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What forms the basis of what we do? 

We believe in growing a community of community workers, because we are stronger together when we work alongside each other, and with our communities and neighbourhoods to build vibrant communities.

We are excited to share what we have learn about the “How-To’s of community work. As community workers, many of us know the desired states and outcomes we wish to work towards (e.g. community self-organising), but struggle with the process of how to reach there. Our focus is to support on the process design of community work, as we take small steps to reach our outcomes for increased participation and contribution of marginalised groups in their communities.

We base our work on a growing framework on building thriving, vibrant and connected communities. Community development is highly contextual across communities and neighbourhoods. We believe there is beauty in being present with the people you meet and creatively applying the community development principles and values to engage them. Here are some frameworks that have offered us great insights. It is not meant to be exhaustive but a starting point to build learning communities among community workers.

If you work in the community, and you are looking to exchange insights with other community workers in Singapore, we are happy to share and co-create together. We offer experiential training as well as reflective consulting and conduct qualitative inquiries and research to further our practice.

1. Asset Based Community Development Work 

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) describes a type of citizen-led, asset-based, place-based, relationship-oriented, and inclusion-focused development process based on works of John P. Kretzmann and John McKnight.

 

Further readings:

Introduction to “Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets,”by John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight

Nurture Development

Tamarack Institute

2. Peter Block Community Work Theories 

Building communities where people experience a sense of belonging starts from intentional conversations that build relatedness, creates communal accountability and commitment, and open up space for an alternative future. There are six important community conversations: Invitation, Possibility, Ownership, Dissent, Commitment, and Gifts. Physical space is also decisive and can be designed to encourage interactions and communal intimacy.

 

Further readings:

Community: The Structure of Belonging

3. Theories of Group Dynamics   

Hosting conversations and working with groups form part of the basis of community development work. Communities and groups are constantly evolving and knowing the stages of group development and understanding how to work with group dynamics will help greatly with the process of community building.

 

Tuckman Model of Group Development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning

Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2012). An Introduction to Group Work Practice (7th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.

Scott Peck 4 Stages of Community Building: Pseudo-Community, Chaos, Emptiness, Community

4. Reflexive Practice

Our practice is shaped by our values, biases, and the lens we use to view the world. Reflexive practice helps community workers become more aware of our underlying assumptions, stances and paradigms and their influence on how we work with communities. Through a reflexive process, we can reflect on how our social identities shape our being and practice and explore our prejudices, bias, power, and privilege. Understanding our use of self can make us more congruent when we work alongside communities.

 

Shea, S. E. (2019). Field Note—Engaging Social Work Interns in Reflective Practice: A Specialized Training Series for Field Instructors. Journal of Social Work Education, 56(1), 193–200.