Community development is critical in South African and other low-to middle-income contexts characterised by unemployment, violence, poverty and poor infrastructure. The current asset-based trend in community research emphasises constructive community development and change through the mobilisation of existing and unrecognised community resources and skills. Following this trend we critically examine the conceptual soundness and logic of asset-based community assessment instruments. We give particular attention to measures of social capital, social cohesion, community resilience, and sense of community. Our review reveals that while the asset-based approaches embody an important shift away from the deficits orientation, their associated instruments, which bring discursive impositions, are marked by conceptual and operational ambiguities, troubling assumptions about community and uneasy power dynamics in their implementation. We suggest that such challenges may be addressed through the employment of measures that draw on both quantitative and qualitative paradigms, and that assume participatory strategies to implementation. '
This article reviews community conversations as a community engagement tool within the South African context by exploring the perceptions of the conversation hosts. A focus group discussion was held with community conversation hosts to better understand the community conversation process and its community engagement value. Their reflections are reviewed against four principles of community engagement, namely, appreciation, applicability, provocation, and collaboration. According to the hosts, the community conversations seemingly increased community members' awareness of community resources and allowed for community members to voice their shared concerns and discuss matters that they deem to be most relevant in their community. The conversations were considered to have created a participative environment in which community members and external stakeholders could discuss potential solutions to identified problems, thereby laying a foundation for future action. Additionally, the conversations were interpreted as promotive of relationship-building and collaboration opportunities among community members and between community members and external stakeholders. The article reflects on limitations of the method and recommendations for its future application.
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