Evaluating community capacity: Visual representation and interpretation

The purpose of this paper is to provide an interpretation ofprogramme experiences in the visual representation of strategiesused to build community capacity. The paper first discussesthe definition of community capacity in a programme contextand describes different approaches for the visual representationof the evaluation of community capacity. What is new about thispaper is that it provides a discussion about the interpretationof community capacity and in particular the use of the spiderweb configuration (so called because of the shape it resembles).This is illustrated by three examples taken from two differentcommunity development programmes, the first of which is in Fijiand the second in Kyrgyzstan. The paper concludes with a discussionabout the implications for the community development practiceof using visual representations of community capacity, includingthe difficulties, for example, of mapping changes in communitycapacities over time, and the benefits, for example, of promotinga free flow of information between stakeholders. The paper willassist practitioners to better plan for, evaluate and visuallyrepresent the findings of strategies used to build communitycapacity in community development programmes.     

Using a 'domains' approach to build community empowerment

This paper provides two case study examples of how communityempowerment can be better conceptualized, planned and appliedwithin a programme context by using a ‘domains’approach. What is new about this approach is that it does notstart with a blank slate onto which participants inscribe theirown problems or needs but provides a predetermined focus througheach of nine ‘empowerment domains’: Improves participation;Develops local leadership; Increases problem assessment capacities;Enhances the ability to ‘ask why’; Builds empoweringorganizational structures; Improves resource mobilization; Strengthenslinks to other organizations and people; Creates an equitablerelationship with outside agents; and Increases control overprogramme management. The importance to community developmentpractice is that the approach provides a more systematic meansfor community empowerment in a programme context.