The Empowerment Strategies for the Aboriginal Community - Case Study Example

Role of Power in Community Development Outline Introduction Body Conclusion Role of Power in Community Development Introduction Power is the ability to control and direct the way things happen. This ability is in different forms; social, economic, political, and cultural. A community is a group of people who live in the same habitat and have a mutual link amongst themselves. The link may be historical or traditional. A community may constitute diverse groups with different interests. The Aboriginal community is an example of such community. Community development is a process of providing the people in that community the ability to influence their lives productively. This process of development encompasses the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of life. The ultimate goal of this process is to empower the community. Empowering is building the capacity of people able respond to various issues affecting them. The Aboriginal Australians were deeply affected by colonization. The aboriginal health and standards of living were caused significantly by social inequality and dis-empowerment. This state of affairs bred racism, lack of jobs, illiteracy, lack of proper health facilities and poverty. Body Empowerment is realized when the community and its people are given the opportunity to take in charge of their destiny. People can take control when they have the capacity to influence decisions concerning community issues. Empowerment gives people the ability to set objectives about their life and plans to achieve them. Proper decision making is only possible when there is enough information. The process of empowering the people involves providence of knowledge and training. Collective and participatory decision making is critical to community development interventions (Tommy, 2001). Other aspects that are critical in community development are design of programs to incorporate cultural and local interests. This would increase the level of acceptability of the program by the Aboriginal community. Community stakeholders should get involved in the planning of community development so that they make the entire process their own. The program implementers should facilitate the running of the program and let the community change on its own. Forced change amounts to oppression and may ignite rebellion. A well designed program for empowerment should impart self-awareness and skills to understand challenges and form solutions. It should create modalities for participating in decision making and resource accessibility. The Aboriginal communities have had few interventions that helped them ever since. This significantly diminished their trust in such interventions. For instance, the Northern Territory Emergency Response was an intervention in public health. This intervention did not apply the concept of community participation. Instead, it employed draconian measures like suspending the Racial Discrimination Act and the repeal to permit access to Aboriginal lands. This constituted to a crisis that critically enhanced failure of that intervention. This led to the review of strategy of developing social and civil bodies that cater for the community’s values and beliefs. These institutions should invest in developing local skills and nurturing leadership capabilities. This would set the stage for the community to lead the process of community development. This is critical because not unless empowerment is driven from within, any other intervention breeds dis-empowerment. Empowerment of communities starts by individuals. The empowerment strategies for the Aboriginal community included community controlled health services. This was initiated to respond to the deteriorating health situation in the Aboriginal communities. In 1971, Aboriginal Medical Service was formed in Redfern, Sidney out of a community movement initiative. This community initiative by the Aboriginal community was to establish a proper health facility for them. They argued that the initiatives offered by the government were discriminatory in service delivery to the locals. This medical service provided a unique health service delivery that was tailored to meet the Aborigines demands. It not only incorporated their holistic perception of health, but was also run by themselves. The decision making process in the medical service was vested in the community representatives, and it received unanimous support from the community. Community controlled services are key initiatives that promote and uphold community empowerment. Community control encompasses incorporation of various concepts. The receiver of the service contributes on how the service is rendered. The community conducts a SWOT analysis to determine its needs and works in unity to solve them. The community owns the initiatives and participates fully in planning and running of its activities. Above all, the initiatives are accountable to the community. Hence a community controlled health initiative provides a change in the power base to strengthen the social and cultural diversity of the community. Total involvement of the locals improves on quality acceptance amongst the locals. It also enhances people’s awareness and minimizes the effects of poverty, dis-empowerment and discrimination. Historical facts reveal that mainstream institutions demeaned and discriminated against the Aborigines. This prompted the formation of The National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organization in 1982 to address these issues. The mainstream hospitals were expensive and discriminatory to the indigenous locals. This resulted to unnecessary deaths of the Aborigines. However, controlled health services provide affordable and easily accessible services to the Aborigines. These were also designed to accommodate different cultural practices. The community controlled health facilities have increased to about 140 in 2009 to cover almost half of the Aboriginal communities. The greatest impediment to the running of these facilities was the lack of funding from the government between 1971 and 1989 (Eckermann, 1988). This was due to the government’s policy of self-determination. The community controlled health services were legislated under the Aboriginal Councils and Associations act 1976. This was a strategy to frustrate the operations of these aboriginal activities. They are subjected to apply for funding conditionally following a series of hierarchical procedures. This act did not incorporate the nature of the Aboriginal communities. This effectively watered down the rate of progress. These constraints were aimed at retaining control of the Aboriginal people. The trend is on going as the government spends only 20% per capita on Aboriginal health care. This amount of funds is not proportional to the bad state of Aboriginal health. According to Professor Ian Ring, the Aboriginal health funds must be increased and their programs reformed, or else Aboriginal health will not improve (Bourk & Bourk 1998). The government funding favors the mainstream Aboriginal health services at the expense of the community controlled health services. This has perpetuated the bad state of health among the Aboriginal communities. The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health policy suggest equitable funding and provision of infrastructure, and community controlled health services in Queensland. This would build their capacity to compete with mainstream institutions for funding. Political power is inherent in legislation, regulation and influence on the people’s opinions. The economic aspect of power is manifested in access to credit facilities, provision of employment and creation of wealth. Social power emanates from the effects of both economic and political power in a society. A person’s integrity and conviction defines personal authority. This is nurtured dependent on the things that affect us like family disorder, lack of jobs and bad state of health. This influence personal integrity and thus define personal authority. The Aboriginal people are plagued with high levels of poverty, illiteracy, prejudice, lack of employment and trauma. This has undermined their sense of worth and self-belief. Political authority is inherent in bureaucracies and organizations. This authority to legislate, disburse funding and control Aboriginal communities within the formed rules and regulations more often propagates special interest groups. The product of these authorities is domination which encourages oppression and dependency. In this system of oppression, people are inhibited from fighting for their freedom fearing the consequences. Bureaucracies are, therefore, an impediment to the process of community and self empowerment. Community development can easily be sucked up into factional competition (Eckermann, 1988). These factions tend to compete for power and control of resources. This results in exclusion of others in the communities events. These wrangles eventually affect the running of the community initiatives. This may attract government’s intervention which may include the introduction of non-Aboriginal programs. The government has, however, changed strategy on how to relate to the Aboriginal communities. The new strategy incorporates four goals: the need for stable families and strong cultures, the need to create a safe environment conducive for the Aborigines, and the need for a healthy and skilled people in the Aboriginal communities. These goals were in line with the Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs agreements. The proposed changes in engagement required community participation, reformed leadership, accountability and mutual responsibility in running affairs of the Aborigines. The Aborigines were required to initiate community development projects in consultation with the governments. A productive partnership is founded on trust and respect. This must be exhibited by the two negotiating parties. Community governing organizations rely so much on non-Aborigines. This deprives the locals the opportunities to build ability and generate capital within the Aboriginal communities. Non- Aboriginal staff may not effectively provide service in the interest of the Aborigines. This is due to misunderstanding and insensitivity to their plight. The progress report generated to the government would not reflect the Aboriginal views. This would consequently rob the locals their right of representation. The non-Aborigine staff that may volunteer to work in those challenging environments would rarely be quality professionals. This would adversely affect the health services delivered to the locals. The Aboriginal children form the future generation. The leadership has found importance in child care programs to foster their identity. A proper child care program should involve the community elders in formulating the curriculum. The implementers of this program should be Aboriginal child care experts. Education is the greatest empowerment the Aborigines need. This would help them to understand legislation and various dynamic developments. An educated and skilled society can take care of their affairs and safeguard their interests. The various programs, designed by the government, to educate the Aborigines should incorporate their cultural practices. This not only preserves their identity but also helps them to understand their past. Availability of skilled manpower would enhance the efficient running of the community development programs. Conclusion Power is a critical aspect in community development. In the Aboriginal communities where colonization greatly marginalized them, the Aborigines were left powerless. This greatly affected them as they had no say in how the government resources were shared. This bred a lot of poverty, illiteracy, family conflicts, high infant mortality, crime and poor living conditions. They did not have the infrastructure and could not access mainstream government services. The increased discrimination and marginalization of the Aborigine communities deprived them the capacity to develop. The emergence of community development is, however, slowly alleviating the situation. The community development objectives include providing quality accessible healthcare, providing education and training and imparting skills to the Aborigines. These efforts would eventually empower the Aboriginal communities and make them powerful. A powerful Aboriginal community would be in a position to compete favorably for national resources. Therefore, power influences the pace, direction and progress of community development. References Bourke, C., & Bourke, E. (1998). Aboriginal Australia: An Introductory Reader in Australian Studies. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. Eckermann, A. (1988). Cultural vacuum or cultural vitality. Australian Aboriginal Studies, vol. 1, pp. 31-39). Toomey, A. (2011). Empowerment and dis-empowerment in community development practice: Eight roles practitioners play. Community Development Journal, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 181-195. Read More