Community capacity building in Scottish policy
The policy context is found in the Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger Communities ( WALT) guidance. This identifies 'achievement through building community capacity' as one of the three national priorities for CLD. It describes the process as 'building community capacity and influence by enabling individuals, groups and communities to develop the confidence, understanding and skills required to influence decision making and service delivery. This could include enabling communities to provide and manage services to meet community needs.'
The role of CLD in promoting community capacity is highlighted in HGIOCLD?2, particularly within the key area of the impact of CLD on the local community.
Elsewhere, the WALT guidance links the community capacity building function to the wider purpose of CLD within community planning:
'We see community learning and development as a key tool in delivering our commitment to social justice. We want Community Planning Partnerships to target their CLD capacity to support strategies and activities aimed at closing the opportunity gap, achieving social justice and encouraging community regeneration'
'Community learning and development has an essential role to play in giving communities the confidence and skills they need to engage effectively with community planning. This will enable communities to have a real influence over the planning, delivery and quality of mainstream services, as well as specific initiatives such as those aimed at achieving community regeneration and social inclusion'
WALT makes clear that community planning partnerships are expected to target their CLD resources towards building community capacity and supporting community engagement in community planning. In particular, this is in relation to social justice targets and regeneration areas.
The importance of building community capacity has been recognised in other policy areas. For example, the Guidance on Regeneration Outcome Agreements requires partners to provide detailed evidence of 'the resources that are being directed towards supporting community engagement, including those which help to build the capacity of communities to engage.' The 'Healthy Communities: A Shared Challenge' report argues that 'much of the impact of community-led health improvement is achieved through building the capacity of people to participate in improving their own health and well-being.' It also recommends further investment in capacity-building for both the voluntary and the community health sector.