IACD members Dave Beck and Rod Purcell have been commissioned to write a text book on community development. Part of the book is a section of case studies, and they are looking for contributors to write some of these studies. There is no payment involved, however it is a significant publication and you will be named as the author of the case study.
Most community development case studies are quite simple and underdeveloped. For example:
Men’s Group. Often such a case study would talk about the men in the group and focus on some of the activities they get involved in, followed by a discussion of what worked and what didn’t. Sometimes there is also some discussion of underpinning ideas, theory, values.
The case studies we are looking for are longer (around 3000 to 3500 words) and are more analytical and holistic. To take a Men’s Group as an example, we would want to discuss:
• The social and economic context of the area within which the study is set.
• The age, ethnicity and social status of the men involved, and who is not included and why.
• Why these men are involved in the group and how this changes as the group develops
• The model of work (eg. Traditional CD group work, community social work, Popular Education, etc.), and why this model was used.
• Reference to the evolving process of the group (for example, forming, storming, performing).
• The planned outputs and outcomes of the group and why they were selected. Who selected the outputs and outcomes – agency, worker, participants?
• The social capital and networks of the men at the start of the process and how this changed.
• The actual and potential assets that the group could draw upon.
• What happened – what worked, what didn’t work and why?
• What was achieved, what difference did it make for the men and the wider community?
• What was learnt from this work? This includes a discussion that could include; analysis of power, personal and community empowerment, inequality / anti-discriminatory practice, leadership development / community building, etc
• Literature underpinning the development of this work and the analysis of it.
We are interested in using a diverse range of case studies that include, but are not limited to, the subjects listed below. We would need the case studies to be sent to us by the beginning of January 2018
• Arts based Community Development
• Working with Women
• Radical Youth Work
• Working with Older People
• Working with the LGBT community
• Environment and Community Development
• Faith Based Community Development
• Ethnic minority communities
• Working with migrant / refugee communities
• Rural work
• Community Based Enterprises
• Working for the Local Authority
• Running a Campaign / Building Coalitions
If you are interested in writing a case study, or you are just thinking about doing so, please contact us at: editors@rcwjournal.org with Case Studies in the subject line and we will get back to you.
