Community development brings people together. This role requires selfless individuals who are passionate about assisting others
As a community development worker, you'll help communities to bring about social change and improve the quality of life in their local area. You might work with
Community development brings people together. This role requires selfless individuals who are passionate about assisting others
As a community development worker, you'll help communities to bring about social change and improve the quality of life in their local area. You might work with individuals, families or whole communities, empowering them to:
- identify their assets, needs, opportunities, rights and responsibilities
- plan what they want to achieve and take appropriate action
- develop activities and services to generate aspiration and confidence.
Community development workers act as the link between communities and a range of other local authority and voluntary sector providers, such as the police, social workers and teachers.
You'll frequently be involved in addressing inequality. Projects often target communities perceived to be culturally, economically or geographically disadvantaged.
Community development work seeks to actively engage communities in making sense of the issues which affect their lives, setting goals for improvement and responding to problems and needs through empowerment and active participation.
A good deal of the work is project based, which means you'll usually have a specific geographical community or social group to focus on.
Tasks often involve:
- identifying community skills, assets, issues and needs
- ensuring that local people have their say
- developing new resources in dialogue with the community and evaluating existing programmes
- building links with other groups and agencies
- helping to raise public awareness on issues relevant to the community
- preparing reports and policies
- raising and managing funds
- developing and implementing strategies
- liaising with interested groups and individuals to set up new services
- mediating in matters of conflict
- recruiting and training paid and voluntary staff
- planning, attending and coordinating meetings and events
- overseeing the management of a limited budget
- encouraging participation in activities
- challenging inappropriate behaviour
- general administrative duties.
Community work can be generic or specialised. Generic community work takes place in a particular geographical area, focusing on working with the community to identify their needs and issues, and formulating strategies to address those issues. The setting is either urban or rural, with rural community development work increasingly attracting attention.
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:
- mental health
- public transport
- tackling drug abuse.
- Starting salaries fall between £15,500 and £26,000.
- Salaries for those with two or more years' experience can reach £21,000 to £36,000.
For public sector posts, there are national pay scales and sometimes an allowance is awarded as compensation for unsocial hours.
In the voluntary sector, pay varies considerably and often depends on experience and location.
Income figures are intended as a guide only.
Each working day will vary depending on your scheduled activities for that week. You need to be accessible to the communities you serve. This means the work will often include unsocial hours, such as evenings and weekends, so considerable flexibility is required.
Part-time, temporary work and career breaks are possible. Short-term contracts are common, due to the nature of funding within the sector.
What to expect
- Community development workers often have an office base but spend much of their time out and about in the community, visiting local people and groups and attending meetings.
- Self-employment or freelance work is sometimes possible, working as a trainer or consultant.
- The work is usually either urban or rural based, and conditions vary according to the nature and location of the project and funding. Large towns and inner city areas with recognised social deprivation are more likely to receive sustained funding. However, the number of rural community development workers is steadily increasing as recognition of social issues affecting rural communities grows.
- Coping with social disadvantage and disaffected members of the community can be stressful.
- There is frequent contact with individuals, agencies and groups in the community. Therefore, travel within a working day is to be expected. Absence from home overnight is unlikely but may be required on occasion. Depending on the employer, it may be possible to travel overseas.
Although this area of work is open to all graduates and those with any HND, a qualification in a social sciences subject may improve your chances.
Entry without a degree or HND is possible, although career development is more restricted. A degree in any subject will be an advantage in gaining higher-level posts. In community development, relevant experience is far more important than the subject area studied.
A variety of vocational college or work-based training courses and undergraduate and postgraduate university courses are available throughout the UK.
Before being allowed to work directly with children or vulnerable adults, employees in England and Wales will be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
For some positions, postgraduate qualifications are essential in order to progress to more senior-level positions. This is particularly true in generic community work. A variety of full-time and part-time courses are available, with some open to those with an HND. One or two years' relevant experience is usually required.
Community development is often linked to youth work and many training courses will reflect this. Youth work is more spec