Community Development Theory, Principles, and Models - Case Study Example

Community Development theory, principles, and models Non-governmental human services organizations play a vital role in developing and enhancing the welfare of people at local, national, and international levels by providing services to vulnerable individuals and communities (Lewis and Kanji, 2009). These organizations deliver the fundamental requirements like food, shelter, and other support to the poor and needy. They also play an active and significant role in resolving conflicts, preserving human rights, environment, culture, building democracy, and responding to emergency situations like natural calamities, epidemic diseases and war (Lewis and Kanji, 2009). Caritas of Australia is one such non-governmental human services organization for international aid and development. It is one of the biggest humanitarian networks assisting the poorest of the poor worldwide (“Our Mandate,” n. d). Community development principles and theories can aid such organizations to function in a better way. This report will discuss in detail about the various community development principles, models, and theories that can be incorporated by Caritas to enhance the welfare of the citizens. Caritas renders helping hand to people regardless of their social and political ideologies, religion and, gender (“Our Mandate,” n. d). Caritas works with great care and compassion towards vulnerable people affected by humanitarian crises or natural disasters and strives hard to help them live a dignified life. At times of adversity, it provides a bonfire of hope for millions of sufferers and at times of peace it contributes to the development of an impartial society (“Our Mandate,” n. d). It plays a significant role in transforming the vulnerable people to become the architects of their own future through fair treatment and empowerment. Caritas works on rigorous grounds to strengthen the local capacity, improves access to indispensable services, upholds the natural resources, and empowers the poor by creating them opportunities for education and employment (“Our Mandate,” n. d). Caritas’s underlying principles are based on Catholic Social Teaching (CST) which lays emphasis on human dignity, uninterrupted access to basic resources, people’s participation in their life changing decision making, solidarity in diversity, compassion towards poor, promotion of economic justice, respect for the environment and encouragement of peace all over the world (“Our Values,” n. d). If community development principles and theories were adopted in addition to the above mentioned CST principles, Caritas can achieve new heights in human services, revolutionizing the entire society. So, it is inevitable to discuss about the principles and theories of community development that could be incorporated by Caritas so that it could perform better in its venture of enhancing the welfare of the deprived citizens. Any community development program should be based on the commitment to the various below mentioned principles. The first one is the principle of democracy, by which any decision taken must ensure the willingness of the majority and at the same time protect the rights of the minority (“Values and Principles,” n. d). The principle of inclusiveness, by which each and every citizen of the community has the right to be heard and participate in the processes that influences their own lives (“Values and Principles,” n. d). The non- authoritarian principle states that each and every citizen of the community has to be viewed with equal importance. The principle of community self determination focuses on how the community members gather at times of conflicts to analyse and discuss issues among themselves and take independent decisions (“Values and Principles,” n. d). The principle of community ownership is about how the community members take responsibilities for both their fortunes and mishaps (“Values and Principles,” n. d). The principle of social justice and equity focuses on how all members of the community receive unbiased treatment that lays a strong foundation for community development (“Values and Principles,” n. d). The principle of universality states that each and every member of the community has to receive the services without the need to be tested. The principle of service integration by is about how the community development services are coordinated through effective communication thus avoiding confusions and conflicts (“Values and Principles,” n. d). The principle of responsiveness discusses how the evolving nature and dependability of change is communicated and responded in a proficient manner by the members of the community (“Community development,” n. d). The principle of capacity building is about how the needs of the community members are met by developing solutions at local levels (“Community development,” n. d). This may include empowerment through education, rising awareness, and appropriate distribution of resources. By incorporating the above mentioned community development principles in their mandate, Caritas can achieve even more productive results in community development. Adopting community development theories can greatly help non-governmental human services organizations like Caritas to cope up with the dynamics of community transformation and enhance the citizen’s welfare in a far better manner. Group Behaviour theory of Lewin states that “People support what they help create” (“Community development Theories,” n. d). This means that people have a tendency to accept and support ideologies which were developed by their own participation. So, it is important to make each and every member to participate in the decision making process for community development, so that any welfare schemes associated with this process will receive full cooperation and support from all the members of the community. The theory of marginality and mattering lays emphasis on the fact that, in any reform measure being taken for people’s welfare, they must not feel marginalized (“Community development Theories,” n. d). Individuals must realise their significance in the community and understand that their participation and contribution matters a lot in the process of community development. Caritas can conduct awareness campaigns to make people understand their significance and make them volunteer in the process of community development. The six I’s community development theory helps in developing an authentic community in which the people of the community lead a genuine life style by creating their own standards and maintaining healthy interaction among community members through individual contact. The six I’s are Introduction, Interaction, Involvement, Influence, Investment, and Identity (“Community development Theories,” n. d). Introduction involves older members of the community helping younger members to get familiar with the physical structure, policies and practices of the community. Interaction helps community members to share their experiences and learn from other’s experiences. Involvement encourages individual participation in the process of community development. Influence creates a sense of significance about individual’s participation in shaping the community. Investment helps in rewarding member’s participation in effective interactions and thereby encouraging productive interactions for the community welfare. Identity provides a feeling of oneness among the community members thereby promoting unity and peace (“Community development Theories,” n. d). This theory can be very much constructive to Caritas in its most important mission of ensuring uncompromised dignity to the poor. The Group development theory helps organisations to access the available resources to satisfy the needs of the community members and prepare action plans for the betterment and bright future of the community (“Community development Theories,” n. d). This theory helps in understanding the varying needs of the people in a community, their expectations and group behaviour thus helping leaders in the community to get acquainted with the members (“Community development Theories,” n. d). This theory helps in developing conflict management skills and team building skills to ensure unity among community members which is very much essential for organizations like Caritas. Caritas can also use this theory to motivate the people in need to attain specific goals thus attaining the strategy of development. In addition to principles and theories, community development models can render helping hands to non-governmental human service organizations like Caritas in understanding and executing community development much more efficiently. This is because they give a simple and clear picture on various strategies needed for community development, areas that require special attention and methods of execution. The below figure shows a community development model which could be more suitable and can be adopted by Caritas in its mission to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity (“Our mandate,” n. d). The model evidently shows, the purpose of a healthy community, areas to be focused in order to achieve it and methodologies to be followed to execute it (“What is Community Development,” n. d). The purpose of building a healthy community is to live a dignified life without any sufferings for basic needs and sustaining the resources available for the prosperity of the future generation (“What is Community Development,” n. d). In order to achieve this, strengthening the economic status of the community by creating job opportunities, ensuring a secure life, preserving the environment, providing freedom to follow a diverse culture, and encouraging active participation of the community members in their life changing decision making is much essential and needs special focus (“What is Community Development,” n. d). Execution methods involve reaching out to the deprived people, providing them opportunities for education and personal development, and empowering them to handle their internal issues (“What is Community Development,” n. d). This model has a close coherence to the values, vision and mission of Caritas and therefore it would be very much appropriate for Caritas to adopt this model. Community development can never be achieved without surmounting challenges in social, economic, and political context. Collecting necessary funds to aid the people in need is the topmost of all challenges. Resourcing at local, national, and international levels is essential (Wall, 2009). Innovative ways to increase revenues can be possible only through careful planning and sensible forecast on future possibilities (Wall, 2009). Non-governmental organizations must work in collaboration with other bodies to raise funds from all possible means for fiscal management. Community development is planned and executed based on future forecast and there always exists a risk of facing unanticipated and complicated outcomes (Wall, 2009). The complexity in the issues of community development poses additional challenge in making the members of the community to understand the actual problem and finding solutions. Also working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds can cause social and cultural unrest (Wall, 2009). Careful handling of such circumstances is very important because social and cultural conflicts can even worsen the situations. The success of any community development program lies in the participation of the members of the community. Developing trust among the community members is another challenge faced by non-governmental human services organisations like Caritas that are striving hard to achieve community development. Thus embracing community development principles and theories can lend a hand to Caritas in their venture of supporting destitute people to come out from hunger, poverty, and injustice. Though community development principles, theories, and models can aid Caritas in building a strengthened community, reforms are required at various levels. Reforms have to be carried out in levels of recognition, support, resourcing, organization, and training to overcome the social, economic, and political challenges encountered in the process of community development. References “Community development Principles.” (n. d). In City of Casey. Retrieved from: http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/council/policies-strategies/a-c/community- development principles “Community development Theories.” (n. d). In The Evergreen State College. Retrieved from: http://www.evergreen.edu/housing/RAManual/section2.2combuild.htm Lewis, D & Kanji, N. (2009). Non-Governmental Organizations and Development. . Retrieved from: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/lewisd/images/Non Governmental%20Organizations%20and%20Development%20vouchers.pdf “Our Mandate.” (n. d). In Caritas Australia. Retrieved from: http://www.caritas.org.au/about/at-a-glance/mandate “Our values: Catholic Social Teaching.” In Caritas Australia. Retrieved from: http://www.caritas.org.au/about/catholic-social-teaching-values “Values and Principles of Community Development.” (n. d). In Ontario Health Communities Coalition. Retrieved from: http://www.ohcc-ccso.ca/en/courses/community-development-for-health- promoters/module-one-concepts-values-and-principles/values- Wall, M. (2000). Eight Challenges Facing Community Leaders. Retrieved from:http://www.aae.wisc.edu/pubs/cenews/docs/ce282.txt “What is Community Development?” In Scottish Community Development Center. Retrieved from: http://www.scdc.org.uk/who/what-is-community-development/ Read More