Affiliation: University of Johannesburg, Department of Social Work and Community Development ABSTRACT The ability of the practitioners in the community development sector to work effectively and improve communities is essential to social development. Community development practitioners, social workers, and community development workers are stakeholders in communities, with communities as key role players in the community development sector. Changing conditions that affect communities requires a broad collaborative partnership among various key players at the community level. How stakeholders can best work together remains the challenge in communities. This paper examines the tensions, challenges, opportunities, and innovative ways for inclusive practices and approaches to fostering and hindering collaborative partnerships in matters that affect communities. A qualitative research approach and an explorative-descriptive research design are adopted. Data will be collected using interviews. Implications for practitioners and practice will be presented based on the findings in this paper. Key words: Community development, Collaboration, Partnership, Social development and Social service practitioners.
