COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY, A community does not talk, does not think, cannot feel, and

does not act like a human being. It is a superorganic entity, and

AND CITIZENSHIP
therefore moves, responds, grows and behaves through
Concepts and Perspectives of Community different principles, forces and mechanisms than a human being
does.
What is community?
• Often when we think of community, we think in Importance of Community Actions
geographic terms. to Students Career Options
• Our community is the city, town or village where we live.
• When community is defined through physical location, it Students as community workers help communities to bring
has precise boundaries that are readily understood and about social change and impart the quality of life in their local
accepted by others. area. They work with individuals, families and whole
• Communities can also be defined by common cultural communities to empower them to:
heritage, language, and beliefs or shared interest.  Identify their asset, needs, opportunities, rights and
• It refers to a collection of people in a geographical area. responsibilities;
• Most of us belong to more than one community,  Plan what they want to achieve and take appropriate
whether we’re aware of it or not. action;
• E.g. an individual can be part of a neighborhood  Develop activities and services to generate aspiration and
community, a religious community and a community of confidence.
shared interest all at the same time.
• Relationships, whenever with people or the land, defines A community development worker often acts as a link between
a community for each individual. communities and a range of other local authority and voluntary
sector providers, such as the police, social workers and
Family is the basic unit of community in society. teachers. They are frequently involved in addressing inequality,
and projects often target communities perceived to be
Rural - Consist of agricultural lands, also referred as pre- culturally, economically or geographically disadvantaged.
industrial communities.
Urban - Pertains to highly industrialized communities.
Slums - A densely populated area usually crowded and has Community Development Workers’ Tasks often involve:
dirty run-down housing. • Identifying community skills, assets, issues and needs;
Subdivision - An area of land that has been divided on • Ensuring that local people have their say;
smaller areas on which houses were built. • Developing new resources in dialogue with the community
and evaluating existing programs;
• Building links with other groups and agencies (government
Importance of Understanding Community Dynamics and & non-government)
Community Action • Helping to raise public awareness on issues relevant to the
• Learning about communities is a key to appreciating our community;
daily interactions with others, as we locate ourselves in a • Preparing reports and policies;
web of social connections. • Raising and managing funds;
• Developing and implementing strategies;
• Understanding the dynamics within our community aids us • Liaising with interested groups and individuals to set up
in responding to the collective challenges we face. new services;
• Mediating in matters of conflict;
• • Recruiting and training paid and voluntary staff;
• Planning, attending and coordinating meetings and
A community is a Super-organic Organism or System
events;
A community can be seen as being something like an • Overseeing the management of a limited budget;
organism (i.e. it is organized; it has organs). • Encouraging participation in activities;
• Challenging inappropriate behavior
It lives and functions even though its human members come
and go, are born to die. What to expect?
• Community development workers often have an
To promote social change in a community, it is necessary to office base but spend much of their time out and
know how that system operates, and therefore how it will about in the community.
respond to changes, and to your interventions. • Self-employment/freelance work is sometimes
possible, working as a trainer or consultant.
• The work is usually either urban or rural based, and Informal Institutions - are practices, norms,
conditions vary according to the nature and location of the traditions, culture, conduct and belief systems of a
project and funding. community.
• Coping with the social disadvantage and disaffected These are not codified or written, but are nonetheless
members of the community can be stressful. embedded in communities, operating due to the
• There is frequent contact with individuals, agencies and interactive process of preference exchanges and
groups in the community. social expectations that occur therein.

Choosing your career as community development workers Civil Society Perspective

necessitate various skills. Communities are built in pursuit of advocacies,
You will need to show: causes and goals.
• Advocacy and networking skills; e.g.: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and team-building People’s Organizations (POs)
skills;
• Good listening skills; In most cases, the goals and strategies of NGOs and
• Research and report-writing skills and the ability to POs complement with those of the state and are
interpret or present data; presumed to work in partnership with the state in a
• Knowledge and understanding of community and social cooperative mode to address societal problems in the
issues; areas of environmental protection, social welfare,
• A n0n-judgemental and positive attitude; promotion of human rights and civil liberties, among
• Creative thinking and problem-solving; others.
• Political, social and negotiating skills;
• An understanding of how public sector bodies work; 4 Types of Social Movements
• Comparison and the ability to empathize with people’s life 1. Reactionary movements – advocate the restoration of
experiences; the values and behaviors of people in the past in order
• Fundraising - at management level there is an increasing to preserve the traditional value and social relationship.
need to identify and pursue sources of funding. Some people negatively react to new changes because
they don’t want the existing order.
Social Sciences Perspective of a Community 2. Conservative movement – strongly resists change
because they want to protect the existing order.
• Refers to human society 3. Reform movement – attempts to change a specific area
• An informally organized social entity, characterized by a of life such as political, social, economic, cultural and
sense of identity.
religious dimensions without destroying the entire
• A group of people living in the same defined area,
system.
sharing common basic values, organization, and interest.
4. Revolutionary movement – seeks to change the social
• A group of people whose connections and relations are
order in order to establish a new one. The people seeking
formed by their shared histories, experiences,
for a change use radical and violent means to achieve their
geographies, and identities.
purpose.

Institutional Perspectives The LGBT in Society - the civil society as a whole has
• Communities have a mechanism for coordinating values, become more accepting of gays and lesbians than
goals and actions of its individual members. Social before.
institutions perform this function.
Organic Perspectives
Institutions – are established rules that ensure the regular and • An organic perspective of community refers to local or
predictable behavior of actors within a community. grassroots groups within a particular locale that are
driven and organized because of community issues
Categories: and concerns.
Formal Institutions – explicitly communicated, embodied
in legally codified documents or artifacts. …address particular issues, such as crime
e.g.: laws and policies that are implemented by prevention, environmental protection, or waste
government agency or office. management.