The Role of Motivation in Community Development - Essay Example

Community participation in community development Introduction Community development is an important aspect of solving the problems in the community (Maser 2011 p.35). Through the whole process, the people identify the problems that face them then carry out a collective action to solve these problems. The totality of solving the problem, however, lies in the involved community (Maser 2011 p.35). Having the right motivation towards the involvement in any activity is very crucial in solving the problems at the community level. This means that any programme that is designed to solve the problem of this community should motivate and involve the community. In Community participation, motivation of the community members to solve the actively the problems that they face is very significant. In this, community that can plan, organise and act appropriately to solve their problems (Maser 2011 p.38). This reflection follows my encounter with and motivation for the community members to participate in community development. This consideration, therefore, focuses on seeking the motivation toward by identifying of the community problems and solving them. Literature review Participation of locals in any community project is one of the very crucial things in community development. People feel valued when their ideas and views are incorporated into what they feel is going to help them (Robinson & Green, 2011: p.567). Without adequate community participation in the development project, they do not have that motivation even to accept the project when it is over. Robinson & Green (2011, p.567) claims no matter how the project has been designed, even if it addresses their problems to the latter, people will not accept the project if they were less consulted. In this, the main motivational role of any project in the community is for the developers to seek for the ways to involve as many community members as possible. (Zamberia, 2007: p.34) Reflection and reflexivity are pillars for a responsible and sustained development in the community, yet there have been a great debate against the idea. Several scholars have argued that lack of time and demotivation by the community members holds the greatest draw back in reflexivity. In addition, the current expectation of persistent activities and busyness make the whole process of reflection a luxury, which paradoxically makes the process to be more significant to the point of valuing reflection. Reflection and reflexivity in community development can be seen as major threats to the position of an organization or community, where their practices have been impeded by low levels of engagements, high degree of threats, increased political dimensions as well as different task orientations. However, the reflective practices in a community only happen when there are proper supportive mechanisms and good facilitator (Wilder, 2009: p.345). Community development can be defined as the process in which members agree and come together to have a common action that generates solutions to their problems. In essence, community development has a primary goal of empowering individuals and the vast community members by equipping them with knowledge and the necessary skills that is needed to bring a better change in their lives. The skills and knowledge are usually created through the established social groups that are having a common agenda (Silas et al., 2006: p.305). Therefore, community developers must apparently understand how to work with community members to achieve a synergistic impact on community positions on the vast large social institution. Scholars have stated that community development is focused on two principles, which is the social justice and environment, emphasizing that community development creates a long lasting better living place and equality. Community development practitioners have a significant role in analysing the social and political inequalities within the community thus focus to bridge these gaps (Sanoff, 2008: p.51). Therefore, in order to bridge the social, political and economic gaps that exist among different community members, there is a need to build long-term solutions by engaging the community members as well as enhancing their participation. To fully implement community development, a practitioner must focus on the community assets, strengths and weakness in the community. I identification of these elements helps the community practitioner to maximise on identifying and prioritising community development agenda without creating a turmoil in the project (Schweigert 2007, p. 89). Community motivation is imperative in achieving the ultimate results in execution of a project, since the community members shall be fully engaged in the project. It is good to note that community development entails identification of all the pertinent factors that may results in motivational conflict that may hinder effective process of behaviour change. Various stages in behavioural change of an individual include pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation and maintenance. Therefore, a community development practitioner must focus on these stages since they form integral parts in having a sustained project (Sanoff, 2008: p.51). The first stage involves bringing of the proposal of the new development that is intended and the community members is given a chance to think more of the project and check all the merits and demerits of the project. Once they have accepted the project then the project is executed based on their suggestions since this shall lead to maintenance of the project. Case study and community investigation Poverty alleviation is one of the major priorities in several developing nations as well as developing cities. The communities that are living in low social economic areas are characterised with lack of access to clean water, poor nutrition, low income, lack of power supply and low access to educational opportunities among others. Urban poverty is characterised with increased crime rate and poor housing. In relation to economic downfall and unemployment in these communities, several people who live in these areas are job seekers (Gallaher et al., 2015 p.5). Betty, a 20-year-old lady living in Cornwell city, which is one of the poor cities, has got a problem with managing her alcoholic behaviours as well as violent behaviours and occasionally get on the wrong side of the law. Together with Brittney, and Rose, Betty have anti-social problems that are evidenced by thefts, violent behaviours and binge drinking. These three people have some of the unmet emotional needs, safety, relationship and protection are unmet that has made them to meet their condition by themselves. It is imperative to note that these three ladies required a robust intervention on their lives, which can be achieved best by community development practitioner. The poor community that they come from contribute significantly to their deviant behaviours; therefore, to significantly curb this menace the whole community must be involved. Scoping on the possible interventions From the general picture that is provided regarding Cornwell community that these ladies come from, it is apparent to conceptualise on the several social issues that is facing this community. According to some of the community members, they state that the community has poor infrastructures, low economic stimulus programs, high levels of unemployment and insecurity. There are significant health problems that are cropping up in the community that are related to social affairs. Most of the youths in the community are engaged in alcoholism and prostitution as well as the use of some contraband. Teenage pregnancy is on the increase and sexually transmitted infections are steadily on the rise. The most pressing issue is the antisocial behaviours among the young people that is happening in the community and is linked as the most problem that is contributing to the bad social behaviours in that community. Successful community development is the key answer to these community problems that include reinforcements of protective factors as well as tackling the predisposing factors to the vulnerable group. In Cornwell, some of the interventions include counselling, mentoring and in-school recreations. Mentoring and counselling shall involve the use of professionals in the community who shall spend a lot of time with the youths. These mentors and counsellors in the community shall directly and indirectly help the youths thus reduce the opportunity of the youths from engaging in delinquent and anti social behaviours. Motivational theorist argues that counselling and motivation of young people have helped in reducing their bad behaviours since they develop a close relationship with the mentors. Formation of youth groups and other peer review groups have been noted to have a significant role in changing the life of youths and they should be focused and supervised to achieve ultimate results. Conclusion In this, I have come to learn that, motivation is significant especially in guiding people to participate in the community project. On my role, the government needs a lot to attend to the needs of the citizens. It should identify the need for every community member to be equally motivated to agree that each has a role to play (Cameron and Field, 2010 p.45). Either community has to agree among themselves on the steps that they can take to promote live among themselves (Sanoff, 2008: p.51). They should work closely with the government to identify and solve the common problems that they face. This means that the government should be ready to work with the locals as they are the beneficially of the project. For the success of any project, the local people should be widely consulted, and necessary steps taken to ensure that they will participate in the projects (Sanoff, 2008: p.51). Besides, communication is the greatest of all motivators. For prosperity in the community, motivation communication should be uniform from the locals and at the government (Marais, Taylor and Heyns, 2009; p.345). In this, the chosen community leaders should communicate effectively with the people and ensure that they support their ideas. Rather than the leaders presenting their views, they should represent those of the society and work hard to ensure that people interests are addressed (Kirk, 2004: p.34). Besides, there should be good communications between the government and the citizens. This is important, as the government should work towards helping the citizens to enjoy real life (Cameron and Field, 2010 p.45). In doing this, the state should seek to establish a definition of a real life in respect to the citizens rather than using felt needs. It is the role of community to strive to work to solve its problems. This should be through proper motivation to identify the problem it faces and instituting measures to solve the problems. With proper motivation, community will seek to perform community development projects that best fits them. Therefore, any stakeholder seeking to help community should try to involve the community. In community development, participation is one of the greatest motivators of community members. References Cameron, S. and Field, A. (2010). Community, Ethnicity and Neighbourhood. Housing Studies, 15(6), pp.827-843. Deacon, G. (2012). Pentecostalism and development in Wales informal settlement, UK. Development in Practice, 22(5-6), pp.663-674. Gallaher, C., WinklerPrins, A., Njenga, M. and Karanja, N. (2015). Creating Space: Sack Gardening as a Livelihood Strategy in the Wales of UK. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, pp.1-19. Hagen, E. (2011). Mapping Change: Community Information Empowerment in Wales ( Innovations Case Narrative: Map Wales). Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 6(1), pp.69-94. Hindsworth, M. and Lang, T. (2009). Community participation and empowerment. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Kirk, P. (2004). Community leadership development. Community Development Journal, 39(3), pp.234-251. Marais, D., Taylor, J. and Heyns, S. (2009). Community participation & financial sustainability. Wetton, South Africa: Juta. Maser, C. (2011). Sustainable community development. Delray Beach, Fla.: St. Lucie Press. Robinson, J. and Green, G. (2011). Introduction to community development. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Sanoff, H. (2008). Designing with community participation. Stroudsburg, Pa.: Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross. Schweigert, F. (2007). Learning to Lead: Strengthening the Practice of Community Leadership. Leadership, 3(3), pp.325-342. Silas, K., Kennedy, M., Bariu, N. and Kirubi, G. (2006). Prevalence of multidrug resistant enteropathogenic bacteria causing diarrhea in Wales community in UK. Journal of Tropical Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2(1). Wilder, M. (2009). Housing for a Retirement Community. Journal of Housing For the Elderly, 11(1), pp.67-76. Zamberia, A. (2007). 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