All Ireland Standards for Community Work

Community Work Standards
The All Ireland Community Work Standards were published in 2016.

Community work/community development is a unique and distinct professional practice which is comprised of both a task and a process. The task is social change, to achieve equality, social justice and human rights and the process is the application of principles of participation, empowerment and collective decision making in a coordinated and structured way.

Community Work is based on a set of values that are interdependent and intersectional with considerable cross-over between the knowledge, skills and qualities required and inherent in all of them.

All Ireland Standards for Community Work

The All Ireland Standards for Community Work were published by AIEB in 2016 following a review of the document Towards Standards for Quality Community Work to provide the foundation and guiding framework for community development in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Download the All Ireland Standards for Community Work

You can also order a printed copy of the All Ireland Standards for Community Work online at www.cwi.ie

What are the All Ireland Standards?

These Standards articulate and re-emphasis the key values and associated knowledge, skills and qualities required for the practice of effective community development work.

The aim is to provide a reference point and guide for key stakeholders that seek to support community work for the promotion of social inclusion, social justice and equality and as an intervention for social change. These stakeholders include communities, community workers, programme implementers, employers, policy makers, funders, organisations, groups and community work educators.

The All Ireland Standards for Community Work are designed to act as a guiding mechanism in:

The design, development, monitoring and review of programmes, policies and other initiatives focusing on community development, family support, local development, rural development, urban renewal, and the eradication of poverty.
The design of relevant elements in a variety of community engagement, community participation and social inclusion initiatives.
The development of community work education and training curricula at all levels including Continuous Professional Development for community work practitioners, managers of community workers and those using a community work approach in their work.
The recruitment and employment of community workers and personnel with a remit in using a community development approach.

The core values of community work as outlined in the Standards are:

The revision of the All Standards for Community Work (2016) was funded by Pobal to contribute to a common understanding of a quality approach to community work in Ireland. The inclusion of the Standards in the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2018 – 2022 also points to their importance in contributing to a shared understanding of the principles and practice of community development in Ireland.

Why your organisation should adopt the Standards

By adopting the Standards your organisation is making a commitment to uphold and put into practice the community work values underpinned in the Standards and to ensure that staff involved in the organisation have or are given the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and qualities required for effective and meaningful community work.
The All Ireland Standards for Community Work were published in 2016 with the aim of providing a key reference point for all stakeholders including community work organisations.
The Standards set out values, knowledge, skills, and qualities that underpin community work practice; education and training for that practice; community work policy at national and local levels; design and implementation of relevant programmes with associated funding.
As in all professions, maintaining high standards in practice requires community workers to continually focus on upholding professional integrity in practice. In community work organisations this means acknowledging and balancing their accountability to the community and to their funders. Community work organisations should abide by best practice and should contribute to the knowledge base of community development by recording, promoting, and sharing the reflections, analysis and lessons from their work and strive to continually improve their practice through supporting their staff to engage in Continuous Professional Development.