Community development covers many aspects of human activity, including community safety, education and youth issues, elderly concerns, health matters, recreation and lifestyle opportunities, employment and even economic development and tourism promotion - anything in fact that may influence the social, cultural, economic and environmental well-being of communities. 

As practised in Selwyn District, community development means giving our local organisations, businesses and motivated individuals the knowledge, encouragement and access to resources that will enable them to "make things happen" in their communities.

Sometimes this can be technical or financial knowledge of the sort dispensed through training courses. Sometimes it is social knowledge - who to contact, where, when and how.

Funding knowledge is of key importance to many organisations - where to get it, how to apply for it. We can help. For example, click here to find out about Lottery Grants Board community grants.

Selwyn's community development strategy. [PDF 390 kb]

Selwyn's physical activity - current situation [PDF 220 kb]

Selwyn's physical activity strategy [slideshow]

Selwyn District Community Profile 2007

The Selwyn District Community Profile 2007 is available to read online in five parts. The parts are large files and may take some time to download on slow connections.

Part 1 [PDF 1.7Mb]
Executive Summary and Community Profile

Part 2 [PDF 1.3Mb]
Strong Families

Part 3 [PDF 1.2 Mb]
Healthy, Confident Children and Young People

Part 4 [PDF 1.6 Mb]
Strong and Safe Communities

Part 5 [PDF 767 kb]
Better Health for All, and Positive Aging

Community Coordinators

The Community Development Unit has five coordinators, focusing respectively on community health and safety, youth issues, business support and local events and contacts.

They sometimes work one-on-one with organisations and individuals in helping projects to come to life or reach a new level.

At other times they go out to the community as a whole through public events, meetings, seminars and workshops - all with the aim of helping the community's "go getters" work better and smarter on projects affecting their communities' well-being.

More information

To find out more about the Community Development Unit in Selwyn District, contact our Community Development Administrator, Joy Farrington, on 347 2800 or 318 8338.

  Email webmaster@selwyn.govt.nz with queries about this website.