6: Concluding discussion

In community development:

• there is a need for communities to share what works
• there is a need to get policy makers to listen/hear/think beyond the box
• there are substantive issues with defining and using the terms association and rurality;
• there must be association between peers

For academics, community development provides a good opportunity to revisit theory.

Community development methods provide a multiplicity of approaches, which is very appropriate given that each community is unique.

It is essential that actual community representatives participate in The Arkleton Centre's 2003 Conference so that they can share what they've done with others and also how they have overcome their skills and knowledge deficits.

All reported taking comfort from the discomfort of the participants in the seminar with their dual roles as academics and people who care about particular communities.

We found we had more similarities than differences, despite our wide geographical and professional spread - but both the differences and the similarities were important and useful learning tools.

We discovered and shared a wealth of practical examples and approaches.

We encountered increased possibilities for international exchange and working together.

All voices were honoured - here and in the community.

Participation must pervade throughout the whole community development process, it must never stop.

Structures of power within and out with the local community must be acknowledged.

There is a tension between animation and organisation that needs to be balanced.

Outcomes should be directed towards overcoming oppression and encouraging accountability and legitimacy.

We cannot overstress the importance of local context in community development.

Funding, practice, etc., happens best at a local community level

Warning! - practitioners and academics may romanticise the ideal of bottom-up development and the idea of communities.