The enabling environment for community work : Environnement favorable au travail communautaire

Beyond the traditional functions of exemplar and investor, there is a novel set of activities involved in creating the context for and sustaining the activities within this agenda. [...] In response to the need for local data, for example, the statistical agency of Newfoundland and Labrador developed, in association with Memorial University and the provincial Strategic Social Plan, a set of Community Accounts. [...] The main task in this process involves the creation of a diverse and multisectoral structure that assumes responsibility for the governance of the comprehensive community initiative. [...] Experiments in horizontal management, such as the Sustainable Communities Initiative that had been based in Nova Scotia, sought to change the culture and operating practices of government to enable various departments and orders of government to pool their interventions and resources in aid of local development strategies. [...] The Unit was housed within the (then) Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and worked on projects agreed to by the (former) Deputy Prime Minister in consultation with the Prime Minister.