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Promoting social inclusion: A practice manual for community workers

Published by Barnardo's: 2001
With thanks to the National Lottery Charities Board

Foreword to the Manual

Throughout its existence, Barnardo's has worked with children living in poverty and with families in
greatest need. Some years ago, however, we decided that we had to address more than just the
symptoms of poverty: we needed to tackle its causes - the systems that maintain people in poverty.
The Anti-Poverty Strategy was part of our response, and we have used the valuable practical
experience we gained from that Strategy to compile this manual, which is aimed at anyone who may
wish to use a community development approach to tackling poverty.

The approach our Strategy adopted was not entirely new: it owes a great deal to the third European
Poverty Programme, especially the concepts of partnership, participation and multidimensionality. To
this we have added a fourth dimension - a focus on children. Using these four concepts in the context
of a community development approach, we piloted the Strategy in eight communities throughout the
UK.

What is new is our method of planning and evaluating the Strategy. We applied an approach known
as Theory of Change. We started by deciding where we wanted to go and then worked out how we
would get there. Evaluators took part in the planning and review of each project, helping them
continuously to adapt their goals and methods in the light of experience.

The eight pilot projects that provided the information and inspiration for this manual were all situated
in urban and predominantly white English speaking communities. This means that the issues facing
rural communities and communities that contain people with diverse cultures, languages and
religions have not been specifically addressed here. There is much more work still to be done.

Roger Singleton
Chief Executive, Barnardo's August 2001

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How to use this manual

What's it for?
This manual gives practical guidance on how to plan, carry out and evaluate a community
development intervention to tackle disadvantage. It is based on the extensive experience gained by
Barnardo's during the Anti-Poverty Strategy
It contains:
§ Some theoretical discussion of community development.
§ Practical advice based on the evaluation of local projects.
§ Quotations from the people involved in the projects
§ Tools for thinking about, implementing and evaluating the community development approach.

Chapters in the manual

The Barnardo's Anti-Poverty Strategy
Planning a community development approach
Getting started in the community
Keeping things going
Moving on, moving out?
Evaluation
Appendices include:
SWOT Analysis
Practitioners' supplementary questions
Practitioners' monitoring systems

Who's it for?
The manual is principally aimed at:
§ Community development workers.
§ People who are interested in setting up community development interventions that address the
poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion of adults, young people and children.
§ People who wish to make evaluation an integral part of community development interventions.
§ Managers, strategic planners and policy makers seeking ways of promoting anti-poverty work.

How should you use it?

You can use this manual in a variety of ways. You can start at the beginning and work right through
to the end; you can home in on a topic that you might be struggling with in your own work; or you can
follow the cross-references to other relevant information elsewhere in the manual. Above all, try to
follow this sensible piece of advice:

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'Mark up the pages. Write answers to the exercises in the margins. Draw. Scribble. Daydream. Note
the results of what you have tried, and ideas of what you would like to try. Over time, as your field
notes accumulate, they will become a record of effective practices and a tool for reflecting on the
design of the next initiative' (Senge et al., 1994).
Be thoughtful and curious, but not reverential, about the suggestions put forward in this manual.
Community development is an organic process, rooted in the experiences and concerns of people in
the community, so it can never be reduced to a blueprint applicable to all circumstances. But you can
use the manual to note down your own experiences and use them as a basis for your planning and
evaluation.
Finally rather than keeping this manual on your office shelf, where it will gather dust like all the other
toolkits, you could think about keeping it somewhere where members of the community can add their
own comments…

Other useful approaches

Other useful approaches are made in Chapter 4 in this manual.

To order a full report

To purchase a copy of the full report please contact:

Barnardo's Publications,
Barnardo's Trading Estate,
Paycocke Road,
Basildon,
Essex, SS14 3DR

Tel: 01268 520 224

Fax: 01268 284804

Or email your order stating the title of the publication(s) together with your full name, billing address
and contact telephone number to: jo.barnes@barnardos.org.uk