Community development is all about connecting people together, and working collaboratively to transform the way we think about ourselves within a community – as friends, neighbours, citizens and employees – to develop meaningful opportunities for social participation and contribution.
Our role here at Befriend is to activate community life. For the last 10 years, we’ve supported local residents, government and organisations to bring people together, spark new conversations and create the space for people to share their unique gifts and strengths with others in ways that are both personally meaningful and socially valued.
With a strong team of 17 change-makers and community-builders that come from all walks of life, we know how to work alongside a community to create sustainable and transformative change.
Our secret sauce for community building
The Befriendly recipe for sparking community connections
We’ve developed innovative and contemporary approaches to sparking inclusive, connected communities at grassroots level and blended the best philosophies to create our own Befriendly ways of working with local people, to do local things, in their local communities. Some of the key ingredients we’ve added into the secret sauce of our community building include a dash of regenerative systems thinking, a spoonful of gifts discovery and a dollop of Asset Based Community Development. Over the years, we’ve added new flavours and experimented with new approaches, but always at the centre of our work, is a focus on empowering local residents to cultivate new connections through sharing their experiences, gifts and passions.
When we work together to help people realise their potential and act with a sense of agency, we can begin to influence attitudes and behaviors as a means of strengthening communities and building capacity for change at a grassroots level. And, for us, nothing is greater than that.
Activation Workshops for sparking connections and community-led initiatives
Our services can help your strategic community plans come to fruition and catalyse sustainable changes in community life, shifting the paradigm from “doing for” to “supporting to do”.
We offer a number of Community Activation Workshops that give rise to enriching outcomes for local residents, including increased personal self-worth and increased social participation, alongside building community resilience and cohesion. Our unique services include facilitated gift discovery processes, community storytelling, social group “kickstarter” sessions, 1: 1 mentoring and more.
Download our flyer to understand more about how we can help you deliver on your Strategic Community Plans and Social Strategies.
Check out the impact of our work in collaborating with The City of Kwinana
We’ve been working with local people and organisations in the Kwinana community to build inclusive, welcoming spaces that values the contributions of all.
If you like the sound of what we do but you’re hungry to see the work in action, then click the button below to read our case study, highlighting some of the incredible work we’ve been doing over the last four years in collaboration with The City of Kwinana.
Read our 2023 Social Impact Report
We consider ourselves one moving part of a vibrant ecosystem of connection and community development, and together, we’re changing the conversation around social inclusion.
Every year, Befriend distributes a survey online and in-person, to better understand the impact our grassroots community building activities are having on the people and communities we serve. Containing data collected in May 2022, our report will give you a window into The Befriend Social Network over a two-week period. Click the button below to read it!
Let’s work together
If you’re interested in sparking a place-based community development project, we’d love to have a conversation!
Place-based community development has been at the core of what we do for 10 years, so if you’d like to know more about our approach to community development and have an exploratory conversation about how we might support your vision, fill out the form below or drop Elaine Olsen, Befriend’s Partnership and Business Development Lead, an email directly on .