Measuring Community Capacity: An Electronic Audit Template

Cheers B¹*

1. Centre for Rural and Regional Development, University of South Australia, Whyalla-Norrie, South Australia, Australia

In view of the evidence that community capacity is positively related to economic and social development and well-being in rural communities, it is important to be able to measure and monitor it over time. In this paper, we present an electronic template developed through a collaboration of social scientists, government departments, and two rural communities in South Australia that is designed to measure community capacity in rural places. It draws on established rural and community sociological theory and research, provides a scientific tool for communities and government departments to profile and increase community capacity, and is based on residents’ on-the-ground understandings of community and community capacity.

The template was developed through participatory action research methodology involving: critical literature reviews; conceptual framework development; workshops, interviews, and surveys with residents of two South Australia rural communities; trial audits in these communities; and community capacity development planning workshops. Although we set out to develop a tool to audit a community’s capacity to support primary industry growth, the template can be adapted to measure community capacity more generally and capacity to support other industries, sectors, and activities.

In this paper we present: the template; the concepts, definitions, and conceptual framework on which it is based; template analysis and outputs; the study methodology; examples of community capacity profiles; the results of capacity development planning workshops; auditing methodology; recommendations for further template development; ideas about how it might be applied in community and regional development practice and research; and implications for community capacity theory and research.

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