This glossary contains definitions of terms and concepts you may come across in the field of community development. It is designed to be used as a guide only and by no means claims to be comprehensive nor does it attempt to override any alternative definitions. Definitions from outside of CDX have been credited to their original source.

You may also find it useful to visit a number of other external sites which are detailed in our directory of online glossaries

A    B    C   D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z    Local authority terms

A

Adventure Capital Fund
A funder for community enterprise, offering both financial investment, including loans and grants, and expert support including mentoring.

Asset Transfer
A process by which local assets (usually buildings) currently or formerly managed by local public bodies are handed over to the community to manage.

B

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C

Community
The web of personal relationships, groups, networks, traditions and patterns of behaviour that exist amongst those who share physical neighbourhoods, socio-economic conditions or common understandings and interests.

Community action (sometimes referred to as social action)
'Campaigning tactics of community groups that are in disagreement with an official agency. Tactics include demonstrations, public meetings and using
the media.
Source: Developing Healthier Communities training book, Health Development Agency

Community Activists
People who are active on a voluntary basis in the development of their communities.

Community anchors
Independent community led organisations with multi-purpose functions, which provide a focal point for local communities and community organisations, and for community services. They often own and manage community assets, and support small community organisations to reach out across the community.

Community Capacity Building
...supports individuals, groups and organisations to enable them to play a part in the regeneration of communities. It is about building skills and competencies and is increasingly being used amongst policy makers and managers to increase their understanding of communities.

Capacitybuilders
A non-departmental public body that invests funding in support organisations for the third sector.

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Community Council
'Locally-based charities or voluntary groups that have an interest in the well-being of their community. They consult the local community and make known to public bodies the views of local people on all matters affecting them. Local authorities have a duty to consult community councils on how local services are delivered and other issues affecting their neighbourhoods. Community councils are arranged according to issues in local areas. For example, local community health councils and rural community councils.'
Source: Society Guardian Glossary

Communities and Local Government
A government department which aims to foster prosperous and cohesive communities, offering a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all. Information about activities and policies. It sets policy on local government, housing, urban regeneration, planning and fire and rescue.

Community Development
...is about building active and sustainable communities based on social justice and mutual respect. It is about changing power structures to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives. Genuine and effective community development is done in accordance with certain values and commitments.

Community Development Learning
'Takes place when individuals and groups/organisations come together to share experience, learn from each other, and develop their skills, knowledge and self-confidence. It is a developmental process that is both a collective and individual experience, based on a commitment to equal partnership between all those involved to enable a sharing of skills, awareness, knowledge, and experience in order to bring about sustainable desired outcomes.'
Source: Federation of Community Development Learning

Community Enterprise
Combines community-led action with business activities aimed at economic development and social gain. Community enterprises have explicit social aims and are accountable to their communities. They are independent but work in partnership with others.

Community Governance
'The involvement of local people and organisations in the way that government and public services are run in their area. It can range from standing for election to parish or district councils, to providing community managed services, or just having a say in local decisions.'
Source: Society Guardian Glossary

Community Groups and Organisations
...are located within communities of geography or interest. They are controlled by their users and are usually small and informal with no paid staff. They are often referred to collectively as the community sector (see below).

Community Involvement
...is about involvement in community activities in a variety of different ways. Community involvement often starts with agendas and programmes that originate outside the community.

Community Participation
...is about enabling people to become active partners in the regeneration of communities by contributing and sharing in the decisions that affect their lives. Participation should enable people to have a degree of power and control in the processes with which they are involved.

Community Sector
'Those organisations active on a local or community level, usually small, modestly funded and largely dependent on voluntary, rather than paid, effort. Can be seen as distinct from the larger, professionally staffed agencies which are most visible in voluntary sector profiles. Hence the phrase 'voluntary and community sector' to encompass the full range.'
Source: Volresource.org.uk

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Community Sector Coalition (CSC)
A network (of which CDX is a member) that ‘aims to be a credible and authoritative independent voice for the community sector’
Source: Community Sector Coalition

Community Workers
...undertake community development as their main role. They work in accordance with recognised occupational standards. They may focus on specific issues with communities, e.g. health, or have a generic brief.

Compact
Agreement between the Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) made in 1998. It is designed to improve their relationship for mutual advantage. Within the Compact are five Codes of Practice relating to the following areas:

• Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Voluntary & Community Groups (2001)
• Community Groups (July 2003)
• Consultation and Policy Appraisal (2000)
• Funding (2000)
• Volunteering (2001)

There are also some Local Compacts, which are agreements at a local level between the VCS sector, councils and other local public bodies.
More information on the Compact and the Codes of Practice are available on the website of the Compact Working Group Secretariat or telephone 020 7520 2454.
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Co-operation
Working together to identify and implement action, based on mutual respect of diverse cultures and contributions.

Co-operative
'Organisation or business owned wholly by its employees or stakeholders, where the emphasis is on group decision making, usually on a one member, one vote system. Credit unions are an example of banking cooperatives.'
Source: Society Guardian Glossary

'There are various types of co-ops, including employee-based (worker co-ops), consumer based (retail/high street co-ops), and housing co-ops made up of tenants/joint owners. Usually seen as a part of the Social Economy, and almost by definition count as social enterprises.'
Source: Volrersource.org.uk

Council for Voluntary Service (CVS)
(also known as Voluntary Action or Voluntary Sector Council)
'A voluntary organisation which is set up, owned and run by local groups to support, promote and develop local voluntary and community action. CVS support their members by providing them with a range of services and by acting as a voice for the local voluntary and community sector. Usually funded by the local authority and other local statutory agencies, there is a CVS working in almost every district and city in England. Individual CVS differ in character and size, although they usually work to the same geographical boundaries as the local authority.'
Source: NAVCA

Credit Union
A financial cooperative, which is owned and controlled by its members. Usually based in local areas, members make regular contributions to the credit union, which is then able to make very cheap, small-scale loans to other members - usually for ethically sound, or sustainable projects.

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D

DWP – Dept of work and pensions
A large government department which works to to promote opportunity and independence for all through modern, customer-focused services. It was created from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.

E

Equality
Challenging the attitudes of individuals, and the practices of institutions and society, which discriminate against and marginalise people.

Every Action Counts
An initiative, supported by Defra, and delivered through a consortium of voluntary and community sector organisations which provides advice and support to other VCS organisations looking to reduce their impact on the environment, tackle climate change and improve their local area.

F

Four Nations
Term to describe the collective area of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many prefer this term over United Kingdom (UK) as it is less imperialistic and does not imply that England is the centre of power.

G

Grassroots Grants
A £130 million grants programme running from 2008 – 20011 and co-ordinated nationally by the Community Development Foundation. There is an £80 million small grants fund for community organisations together with £50 million to enable local funders to pull in other money to build up endowments for sustainable funding.

H

Homes and Communities Agency
A new housing and regeneration agency for England, bring together English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation, the Academy for Sustainable Communities and other key housing and regeneration programmes.

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I

J

K

Key Performance Indicator
Financial and non-financial metrics used to help an organization define and measure progress toward organizational goals. KPIs are frequently used to "value" difficult to measure activities such as the benefits of leadership development, engagement, service, and satisfaction.

L

Learning
Recognising the skills, knowledge and expertise that people contribute and develop by taking action to tackle social, economic, political and environmental problems. See also community development learning (above).

Local Area Agreements
Statutory three year agreements, between central government and local authorities and their partners, setting out the action they will undertake to achieve the goals in the Sustainable Community Strategy and deliver national outcomes in a way that reflects local priorities.

M

Mainstreaming
'The process of transferring policy, good practice or activity from area-based initiatives or special programmes into the core of mainstream service provision.'
Source: The Revision of Area Based Initiatives by the Regional Co-ordination Unit

Multi-area Agreements
Are cross-boundary local area agreements (LAA). They bring together key players in flexible ways to tackle issues that are best addressed in partnership – at a regional and sub-regional level. The major issues that MAAs can tackle include skills deficits, housing market imbalances, transport and infrastructure projects and economic development.

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N

National Empowerment Partnership
A partnership to support the Government’s mission to increase levels of participation at local, regional and national levels. The NEP aims to improve the quality, co-ordination and evidence of empowerment across England. They

National / Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships
Help councils deliver the ambitious outcomes, set through local area agreements (LAAs), by supporting them in their efforts to become more efficient, innovative and engaged with citizens. NIEPs harness the expertise of councils to add new capacity to local government in order to accelerate the drive for greater improvement and efficiency. They build on the successful foundations laid by the former Regional Improvement Partnerships and Regional Centres of Excellence. 

National Indicator four (NI4)
The percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality. NI4 forms part of the 198 indicators which form the National Indicator Set on which central government will performance manage local government

NI4 Delivery Group
Convened by CLGs Empowerment Division to oversee progress against achieving National Indicator 4 (the percentage of people who feel that they can influence decisions in their local area) and also help CLG coordinate the empowerment programmes they are supporting including NEP, Asset Transfer, Participatory Budgeting and the Network of Empowering Authorities.

National Support Services Programme
A programme for VCS support providers (infrastructure organisations including community anchors) which will enable them to champion excellence in leadership across the voluntary and particularly community sector. The Leadership and Governance programme will be delivered by a partnership of NCVO, CSC and ACEVO. The mission is to build the capacity of support providers to develop, promote and champion excellence in leadership and governance practices in the third sector.

Neighbourhood Renewal
'...is about reversing the spiral of decline. It is about working from the grassroots to deliver economic prosperity and jobs, safer communities, good education, decent housing, physical environment as well as fostering a new sense of community amongst residents.'
Source: Neighbourhood Renewal Unit

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O

Office of the Third Sector
Formed from the work of the former Active Communities Directorate within the Home and Social Enterprise Unit to support a thriving sector and bring together sector-related work from across government.

P

Parish plans

Are a form of Community Led Plan which determine the future of communities and how they can change for the better. They are documents that set out a vision for the future of a parish and outlines how that can be achieved in an Action Plan.

Participating Budgeting
Directly involving local people in making decisions on the spending priorities for a defined public budget. This means engaging residents and community groups representative of all parts of the community to discuss spending priorities, making spending proposals and vote on them, as well as giving local people a role in the scrutiny and monitoring of the process.

Partnerships
Structures that exist to deliver programmes. They bring together a number of formal organisations, for example statutory authorities, private companies and voluntary organisations. It has been unusual for community sector groups and organisations to be represented, although there are now attempts to include community interests.
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Political Participation
Facilitating democratic involvement by people in the issues which affect their lives, based on full citizenship, autonomy and shared power, skills, knowledge and experience.

Primary Care Trust (PCT)
'Evolved from primary care groups, PCTs are free-standing statutory bodies that provide primary and community services and commission secondary (hospital) care on behalf of their local population. By April 2004, all PCG's are expected to be PCTs, which will commission 75% of the NHS budget.'
Source: Society Guardian Glossary

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Q

Quirk review
An independent review, which looked at Community Management and Ownership of Assets, led by Barry Quirk, Lewisham Council's Chief Executive Officer. Community organisations can realise tremendous potential by taking on the management and ownership of community assets. The Review looks at the barriers which may be standing in the way of more communities managing and owning assets and recommends ways we can create an environment to encourage more community management and ownership of assets. The report is published on behalf of the Review Team by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

R

Regeneration
The process of upgrading an area through social, economic and infrastructure investment and improvement.
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Regional Empowerment Partnership
These regional consortiums seeks to bring together representatives from the community engagement, empowerment and development fields to enhance statutory and other partners' understanding of the engagement and empowerment agenda by building on the existing good practice throughout the regions.

S

Social Capital
The idea of trust and cooperation that can be measured within communities. This is increasingly seen as being of fundamental importance to social inclusion and regeneration programmes.
Source: Developing Healthier Communities training book, Health Development Agency

Social Enterprise (see also Community Enterprise above)
'Usually, but not always, non-profit-distributing enterprises but they take many institutional forms, including voluntary, co-operative, mutual or companies limited by guarantee. They seek high levels of accountability to their stakeholders. Social enterprises are increasingly recognised as part of a crucial third sector, distinguishing them from the public and private sectors.'
Source: Directory for Social Entrepreneurial Organisations

Social Entrepreneurs
Individuals who initiate ideas and activities in communities but not necessarily with reference to existing traditions, activities and relationships. '...apply the techniques of business entrepreneurship to achieve social goals. They are client or customer focused. They are dealmakers, bringing together people, money and other resources in the most effective mix possible.'
Source: Directory for Social Entrepreneurial Organisations
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Social Exclusion
The Government has defined social exclusion as "a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown." This is a deliberately flexible definition and the problems listed are only examples...The most important characteristic of social exclusion is that these problems are linked and mutually reinforcing, and can combine to create a complex and fast moving vicious cycle...The term includes poverty and low income, but is broader and addresses some of the wider causes and consequences of poverty.

Social Justice
Enabling people to claim their human rights, meet their needs, and have greater control over the decision-making processes which affect their lives.

Second Tier Organisations
Second tier organisations help voluntary and community organisations with areas of organisation development and management. This can range from funding advice, governance or policy issues to financial controls and trading.

Stakeholders
Groups and organisations with an interest (stake) in what happens with a project, programme or development.

Statutory Authority
An organisation that is required by law to provide public services and receives central or local government funding, for example health authorities and local authorities.
Source: Society Guardian Glossary

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T

Third sector
Generic collective name for charity, voluntary, community, non-government and campaigning organisations.

Third Sector Research Centre
A new centre, established by the Office of the third sector to take forward the third sector research agenda with further support from a range of partners including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The centre, when completed, will provide an authoritative basis for decisions by the sector, and by those who commission public services or are the targets of its campaigns.

Third Sector Partnership Board
Established by the DCLG, The purpose of the Board is to facilitate critical challenge between the sector, local government and the Department on how to improve the Department's understanding of the third sector and the role the sector might play in delivering Departmental objectives. The Board will meet three times a year. In essence, the Board has three roles, to bring voices from the margins into the mainstream of policy making, to be a critical friend and to model what is best about partnership working. 

Third Tier Organisations
Infrastructure organisation which supports other infrastructure (or ‘second tier’) organisations.

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U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Some of the content of this list was provided from the Urban Forum Publication Urban Clearaway.

 

Local Authority Terms

Best Value
Requires Local Authorities to review services - challenging whether they are still needed, whether they adequately meet current or expected future needs and whether the service should continue to be provided in the same way. Best Value is seen as a means of ensuring services are based on the priorities in the community strategy and expected to result in more diverse service provision with the private, voluntary and community sectors taking a greater role.

Community Empowerment Fund
A three-year funding programme administered by the Government Offices for the Regions to enable community and voluntary groups to get involved in Local Strategic Partnerships in the 88 most deprived Local Authority areas. Lead organisations in each area will bring together and develop a representative community network to link with Local Strategic Partnerships and decide how the Community Empowerment Fund should be used. Possible uses suggested include outreach, newsletters, surveys, training for community members of Local Strategic Partnerships.

Community Leadership
Term used to describe Local Authorities leadership role with communities. It includes involvement in and learning from communities, building vision and direction, standing up for communities, being accountable to communities and working in partnership.

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Community Planning
The process that Local Authorities use to work with communities to produce a Community Strategy.

Community Strategies
Local Authorities now have to prepare a community strategy for promoting the economic, social and environmental well being of their area and a vision for the future. The expectation is that this will be produced with organisations in the private, voluntary and community sectors.

Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategies
A plan for positive change in neighbourhoods in need of renewal. The plan should contribute to the national strategy. Produced by Local Strategic Partnerships but should be agreed with and have commitment from key people and institutions who have a stake in the neighbourhood. Main stream funding programmes (existing long-term funds for education, health etc) should be "bent" (i.e. changed) to better address local priorities, especially in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

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Local Strategic Partnerships.
..bring together the different parts of the public sector with the private business, community and voluntary sectors in order to work together more effectively. They are expected to prepare and implement the community strategy and develop targets where there is to be a public service agreement. It is not a statutory requirement to have a Local Strategic Partnership but most Local Authorities (94%) are establishing or planning to establish one. In the 88 Local Authority areas eligible for the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund it is a condition of funding that a Partnership is developed. One of the roles of the Partnership will be to develop and deliver a local neighbourhood renewal strategy. Local Strategic Partnerships should rationalise and simplify other Local Partnerships arrangements and work with neighbourhood based partnerships.

National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal
A strategy to tackle the problems of England's most deprived neighbourhoods arising out of work undertaken by the Social Exclusion Unit. Aims to ensure that in 10 -20 years time no one is deprived by where they live. Concentrates on improvements in health, education, housing and the physical environment and reductions in crime and unemployment. Emphasises the importance of involvement by local people.

Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chests Programme
Provides small grants to support and increase mutual self help and community activity in the 88 most deprived Local Authority areas.

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Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Specific additional funding available over the next 3 years to support neighbourhood renewal in the 88 most deprived Local Authorities. Intended to help Local Authorities and their partners to begin improving services in disadvantaged neighbourhoods (including mainstream services such as education, health and police).

The Power to Promote Well Being
A new general power that Local Authorities have to promote or improve the economic, social and environmental well being of their area.

Public Service Agreements
An agreement between Local Authorities and Central Government. Local Authorities will deliver agreed priorities in return for pump priming funds, financial rewards for meeting targets and the removal of some imposed regulations and requirements (such as the requirements to produce some plans). This will start with 20 Local Authorities and apply to a further 130 over the next two years.

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