Measuring Community Capacity Building: Aspen Institute Rural Economic Policy Program, Exercises of Economic policy

Download Measuring Community Capacity Building: Aspen Institute Rural Economic Policy Program and more Exercises Economic policy in PDF only on Docsity!

T O O L S F O R P R A C T I C E

The Aspen Institute Rural Economic Policy Program

A W o r k b o o k - i n - P r o g r e s s f o r

R u r a l C o m m u n i t i e s

V E R S I O N 3 - 9 6

M E A S U R I N G

C O M M U N I T Y C A P A C I T Y B U I L D I N G

• Preface. What is this workbook? ....................................................................................PREFACE— TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
  • Do you need this workbook? .....................................................................................................................PREFACE—
  • What is in this workbook? ..........................................................................................................................PREFACE—
  • Which communities need to build their capacity? .................................................................................PREFACE—
  • Why is it important to measure community capacity building? ...........................................................PREFACE—
  • Where did this workbook come from?......................................................................................................PREFACE—
  • What do you think?......................................................................................................................................PREFACE—
• Introduction. Measuring community capacity building ..................................INTRODUCTION—
  • What is community capacity building? .......................................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • So what is community capacity? .........................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • How is community capacity built? .......................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
    • Figure: What does a “healthy” community look like? ....................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • Why should we care about community capacity building? ...............................................INTRODUCTION—
  • The Rural Development Triangle................................................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
    • Figure: Rural Development Triangle ............................................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • How do we know community capacity building when we see it? .................................INTRODUCTION—
  • Measuring community capacity building: A basic vocabulary..........................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • So how do we know community capacity building when we see it?................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • Community capacity building? ................................................................................................INTRODUCTION— How can this workbook help us measure
  • How are the outcome sections organized? ....................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • What types of measures are listed? ...............................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
    • Figure: Community capacity building: Eight outcomes ..........................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • Warning: Don’t overdo!......................................................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
  • Seven steps for getting started........................................................................................................INTRODUCTION—
• Outcome 1. Expanding, diverse, inclusive citizen participation.....................OUTCOME 1—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 1—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 1—
  • Sub-subindicators page .........................................................................................................................OUTCOME 1—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 1—
  • Measures pages.....................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 1—
• Outcome 2. Expanding leadership base ...........................................................................OUTCOME 2—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 2—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 2— C O N T E N T S M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6  A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M
  • Sub-subindicators page .........................................................................................................................OUTCOME 2—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 2—
  • Measures pages.....................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 2—
• Outcome 3. Strengthened individual skills.....................................................................OUTCOME 3—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 3—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 3—
  • Sub-subindicators page .........................................................................................................................OUTCOME 3—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 3—
  • Measures pages.....................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 3—
• Outcome 4. Widely shared understanding and vision .............................................OUTCOME 4—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 4—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 4—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 4—
  • Measures pages.......................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 4—
• Outcome 5. Strategic community agenda .......................................................................OUTCOME 5—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 5—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 5—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 5—
  • Measures pages.......................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 5—
• Outcome 6. Consistent, tangible progress toward goals .....................................OUTCOME 6—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 6—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 6—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 6—
  • Measures pages.......................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 6—
• Outcome 7. More effective community organizations & institutions ..............OUTCOME 7—
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 7—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 7—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 7—
  • Measures pages.......................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 7—
• Outcome 8. Better use of resources by the community .......................................OUTCOME 8— A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M  M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6 C O N T E N T S
  • Indicators page ........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 8—
  • Subindicators page .................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 8—
  • Summary page .........................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 8—
  • Measures pages.......................................................................................................................................OUTCOME 8—
• Afterword. Go forward—and give us feedback!....................................................AFTERWORD—

A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M  M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6 P R E FA C E

P R E F A C E

What is this workbook?

Do you need this workbook?

This is a workbook for community leaders and citizens who want to:

 Improve the ability of individuals, organizations, businesses and government in their com- munity to come together, learn, make well-reasoned decisions about the community’s pre- sent and future, and work together to carry out those decisions—that is, to build their com- munity’s capacity.

 Find ways to set goals as they do this work, make sure they are actually moving toward these goals, and celebrate their progress.

What is in this workbook?

This workbook can be used by groups of citizens, working either alone or assistance, to help identify:

 What is community capacity building?

 Why should we care about community capacity building?

 How do we know community capacity building when we see it?

 How can we measure—and celebrate—our community’s growing capacity as we build it?

Which communities need to build their capacity?

Every rural community that is trying to change its current condition starts from a different place, with different problems and different opportunities. For example:

 FULL-TILT COMMUNITIES. Some rural communities know exactly what they want—better jobs, growing businesses, a healthier environment, a new town hall, higher quality schools,

P R E FA C E M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6  A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M

or simply for their children to have a real option to grow up and stay (employed) in the community. But they don’t know enough—or disagree—about the best way to get there. Or the same few folks do all the work, and they are getting tired.

 GRIDLOCK COMMUNITIES. Other rural communities make no decisions over many years because of stubborn, divisive, long-standing fights between opposed “camps” over what to do—how land is being used, whether more “development” is the answer or the problem, who should make the decisions, and the like.

 TROJAN HORSE COMMUNITIES. Some rural communities that seem prosperous are actu- ally threatened by too much change too quickly—or by the lack of change. Perhaps an avalanche of rich, newcomer, part-time residents suddenly have too much local influence. Or maybe the local “old guard” establishment refuses to identify or tap the potential talents and contributions of younger, low-income or minority residents in determining the com- munity’s future.

 GHOST TOWN COMMUNITIES. Still other rural communities have given up trying to do anything because too many jobs and people have left, local energy is sapped, and nobody seems to care.

No matter if your community is on this list or if you have some other situation that frus- trates your ability to keep going, you have a community capacity problem. You can only bene- fit if you work to build your community’s capacity.

Why is it important to measure community capacity building?

This is important because when citizens work together to improve their community, it may take a lot of groundwork before you see any tangible results from your decisions. A lot of the steps that your citizens and organizations might take to build capacity take time, and may seem “fuzzy” and intangible to you, to other citizens in the community—and to the outside world.

And unless you can see and feel progress, folks in your community—and the people out- side whom you ask to support you—may give up.

We think that the best thing this workbook has to offer is a “menu” of actual measures that groups of citizens can choose from to gauge their progress as they build their community’s ca- pacity.

A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M  M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6 I N T R O D U C T I O N

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Measuring community

capacity building

W h a t i s c o m m u n i t y c a p a c i t y b u i l d i n g? *.

People live in communities. But the real importance of “living in community” is that people— and groups of people—develop the ways and means to care for each other, to nurture the tal- ents and leadership that enhance the quality of community life, and to tackle the problems that threaten the community and the opportunities that can help it.

When people do these things, communities become healthy; when they do not, communi- ties deteriorate. Communities that have the ways and means to undertake challenges demon- strate “capacity.”

Without capacity, communities are merely collections of individuals acting without con- cern for the common good; they are without the necessary ingredients required to develop a healthier community. Communities without capacity really are not communities in any mean- ingful sense, but have given way to negative conditions like apathy, poverty or ineptitude. (See “What does a “healthy” community look like?” on page 3 of this section.)

So what is community capacity?

Community capacity is the combined influence of a community’s commitment, resources and skills that can be deployed to build on community strengths and address community prob- lems and opportunities.

 COMMITMENT refers to the communitywide will to act, based on a shared awareness of prob- lems, opportunities and workable solutions. It refers also to heightened support in key sectors of the community to address opportunities, solve problems and strengthen community responses.

*We want to gratefully acknowledge two excellent sources for much of the material in this section. To define community capacity building, we drew heavily from the fine Chapter One of Building Community Capacity: The Potential of Community Foundations, by Steven E. Mayer (Minneapolis: Rainbow Research, Inc. 1994). The Healthy/Unhealthy table in this section was developed by Bruce Adams, author of Building Healthy Communities (Charlottesville: Pew Partnership for Civic Change. 1995). Each is used and adapted with permission.

A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M  M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6 I N T R O D U C T I O N

W H AT D O E S A “ H E A LT H Y ” C O M M U N I T Y L O O K L I K E?

Another way to picture commu- nity capacity is to think about what a healthy community looks like. Most people think of a place’s physical beauty or their standard of living when they are asked “Is your community healthy?” In your mind, you might see a refurbished main street, a new river walk or a cleaned-up park; or you might think of some growing busi- nesses, new stores, or a a neigh- bor who just got a pay raise.

These are important signs. But they are signs of what hap- pens if—and after—a healthy community makes good deci- sions. What are the signs that a community can do this? These signs are harder to picture.

To get to a common under- standing of what it means to build a healthy community and what it means to undermine a healthy community, one civic ac- tivist recently painted another kind of picture, by making his own list of the contrasts between the attributes of a healthy and unhealthy community.

Healthy Unhealthy

optimism cynicism focus on unification focus on division “We’re in this together.” “Not in my backyard!” solving problems solution wars reconciliation hold grudges consensus building polarization broad public interests narrow interests interdependence parochialism collaboration confrontation win-win solutions win-lose solutions tolerance and respect mean-spiritedness trust questioning motives patience frustration politics of substance politics of personality empowered citizens apathetic citizens diversity exclusion citizenship selfishness challenge ideas challenge people problem-solvers blockers & blamers individual responsibility me-first listening attacking healers dividers community discussions zinger one-liners focus on future redebate the past sharing power hoarding power renewal gridlock “We can do it!” “Nothing works.”

The challenge for a community group or institution struggling to gain more capacity is to develop its own commitment, resources and skills. The challenge for those outside that partic- ular group—but wishing to help—is to create opportunities appropriate for that group that can help it grow in capacity.

W h y s h o u l d w e c a r e a b o u t c o m m u n i t y c a p a c i t y b u i l d i n g?.

Several years back, Harry Martin, a leader of the Community Development Foundation in Tupelo, Mississippi—a town that sits at the heart of one of the best-known turnaround regions in the South—said it all. “Community development,” he declared, “must precede economic de- velopment.”

Those who know the Tupelo story know that when Harry used the words, “community development,” he was talking for the most part about what we have been calling community capacity building. In fact, for more than 50 years, Tupelo and its surrounding rural Lee County have purposefully sought and built a growing commitment from organizations, businesses and individuals to contribute to the community; have expanded, extended and leveraged the re- sources available to invest in the community; and have invested heavily in increasing the quantity and quality of skill of the region’s citizens devoted to the effort.

Harry’s basic point is that if Tupelo had not focused on building its community capacity, it would not have succeeded in building its economy. That, in short, is why it is worth caring about community capacity building.

The Rural Development Triangle

Actually, we think that capacity building forms the base for more than just economic develop- ment. Solid community capacity also offers a foundation for making good decisions about the stewardship of a region’s natural, human and cultural resources, so that its way of life can be maintained and improved over time.

The Rural Development Triangle pictured on the facing page shows these three important components of rural development, and how they relate to each other.

 COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING. As we will describe in even more detail in the next section, the purpose of community capacity building is to enable people in a community to work together, make well-considered and collaborative decisions, develop a vision and

I N T R O D U C T I O N M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6  A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M

strategy for the future, and act over time to make these real—all while tapping and building the individual skills and abilities of a ever-increasing quantity and diversity of participants and organizations within the community.

Community capacity building efforts can encompass a wide range of activities , from for- mal leadership development efforts to community-wide strategic planning to a wide vari- ety of less formal activities that build trust and camaraderie among citizens—like church socials, girl and boy scouts, volunteer community clean-ups, or regular chamber of com- merce breakfasts.

Community capacity building forms the base of the Rural Development Triangle because the better a community’s capacity, the better the decisions a community makes about its economic development or stewardship choices—and the better the community is at turn- ing those decisions into effective action.

 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Too often, people think that “rural development” means noth- ing but “economic development.” This misguided thinking drives the traditional view about how to build rural economies that has dominated the last half century: Rely on the ready availability of natural resources, low labor costs, and lax taxes and regulations to recruit businesses to rural areas. This approach has helped some rural areas, if only temporarily, but has left others scarred economically, socially and environmentally.

In recent years, as the economy has gone global, as the methods and technology of work have changed, and as natural resources have become more scarce and more highly prized as contributors to our quality of life, new choices for rural development have emerged. They center on growing entrepreneurs from within the community. They base business development strategy on the existing core competencies of resident people and firms—in other words, trying to take advantage of and strengthen what they are already good at. And they focus on finding and pursuing the market opportunities—that is, places to sell their existing products and skills, new ways to sell them, and ideas for developing new products and skills—that complement these core competencies.

 STEWARDSHIP. A community must steward its natural resources and way of life—and nur- ture its culture and people—if development is to be maintained at a healthy and sustain- able level over time.

Economic development typically produces growth. Growth, however, is not always good. Sometimes it can cure what ails you; when children grow taller and stronger, they feel they can do new and better things. Other times, growth can just make a bad situation worse, like when we become overweight. For many communities, as for most people, there is a

I N T R O D U C T I O N M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6  A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M

“right size” beyond which growth will take over the way of life, deplete resources and change the standard of living of many residents—some for the better, some for the worse.

In short, economic development and stewardship are somewhat in tension, and a com- munity that focuses on either extreme—growth at any cost versus a knee-jerk resistance to any change—will not serve residents well.

Community stewardship is made possible when rural citizens acknowledge the value of their resources and engage in civic dialogue to determine, as a community, how and which resources should be developed or preserved. Typically, dialogue and action comes when it is far too late, when unplanned development has destroyed the amenities that residents most appreciate, often the very natural and cultural resources that have the most value for the community’s long-term viability and vitality.

In general, we are coming to believe that rural leaders and communities must attend to each side of the Rural Development Triangle if they wish to achieve healthy, sustainable devel- opment, and that there is an advantage to addressing the three areas simultaneously. Nonetheless, paying attention to the base—that is, community capacity building—can only strengthen a community’s future economic development and stewardship efforts.

H o w d o w e k n o w c o m m u n i t y c a p a c i t y b u i l d i n g w h e n w e s e e i t?.

Now we get to the main questions this workbook is meant to help answer: If community ca-

pacity building is so important,

 How do we know it when we see it?

 How can we measure our progress in capacity building?

Over the past two years, the group of people in the Community Capacity-Building Learning

Cluster (we mentioned this group on page 3 of the Preface, and our names are listed at the

back of this workbook) have been learning from each other and from experts about how to

measure things like capacity building—things that seem “soft and fuzzy” and unmeasurable

when you talk about them, but which really are quite important.

Measuring a community’s capacity is sort of like trying to measure a person’s “quality of

life”—it can be very intangible, and very subjective. Some busy, rich and famous people may

A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M  M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6 I N T R O D U C T I O N

you must take—or one condition you must have in good order—if you want to claim that an outcome has been attained.

Let’s push our earlier example: One indicator of good health could be weight.

➥IN THIS WORKBOOK: We have identified a varying number of indicators for each of the eight outcomes of community capacity building. Sometimes there are one or two tiers of subindicators as well. You will find all the indicators and subindicators pictured in the dia- grams and listed in the eight individual sections—one for each outcome—that follow.

 MEASURE

A measure is the actual bean-counting, or some kind of analysis you must do in order to measure an indicator. A measure should always start with words like “Number of,” “Presence of,” “Quality of”—something that signals that you have counted or evaluated what you are measuring.

To complete our example, here are a few ideas about how you could measure a person’s weight to determine whether or not they are in good health: number of pounds you weigh, percent gain in pounds in the last 12 months, number of pounds over or under the aver- age weight for your height.

➥IN THIS WORKBOOK: In each of the eight outcome sections that follow, we offer you lists of possible measures for each indicator and subindicator of each of the eight outcomes. Some of these measures merely require you to count things; others may require more effort, like judg- ing the quality of some service you receive, or doing a bit of research by looking some facts up.

We have also left spaces for you to come up with your own ideas for measures. But please share them with us so that we may add them to future editions of this workbook! You’ll find a GIVE US FEEDBACK section at the end of the workbook that makes it easy to do just that.

So how do we know community capacity building when we see it?

The bottom line for community capacity building is its outcomes. The work we do when we

try to build our community’s capacity, we believe, happens when we are succeeding at helping

our community get better at one or more of these eight outcomes. Turn the page, then, to see

what the outcomes of community capacity building are.

A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M  M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6 I N T R O D U C T I O N

H o w c a n t h i s w o r k b o o k h e l p u s m e a s u r e c o m m u n i t y c a p a c i t y b u i l d i n g?.

How are the outcome sections organized?

In this workbook, there are eight workbook sections, one for each of the eight outcomes of community capacity building. (See facing page for a list of all eight outcomes on one page). Each is organized in the same way, as follows:

 PAGE 1: THE OUTCOME PAGE. This page shows the outcome in a black rectangle, and of- fers a one- or two-sentence explanation about why it is important to community capacity building. If you care about that outcome, continue through the section.

 PAGE 2: THE INDICATORS PAGE. This page shows the indicators for each outcome in an oval. If you care about any or all of these indicators, continue through the section.

 PAGE 3+: THE SUBINDICATORS PAGE(S). These pages show subindicators—which are just indicators broken down into bite-size pieces—in diamonds. If there is another level of sub- subindicators, they get their own page, where they are shown in a white rectangle. If you care about any or all of these subindicators, continue through the section.

 THE OUTCOME SUMMARY PAGE. This page shows you the entire map for the outcome. At the bottom, in a black square called Measures, it shows you exactly what page to turn to to find potential measures for any of the things you care about.

 THE MEASURES PAGES. Immediately following the Outcome Summary Page are pages of measures that you can use for that outcome. The measures are all organized by indicator and subindicator.

 WORK PAGES. Finally, each section has a set of lined workpages which you can use to list the outcomes, indicators and measures your community cares about and plans to track over time. {Note to Version 3/96 users: These pages will be added in future versions.}

What types of measures are listed?

Each measure is preceded by a symbol or icon that tells you something about what kind of measure it is, and what you must do to collect it.

✔^ This is a yes/no question—either you have it or you don’t.

I N T R O D U C T I O N M E A S U R I N G C O M M U N I T Y C A PA C I T Y B U I L D I N G  V E R S I O N 3 / 9 6  A S P E N I N S T I T U T E / R U R A L E C O N O M I C P O L I C Y P R O G R A M