Communitygedragen

Communitygedragen, Dutch for “community-driven,” describes initiatives, projects, or organizations whose direction is shaped primarily by the members of the community they serve. It emphasizes participatory decision-making, local ownership, and shared responsibility, in contrast to top-down or externally led models.

Key features include inclusive participation, shared governance structures, transparency of processes, and mechanisms for collective accountability. It often relies on voluntary contributions and local networks, while some forms adopt formal legal structures such as cooperatives or nonprofit associations to sustain operations.

Applications appear in urban planning through participatory budgeting, in open-source software where users help set roadmaps, and in community-led housing, education initiatives, and civic technology projects. The approach is also used in development work aimed at empowering local communities to define priorities and solutions.

Benefits can include greater relevance to local needs, stronger legitimacy, and longer-term support. Challenges include slower decision-making, potential power imbalances, coordination costs, and the need for capacity-building, facilitation, and clear governance rules to prevent fragmentation.

Because it emphasizes participation and accountability, success depends on transparent processes and ongoing facilitation. The term is common in Dutch- and Flemish-speaking policy, civil-society, and tech discourse and aligns with broader ideas of participatory governance and the governance of the commons.