrust and misunderstanding that undermine partnership working between government bodies and community groups can be significantly reduced through the use of inclusive dialogue techniques and shared objective-setting.
[6] Community learning, backed by trained facilitators, can help people explore the real causes of the problems they face, contribute to the formulation of viable solutions, and develop confidence in joint action.
[7] Structural changes to engagement practices that empower communities to get involved as equal partners can increase participation levels, and reduce the likelihood of delays and costly mistakes damaging public projects.
[8] Replacing rigid target-setting and inflexible monitoring by adaptive planning processes and responsive evaluation can help to avoid the wrong goals being pursued, and deliver outcomes that reflect changing needs and circumstances.
How to achieve transformation of policy outcomes by communities:
[9] The co-production of public services can be strengthened by incentivising service providers through a form of preventive infrastructure to seek input from communities to improve both the public satisfaction with and financial viability of their services.
[10] The adoption of the multi-stakeholder cooperative model can radically transform the health and social care sector to enable the people who provide care and those who need it to work out the optimal service provision.
[11] Tackling food insecurity and related social problems by integrating community interests and contributions into planning and management arrangements can secure more effective outcomes and enhanced dignity for the communities concerned.
[12] Environmental challenges can be better met when communities are actively involved in awareness raising, option evaluation and selection, and impact monitoring in matters such as neighbourhood designs, energy, transport and air quality.
Anyone interested in learning more will find detailed analyses and recommendations set out in the book, Tomorrow’s Communities: lessons for community-based transformation in the age of global crises: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/tomorrows-communities
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