Capacity Building and community development go hand in hand; from our perspective, it's impossible to do one without the other.

 

With the inclusion of a capacity building approach, communities can become more intentional and strategic about how they build a shared future together. They become more articulate about the outcomes they want to influence as they step back from the busyness and immediacy of day-to-day tasks and reconnect to a shared sense of the bigger picture they are influencing together. The result is not only a shift in the thinking and practice of individuals; capacity building sparks a cultural shift within the community-as-a-whole. As a result, we build communities in which community members work well together: professionals and agencies collaborate; all sectors contribute; efforts are complementary; and a diverse spectrum of citizens participate in the process of creating a healthy community.

 

Capacity building will be an ongoing conversation in the healthy communities movement, and we invite you to participate. To spark this dialogue, we offer a couple of think pieces:

 

BC Healthy Communities has also developed a Capacity Building Framework that focuses on four critical areas:

 

Download the Integral Capacity Building Framework here or click on the side menu to learn more.