Building Block 8: Strengthening Continuities, Commitments and Obligations through Activities and Projects

This Building Block is about the operational implementation of community development, without which all the previous Building Blocks would remain abstract strategic analyses and brainstorms. The focus here is on the activities and projects through which the core idea of the community is brought to life, and what contribution individual groups of actors make to this. It is obvious that special and continuous attention is required at this point for successful community development.

At the beginning there is an analysis of the current situation, also with regard to activities and projects:

• Which activities and projects have been carried out in the community context so far and are already planned?
• Which of the prioritised stakeholder groups are involved in these activities and projects?
• In which of the implemented or planned activities and projects were all prioritised stakeholder groups involved?
• How can the effect of these activities and projects on community development be evaluated on the basis of the present recommendations for action?
• How much do the activities and projects carried out or planned so far advance the identified core idea?

Based on the analysis of the current state, Community Development can draw up an interim balance sheet of which activities and projects should be continued and further developed in the future and which new impulses the community needs at the current stage of development in order to come as close as possible to realising the core idea and to act in a future-oriented and powerful way. Many operational suggestions already result from the previous building blocks.

For the area of activities and projects, too, it is a question of defining the target state and thus of developing concrete (modified) ideas and plans for action. The question is which (additional) activities and projects are needed in concrete terms

• to realise the core idea,
• in order to involve each of the (prioritised) groups of actors more closely in a targeted manner in line with the core idea,
• to make the community experienceable for all (prioritised) groups of actors as a whole and to enable community experiences for them, and
• in order to make it possible for the (prioritised) groups of actors to continuously experience the joint realisation of the core idea in a sensual way and thus to have a motivating sense of achievement.

A central part of operational community development is the conception, installation and maintenance of concrete and attractive analogue and digital communication and interaction opportunities for the (prioritised) groups of actors. These can be, for example, permanently usable media channels, analogue and digital meeting places and one-off and regular events. Through these, specific actors and groups of actors can be brought together in a targeted way and tandems, sub-groups and teams can be formed that are active on a one-off or continuous basis for the realisation of the core idea. The temporal and spatial sequences and rhythms of these communications and interactions can be dramaturgically designed in such a way that they can in turn be told as a community story that creates identification.

As an operational basis, the classic "community management" and "hosting" can also be located in this Building Block, where it is a matter of establishing processes that guarantee concrete and attentive relationship management in everyday community life. A related operational task is "onboarding": Here, inviting processes are desirable that make it very easy for potential or new members to become part of the community and feel a sense of belonging. These processes need to be designed and implemented and should be linked to strategic tasks of community development, since the "pulse of the community" is particularly perceptible in these areas of responsibility.

---

ACCESS

In the context of ACCESS, it is advisable to analyse the current situation in relation to activities and projects that have already been carried out and those already planned, to draw up an interim balance sheet, to define a new target situation in relation to activities and projects that promote the community and to develop concrete ideas and plans for action.

---