Explanation:
1. Relationship Perspective
“Social work can become quite transactional, but
community is not just about transactions— it’s about
relationships,” said Ranga. This includes both
relationships within the community and between
different communities.
Relationships can consist of strong and weak ties.
Strong ties include those to whom we are closer and
with whom we interact more frequently, such as
family, close friends or close colleagues. Deep and
fruitful relationships foster an emotional attachment
and sense of belonging to the community. The
community can continue to exist because its members
sincerely care for each other and the growth and
well-being of the community.
Weak ties are characterised by distant social
relationships or infrequent interactions. For instance,
weak ties can include loose acquaintances or the
“friends” on social media you have only met once or
twice. But… are weak ties bad? No! On the contrary,
they are valuable as they are channels through which
we may gain new ideas, exposure and resources.
Reconnecting with or activating weak ties may create
new opportunities for the community.
2. Core Beliefs Perspective
Developers who approach community building from this
perspective say that beliefs are the core of a
community. Everything—people, relationships,
practices, outcomes—would revolve around common
core beliefs.
3. Ecosystem-wide Perspective
Think of communities as bubbles situated in the wider
context of society. Even though these bubbles have
boundaries—the commonalities that keep people in
and others out—they can engage with other
communities. Collaboration across communities can
reduce duplication and generate synergy.
Interacting with different communities creates
opportunities for cross-learning. New insights from
exposure to other communities may motivate
communities to have a greater vision, allowing them to
realise untapped potential. We see this happen when
communities adapt and implement another
community’s programmes in their context.
4. Member-as-assets Perspective
Members are assets of communities. They are not
mere passive consumers or recipients of services,
but have their own capabilities to contribute to the
community. Assets here are not just financial—but
include skills, strengths, talents, stories, experiences,
networks or resources. Some members may not be
aware of their own capabilities and potential.
Communities must uncover these in order to
effectively mobilise their assets.
5. Developer-centric Perspective
This perspective considers the extent of involvement
of a developer in a community. Professional groups
might be more developer-driven, while organisations
formed around social issues might prefer that
developers step back so that members will have the
space to make decisions.
On the whole, developers agree that they should not
overtly intervene in the community, but should
instead “nudge” people to move things along.
6. Members centric Perspective
For developers who adopt this perspective, the key to
sustaining a community lies in developing members,
understanding their needs and goals, and considering
their feedback. It begins with a meaningful
on boarding process to welcome new members into the
community. It recognises that the community can only
move and grow at the pace that the members in the
community are ready.
This perspective emphasises the importance of
celebrating and encouraging individual contributions,
and also considers how members leave a community. A
member development journey might be used to help
guide members towards becoming developers.
7. Members-as-owners Perspective
In this perspective, members are seen as the drivers
of community. For communities to develop organically,
the focus must be on building members’ capacity to
nurture their communities on their own. While this
overlaps with the member-centric perspective, a key
difference lies in the end-goal – members are the
ones taking charge and take responsibility for their
community.
