Cohesion and Community Development
Community development has always been concerned with helping communities to work together more effectively and to identify common concerns.
Cohesion strategies are about finding ways for people to co-operate despite their differences, while diversity is about respecting those differences and making sure that they are not used as the basis for unfair discrimination.
Policy agenda
There can be a lot of confusion around how these terms are used in policy and how they relate to notions of equality and inclusion.
CDF continues to raise the issues of cohesion and diversity to help policy makers understand how community development values and methods can help them to:
- achieve stronger community participation in their strategies
- tackle discrimination and divisions within and between communities, and
- improve equality of opportunity and inclusion of disadvantaged groups.
Highlights of CDF’s recent work on Cohesion
Commission on Integration and Cohesion
CDF made three submissions to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion's consultation. CDF's Projects Directorate (responsible for grant administration of the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund (FCCBF) and Connecting Communities Plus, Community Grants) submitted two and the other submission came from the organisation as a whole.
Community development and its critical role in enabling communities to work together was subsequently championed by the Commission in its final report, Our Shared Future.
CDF has now published its response to the Commission's report. To read this, click here.
CDF’s Policy Positions
This year, CDF worked to set out its position in relation to both cohesion policy and faith and community development. Our policy position papers have served as anchors for the organisation's position and have been used invarious discussions with partner organisations, including the Commission on Integration and Cohesion.
To read CDF's policy statement on cohesion, click here.
To read CDF's policy statement on Faith, click here.
Briefing papers on single identity funding and community spaces are now available for free download. Much of the evidence is based on findings from CDF's grant programmes.
Improving mental health services for BME users
Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care (DRE) is an action plan from the Department of Health for achieving equality and tackling discrimination in mental health services in England for all people of Black and minority ethnic (BME) status, including those of Irish or Mediterranean origin and east European migrants. CDF contributed guidelines for Community Development Workers and made a number of presentations to NHS bodies in the South West region on what community development meant in relation to the DRE. Some mentoring support was offered to Community Development Workers and their regional network through the South West’s Services Improvement Partnerships.
Review of Civic Pioneers Project
In 2006-2007, CDF undertook a review of Civic Pioneers on behalf of the Communities and Local Government (CLG). Between October 2005 and June 2006, 18 projects were funded in 13 authority areas. CDF, with our associates, Resources for Change, reviewed these projects in summer 2006.
Integration: If not now, then when? - the community development approach
CDF's National Conference was held in March 2007. The conference was supported by the Black History Foundation, The Commission for Racial Equality, IDeA, The Institute of Community Cohesion and The Inter Faith Network for the UK.
Its aim was to bring a wide range of perspectives and experiences together to discuss what integration means for communities while promoting community development's contribution to building community relations and tackling tensions. For more details, click here.
Finding a Voice
CDF in partnership with Capacity Global and the West Indian Standing Conference organised a one day seminar in October 2006 to bring together leaders from the African and African-Caribbean Communities to discuss approaches to community cohesion and co-operation. For more details,click here.
Contact
Alison Gilchrist, Director, Practice Development
Alice Wilcock, Director, Policy