Building community capacity

Community ownership of assets sometimes involves legal, financial and administrative responsibilities that not all communities and residents might want to undertake, or have the skills, time and resilience to manage. Effective transfer of assets will only succeed if community organisations have the capacity to run assets to their full potential. Through engaging with citizens and communities, public agencies and third sector providers can help to build the capacity of people involved in the provision of services. Local business people and service providers are likely to have a wealth of experience and skills they can share with residents, helping to create a situation where people develop a stake in the improvement of their own neighbourhoods and acquire the ability to influence local decision making and service provision.

In addition to building leadership potential, capacity building in the context of managing community assets may also require:

• Training in managing finances, project and people management, administration and other skills needed to run public assets
• Training in the legal frameworks for asset management and procurement
• Helping to arrange visits for a community group to similar projects to help them understand how other organisations have approached this work.