The Success of the Community Work - Essay Example

Community Work Name Institution Introduction There are many ways through which one can explain what a community is. Nevertheless, the underlying point is that it is a social group with distinct values and cultural practices. There are a number of issues that have to be considered in trying to understand what a community is. For instance, the people must be residing in the same locality or within the same geographical boundaries (Sutton,1994). In addition, another distinctive feature is the issue of unique values and beliefs. These beliefs guide the community in all critical issues that affect members of the community. Such beliefs are transmitted from the old people to the rest of the members of the community (Liu& Sulivian,2011). Based on this understanding, it is possible for an individual to belong to more than one community. For instance, a student attending day school can be considered to belong to the community where he/she lives. At the same time, the student is considered to belonging to the school community. With time, the understanding of community may keep shifting in line with the current trends. An example is the issue of the internet and other technological discoveries which have rediscovered how people interact. Distance or geographical limitation is becoming less significant in defining a community. Discussion The success of the community workers in any society is determined by many factors. Amongst these factors are those originating from the community/society. There are practices that are undertaken by the community that can either be a deterrent or a boost to the work being carried out by the community workers in that particular community (Dahir, 1950). One of the factors that are likely to have a significant impact on community workers is beliefs of the people. There are some beliefs that are too strong to allow certain practices in the community. The work undertaken by community workers could be very diverse. These duties could include poverty eradication practices, disease compartment, sanitation, etc. Unfortunately, the strong beliefs by a certain community may work either in favor or against any of the practices that have been leveled above. If the community strongly believes that the activity being carried out goes against certain tenets defining them, then this could lead to lack of cooperation between the community and the service-providers (Warren, 1978). That means that for a social worker to be effective in a particular community, he/she must analyze the various aspects of that community to establish some beliefs that may be a hindrance. Through this, a careful selection may be done to ensure that possible resistance is avoided at all expense. In evaluating the factors that have the capacity to influence the success of any community work, deeper understanding of the role of community work is critical. One of the core issues to consider is the understanding of the fact that community work is mainly focused on facilitating social and economic change (Twelvetrees,2001). Based on that, increased level of ignorance can be an impediment to the attainment of that goal. The low levels of literacy and numeracy will limit the extent to which such programs are implemented in the community. Therefore, for the objectives of a community worker to be accomplished easily, good education standards are very crucial. People who are learned take a short period to understand the goals of social workers in the community. It makes it easy for the community to coordinate and extend their support for the highlighted programs. Moreover, the elites in the community are more receptive to new ideas and this makes it quite easy to work with community workers. This also puts into consideration the fact that most of the activities undertaken by community workers are education-oriented (Popple,2002). In that given setting, that community whose members are educated will make it easier for community workers. Moreover, the level of education directly affects communication with the community. For instance, the marginalized communities are more affected when it comes to some technical community work programs. In such a setting, they may not benefit or benefit less because of the ineffectiveness of communication. Just as communication is critical in the setting of the organization, so is the case for the community. The level of productivity of community workers rises or falls equivalently with the level of education (Liu& Sulivian,2011). Educated people are very resourceful when it comes to communication. It makes it easier not only for people to understand their participation, but also the need for such programs being orchestrated by the community workers. That seems to be a very firm foundation for high-level cooperation between the community and the community workers. At the same time, it becomes the basis for collaborative and partnership working. When it gets to that level, the results of the community work are somehow guaranteed. For deeper understanding into this, it is worthy clarifying that the extent to which communication affects the effectiveness of the community workers is also determined by the nature of the program. Programs that have an education element will succeed when communication is effective. In addition, the kind of leadership that the community has in place will have a profound influence on the success of the community work programs. People in any community/society have a lot of respect for their leader. It is very easy for their leader to influence them in the direction he wants. Therefore, when community workers find a respected leader in that community, it is easier to execute their plans (Andrews,2012). The workers in that setting will be required to share their objectives with the leadership. As long as the leaders in that community are convinced that whichever programs to be implemented are good for the welfare of the community, it will boost the program. Such leaders will mobilize the locals on the importance of the programs being propagated. In such, the community workers will not struggle so much trying to convince the people on the concerned issues. This explains why community workers have to undertake some specialized training in order to ensure they are effective (Kennedy & Hyett, 2013). Such training equips the community workers on the ways of negotiating with the leaders to ensure certain programs are implemented. Without the necessary skills, community workers’ mission could be thwarted without a proper reason. Training equips the workers to fully understand the environment from which they are going to operate, the challenges inherent and possible ways of overcoming them. Lastly, the varied activities that community workers may be required to do may require certain resources from the society. There is a level of coordination between the community workers and the people not only in terms of participation, but also through availing some resources. For instance, some community development programs may require facilities like recreational centers to facilitate execution of some services. A community that is very organized to the level where such facilities are operational may have an upper hand in the work of community workers. This is based on the constraining issues affecting the duties of community workers. Some of these issues include financial limitations (Risley-Curtiss & Rogue, 2013). Financial limitations imply that community workers have to operate on a limited budget to a certain extent. In line with that, the work of community workers will be boosted if the organized community has some resources that can be of great use to the workers. These points to an issue to do with partnership in the process of funding community development work in order to make it a bit affordable. Well-organized communities can do cost-sharing with the organizations financing community development work. This will ease the process for the benefit of all members of the community. Conclusion The activities undertaken by community workers are quite diverse in nature. It is true that there are factors within the domain of the community that can either boost or derail the work of community workers. This paper has highlighted most of these common factors that could act as a hindrance or a booster. Nevertheless, it is also important to appreciate the fact that there are many factors influencing the functions of community workers that are outside the domain of the community. Such factors have been found to have a greater impact on the functions of the community workers. For instance, the issue of financial limitation remains top on the list. Most of the community workers are poorly remunerated and this greatly lowers their morale in undertaking their work. The government has not done much to demonstrate its commitment to supporting this function. Most of the funding to most of the community development projects has been done by well-wishers and other non-governmental organizations. Another challenge has been poor training and equipping. Not much has been done to ensure that community workers are fully trained in tandem with the duties and responsibilities awaiting them. The suitability of the kind of training most of them have been subjected to has been put to spotlight on several occasions. The stakeholders in charge of training are supposed to ensure that the nature of the training fully meets the needs in the market. These plus many other considerations need to be looked into in order to boost the function of community workers. References Andrews, A. (2012). Charles Dickens, Social Worker in His Time. Social Work, 297-307. DuFour, R., DuFour, R. &Eaker, R. (2008).Revisiting Professional Learning Community at Work: New Insights. New York: Solutions Tree. Dahir, J. (1950). Communities For Better Living. New York: Harper and Brothers. Kennedy, A. & Hyett, N. (2013). Community participation in rural health: a scoping review. American Journal of Public Health, 13(1), 1-8. Liu, A. & Sulivian, S. (2011). Community Health Workers in Global Health: Scale and Scalability. American Journal of HealthCare, 78(3), 419-435. From: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Work-Community-Carole-Sutton/dp/1854331108 Pallas, S. &Minhas, D. (2013) “Community Health Workers in Low and Middle-Income Countries: What Do We Know About Scaling Up and Sustainability? American Journal of Public Health, 103(7), 74-82. Popple, K. (2002).Analyzing Community Work: Its Theory and Practice. Sydney: Open University Press. Popple, K. (1995).Analyzing Community Work. Sydney: Open University Press. From: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Analysing-Community-Work-Keith-Popple/dp/0335232566 Risley,-Curtiss, S. & Rogue, M. (2013). Factors Affecting Social Workers’ Inclusion of Animal Practice.Social Work, 58(2), 153-161. Rubin, A. & Parrish, D. (2012). Comparing Social Worker and Non-Social Worker Outcomes: A Research Review. Social Worker, 57(4), 309-320. Sutton, C. (1994). Social Work, Community Work. New Jersey: Wiley-Black. Twelvetrees, AC. (2001). Community Work. London: Palgrave Macmillan. From: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Community-Work-Practical-social-work/dp/0333912705 Warren, R. (1978). The Community in America (2nd Ed.). Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co. Other sites http://mrci.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Torwards-Standards-for-Quality-Community-Work.pdf http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/l703.html Read More