Community development officer

Community development officers develop plans to improve quality of life in local communities. They investigate and assess the community’s issues and needs, manage resources, and develop implementation strategies. They communicate with the community for investigation purposes, and to inform the community on development plans.

The following job titles also refer to community development officer:

social development officer
local community development officer
outreach support worker

Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as community development officer. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

• the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
• the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
• the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Community development officer is a Skill level 4 occupation.

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to community development officer.

mayor
social security administrator
regional development policy officer
city councillor
competition policy officer

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of community development officer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of community development officer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of community development officer.

Government policy implementation: The procedures related to the application of government policies at all levels of public administration.
Budgetary principles: Principles of estimating and planning of forecasts for business activity, compile regular budget and reports.

These skills are necessary for the role of community development officer.

Carry out strategic research: Research long term possibilities for improvements and plan steps to achieve them.
Maintain relations with local representatives: Maintain good relations with representatives of the local scientific, economic and civil society.
Liaise with local authorities: Maintain the liaison and exchange of information with regional or local authorities.
Work within communities: Establish social projects aimed at community development and active citizen participation.
Build community relations: Establish affectionate and long-lasting relationships with local communities, e.g. by organising special programms for kindergarden, schools and for dissabled and older people, raising awareness and receiving community appreciation in return.
Ensure information transparency: Ensure that required or requested information is provided clearly and completely, in a manner which does not explicitly withhold information, to the public or requesting parties.
Provide improvement strategies: Identify root causes of problems and submit proposals for effective and long-term solutions.
Perform resource planning: Estimate the expected input in terms of time, human and financial resources necessary to achieve the project objectives.
Analyse community needs: Identify and respond to specific social problems in a community, delineating the extent of the problem and outline the level of resources required to address it and identifying the existing community assets and resources that are available to address the problem.
Conduct public presentations: Speak in public and interact with those present. Prepare notices, plans, charts, and other information to support the presentation.

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of community development officer. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Project management principles: Different elements and phases of project management.
Public finance: The economic influence of the government, and the workings of government revenue and expenditures.
Public law: The part of law which governs relationships between individuals and the government, and the relationships between individuals which concern society directly.
Public housing legislation: The regulations and legislation concerning the construction, maintenance and allocation of public housing facilities.

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of community development officer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Advise on economic development: Advise organisations and institutions on the factors and steps they could take which would promote and ensure economic stability and growth.
Ensure public safety and security: Implement the relevant procedures, strategies and use the proper equipment to promote local or national security activities for the protection of data, people, institutions, and property.
Maintain relationships with government agencies: Establish and maintain cordial working relationships with peers in different governmental agencies.
Conduct public surveys: Conduct the procedures of a public survey from the initial formulation and compilation of the questions, identifying the target audience, managing the survey method and operations, managing the processing of acquired data, and analysing the results.
Perform public relations: Perform public relations (PR) by managing the spread of information between an individual or an organisation and the public.
Promote social awareness: Promote the understanding of dynamics of social relationships between individuals, groups, and communities. Promote the importance of human rights, and positive social interaction, and the inclusion of social awareness in education.
Develop professional network: Reach out to and meet up with people in a professional context. Find common ground and use your contacts for mutual benefit. Keep track of the people in your personal professional network and stay up to date on their activities.
Perform project management: Manage and plan various resources, such as human resources, budget, deadline, results, and quality necessary for a specific project, and monitor the project’s progress in order to achieve a specific goal within a set time and budget.
Present reports: Display results, statistics and conclusions to an audience in a transparent and straightforward way.
Advise on legislative acts: Advise officials in a legislature on the propositioning of new bills and the consideration of items of legislation.
Manage government policy implementation: Manage the operations of the implementation of new government policies or changes in existing policies on a national or regional level as well as the staff involved in the implementation procedure.

2422 – Policy administration professionals

 

 

---

 

 

References

1. Community development officer – ESCO