Evaluating community capacity: Visual representation and interpretation

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an interpretation of programme experiences in the visual representation of strategies used to build community capacity. The paper first discusses the definition of community capacity in a programme context and describes different approaches for the visual representation of the evaluation of community capacity. What is new about this paper is that it provides a discussion about the interpretation of community capacity and in particular the use of the spider web configuration (so called because of the shape it resembles). This is illustrated by three examples taken from two different community development programmes, the first of which is in Fiji and the second in Kyrgyzstan. The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications for the community development practice of using visual representations of community capacity, including the difficulties, for example, of mapping changes in community capacities over time, and the benefits, for example, of promoting a free flow of information between stakeholders. The paper will assist practitioners to better plan for, evaluate and visually represent the findings of strategies used to build community capacity in community development programmes.

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