Building community resilience
Weak ties and relationships that reach beyond one’s immediate community are important if communities are to do more than survive during times of crisis. The connections that extend beyond the neighbourhood provide channels through which information and resources can flow in and out of local areas, helping communities adapt to change. We term this ‘adaptive resilience.’ The problems and tensions that exist in communities that lack the weaker ties can go unnoticed by others until they build up into significant crisis. Such communities can lack a voice and go unnoticed by policy makers and decision makers. It is therefore important to pay attention to the quiet communities, those in which people are not making a fuss or voicing concerns. Often, problems can be simmering away and unless addressed early can boil over as much more significant events. Our research found that voluntary sector organisations play an important part in building the social networks and ties (both strong and weak) that are required for a community to be resilient to change and cope with crises. The voluntary sector organisations that we saw in both Nechells and Shard End fulfilled a number of important roles including providing space for people to meet; broadening a community’s access to wider networks; providing leverage by linking up services and being able to signpost people to positions of power and authority. In practical terms our work in Birmingham stopped short of the final stages we set out in our WARM model. However, what seems clear is that when thinking about building community resilience in the long term, both central and local government should consider the five key points below when developing their plans: 1. Do not ignore the quiet communities. Just because problems are not being voiced does not mean that they do not exist. For example, we were alarmed at the lack of awareness of the issues and activities that were going on in Shard End. As one public sector official said it was ‘off the local authority’s radar.’ In Nechells there was a far more organised and active voluntary sector and this regularly enabled the community to engage with public officials, councillors and funders. Consequently, all of those we spoke to in authority were aware of many of the issues facing that community and were able to channel resources. 2. Develop localised micro funds to seed voluntary sector activity. Small amounts of investment can make a big difference and send important signals to communities. They can provide bolster fragile community organisations and can prove important in building up new organisations and community resilience. 3. Invest in community leadership. Where the voluntary sector activity is absent or weak, activity can be kick started through neighbourhood managers to build up the capacity of community leaders. 53