Jan 06 2011
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What communities need to deliver Big Society - CDF report
In June 2010, CDF convened an Independent Expert Panel on Community Development (CD), chaired by John Benington, Emeritus Professor at Warwick Business School.
The panel was asked to offer high-level analysis, observations and recommendations on CD management and delivery in the light of the profound social, political, environmental and economic changes facing communities, civil society and local government.
In response to the panel’s findings, CDF chief executive Alison Seabrooke issued an open letter to all those working with communities in which she highlighted the following recommendations:
- Learn from experience. The Big Society cannot just be about new activity. It must also be about learning from and building on what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
- Evidence the impact of work with communities. Demonstrating the wide-ranging and far-reaching impact of work with communities, through compelling evidence, will only become more crucial in the current economic and political context.
- Diversify funding. Community development must learn to diversify its sources and forms of support - for itself and the communities it seeks to help.
The panel’s report was launched on Monday 6 December at the House of Commons.
6 January 2011
