What can social work and social care learn from asset-based community development?

Presented by: Prof. Fiona Verity, Swansea University, Dr Oliver Davis, Cardiff University and David Horton, ACE Caerau Ely.

Social work and community development have always been uneasy bedfellows not least in terms of where power and ‘experts’ are located (Walker 2016). Two decades of neo-liberal influences on social work have increasingly pushed the profession toward managerialist, detached ‘professionalism’, rather than kinship, solidarity and activism.

The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 has set the stage for a reuniting of social work and community development with a focus on relational rather than procedural ways of working and re-engagement with communities. However, there is a danger that this could become an opportunist and exploitative venture, that focuses on the transfer of responsibility rather than resources and power to local communities.

This seminar will outline a particular approach to community development in a particular area of Cardiff, that is asset-based and people-led. It will provide a narrative of community development that illustrates its complex, relational, creative and emergent nature. Such an approach does not sit well with traditional approaches to planning and evaluation in social care, which often try to control and predict rather than go with the flow.

The fruits of asset-based community development will be illustrated by the example of a heritage project involving archaeologists from Cardiff University. The seminar will conclude with an outline of a storytelling approach to evaluating such work that is focused on learning, rather than performance.

Participants will then be invited to engage in dialogue about what they have heard. They will explore the opportunities and obstacles to community development and social care becoming more easy bedfellows.

Beth gall gwaith cymdeithasol a gofal cymdeithasol ei ddysgu gan ddatblygu cymunedau ar sail asedau?

Cyflwynir gan: Dr Nick Andrews, Prifysgol Abertawe, Dr Oliver Davis, Prifysgol Caerdydd a David Horton, ACE Caerau Trelái.

Nid yw gwaith cymdeithasol a datblygu cymunedol yn cydweddu bob amser, yn enwedig o ran lle ceir pŵer ac ‘arbenigwyr’ (Walker 2016). Mae dau ddegawd o ddylanwadau neo-ryddfrydol ar waith cymdeithasol wedi gwthio’r proffesiwn fwyfwy tuag at ‘broffesiynoldeb’ rheolwriaethol, ar wahân, yn hytrach nag undod ac actifiaeth.

Mae Deddf Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol a Llesiant (Cymru) 2014 wedi paratoi’r ffordd at ailuno gwaith cymdeithasol a datblygu cymunedol gyda ffocws ar ffyrdd perthnasol yn hytrach na gweithdrefnol o weithio ac ail-ymgysylltu â chymunedau. Fodd bynnag, mae perygl y gallai hon droi’n fenter i bobl fachu a chamfanteisio arni, un sy’n canolbwyntio ar drosglwyddo cyfrifoldeb yn hytrach nag adnoddau a phŵer i gymunedau lleol.

Bydd y seminar hwn yn amlinellu agwedd benodol at ddatblygu cymunedol yn un o ardaloedd Caerdydd, sy’n seiliedig ar asedau a than arweiniad y bobl. Bydd yn cynnig naratif o ddatblygu cymunedol sy’n darlunio ei natur gymhleth, berthynol, greadigol a chynyddol. Nid yw’r fath agwedd yn cydweddu’n dda ag agweddau traddodiadol at gynllunio a gwerthuso mewn gofal cymdeithasol, sy’n yn aml yn ceisio rheoli a rhagweld yn hytrach na chanlyn y llif.

Caiff ffrwythau datblygu cymunedol ar sail asedau eu darlunio drwy’r enghraifft o brosiect treftadaeth sy’n cynnwys archaeolegwyr o Brifysgol Caerdydd. Bydd y seminar yn dod i ben gydag amlinelliad o agwedd adrodd straeon at werthuso’r fath waith sy’n canolbwyntio ar ddysgu yn hytrach na pherfformiad.

Yna, caiff y cyfranogwyr eu gwahodd i gymryd rhan mewn dialog am yr hyn y maent wedi’i ddysgu. Byddant yn ystyried y cyfleoedd a’r rhwystrau ynghylch gwneud i ddatblygu cymunedol a gofal cymunedol gyd-fynd yn well.