Glossary of terms

Active Citizenship is where local people become involved in community life,  either formally, through local groups and institutions, or by taking part in events or activities that help define local issues and bring about changes in their local area that aim to improve the overall quality of life.

Capacity Building is the provision of support to ensure that organisations, individuals or networks have the skills, knowledge, structures and resources to realise their full potential. Capacity building support can take many forms, including direct facilitation and training, transferring knowledge and expertise, through financial investment or in any combination of these.

Civic Participation or Engagement is about making the connections between local people and the state.  It covers participation in formal democratic processes as well as the relationships established between groups, communities and wider statutory planning around plans and services.

Community refers to either communities of place, where local people share common concern around local facilities, services and environment or communities of interest, where individuals are connected through a common experience or need. Communities of place are increasingly important in ensuring local people have influence over their own localities and the services they enjoy.  Increasingly, communities of place refer to the very local neighbourhoods or parishes rather than wider geographical areas.   

Community Action is  local people working together to deliver benefit for their local community and the people who live there.  It includes both  informal volunteering, such as taking part in a tree-planting or local clean up event or formal volunteering, through membership or management of a local community group that provides a local service.  Harnessing the potential of community action to generate real benefits for the local area often requires external support and resources (see capacity building) but repays this in the public value generated.

Community Anchors are organisations that create a focus for managing local facilities, responding to local needs by generating and supporting local services and are able to assume a leadership role in their communities in bringing about social change and well-being. Anchors can act as the bridge between communities and the state, providing a strong voice with which to influence and shape public services in their area.

Community Cohesion is used to describe a situation where there is a common sense of vision and belonging for all communities. It implies the acceptance and valuing of differing backgrounds amongst community members and aims to give all similar life opportunities.

Community Development is the process of developing active and sustainable communities based on social justice and mutual respect. It is about influencing power structures to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives (CDX).  Strongly influenced by values which include equality, accountability, choice, mutuality and continuous learning, community development practitioners are  one of the basic support needs to harness community action (see above) .

Community Enterprise (see also: Social Enterprise) are enterprises with a primary social purpose. They have some form of social or community ownership structure and recycle surplus profits to support the social purpose, rather than  paying out to shareholders.  A community enterprise is a social enterprise which is rooted in a particular locality, often providing local services and often having strong reliance on support from local volunteers.

Community Governance is the organised involvement of local people in managing affairs within their own area. It can be through formal democratic governance structures such as parish and town councils, or through local partnerships which oversee and manage delivery of services in their area.

Community Groups & Organisations are primarily local organisations which provide local services and have local membership or users. They range from the very small groups based on self-help and mutuality, to groups that own or manage assets and facilities and take on significant responsibilities as trustees and management committee members. The role of community groups in delivering or enhancing public services is increasingly recognised, as is their reliance on access to funding and external advice and support (see infrastructure support).

Community Sector refers to networks of groups and organisations that are locally based, and rooted in shared concerns around their own local area or their shared interest. They are generally seen as the opposite of large, well organized charities and service delivery organisations which together make up the voluntary sector.

Compacts are formal agreements about the principles that govern partnerships and/or relationships between government at all levels and  third sector organisations. The Compact recognises the sector’s independence and defines mechanisms for making it work.

Local Area Agreement’s (LAA’s) are the spending mechanism that delivers the priorities within the Sustainable Community Strategy developed within the Local Strategic Partnership  of a higher tier local authority area (unitary or county council). The regulation of Local Area Agreements is set out within government guidance in a way that gives freedom and flexibility to local government to choose its own priorities and targets, including how success will be measured.  

Parish Plans are a process of structured community engagement,  undertaken by local people within a parish or neighbourhood,  with the aim of developing a comprehensive, shared vision for that community.  Since parish plans were introduced, the process has grown and matured to be a powerful vehicle for community engagement that delivers huge rates of participation within communities.  Many local authorities have based their community engagement strategies on parish plans, thereby providing strong linkage between citizens and the state and increasing their ability to influence local decision-making. 

Social Enterprise (see also: Community Enterprises) are enterprises with a primary social purpose. They have some form of social or community ownership structure and recycle surplus profits instead of paying out to shareholders or owners.  Social enterprise is often seen as a way of supporting public service delivery through combining social aims with creating earned income, thereby generating financial sustainability.

Social Exclusion draws attention to the processes by which various members of the community feel excluded. The Government has provided a deliberately flexible definition of social exclusion which defines it as "a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown".

Statutory Authority is an organisation that is required by law to provide public services and receives central or local government funding.  Local authorities and primary care trusts are both examples of a statutory authority.

Sustainable Development is development which meets the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.  It refers to the need to create a balance between social, environmental and economic objectives in a way that provides long term benefit to society.

Third Sector is the overarching term for organisations and groups that operate other than for private profit.  In general, the sector is made up of voluntary and community organisations together with social enterprises and social firms.  Charitable status is not a defining characteristic and the definition includes organisations that have registered as companies or are involved in campaigning and advocacy.

Voluntary Sector is a generic term for the wide field of non-profit making organisations that operate across many different themes.  The voluntary sector is generally considered to refer to larger more formal charities or organisations, rather than the smaller community sector organisations which tend to be place-based.  Many national voluntary sector organisations and networks employ large numbers of staff and have significant turnover in either fundraising, endowments or earned income.  At the other end of the scale, there are many self-help voluntary groups which share a common interest or cause and are largely run by volunteers. 

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