International Community Development Practice

International Community Development Practice provides readers with practice-based examples of good community development, demonstrating its value for strengthening people power and improving the effectiveness of development agencies, whether these be governmental, non-governmental or private sector. The chapters focus upon the making of the community development profession and the eight core competences required of the professional practitioner, as outlined by the International Association for Community Development (IACD), whatever their job title or host agency, in order to be able to undertake community development. These are concerned with the ability of the practitioner to:

• Put ethics and values into practice
• Engage with communities
• Ensure participatory planning
• Organize for change
• Support learning for change
• Promote diversity and inclusion
• Build leadership and infrastructure
• Develop and improve policy and practice

From a policy perspective, the book will reassert the role of community development approaches as related to a wide variety of global challenges, including poverty amelioration, climate change, human rights, peace building and social, environmental, political and economic development. From a practice perspective, the book will reassert the importance of high levels of professional competence building upon decades of experience in the field around the world by development practitioners working in community work, social work, health, adult education, environmental protection, local economic development, urban design, cultural work and other disciplines concerned to support effective community development.

Charlie McConnell is a past President of IACD. He has been involved with community development for nearly five decades and has been one of the leading advocates for greater professionalization within the field nationally and internationally. He was the chair of the world’s first national standards setting body and chaired the IACD working group that produced the International Standards for Community Development Practice. He has held director/CEO posts in government agencies, foundations and higher education. His publications include The Making of an Empowering Profession (3rd edition 2002).

Daniel Muia is a Sub Saharan Director of IACD and a member of the IACD Training, Publications and Professional Development Committee. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Kenyatta University, Kenya. He has published journal articles and book chapters on community empowerment processes. He is the Chair of the Association of Community Development Practitioners, Kenya and chaired the 2021 World Community Development Conference.

Anna Clarke is the President of IACD and a Director for Europe. She is Director for Communities at Prospect Awards, a community development learning social enterprise in Northern Ireland. She also contributes to the community development degree at Ulster University. She co-authored the 2009 and 2015 UK Standards for Community Development, authored the Guide on Using Community Development Standards (2011) and was a co-author of the International Standards for Community Development Practice (2018).