Community development

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Key concepts
Affinity (sociology) Collectivism and individualism Community engagement Community cohesion Community of interest Community practice Community of practice Community of place Community service Communitarianism Community politics Group cohesiveness Group (sociology) Group dynamics Imagined community Organization Prosocial behavior Sense of community Small-group communication Sobornost Social alienation Social capital Social death Social exclusion Socialization Social rejection Social support Solidarity (sociology)
Community development
Community-based management Community building Community economic development Community development planning Community organizing
See also
Outline WikiProject Community Category:Community building Category:Community development Category:Localism (politics) Join the Community community
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The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems."^[1] It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens, and professionals to improve various aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities.

Community development is also understood as a professional discipline, and is defined by the International Association for Community Development as "a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings".^[2]

Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect change within their communities. These skills are often created through the formation of social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions.

Community development as a term has taken off widely in anglophone countries, i.e. the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, as well as other countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. It is also used in some countries in Eastern Europe with active community development associations in Hungary and Romania. The Community Development Journal, published by Oxford University Press, since 1966 has aimed to be the major forum for research and dissemination of international community development theory and practice.^[3]

Community development approaches are recognised internationally. These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU. There are a number of institutions of higher education offer community development as an area of study and research such as the University of Toronto, Leiden University, SOAS University of London, and the Balsillie School of International Affairs, among others.