This module is designed for those who wish to develop community leadership skills and play a leading role in community affairs. The module explores the concepts of community and neighbourhood, as well as skills for engaging and leading in community affairs. It examines the assets and strengths of the community, as well as the limitations and barriers to community engagement. The module considers the values and commitments of active citizenship and relates these to the skills of community development such as asset mapping, facilitation and stakeholder analysis.

Individual presentation 100% [Learning outcomes 1, 3)

The programme will largely be based on structured discussions, activities and some skills workshops. These will all draw closely on the experiences of those attending. There will be short lectures offered by tutors when required to further develop the students' knowledge base. Students themselves will each make a presentation on a project of their choice.

The independent study hours will be used to reflect on their own experiences of community involvement and for preparing for group sessions and the assessed work. The independent study hours will also include some individual tutorial guidance in completing the assessed work.

Students will have access to Blackboard VLE for learning materials and group discussion.

Federation of Community Development Learning, Community Work Skills Manual 2009, www.cdf.org.uk
Federation of Community Development Learning, Engaging and Influencing Decision Makers, www.cdf.org.uk
Skinner. S. and Wilson, M., Assessing Community Strengths: A Practical Handbook for Planning Capacity Building Initiatives, Community Development Foundation

Library - for relevant textbooks and journals
Web-based research, guidance and activities:
Tutor distributed handouts
Blackboard virtual learning environment