48. The C.D.O.'s role as a local co-ordinator is likely to grow only gradually to meet contingencies which have not hitherto required local co-ordination. We may in addition spot existing activities where co- ordination could be improved but here we have to watch departmental sensibilities and act only when we can do so without causing irritation.
49. I conclude this section with a discussion of the impact of the C.D.O. scheme on other departments.
50. We have not yet, I think, set in train any major change in policy by a department though our involvement in the blind workers' dispute may one day be seen to have contributed to a reappraisal of policy towards the disabled.
51. Senior departmental officers have, on the whole, been sympathetic and I believe their attitude has perhaps been coloured by the favourable publicity in the English language press. At the same time we have been very conscious of the fact that almost any thing we do can be construed as the business of some other department and there is always a risk that our action will be seen as interference. We try to avoid giving this impression but not to the extent of doing nothing at all. Departmental indignation is, however, usually well tempered with tolerance by the time a senior officer telephones or writes personally on some point. We have certainly made mistakes and there have been misunderstandings, but I think it is true to say that these have been resolved without too much damage being done.
52. Success in helping a department out of trouble is the best way to establish ourselves. Two offices of the P.W.D. have come to involve us much more in their work following cases in which a good deal of patient explaining was necessary in order to make essential projects reasonably acceptable to local public opinion.
53. Our relations with the Social Welfare Department went through a difficult phase because a good deal of what I describe under the heading 'Services for the Community' is bound to come under any good defini- tion of community development-the responsibility of a Division of the Social Welfare Department. At first we detected some resentment at our amateur efforts in this field but D.S.W. has now taken steps to regionalize his community development work and the first four District Community Officers working in four City Districts have just been appointed.
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