Community building, volunteering and action research

Many leisure activities require that people meet together to organise their own resources in support of their particular interests. This type of organisation often takes place at a localised community level. The community networks of mutual trust and support that these volunteer organisers build have been described in terms of social capital (Putnam, 1995). However, apart from work by Bishop and Hoggett (1985, 1987, 1989), there has been limited research at the local level that examines the construction of the social networks of trust supporting individual volunteering. This paper draws on an action research project that took place in a small community theatre setting run by older volunteer women in Brisbane, Australia. A series of planning workshops were facilitated by the researchers to assist the women in organising and managing the processes of their group. In developing strategies to manage conflict and plan for the future, the women's satisfaction with the group was enhanced and they felt more able to continue their volunteer work in support of the activities of the theatre company. The research pointed to the significance of a developmental perspective in theorising volunteering. Personal change and growth is important in sustaining volunteering as a leisure activity, but of equal significance is the maintenance of the self-directing community. It is the element of personal and community self-direction that aligns volunteering with leisure rather than work. The economic and social infrastructures that enable volunteers to experience their volunteer work as freely chosen, and consequently aligned with leisure, must be acknowledged and tangibly supported by governments if we are to maintain the social connections that build healthy communities and social capital.