Specific objectives
By the end of this topic the trainee should be able to:
Discuss the principles and practices of community development;
Describe the process of community development ;
Explain the philosophies of community development;
Discuss the impact of community development on other fields;
Discuss the assumptions in community development.
Principles and practice of community development
Def: They are used to guide the process of Community development and shows how and what CD entails. The principles are:
i) Principle of movement-CD should be involving in terms of participation in carrying out the duties and obligations of the community. Involvement helps people to identify the development projects of the community.
ii) Principle of felt need-the early community members are aware of the problems they face such as poor health, illiteracy. Poverty etc.This is important for CD to focus attention and achieving the most felt need. There must be collective perception of the need and understanding of the problem, this collective concern brings about motivation and shared identity of the needs of community members. The role of CD workers is to encourage the community to be actively involved in the process of change according to their felt needs.
iii) Principle of agreed perception/goals/acceptability
There should be agreed perception in terms of project to be undertaken in the society. Development workers should encourage forum that people can express their need and priorities for the goals that they need to be achieved. The goals should accept high levels of acceptability by community members.
iv). Principle of communication
It is very important in CD because of the diversity of people in each community e.g. young, illiterate, and old.
CD workers should use proper communication methods to enhance understanding of friendship.
iv). Principle of the discontent needs-this entails focus on problems that people are not happy with e.g. drug abuse, corruption, mismanagement etc
Community Development Process (CD as a process)
Some of the stages in CD are as follows:
i) Identification of community concern (problem)
Issues that existence in a community e.g. poverty, inequality, people should be concerned about particular situation that need to be addressed.
ii) Stimulus for action- (organization)
This is where community members acknowledge the current situation i.e. dissatisfaction and needs to change this stage, organization resumes and people have to take part in order to address.
iii) Laying the ground work
Action needs to passionate and confident people with ability to change things
iv) Developing a profile of the community
It is a paramount to establish/identify /explore the level of concern, issues and options before starting of resources support and assets are identified before solutions are posed. Thus community needs an average picture of a democratic social, physical and environmental characteristics of its own that are adoptable to change e.g. culture can be drawn back to community development.
v) Making meaning of information
The summary of analysis from profiles should be presented to the community members so that they can make their own choices about the aspects to be covered and the presentation styles that suits their need such information include demography, economic activities, socio-physical and community infrastructure services and challenges.
vi) Generating the community record project
The emphasis here is the community asset and the gap that this point is identified with previous visioning .It is vital to rethink about problems and reframe them as opportunities and focuses on how existing or readily accessible skills can be used.
vii) Identifying areas of action
First things fast, development strategies that have maximum support and affects can be done in a range of ways identifying their broad cross section of the community to what is often perceived as more efficient process based on working with representatives sectors of community democracy.
viii) Establishing an evaluating frame work
Involve measuring the success of any community project in a bid to achieve sustainability measurers. Evaluation monitoring ensures that there is a better utilization of resources in the right manner.
Here the community seeks professional assistance about how other communities succeed in addressing the same issue.
ix) Implementation
This is to ascertain and develop action plan that sets out when, what and who of the various projects are to be undertaken.
The key aspects include;-
Seek assistance within the community or outside extra ordinary development plans.
-develop participation and alienate result to an integrated approach to the issue
-Find ways to access resources-disseminate information in an ongoing basis so that a community remains informed and more likely to provide support.
-elaborate a success as a community and remember the community development is an ongoing process
Assumption of community development
Theoretical assumption (community development) is based on a number of assumptions and principles.
1. Knowledge-in both physical and social science is passed to members of a society through a process of education to perfect the society to meet its needs. The use of physical and social science knowledge will facilitate the pace of society progress than under the natural process of evaluation. This assumption can be applied in the situation of 3rd world countries where there is often resistance to technical innovation.
2. All members of democratic society need to have both access of physical and social knowledge to help them improve their life /society member have responsibility of improving their living conditions by taking the advantage of the available knowledge.
3. Community development worker has to be entrusted to train professional to know what to be done and who has the skill for doing it, the reason in social science knowledge is hard/much difficult to apply in view of changing nature of social relationship. Individuals have also to choose use of knowledge if this assumption
4. Relate to mode of communication development practice hence application of social science knowledge. According to Wileden (1970) community development should seek to confirm to be accepted by community members in those ideas, plans and practice to organize local community should emanate from community members themselves as to achieve sustainability. Her CD is seen as a radical and conservative, it’s radical in the sense that it entails democratic freedom and defending them is necessary i.e. it tries to promote change from worse to better. It is concentrative in a sense that it works within perceiving ideological, cultural social framework without threatening to change them i.e. use of local leader to mobilize local resources in the base in which a community is ready to take.
5. community development seeks to strengthen local organization or groups and to ensure coordination of their activities/local leadership of this organized other formal and informal leadership within the community had to be identified and developed through deviant training which increases its identifying to identify its process,problems,plans .solutions implemented and have action.
6. relation to the resources needed to the improvement activities .Member of the community who have to work with community development workers in determining resources that are locally available and how can be used. They also collaborate to the resources that have to be imported as long as the importation of resources will not undermine the determination and strength of the community.
7. The needs of the community have to be identified as to serve as a basis for action, recognition of the needs start with a problem that may have risen out of gradual changes of the conditions in the community.
REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the principles and practices of community development?
2. Describe the process of community development?
3. Explain the philosophies of community development?
4. Discuss the assumptions in community development?
