The Community Involvment and Partnership Working - Essay Example

COMMUNITY INVOVLEMENT AND PARTNERSHIP WORKING Partnership working between the community and other agencies The modern concept of community development has taken root in the involvement and participation of the community in development. There have been consorted efforts between the community and other developmental agencies in helping the community to identify the problems that they are facing, prioritizing these problems and come up with working solutions to the problems. The earlier theories of community development emphasized on development projects that were initiated by the developmental agencies especially the government. It was taken as the sole responsibility of government bureaucrats to come up with development projects in the communities. But with time, this concept was not found to work and many of the development projects that were implemented by the government or other development agencies collapsed immediately they were handed over to the community. For survival of such projects, it was found out that, there was need for continuous control and supervision by the development agency. (Shaw and Gupta 2003, p. 67) But with time this was changed by studies which showed the importance of working in partnership with the community in initiating development projects in that particular community. It was found out that involving the community in their own development helps to come up with sustainable solutions to the problems that they are facing and also it helps to address the core problems. Working together with the community helps the development agency to know which problems are to be addressed first and which one can wait. Since then, many development agencies has taken to the concept of partnering with the community in decision making process, management and evaluation of the projects that are implemented for the development of that particular community. Let us look at some example where partnering with eth community as been a success in the whole work before looking closely at what has been implemented in the UK. One of the success projects which have illustrated the importance of community participation has been the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre which worked in collaboration with USAID office to reduce the vulnerability of the urban population. This was targeted to address many areas of community development in Southeast Asia in areas of infrastructures, lifeline facilities and shelters. This project used the community based approach in helping the community to participate in these projects. There were four projects all which featured community based approaches to disaster mitigation and addressed many disaster like Flood mitigation in Bangladesh, Flood risk in Cambodian communities, Community based approach in Landslide Disaster Reduction in Sri Lanka, and many other projects. (Victoria 2002, p. 16) In Japan, the United Nations Center for Regional Development came up with various projects all which were aimed at disaster preparedness in the community. The project came up with Sustainability in Community Based Disaster Management approach which targeted the grassroots' solution to disaster management. These projects were implemented targeting areas like cyclones in India and Philippines, earthquake in Indonesia and Nepal and floods in Bangladesh and Cambodia. These cases found out that these projects recorded much success in disaster management than others which did not involve the community in development. (UNCRD 2004, p. 2) The Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnership in New Mexico has also been one of the success stories in instances of community development projects. Under this scheme the government sought to involve the community in taking care of the pine forest that was planted at the heart of the community. Initially there was much destruction of the forest from the community since they saw it in terms of economic gain. After the project was initiated and the community was educated on the important of the forest, the community gave proposals on how it could be conserved and became partners in the conservation of the forests. Since then the community has benefited from the project same as other people and the government has benefited. (Richard and Bruns 1999, p. 3) These are but some few examples from the world that have successfully used the concept of community participation and involvement in building a lasting development partnership. In the UK the government has been one of the development agencies that have used the concept of community involvement and participation to enhance sustainable development projects in the communities. One of such success projects has been the neighbourhood management which was aimed at linking urban renewal and urban renaissance which we shall be looking later in this paper. (HM Government 1999, p. 12; Robson et al., 2000, p. 31)) What we can see from that involvement of the community of in development projects is very important in ensuring that projects that are initiated are owned by the community and hence are sustained. Many projects will success and live beyond the initiation stage of the development agency once the community is given a hand in their management. Let us look at how the concept of working with the community can help in coming up with solutions that are based on the needs and resources of the community and the advantages of coming up with such solutions. Partnership working in providing community based solutions For a long time now, there has been increasing recognition of the role the community can play if it is involved in coming up with solutions to problems affecting it. This has been recognized as an important aspect that can help the community to come up with sustainable solution to problems that it is facing. Community participation has been recognized as one of the powerful toll that can assist development agencies to come up with solutions which are tailored to the community and which they are able to sustain. (Burgess et al., 2001, p. 21) The process of community participation involve working together with the community in coming up with solution to the problem that they are facing. It is a consultative process that involves working with the community to highlight the problems that they are facing. It is a process under which the community is guided to come up with a list of problems that they are facing which will form the base for solutions to the problems. Sometimes a community is faced by problems that it can solve using the locally available resources. In such an instance, the role of the development agency will be to help the community identify the resources which can be used to solve these problems. In other instances, the community will need input of external resources in order to solve the problems that it is facing. Here the development agency will only work with the community to help it acquire these resources in order to solve the prioritized problems. Involving the community in development is a useful process to the development agency since it assist in coming up with a working solutions based on the needs of the community. In earlier practices, it has been found that most of development projects in the community failed due to the fact that the solutions to these problems were not based on the needs of the community and the solution did not come from the community. Studies that have been carried out shows that involving the community in coming up with solutions is an important feature of taking development to the community as it helps in sustainability of the project. Taking a project to the community and imposing it on them can do less in mitigating the situation of the community. This is because such a project is not based on the needs of the community. It has been found out that community members are more likely to identify with projects that address the most pressing needs rather than those projects which do not address the needs of the community. This means that if a community is involved in the initial planning process, the project will be owned right from the start by the community and it is the same community that will provide solutions to the problems according to their capacity. Here the development agency only works to guide and coordinate the community in the project and at the same time provide it with expertise to the community. The work of the experts will be advising the community ways of using the resources that are available to address their problems. (Osborne et al., A 2002, p. 564) It has also been found that sustainable projects are the one which uses the locally available resources to address the problems faced by the community. Most projects which have relied on external resources are not sustained for a long time and they collapse once they are handed back to the community. This means that for a project to be sustainable, it must be owned by the community and at the same time it must utilize the locally available resources as much as possible. This is not possible without the involvement of the local community in identifying the problems that they are facing, prioritizing these problems and eventually drafting solutions to these problems using the locally available resources. Community based solutions are relatively easy to sustaining since they are based on the ideas contributed by the community and hence the same community will find it easy to deal with future problems arising from the problem once the development agency hands in the project. (Nobble 2000, p. 143) Defining the concept of community involvement and partnership In order for development to take root in the community, there must be systematic efforts that integrate the effort of the community and other stakeholders pursuing issues of development. This means that development should be seen as a collaborative effort rather than a role by one side. The community should not expect development to take root without its participation and at the same time development agencies should not expect to development the community without involving it. (Turok and Edge 1999, p. 90) Participation by the community is fundamental in achieving sustainable development. This means that it is difficult and it can be a daunting task to achieve development in the community if its members are not involved in various projects taking place. While community participation and sustainable development are two concepts that are broadly used in legislation, there is an array of interpretation that can be given to the two terms depending on the situation under which they are used. There have been times when community participation has been practiced but sometimes there have been little thought to the objective of applicable to the term in sustainable development. This is due to the fact that the concept of sustainable development is not well understood buy those who purportedly use it. Without an understanding of the concept of sustainable development, it is difficult to create a link between community participation and achievement of sustainable development. Let us first look at the concept of sustainable development. Any development is based on resources that are available in the community. Without enough resource, it will be difficult to achieve any meaningful development. Thus the concept of sustainable development regards proper use of resources in order to achieve development. By proper use here we mean using the resources for purpose that they are intended to be used for and the way they are supposed to be use. The United Nations defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of the future generations. This means that the current generation has to use resources in a way that there will be enough resource for the future generation to use. Sustainable development hence requires us to involve the community since it is the one which is directly responsible for these resources and it is the one which bears the next generation. The community must realize that it does not own this world but it is just acting as custodians for the future generation. (Beeker, Guenther and Raj1997, p. 838) The terms community involvement, community participation and community consultation have been used interchangeably but there has been little thought on the subtle and not-so-subtle differences that exist between the three terms. Community involvement is the over-arching concept of involvement of the community. The degree of involvement of the community can vary with various actions ranging from consultation to participation. The ability of the community to influence, share or control the decision making process in development differentiate between the two terms. Community involvement hence requires the community to be involved in the consultation process. There are various ways in which the community can be involve in the decisions making process like in community education, information sharing and requesting of feedback from the community. However the important aspect here is that the community must be consulted to ensure that they take the ownership of the problem and gain opportunity to participate in implementing solution for the said solutions. Involving the community in decision making process enables them to own the problem. Once the community own the project they will be able to working towards achieving solutions for the problem. It is the degree of involvement of the community which provides opportunity for collaboration and partnering between the community and the stakeholders especially the government. There are various ways in which the community can be involved in development projects in their areas in both design and management of the projects. One of the most important approaches is participatory learning and action. This can be described as approaches or various methods that are used to enable the community to analyses the issue that affects them. This kind of initiative helps the community to come up with a list of problems that they are facing and at the same time prioritize these problems according to the ones with most pressing needs to be addressed first. A development agency cannot just walk in the community and assume the needs that they have and at the same time prioritize for them. There must be involvement of the community who will come up with a list of all the problems which they feel they need to be addressed and prioritize them appropriately. Participatory learning and action uses other methods which helps the community to identify the resources that they have and come up with a plan of how these resources will be sued to address the problems that they are facing. In some instances, it has been found that a community may be faced by a problem which it can resolve easily with resources that are available. In other instances, the community may be faced by a problem which needs outside resources to address it. Hence the concept of community participation entails involving the community in identifying the problems that they have and recognizing resources that can be use in solving the problem. In case where the community does not have enough resources to address the problems that they are facing, the development agency assists the community to come up with ways of acquiring the necessary resource. Another method of community participation is citizen's Juries. Under this method, citizens are selected in a random manner and are allowed to debate on issues that is affecting the community from where they come from. The debate is led by the experience that they have had on the community and tries to bring together perception by different community members. The group of citizen then makes the recommendations that can help in implementing development. Under this scheme the selected citizens acts as the representative of the community and they must have a clear understanding of the structure of the community and be one of the community. They debate on behalf of the community. This is a useful participatory appraisal method that helps a large community to come up with solutions to problems that it is facing since it may be difficult to consult all the community members. Planning for real is another community involvement method that was designed under the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation used in the UK. Under this scheme residents are invited and they express their desires through a series of cards laid on a full scale plan planned fro their area. Hence the residents have a control of what is happening in their community and they prioritize on what will be addressed in the community. This scheme helps the residents to have a chance to discuss the problems that they are facing and come up with a working solution. (Brown et al., 2000, p. 45) Hence community participation and involvement is important in order to ensure that there sustainable development in the community. It helps the community to own the problem and the solution that are planed to address the problem. Once the community own the development, they can direct their efforts in maintaining what has been initiated. It helps to empower the community to address the problems that they are facing. This involvement should also work to involve, specific interest groups like young people, old people, disabled people, minority ethnic groups, and others. Government policy in relation to sustainable regeneration and neighbourhood renewal Urban regeneration police of the UK Labour government have been defined by the report of the Urban Task Force which was chaired by Architect Lord Richard Rogers and the report of the Social Exclusion Unit established within the Cabinet offices. The two reports, Towards an Urban Renaissance (Rogers 1999) and Bringing Britain Together: A national strategy for neighbourhood renewal (Social Exclusion Unit 1998), defined separate strands to urban regeneration polices in England with each report focusing on its own purpose. Let us look closely at the two policies. Urban renaissance was aimed at making the cities better and more attractive for the whole population. It was focused on the city and worked to improve the capacity and the physical fabric of the city. It was aimed at recommending solution to attract people back to the cities, towns and neighbourhoods. It looked at establishing new vision for the urban regeneration based on principle of design excellence, social well being and friendly environment entangled in a working economic framework. (DETR 1999, p. 3; DETR 2000, p. 2) The recommendations for this report was the way in which the government should work in order to house more city and town residents who would come to the cities once the report was implemented. On the other hand, the neighbourhood renewal is a national strategy for the renewal of neighbourhoods in the UK. It was aimed at "developing and integrated and sustainable approach to the problem of the world housing estates, including crime, drugs, unemployment, community breakdowns, bad schools, and others". Therefore this can be identified as a focused on problems of the people who live in deprived neighbourhoods. (Policy Action Team 2000, p. 4) In contrast to the earlier urban renewal programs which had been so much focused on the issue of renewing the face of house through renovation of houses, this programme was more focused on the people-focus measures especially in maters of education, employment and heath. Hence this strategy can be directly linked to any other community development project which is aimed at upgrading the lives of the people in a particular community. Unlike the urban renaissance programme that is aimed at beautification of the city, this is program that is aimed at addressing the problems that people are facing in a particular neighbourhood. (Housing Corporation 1997, p. 5) This program is aimed at addressing key areas which has been identified as the most important for these communities. It is focuses on new integrated area-based programme referred to as new deal for communities. Under this approach there are some specific areas which are heavily funded refereed to as special purpose zones. Some of these areas include: (Lakin 2001, p. 1) Sure Start which is a child care, early learning and family support for all children from deprived childcare living in the neighbourhoods. Employment zones which are aimed a mentoring long term unemployed people over the age of 25 and help them to get employment or start their own business. Health action zones which are a form of local partnership aimed at developing and implementing local strategies to improve the health of the local residents. Education action zones which covers two third of secondary schools including all their feeder schools in under achievement areas. New start is aimed at reengaging adolescent who have dropped out of education back to education or for vocational training. According to Social Exclusion Unit (2001, p. 1), the development of the policy for the project has taken together recommendations from 18 policy action teams spread over 10 government departments. This was to ensure that the project was all inclusive and addressed the most pressing need. With time the project has changed and embraced local strategic partnership as one of its central pillar in the development of the strategy. This has seen the local authority districts assume most roles of the strategy. This will be implemented in collaboration with local stakeholder from private, public and voluntary with the same vision. (Power 1997, p. 71) Conclusion Community participation and involve is very important in coming up with a working strategy that can stand the test of time. Involving the community in designing and implementing a project helps it to identify with the project and ensure that it is sustainable in it implementation. It assists the development agency to come up with community based solution which helps the community to identify more with the development strategy. Reference Beeker, C., Guenther, C. & Raj, A 1997, Community empowerment paradigm, Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 46, Issue 7, p. 838 Brown, T., Hunt, R. & Yates, N 2000, Lettings, Chartered Institute of Housing Burgess, P, Mawson, J., & Pearce, G 2001, Devolved Approaches to Local Governance, Joseph Foundation, York. 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