A key defining feature of successful and sustainable communities is a clearly articulated sense of purpose. This is crucial in helping community members to identify who they are and what their communities are seeking to achieve. Likewise regions – composed of multiple communities – need to exhibit a clear sense of purpose if they are to function as supportive and transformative frameworks for community development rather than merely as geographical boundaries. This chapter explores the vital nexus between communities and regions by elaborating notions of community capacity-building distilled from several disciplines. Similarly, examples of effective contemporary capacity-building clustered around this nexus are analysed from diverse national perspectives. The authors argue that regionally focused approaches to community capacity-building are often successful in their own right, particularly if they are based on clearly enunciated principles, as well as contributing powerfully to national and global citizenship.
- A purposeful community: the region as a focus for community capacity building
- Glen David PostlePatrick Alan Danaher
- Glen David PostleLorelle Jane BurtonPatrick Alan Danaher
- Community capacity building: lessons from adult learning in Australia, pp.226-243
- NIACE
- 9912265410161
- School of Education
- English
- Book chapter