Fruit

Project Development

Responding to community needs, community organisations are often involved in developing and running projects, activities or services. This section gives more information about how to develop those projects to a stage where you have got the funding and are ready to manage them.

Project development is not just about feasibility studies, business planning and funding. It relies on and builds on all the other aspects of the healthy community organisation.

Managing Projects

Project management requires a quantum shift from project development and the associated fund raising activity. Project development is the theory - project management is the reality!

With the joy of securing funding for a project comes the sudden realisation that you now have to make this happen. The hard work begins in earnest!

Strategic Involvement, Representation and Advocacy

Developing and running projects is not the only way to make a difference to the quality of life of your community. Community organisations also seek to achieve improvements and change for the better through trying to influence others and in particular the public sector. This may be about for example seeking improvements in roads and the environment or lobbying for the retention or improvement of services in care, health and education, or seeking the development of community facilities.

This requires a whole additional set of skills in learning how to work with the public sector, learning how to work with other communities that might share the same concerns as you, and learning how to make effective representation. In Stirling, much of this type of work is done through Area Community Planning Forums.