Capacity Building
Capacity building can assist community participants, individually and collectively, to build confidence through a process of sharing knowledge and skills, solving problems and achieving goals
The term capacity building has been bandied around for many years. It is succinctly described by Ann Philbin as “the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in the fast-changing world." (Philbin:1996).
Capacity building can assist community participants, individually and collectively, to build confidence through a process of sharing knowledge and skills, solving problems and achieving goals. Some of the tools to enable this to happen are:
- civic or participatory dialogue;
- community cultural development activity; and
-
building social capital through networking and collaboration.
Civic or participatory dialogue – a process that allows participants to engage fully and discuss an issue and be heard. This demands good facilitation to resolve underlying issues and to keep the process on track.
Community cultural development (CCD) – a process that uses cultural tools, for example, sculpture, painting, video making, storytelling, performance, theatre, photography… and many more… to engage community participants and allow them to explore community or social issues in a creative way.
Community participants are encouraged to drive the process or activity, facilitated by a CCD artsworker. By developing skills in a particular area and achieving targeted outcomes (the resulting exhibition, performance, event) participants gain a sense of accomplishment and develop confidence. This increased capacity will make them more inclined to initiate further activity.
The CCD process puts the community at the centre, not the artsworker. The CCD artsworker is a gentle guide, who is able to step further into the background as the participants gain skills, confidence and feel enabled to tackle more project responsibility.
The process honours participants’ abilities to have control over their lives, make collective decisions and work in an environment that is respectful of all people regardless of ability, age, race, religion, social circumstances or sexual preference.
The building of social capital - we are more used to talking about ‘social fabric’. Using the language of ‘capital’ we put this outcome of cultural activity on a par with financial, physical and human capital.
This gives it status in an economic rationalist world view - http://www.mapl.com.au/socialcapital/soccap1.htm
In Australia Eva Cox generated considerable discussion of social capital through her 1995 Boyer Lectures. In the Boyer Lectures she said: ‘There are four major capital measures, one of which takes up far too much policy time and space at present. This is financial capital. Physical capital makes it onto the agenda because of the environmental movement. So there are fierce debates on trees, water, coal and what constitutes sustainable development. We occasionally mention human capital - the total of our skills and knowledge but rarely count its loss in unemployment.'
There has been too little attention paid to social capital . . . Social capital refers to the processes between people which establish networks, norms, social trust and facilitate co-ordination and co-operation for mutual benefit.
These processes are also known as social fabric or glue, but I am deliberately using the term 'capital' because it invests the concept with the reflected status from other forms of capital. Social capital is also appropriate because it can be measured and quantified so we can distribute its benefits and avoid its losses . . .
Social capital should be the pre-eminent and most valued form of any capital as it provides the basis on which we build a truly civil society. Without our social bases we cannot be fully human. Social capital is as vital as language for human society’.
Resources
- Cavaye Community Development is a leading provider of training, facilitation, analysis and support that helps people sustain and build their community - www.communitydevelopment.com.au
- For articles on rural and regional development - www.communitydevelopment.com.au/publications.htm
- Community capacity building. A Paper by Sue McGinty, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, James Cook University, Townsville QLD - www.aare.edu.au/02pap/mcg02476.htm