Learning the Lessons - Capacity Building
Sustainability | Strategic Approach | Participation | Partnership | Alignment | Capacity Building | Affordability | Transferability
‘Gaining experience and confidence so that community members can take advantage of opportunities and solve problems themselves’
One of the foundation stones for the approach adopted by Dùthchas was to assist in building the capacity of the local people to be active participants in local development. The assessment of our local staff was that we contributed to this in various ways by:
- Encouraging active participation in all parts of the work
- Enabling local people to participate in developing a ‘strategic plan’ for their area
- Building know-how as to how to carry out community surveys and planning
- Getting to know the agencies and breaking down barriers
- Enabling understanding of the roles, remits and statutory responsibilities of agencies
- Familiarising people with the ‘language’ used by agencies and expert bodies
- Building connections with ‘experts’, communities and initiatives across Europe
- Raising the profile of the Pilot Areas and their issues with policy makers across Scotland
- Experiencing that by working together and speaking with one voice, local people can wield power with policy makers and make things happen
In the course of our work we identified the following capacity building needs of local communities:
- Framing the issues for community and group action
- Knowing where a community can apply leverage
- Asking the right questions
- Developing shared vision
- Asking the right questions
- Programme development and evaluation
- Strategic planning
- Developing outcomes and indicators of progress
- Mobilising resources and getting work done
- Evaluating and translating learning into policy
- Developing outcomes and indicators of progress
- Gathering and managing financial resources
- Fundraising and development of financial resources
- Budgeting and financial management
- Budgeting and financial management
- Working together
- Listening to one another
- Sharing ideas, facts, experiences and feelings
- Facilitation skills
- Decision making and consensus building
- Managing conflict to move towards shared interests
- Valuing diversity and community involvement
- Volunteer recruitment and management
- Team building
- Leadership development and delegation
- Sharing ideas, facts, experiences and feelings
- Learning together
- Research skills
- Team learning and action research
- Organisational development
- Learning from other communities
- Team learning and action research
- Tapping the resources of others
- People and organisations within the community
- Partnerships with agencies and others
- Links to educational resources
- Working with the media
- Partnerships with agencies and others
