Incorporating these five key steps—community engagement, needs assessment, collaboration, sustainability, and evaluation—into your community development projects will significantly increase their chances of success.

Community development was seen as emphasizing self-help, mutual support, the building up of neighbourhood integration, the development of neighbourhood capacities for problem-solving and self-representation, and the promotion of collective action to bring a community’s preferences to the attention of political decision-makers.

Community development involves the principles of sustainable development, empowerment, inclusivity, social justice, human rights, participative democracy, and equality. These community-led programmes led by specific communities aim to address the challenges and gaps oppressing the community members.

Community development is a holistic approach grounded in principles of empowerment, human rights, inclusion, social justice, self-determination and collective action (Kenny & Connors, 2017).