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Community Development Worker

Kaiāwhina Whakawhanake Hapori

Community development workers support people to develop and implement plans to make improvements in their community.

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Secondary education

There are no specific secondary education requirements to become a community development worker. However health education, social studies, te reo Māori, English, maths, and accounting are useful. 

Study fields

Study levels

  • Diploma
  • Bachelor's degree
  • Up to NCEA Level 3
  • Certificate

Useful experience

Useful experience for community development workers includes:

  • youth work 
  • social work, counselling and local government work
  • work with community or community development organisations
  • leading a group or organisation.

What you will do

Community development workers may do some or all of the following:

  • develop networks and encourage connections within a community
  • support people to take leadership of community initiatives
  • work with community members to identify their needs, aspirations and existing resources
  • support community groups to develop and apply realistic long-term plans
  • help people work through conflict and achieve their goals
  • support community groups to access funding and set up partnerships with other organisations such as iwi, businesses and district and city councils
  • apply for grants
  • co-ordinate, establish, report on and maintain community projects
  • keep up to date with community events
  • help community groups to build on successes and learn from failures.

Skills and knowledge

Community development workers need to have:

  • the ability to engage with diverse groups of people 
  • an understanding of approaches that focus on the strengths and assets of people and communities 
  • knowledge of running projects and reporting
  • knowledge of applying for grants and report writing
  • an understanding of advocacy, policies and government funding available to help communities 
  • knowledge of the specific community they work in and its languages and cultures. 
Pay

Community development workers usually earn

$60K-$80K

per year

Job opportunities
Good
Chances of getting a job as a community development worker are good due to a shortage of workers with the right skills.

Industry

Community Services

Community development workers support people to develop and implement plans to make improvements in their community.

Similar jobs in this industry

Entry requirements

To become a community development worker you need to have relevant paid or voluntary work experience in community development or engagement.

Tertiary qualifications in social work or social practice may be useful, particularly with strands in community development or management of non-profit organisations.

Project and event management training and experience is also useful.

The Vulnerable Children Act 2014 means that if you have certain serious convictions, you can’t be employed in a role where you are responsible for, or work alone with, children. 

Chances of getting a job

Strong demand for community development workers

Demand for community development workers is good due to:  

  • the difficulty of getting staff with the right skill mix
  • high staff turnover
  • various government agencies applying community-led development approaches
  • the importance of building strong local communities that can better respond to emergencies.

According to the Census, 14,580 community development workers worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Increase your chances of finding work 

You can increase your chances of getting a community development worker role by:

  • doing voluntary work in your local community
  • connecting with a non-government organisation (NGO) that provides mentoring, workshops and opportunities to meet local community groups. 

Types of employers varied

Community development workers are employed by a wide variety of employers including:

  • social service providers such as Plunket
  • local organisations such as charitable trusts
  • faith-based organisations such as churches
  • city and district councils.

Most community development work is funded by grants of one to five years, and community development workers may have a fixed-term contract for the same term.

Find out more about training

Inspiring Communities
exchange@inspiringcommunities.org.nz - inspiringcommunities.org.nz

Progression and specialisations

Community development workers may move into team leader or project management roles.

Working conditions

Community development workers:

  • may work irregular hours, including weekends and evenings
  • work in offices, community centres and marae
  • travel locally to attend meetings.

Useful personal qualities

Community development workers need to be:

  • outgoing and positive
  • excellent listeners and communicators
  • highly skilled at both leadership and motivating others  
  • able to keep information private 
  • extremely well organised, with good planning skills.

Related Wintec courses

Industry

Community Services

Community development workers support people to develop and implement plans to make improvements in their community.

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