Are Community Development Workers Consultants?
This blog connects a unique range of topics from website design to marketing to consultancy to community development. This feedback appeared in my inbox this week, asking: are community development workers consultants?
I know your blogs have included ruminations on the subject of consultants and consultancy. I suspect that the research being carried out by IVAR (Institute for Voluntary Action Research) will raise – if only by implication – the issue of the relationship between consultancy and community development. It might be interesting and helpful to look at this relationship; to look at the relationship between the role of consultants (your definition and others’ definitions) and the role of community development workers.
My suspicion is that there are some people, formerly CD workers, who are now consultants for organisations such as Big Local, who would claim to be still doing CD but in fact are no longer doing CD. Consultancy can be helpful, and so can CD, but claiming to do CD when you are not doing CD is probably not helpful.
The following thoughts are from my definition of consultancy. I don’t follow IVAR/Big Local. Do they employ their workers as consultants or community development workers? Either way the question may be: are they doing community development? My post about imbricated roles may help.
Expert and Non-Directive Consultancy
I have occasionally mentioned two types of consultancy, expert and non-directive (or coaching). Organisations hire expert consultants to contribute specific skills. So, a website designer or accountant are in effect expert consultants. They offer a Done-for-You service and so usually save time and money.
Non-directive consultants help organisations by thinking through solutions to problems with them. They in effect add brain power. Their aim is to help at least one member of the organisation to learn new skills.
Of these two approaches (both have their strengths), the second is most compatible with community development. Development workers used to say they are appointed to work themselves out of their job. A claim I suspect most often honoured in its breach.
There is no doubt coaching is an appropriate approach to community development. It benefits local activists because it equips them to do the work they need to do to further their aims. It is certainly superior to training, a skillset that usually prioritises accreditation of activists.
Are Development Workers Coaches?
Is there more to community development than coaching? With a degree of caution I incline to the view activities beyond coaching are not essential. Why? Most other skills are more like expert consultancy, doing things for others. If you are good at and enjoy organising meetings, the chances are your aptitude for that task may prevent you from coaching.
But I am not saying coaching and community development are the same. Good development workers are coaches. But not all coaches are development workers. Experience in the field is important. Many coaches might cope and do well in a community development project but experience of working with the unique pressures of development work also counts for something.
Has this post been helpful? Leave a comment if you would like me to write more about this topic.