Understanding Communities and Approaches to Working with Communities - Essay Example

Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 1 Understanding Communities Name of Author Institution Affiliation Location of the Research Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 2 Abstract Community refers to a group of people belonging to a particular Geographical location and who learn to live peacefully and in harmony with each other. A Community gives a sense of togetherness or belonging to the group, while sharing their feelings and emotions, joys, happiness and sorrows with each other and helping one another. Every human is a social being and as such learns to live in harmony in the society with other humans, creating a strong bond of togetherness by caring and understanding each other. Such community groups share common ground on values, beliefs and social norms, thus making society a better place to live. In this essay, an attempt is being made to understand the importance of Community living and the skills and approaches necessary for living and working with communities. Keywords: Community, Understanding, Approaches, Togetherness, Societal norms. Understanding Communities Communities build a healthy atmosphere and this reflects a harmonious society. Man cannot live in isolation because he is dependent on others in more ways than one. Hence, living in tandem with other individuals in a community, creates a sense of togetherness and belonging and fosters the feeling of love and brotherhood. This feeling of belonging Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 3 can only be achieved by understanding the community in which we live and following the norms laid down by them. A good method to make members of the community understand is to get them to participate in the decision making process especially in important matters involving the whole community; For example, giving their ideas to improve the existing Health Care system. According to (Taylor, J., Wilkinson, D., Cheers, B. 2008) The participation of the Community serves to strengthen and enhance the social fabric of the community. One of the core concepts for understanding the needs of the community is a good Community development program which will be highly beneficial to all its members. Community Development programs are also looked upon as an important intervention of social work that includes the community members to work for the good of their community. It also helps them to build stronger relationships among themselves and lessen the risk of conflicts through better understanding. Approaches to Working with Communities Communities are a close knit group of people and as such adopt a more formal manner of communication among themselves. However, when taking into consideration the larger picture of human activity, there is very vital information on other subjects that could impact the community and therefore, to impart such crucial information, the method of communication should be more directly targeted, in order to make the group more aware Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 4 of what is happening outside their community. For example, in recent times, there has been an increase in attention paid to biosecurity because of the Global impact it creates on human activity. In order that people of different communities have equal access to such information, (Muirhead, T. (2002), states that it is vital to have a ‘whole community approach’ where members in the community are motivated towards using this knowledge to take relevant action in the future. Biosecurity management can be more effective and have a positive impact on the community if they include the community members in their discussions and decision making processes. Research shows that increasing social awareness on biosecurity management within the community helps them to bring about change and transformation which would be more meaningful and beneficial to the whole community, and if all the communities are able to bring about this awareness then automatically social change is not far away. During the 70’s Community Development progressed by way of organizations and movements based on the social identity, race, gender and class, but during the 80’s and 90’s their activities were forced to be curtailed, due to social issues involving individual problems and responsibilities. Weeks, W., Hoatson, L., & Dixon, J. (2003) However, in the latter part of the 90’s people realized that the roles and autonomy of the community were quite in shambles and therefore, the language of mutual obligation and Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 5 contractualism were introduced, whereby the community was looked upon as being an important and responsible agent for introducing and implementing any Government directed agenda, be it at the Local, State or Federal levels. (Everingham 2001) Community Development is one of the major issues on the Government’s agenda as it understands that the key objective in doing so is to build and sustain a better society. The aim of Community Development is to build communities that are highly active, stable and sustainable, based on mutual respect for one another, and one that adheres to social justice and peace. It caters to helping the people in the community to face the challenges and issues affecting their lives and through discussions and participating in all the decision making processes, overcome these obstacles and empower themselves within the framework of social justice to build a better community and a better society in the future. The key underpinning tools for Empowerment are Human rights and Social justice. According to Ife, J., & Tesoriero, F. (2006) ‘Empowerment should be the aim of all Community Development…’. The authors strongly believe that the people living in a community should be empowered by supplying them with the right opportunities, resources, skills and knowledge so that they could participate effectively in shaping the future of the community and the society at large. Human rights and Social justice should be at the heart of Community Development because it helps them to exercise and protect their own rights and also the rights of others. Social justice is all about fairness, and Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 6 equality of values. According to (Kenny, 2006) Social justice is based on ‘equality of civil, legal and industrial rights, where everyone are entitled to equal and fair access to education, housing, health and other services in addition to equal participation in decision making in society. (Mawson, 2008) in his bid to bring about a radical change for the better, advocates the Entrepreneurial Approach, whereby instead of thrusting ‘solutions’ on individuals, he feels it is better to provide the necessary tools to communities, to empower them and enable them to come out with their own initiates for the betterment of their community. Mawson strongly believes that social enterprise cannot occur in a vacuum and it is here that skilled people have to offer their services to enable communities to make relevant decisions for the better. However, he believes that if Governments stop going around in circles and genuinely create a platform for social entrepreneurs, only then real change can take place. (Mawson, 2008, p.159-60) Skills in Working with Communities Communities are potent social platforms through which social change can be brought about. Therefore, to achieve social change we need to understand the community and its members and use those approaches that are bound to bring about effective change. All communities are not the same as each have their own identities and social climate based Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 7 on their identity, ethnicity, gender, class and religion. However, all communities share common ground on certain subjects such as human rights, and equality to all its members. There are many interdisplinary factors that come in the way of social change and in order to identify, cope and bring about a positive change in society specials skills are required. For example, youth are exposed to violence within the community and this is seen reflected in the violence they exhibit in their schools. Exposure to violence is directly linked to problematic behavior in schools. In such a scenario, immediate action has to be taken by the community members to make use of skilled personnel to put an end to such challenging issues and bring about peace and harmony in the community. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) the rate of violent behavior is much higher in adolescents who are African American males in comparison to their Caucasian counterparts. Moreover, since the males were more exposed to violence within the family and community, they become more desensitized and therefore cultivate their own skills and strategies of tolerance and coping, making future exposure to violence less traumatic. However, this is not in the case of female exposure because their exposure to community violence is far less than the males and therefore becomes much more traumatic for them when in a violent scenario. Their tolerance levels and coping skills are much lower and hence they experience more conflict and exhibit more aggressive behavior than the Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 8 males. In this connection, Maton, K. et al., 2003) explains that to minimize such trauma and conflict among the youth, the community should work in tandem with Governing bodies and invest in children, adolescents and the rest of the community members by creating new policies for the family as well as communities and introducing new interventive measures and Community Development Programs that would be beneficial to all of them. Research has shown that those who are frequently exposed to violence in the family and community develop a high risk of insecurity and aloofness with their teachers resulting in poor attendance and low school grades, which may further result in being school dropouts. Stephen Clarke, (2000) highlights the necessity of good leadership within the community because he believes that good leadership will steer the community in the right direction. A good leader reflects a good community because the leader knows how to bring out the best in the community by motivating them and giving them confidence in all their undertakings. The leader is the person who explains the clear cut roles and goals of the community and encourages all the members to contribute their best towards sustainable development. Stephen Clarke, (2000, p. 167) In his book titled ‘Liquid Modernity’, (Zygmunt Bauman, 2000) explains that there is an urgent need to rethink and take action about some of the important concepts that affect the working of the community and see how they are best suited to bring out the best among the community members. Running head: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITIES 9 Conclusion A community is an entity by itself whose members understand, care and help each other to accept, tolerate and cope with the conflict and tensions in their daily lives. Each community strives to bring about an effective social change that eventually reflects the society to which we belong. One of the key cornerstones of a community’s success depends on good leadership and co-operation among all its members. Good leaders serve to encourage all its members and bring out the best in themselves. According to many, a good leader is one that serves to kindle values such as tolerance, sharing and caring, helpfulness and understanding among its members and this positive attitude can be seen reflected in the larger picture in society. References Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge; Malden, Mass: Polity Press. Clarke, S. (2000). Social work as community development: A management model for social change (2nd ed.). Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate. Everingham, C. 2001, ‘Reconstituting Community: Social Justice, Social Order and the Politics of Community’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol.36, no.2, pp. 105-122. Ife, J. & Tesoriero, F., (2006) Community development: Community-based alternatives in an age of Globalisation, third edition, Pearson Education Australia, NSW Kenny, S. (2006). Developing communities for the future. South Melbourne, Vic: Thomson. Maton, K., Schellenbach, C., Leadbetter, B., & Solarz, A. (2003). Investing in children, youth, families and communities: Strengths-based research and policy. Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Mawson, A. (2008). The social entrepreneur: Making communities work. London: Atlantic. Muirhead, T. (2002). Weaving tapestries: A handbook for building communities. Perth: Local Government Community Services Association of WA. Taylor, J., Wilkinson, D., Cheers, B. (2008). Working with communities in health and human services. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Weeks, W., Hoatson, L., & Dixon, J. (2003). Community practices in Australia. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education. World Health Organization . (2002) World report on violence and health. Author; Geneva, Switzerland: Read More