Here you can find a number of community development resources that have been generated by members of the Community Economies Collective and our action/research partners. These are divided into two categories:
Community and Regional Development resources, focused on broad processes of community development
Initiative and Enterprise Development resources, focused on specific types of projects and tools to strengthen community economy initiatives.
Community and Regional Development
This website offers training tools for people and organizations interested in developing local economies by: putting people first, building on local assets and strengths, forming new partnerships, experimenting with forming social enterprises, and extending networks of support. It includes new methods for analyzing local economies, group discussion starters with relevant key questions, practical workshop resources, and visual aids such as photos and video material for use in training workshops.
This resource kit is a complete step-by-step guide on using the Diverse Economies Framework and Asset Based Community Development. It is based on a two-year project from the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. The resource kit documents all the steps used in the project. The resource kit has been used to guide community and economic development projects in other parts of Australia (see the It's In Our Hands documentary below), and in the Philippines.
- It's in Our Hands (video)
This short documentary shows how how the Diverse Economies Framework and Asset Based Community Development can be used to work with local residents to build community enterprises. It is based on the Shifting Focus resource kit (see above). The documentary features the fringe Brisbane suburb of Eagleby, and the Latrobe Valley in Victoria. The documentary can be viewed in two parts through YouTube (see below); or it can be ordered in CD format from Jenny.Cameron@newcastle.edu.au
Part 1
Part 2
Initiative and Enterprise Development
Social Accounting
This document is an easy to understand guide on using social accounting in small community organisations and enterprises.
Community Gardens
This manifesto is the result of a collaborative project with community gardeners in Newcastle (Australia). The Manifesto is like a guide to running a community garden. It's also a written version of some of the stories that are on the Newcastle Community Garden Project PlaceStories website. At this website you'll also find the stories of the participating community gardens. The stories of all the participating community gardens are also available in a separate document: A Community Garden Manifesto: The Contributing Gardens.
Small Farms & Smallholders
A field oriented manual that situates the smallholder in a complex environment of multiple households and diverse economies. Designed to help extension officers to identify constraints on oil palm productivity and work with smallholders towards increasing production and community well-being.
