Exploring Community Organizing
This guide is also available in PDF format, including some practical examples.
The reason for this exploration
We live in an age where societal problems are increasingly framed as individual issues. This applies to housing, healthcare, poverty, and health: when someone struggles to find housing, it is seen as their problem, often even by the person themselves.
Together with perhaps family, friends, and maybe a support worker, they search for a solution. Shame plays a major role here. Because the problem is viewed as personal failure, it remains confined to the individual and their small circle. This makes the problem seem small.
Yet these are societal problems: challenges that we, as a society, have a duty to address collectively. Ensuring everyone has a roof over their head, that everyone can eat every day, and that everyone lives in a healthy environment. All of this is established in treaties and conventions.
The gap between the individualisation described earlier and these collective agreements is where things often go wrong. In practice, many people lack housing, do not receive the care they need, and see their neighbourhoods, entire communities, torn apart by new development plans. In such cases, affected communities must organize to defend their interests.
That is why LSA Bewoners commissioned this exploration. LSA has always stood alongside neighbourhood residents and invested in building communities. Community organizing is the logical next step.
In the following chapters, using practical examples and theory, we outline a directly applicable step-by-step plan to return neighbourhoods to their residents and how governments might engage with these active communities.
1. LSA BewonersThe Landelijk Samenwerkingsverband Actieve Bewoners (LSA) was founded in the mid-1980s as a network of community workers and later became an independent association of residents’ organisations. Today, more than 200 organisations are members, ranging from residents’ companies and care initiatives to energy cooperatives and neighbourhood gardens. By uniting these parties into a network, LSA has a unique perspective on what is happening in Dutch neighbourhoods and districts. From this position, LSA sets up pilot projects, shares knowledge, and advocates for the general interests of local initiatives. LSA’s goal is to place residents and their initiatives at the center of policy and implementation. Whether the focus is on residents’ companies, combating loneliness, or the energy transition, all these challenges require a solid neighbourhood-based approach. In LSA’s vision, government, policy, and professionals support community power, while residents retain control over their own neighbourhood or district. The ABCD method serves as the foundation for this work. This exploration examines how Community Organizing can complement it, analysing the similarities and differences between the two approaches and how they can strengthen, enrich, and foster greater awareness of residents’ own role. | 2. Asset Based Community DevelopmentFor over twenty years, LSA has worked with the ABCD method, which is based on a fundamentally different perspective on community building and neighbourhood development. The focus is not on what is missing, but on what is already present: the talents and experiences of residents, the quality of public spaces, and existing neighbourhood structures. Since 2003, LSA has supported residents on their path to this central role through knowledge, training, coaching, and strong advocacy. A recent milestone was the 2020 publication of the handbook ‘Altijd Nieuw Gedoe’ (Always New Business), followed a year later by the launch of the National Livability and Safety Program. This reflects the growing recognition that many neighbourhoods are struggling, while major societal challenges, such as the energy transition and healthcare, can only be effectively addressed from within and with the neighbourhood. ABCD is not a project or intervention with a checklist. It is about making a community visible, strengthening it, and maintaining it, permanently. As a community builder, you work from a genuine interest in sustainable and structural change. Above all, it is about power in the neighbourhood, power that often lies with the municipality, housing corporations, or other institutions. The goal of ABCD is to shift this power. Nothing is decided or implemented without the neighbourhood. Partners are equals, and the neighbourhood leads. ABCD always starts with the residents themselves, united and without outside help. Only then can they decide if they want external support. If needed, they can then explore how to organize things with that support. In short: by the neighbourhood, with the neighbourhood, and for the neighbourhood! |
3. Community OrganizingCommunity Organizing is how a community can resolve a conflict of interest with an institution or company. For example, when neighbourhood residents, as a collective, need something from an institution that is unwilling to provide it, and equality must be restored. By bringing people together and organizing the necessary power, desired changes can be enforced. This strengthens the neighbourhood’s position at the negotiating table, in lobbying efforts, and in public debate. Community Organizing is used when you want to change something and need to mobilise the neighbourhood. It is a method built on interdependent ingredients:
Community Organizing and ABCDBoth approaches share significant overlap, but they also have key differences. It is precisely these differences that allow them to strengthen each other and achieve better results. There is no Community Organizing without ABCD. Similarities:
Differences:
| 4. A short history on Community OrganizingFor as long as humans have existed, groups with shared problems have organized to demand action from those in power, from the temple builders of ancient Egypt to today’s climate protesters. In the 1930s, sociologist Saul Alinsky brought union-organizing tactics to Chicago’s poorest neighbourhoods, tackling poverty, crime, and other social issues. His approach soon spread worldwide and remains widely used today, especially in English-speaking countries. In the Netherlands, Piet Reckman, deputy director of the social academy in Driebergen, was the first to adopt Alinsky’s work. This marked the beginning of politicising community work in the Netherlands. A method that, despite its ups and downs, is still applied in education and beyond. At the start of this century, budget cuts and a shifting cultural climate led to a decline in this approach, with a focus shifting toward individual support. In recent years, however, interest in collective neighbourhood problem-solving has grown. Having learned from hard lessons, we now recognise that individualising collective responsibilities creates new problems, ones that harm not only individuals but society as a whole. This has renewed interest in Alinsky’s organizing method and his book Rules for Radicals. One of the most compelling organizing stories in the Netherlands may be the demolition of Rotterdam’s Tweebosbuurt neighbourhood. That is why we interviewed Mustapha Eaisaouiyen. |
5. Community Organizing, how does that work?The necessary ingredients of Community Organizing have already been mentioned. Below, we discuss them one by one. 1. Listening to the neighbourhoodAnyone wanting to organize a neighbourhood must know what is going on and listen to all its residents. Not just the people who are already speaking up, not those who confirm your assumptions, but to everyone. This requires a systematic approach. Anyone who brings people together and asks for their opinion will first and foremost hear the people who already have strong opinions and are quick to speak up. Language barriers, assumptions about the sender, and the available time and mental space in a busy, often stressful, existence can stand in the way of many. Anyone who truly wants to listen to as many people as possible starts with just one. By literally going door to door, the chance is greater that you will also reach the people who otherwise never speak up. It is amazing how enthusiastic people react when you genuinely listen to their opinion. A good conversation structure is essential to learn from these contact moments. What is going on, what touches people, and why. Look for BOND issues. Widely supported, Solvable, it is happening Now and is Deeply felt. The conversations also help to get to know the character of the community. Which words are used, how communication takes place. In the story of Mustapha and the Tweebosbuurt, there are elderly people who are not digitally skilled. In such a situation, extensive online communication does not contribute to bringing people together. Listening
| 2. Building and strengthening relationshipsSustainable relationships are an important part of Community Organizing. The stronger the mutual relationships, the more you can carry together. After the initial introduction, it is therefore important to strengthen the relationship.To take risks together, learn from mistakes, and achieve something, a bond of trust is necessary. This can only be achieved by knowing what motivates the other person, what knowledge is being contributed, and what emotions are at play. Trust and respect must be mutual to ensure that people want to work together.In addition, strong relationships are necessary to handle potential disagreements, to reach compromises, and to motivate and activate people to achieve shared goals. Investing in a strong relationship is impossible without mutual coaching and the exchange of feedback. Even more important? Doing fun things and celebrating successes! Sometimes it is the other way around. In Rosmalen, the neighbours got to know each other through the neighbourhood campsite and knew how to find each other when needed.RelationshipsInvest in strong relationships;Stay in conversation, exchange feedback, and coordinate with each other; Add a social element to meetings. Keep engaging (new) people.Do fun things, celebrate successes. 3. Stories as a binding forcePeople tell each other stories; it is in our DNA. It binds a group together. Storytelling is a much more effective way to engage people than dry information. A good story is about how we overcome a setback or solve a dilemma. Ideally, the story is short and concise, so that most people will actually read it. As an organizer or neighbourhood group, you often use three types of stories that interlock:A story about who you are, what drives you, and what you have come to do. ‘Let yourself be known’ and build a relationship.A story about ‘us’ is the story about what makes us neighbourhood residents ‘us’. What values and experiences do we share? What is our identity? A welcoming and inclusive story in which everyone sees a place for themselves.A story about the present. This is the story that convinces even the most apathetic resident that change is possible and that they can play an active role in that change. A story of anger, hope, action, and a view of a solution. Stories
|
4. Teamwork and structureOrganizing is teamwork. It is crucial to build strong teams and structure. This makes it easier to offer new people a place, execute a strategy, and take action. People want to feel that they belong and are part of something bigger. A strong team is large enough to handle the work but small enough to remain decisive. It has a shared goal, one or more servant leaders, and is diverse enough to be a reflection of the neighbourhood. There is a clear division of tasks and mutual trust. It has an identity; a name and a character. It has fun, celebrates success, and bears setbacks together. Structure If a team becomes too large (twelve is the max), structure is needed. Without structure, effective collaboration is not possible, and you cannot execute a strategy. An organizing structure works like a snowflake. Multiple teams work together, and an infinite number of new teams can be added. It is clear to everyone what is expected of those teams and how they communicate and make decisions among themselves. In the Amsterdam Noord case, a board and a confidential counsellor were even appointed. Later in the process, tasks were clearly divided among various committees. Teamwork and structure
| 5. Finding and developing leadershipOrganizing is also about seeking leadership. Without leadership, a group is indecisive, internal conflicts remain unresolved, and the group does not dare to take risks. But what is leadership? The definition of leadership that Marshall Ganz, an organizing expert at Harvard University, uses is: “Enabling others to take responsibility and contribute to the goal of a group in an uncertain context.” A leader is not The Boss, but takes responsibility for the whole and their own tasks, can bind people to them, and encourages them to continue committing to the common goal despite setbacks and uncertainty. A leader supports decision-making, assigns the right person to a task or role, resolves internal conflicts, forges a team, sets out the strategy, and represents the group externally. Not everyone has it in them to take on leadership. Leaders are the people designated by others in the neighbourhood as someone they look up to. Who they turn to when there are problems, or those they know have a large network in the neighbourhood. Leadership
The story of Lisan, who uses her background and experience to organize her neighbours, is a good example of leadership as it is meant here. |
6. Strategy: a plan to winNeighbourhood residents need a strategy to deploy available capabilities and resources. A strategy must be accessible and understandable to everyone. A good strategy shows what options are available, where the people are who want to join, what the possible reaction of your opponents is, how to deal with setbacks, and how to profit from your successes. The first step in designing a strategy is to investigate whether the problem you want to tackle is Broadly Supported, Solvable, Now, and Deeply Felt (BOND). If so, then it is suitable to be tackled using community organizing. The power structure surrounding a problem must be mapped out. Organizers work with the assumption that power does not come from above, but that power rests on acceptance or active support from below. Furthermore, an organizer needs an overview of who the allies and opponents are, and who participates passively and actively or resists. In this way, opponents can be isolated, perhaps some passive allies can be persuaded to become active, and, if all goes well, public opinion and the balance of power will eventually shift. Strategy is about building and making choices. You cannot do everything at once. You start with those first few neighbourhood residents at a kitchen table and work towards that major action involving the entire neighbourhood, ultimately arriving at a solution. Do this step by step. Build pauses into your campaign to catch your breath, take stock, and prepare for the next step. The story from Broek in Waterland beautifully illustrates how residents themselves set to work on an alternative plan, generated the resources and attention for it, and achieved success! Strategy
| 7. Action!Neighbourhood teams, check. Strategy, check. A good story, check. Leaders, check. Listened to the neighbourhood, check. Time for action! Time to turn all the work into deeds. This can be a classic action with protest signs and banners, but it can take many other forms. Going door-to-door with a petition or a street play explaining what the solution to the problem will look like.Strong actions have several of the following characteristics.
|
6. But, what does the government do?Now that everything has been said about organizing your neighbourhood in a conflict, the question of how the government can respond to this naturally arises. They are frequently positioned as ‘the other side’ in that same conflict. Governments, both national and local, are constantly engaging with residents and their communities. For instance, there is the right to challenge, an approach whereby residents can take over government services in their own neighbourhood, and neighbourhood councils are on the rise again. In addition, larger concepts are playing an increasingly prominent role. Such as civil society, in which the triangle of society, government, and market is being re-examined. The ‘government - market’ line is firmly anchored in policy and regulations, but the one between ‘government - society’ needs to be improved to create a level playing field. In line with this, the Advisory Committee on Strengthening the Resilience of the Democratic Rule of Law wrote in the autumn of 2023 that action is needed to fundamentally strengthen the democratic rule of law and the connection between government and citizens. While the issues mentioned above contribute to community involvement in decision-making, many people individually experience a lack of control over their lives and feel like pawns of the government and its associated institutions. At the same time, many feel that the business sector is allowed to do whatever it pleases. As a result, trust declines, and with it, participation in society. The much-vaunted concept of obedience is disappearing. Therefore, governments should not become rigid when residents organize themselves. Not even if this initially does not align with their own plans. It is important that governments, in particular, listen to residents, take their problems seriously, and act accordingly. When neighbourhoods organize themselves, this should be appreciated and supported, so that numerous societal problems are solved. Governments and communities need each other, and therefore they must coordinate effectively and agree on who is responsible for what. Ultimately, the government's ability to solve problems never reaches the very fabric of society. For that, you need communities on a manageable scale: the neighbourhoods and districts. As writer and organizer Margareth Wheatley says: ‘Whatever your problem is, the solution lies in the neighbourhood!’ | 7. Literature, reading and listening tipsHave you become enthusiastic after reading this exploration and do you want to read on, participate, or know more? Below are a number of links to texts, collectives, etc., that helped and inspired us to write this guide: Books:
Websites:
Podcast: |
Finally
This guide was developed for LSA Bewoners.
Interested in attending a training? Contact us here.
This guide is part of the ‘Toolbox for Movements’. This toolbox contains more short digital guides, offering fundamental knowledge about strategy, movement building, campaigning, and organizing.
We also love to learn. So, if you have any ideas for improving or adding to this guide based on your experiences, let us know!