1. Community Development Capacity Building and Planned Change Essions 1-3 A Historical and Organizational Context of Community Development WassieKebede, PhD (Associate Professor)

2. 1. What is Community • Community can be defined in the following ways: • A set of meaningful social connections in a group of any size. • A web of some kind of relationship. • A social institution that is a stable structure and agreed set of procedures

3. There are three types of community: • Geographic community of place. • Geographic boundary. • Existing common ties. • Social interaction (social capital). • Community of interest. • Not necessarily geographically bounded community. • Perceptual, meaning, a sense of belonging an area (origin)

4. Functional, meaning, the ability to meet with reasonable economy the community’s requirement for comprehensive physical and human service. • Political, meaning, the ability of the elected body to represent the interests of and reconcile the conflict of all its members • Personal community • Group of people on whom an individual can rely for support and/or approval. • Group of people for whom the coefficient of reliance is relatively high.

5. 2. What is Development? • Development has several meanings • Modernization, • Urbanization, • Industrialization, • Social or political transformation, • Technological improvement, and • Economic growth.

6. Development has often been confused with economic growth. • Development means the condition for realization of the human personality. • Criteria to evaluate development: • Reduction in poverty. • Reduction in unemployment • Reduction in unequality

7. 3. What is Community Development? • Group of people in a locality initiating social action process. • Planned intervention to change economic, social, cultural and or environmental situation. • Community development can be described using the following concepts. • Development as a process: This describes methods of implementing change.

8. Development as a program: This describes specified activities such as housing, construction, adoption of agricultural innovation, etc. • Development as an outcome: This describes the desired end result of change such as more employment. • Development as an ideology of action: This describes activities such as restructuring the social, normative and economic order for desired ends.

9. 4. The Knowledgebase (History) of Community Development • Linked to rural sociology • Rural sociology focuses on how rural people and communities are socially, culturally, politically, and economically organized. • Understand research • Research provides the intellectual underpinnings for the focus of community development.

10. 5. Views of Community Development • Reform versus revolution view: The central focus of this view is modification or replacement of existing system to bring about development. • Populist versus elitist view: The central idea of this view is a focus on who should decide the pass and method of planned change

11. Structural versus individualist view: According to this view focus is to be given to institutions or individual behaviours for planned change. • Outcome versus process view: This view focuses whether change should be directed towards immediate improvement in material well-being or toward developing new social, economic, and political process.

12. 6. Core Approaches in Community Development • There are three major approaches or themes that guide community development • Technical assistance approach: Technical assistance is intended to help communities define their problems, needs, and potential solutions. • The scientific method is highly valued. • Technical know-how is assumed to be good

13. Economic growth or improvement of the physical infrastructure is typically the focus of attention. • Self-help approach: People in the community coming together and learn how to address their problems. • Residents are expected to come together, identify problems through mutual agreement and mobilize change

14. Conflict approach: The local people are working together to identify their own needs, nurture their own leadership skills, and knowledge and organize their own strategies. • Collective action represents a literal learning laboratory where persons can expand their performances of community change skills.

15. 7. The Evolution of Community Development • There are four eras named as: • The progressive era, • The new deal era, • Urban renewal and area development era and • The war on poverty era

16. The progressive era: • individualistic explanation for poverty • Individualistic explanation for social disorganization • The new deal era: • An era where decentralization of development programs was central to community development strategies • Attention was given to design effective program to address the needs of the depressed people

17. Urban development and area renewal era: • Characterized by addressing joblessness affected by economic development. • War on poverty era: • Community development mainly focuses on a community action program. • The focus is on the poor to assume power.

18. 8. The Process of Community Development • It is a process through which people and communities acquire the skills, attitudes, and abilities for active participation. • It is a difficult and time consuming and a costly job. • It is as important as its outcomes

19. Components in the process of community development: • Community organizing: • Preparation of new policies and organizational structures. • Bringing people together for the betterment of social conditions and for social justice • Visioning: • Where organizational vision is set and organizational structures articulated.

20. Planning: • A simplified (short term) action plans are created, and long term (comprehensive) plans designed. • Planning ranging from neighbourhood service planning through inter-organizational planning. • Implantation and evaluation: • Project activities are being implemented. • Bench marks and success indicators created. • Success/outcomes are evaluated

21. 9. Evolution of Development Models • Demarcated by five distinct periods. • The proto-models of taproots era (1890s-1910s): • The emergence of settlements happened. • Charity organizations/societies were created. • Rural development concepts and actions became familiar. • The handbook on Charity Organizations written

22. Definition and practice method development (1920s-1930s): • focuses were not only given teaching theory on community development but also practice theory. • The roles of the community organizers recognized. • Emphasis was placed on continuing development of health and welfare councils, community planning and grassroots organization development. • Four basic concepts of community organization identified. • Group development, • Intergroup relations, • Integration, • Adjustment between resources and needs

23. Practice method specification (1940s-1950s): • The period marked by the second rediscovery of poverty. • Civil rights movement, • The war on poverty, • The conceptualization of three development models • Locality development model, • Social planning model, and • Social action model.

24. Articulation of basic models (1960s-1970s): • Includes both task and process goals geared towards changing power relationships and basic relationships/ • Expansion and specification of models (1980s-1990s): • Specifications of models and their expansion was realized.

25. 10. Community Development Model Frameworks • There are five community development model frameworks. • Program development and coordination. • Planning. • Community liaison. • Community development. • Political empowerment.

26. Program development and coordination focuses on the implementation carried out in the public sector, private sector, agencies serving a geographical area, or in functional community of interest. • Planningstress process skills, managing organizational process, and exerting influence.

27. Community liaison consists of community work functions carried by administrative and line staff human service agencies. • Community development gives strong emphasis on enabling, leadership development, self-help, mutual aid and locally based community study and problem solving. • Political empowerment the intended outcome is citizen participation.

28. 11. Feminist Analysis of Community Practice Model • The emphasis is that: • Goal is always related to the elimination of oppression. • Power is conceptualized as facilitative, enabling, and shared. • Strategies for change stresses the need for congruence of means and ends.

29. 12. Models of Community Practice for Social Workers • These models include: • The neighbrohood and community organizing model: • Defined as a practice that involves engaging and empowering people with the purpose of increasing the influence of groups historically underrepresented in policies and decision making that affect their lives. • The scope of concern of the model is quality of life in the geographic area. • The role of the social worker is to serve as organizer, facilitator, educator, and coach.

30. Organizing functional community model: • A functional community is a community system of people cooperating to run a local economy. • It is many helping hands that are local, within a geographic community. • It has community cooperation. • The scope of concern of this model is advocacy for particular issue or population. • The role of the social worker is to serve as organizer, advocate, and writer/ facilitator.

31. Social planning model: • Social planning is the process by which the community determines the basic health and welfare needs of its members. • The scope of concern of this model is integration of social needs into geographic planning in public arena and human service network coordination. • The role of the social worker is to serve as researcher, proposal writer, communicator, planner, and manager.

32. Program development and community liaison model: • The scope of concern of this model is service development for a specific population. • The role of the social work is to serve as spokesperson planner, manager, and proposal writer. • Political and social action model: • The scope of concern of this model is building political power and institutional change.

33. The role of the social worker is to serve as advocate, organizer, researcher, and candidate. • Coalition mode: • The scope of concern of the coalition model is specified issue related to social need or concern. • The role of the social worker is to play the role of mediator, negotiator, spokesperson, and organizer

34. Social movements as a model: • The scope of concern of social movements as a model is social Justice within a society. • The role of the social worker is to serve as advocate and facilitator.