Pàgina

Building Community: the freedom and opportunity to develop social and collective relationships and identities

Building community creates a sense of belonging and shared meaning, essential for all facets of democratic life. Participation must offer the opportunity to develop social and personal relationships. What that looks like will depend on the needs, resources and priorities of different groups. Building community serves the individual’s need for meaningful social relations, as well as serving collective democratic agency and forming an important foundation for collective action. Its value is both intrinsic and instrumental. Nonetheless, it is essential to recognise the power dynamics that exist within communities, either in existing communities or communities developed through participation. The resistance within the CA to endorse collective capabilities comes in part through a desire to resist oppression enacted socially, such as gender dynamics and norms. In response, scholars argue that a focus on individual priority neglects the collective struggle that often forms the foundation of poor-led social movements and emancipation (Deveaux 2021). Throughout INSPIRE, building community proved to be an

Democratic Capabilities Framework essential foundation for developing further democratic capabilities. At the same time, pilot teams noted the need to attend to power dynamics between organisers and participants, and within participant groups at times.

Downstream Enablers of Building Community in INSPIRE

„ Participation for the soul is a crucial vehicle for building community. By this we mean elements of participation that can feel marginal to the process but are actually central to capabilities development (Parry 2026). This includes aspects like food, socialising, fun, play, music, and humour. In the pilots, these aspects helped participants to feel cared for and comfortable while also providing a foundation for building community. Coming together and connecting enabled participation (Written reflections from the Irish pilot, written and shared by Vanessa Liston)

„ Food brings people together and, alongside related activities, can offer comfort, nourishment, and nurture to (re)build collective and cultural identity (Kirwan et al 2014: 50).

„ Participatory space is not only instrumental but intentional in building community. The choice of space says something important about the locus of participation.