A new way to help communities help themselves
EHDC has launched a new toolkit that will harness local passion and skills to deliver community-led projects.
Focusing on the assets and ambitions in each area and combing that with the dedication of local people, we have launched a programme that empowers residents to have more control over the issues that matter to them most in their community.
With the council’s support, it will allow communities to deliver local solutions to local issues. On Wednesday we met with local leaders to discuss the scheme, called Asset Based Community Development – or ABCD.
We heard from three parishes that have already piloted the programme and unveiled the new toolkit to groups keen to get started in their own areas.
Cllr Adeel Shah, EHDC Portfolio Holder for Community Development and Engagement, said: “We know that people are passionate about where they live. Everyone wants the best for their hometown, for their neighbours, for the communities they live and work in.
“There’s already a huge amount of fantastic work going on across East Hampshire in terms of volunteers, charities, facilities, support groups and social clubs – we want to harness that in a way that helps every community learn how to help itself. “Asset Based Community Development is a culture change, where councils move away from ‘doing to’ their communities, and instead work with them so they can do more for themselves.
“Residents already have the skills, knowledge and passion they need - our role is to help them use it.”
Three parishes, Horndean Parish Council, Four Marks Parish Council and Medstead Parish Council, piloted the scheme. By going through the process, exploring the opportunities and discovering the pitfalls, their experiences have been invaluable in helping us forge a toolkit for the communities that will follow.
Our toolkit includes a series of guides giving step by step advice on how to use Asset Based Community Development.
Becky White, Clerk to Horndean Parish Council, said: “Involvement in EHDC’s asset mapping pilot has been pivotal for Horndean Parish Council in building relationships with our community partners and being responsive to our residents’ needs.
“Working collaboratively, it has allowed us to be more pro-active, taking a ‘how can we help’ approach. It has also allowed us to empower individuals to effect change in their own locality and join the dots in other areas, igniting bigger sparks of progress with ambitious joint projects now taking shape.”
More than 50 delegates from community organisations attended last week’s conference. The three main pillars of ABCD are.
- Community Asset Mapping - Identifying all the community activity in an area - such as community groups, social prescribers and parish councils - enables them to work together to solve local issues.
- Community Asset Transfer - Transferring EHDC assets - such as community halls, parks, nature reserves, to town and parish councils - gives the ownership and operation of valuable facilities to the community.
- Community Area Partnerships - Uniting parish councils, public stakeholders and local community groups to work collectively on local priorities.
After the launch, Cllr Shah emphasised how important this work will be ahead of Local Government Reorganisation, which will see EHDC dissolved and replaced by a much larger unitary council.
He said: “Due to the sheer scale of the new unitaries there could be a gap between the new councils and the communities they serve.
“An ABCD approach ensures community priorities are not lost and that they are ready to do more for themselves.”
Community organisations who want to find out more about Asset Based Community Development can get in touch with the community team at community@easthants.gov.uk