Identity-Based Community Development

What are the challenges facing minority ethnolinguistic communities today?
What does sustainable development mean for these communities?
How can communities maintain their own unique characteristics while engaging with the challenges and opportunities presented by globalisation?
How can I be involved in this process in a positive way?
Is there really a need for a ‘new’ approach to community development?

Signposts to Identity-Based Community Development (IBCD), is a practitioners guide that has resulted from discussions held at LEAD community of practice (CoP) events over the last few years. During an event in March 2013, practitioners and members of ethnolinguistic minority communities highlighted the following core values as foundational for Identity-Based Community Development:

• The need to deal with the complexity of cultural change in an increasingly globalized world,

• The importance of people’s identity and the need to address the concept of marred identity,

• The need to start with what people in the community know and do, and to build appreciatively from there,

• The need to help communities make new choices as a result of new opportunities and new threats,

• The need to start with ourselves (whoever we are) and build our own capacity in working across cultures,

• The need for us to be better learners, to proactively implement changes in the way we work based on the new information we receive, and

• The need for practitioners to have greater awareness about the importance of the environment and a sense of place for ethnolinguistic groups.

The resulting guide explores the approaches that are already being used in Identity-Based Community Development and we encourage you to try them in your own context. As you do so, we would love to hear how things work out, and to continue to refine the ideas around Identity-Based Community Development. Sign up to join the online community of practice or email any comments to the authors directly.

To download the full guide and the summary document just click on the images below.