What is a Community Network?

SCEN is defining a Community Network in the following way: 

• A Community Network has links into and communicates with people in different communities. Community can mean a geographical community or a community of interest, such as older people or carers.
• Developing Community Networks involves working at a grassroots level, engaging with and supporting individuals and groups to have a voice. More often than not this means supporting socially isolated communities.
• A Community Network is equally about supporting those voices to come together as a collective to make an impact on a strategic and policy making level. There is movement up and down within a Community Network, information goes up from the grassroots to the strategic level and information comes down from the strategic level to the grassroots.
• A Community Network shares best practice and develops innovative ways of tackling problems.
• Ultimately a Community Network is about making things better for communities. Consequently, the Community Network is accountable to the people it serves.

Within the SCEN definition, organisations whose primary function is service provision will not be included as community networks. This is because SCEN believes that a community network must be as independent as possible.

Visit the SCEN website for more information:   www.scen.info