Lesson 13:

Nature, Development and Approaches of Community Work

Community Work
It is a form of “intervention” that enables local people to reap maximum benefit from
community- based action and community development. It is action- based set of values, methods,
skills and techniques.

Community Development
Refers to the improvement, growth and change of the geographic area and its people from
backwardness to modern ways, from crudeness to refinement, from ignorance to learning, from
faultiness to virtuosity.

Involved in Community Work and Development

Community development is a partnership among the community development workers,
the students, the professionals, people of the community and other agencies in uplifting the
standards of life of the community.

Aim of Community Development

It is to help the people to acquire a coherent meaning of life. It leads people towards
achieving sustainability and self- determination.

Concern of Community Development

Community Development is about getting things done like building a children’s play
area, caring for people with disability, people working together to support each other, involving
and giving power and responsibility to disadvantaged people, growing in confidence and
competence through active participation.

Meant by Developmental Purposes

Taking action as part of a community not only strengthens and affirms the community as
the key local social system within which people interact, but it also develops the skill, awareness
and outlook of the individual for understanding and participating in wider social and political
processes.
Effective Community work practice requires the functional and developmental purposes
of community development to be kept in balance. Over emphasis outcome or product would
deprive community work of the dimensions of human change and the idea of process.
Conversely, to be concerned only with the process at the expense of achieving tangible results
would also be a distortion of community work. Keeping balance is as important for the social
worker, clergy, youth worker and others who are essentially using community work as a method
as it is for community workers.

A Model of Community Service

For individuals or groups, to effectively make a dent in community work and service,
they must first recognize the key characteristics of the place, the people, the leaders, the
resources, the lifestyle, etc.

What is a Model?
Models offers a way of conceptualizing and ordering related ideas and provides a
framework. It guides the community development workers, social workers, students and teachers
in their program planning and implementation.

How does a Model of Community Work and Service Operate?

Community work and service spring from voluntary involvement and concern for the
improvement of the community or to help address felt- needs in the community.
The main activities of a direct community work are:
 Building trust, confidence and relationship with and between all parts of the community;
 Strengthening and building groups;
 Facilitating the creation of a strategy;
 Refreshment and regeneration.

1. Building Trust, Confidence and Relationship with and between all Parts of the
Community
This process of getting to know and understand the community goes hand- in
hand with building of trust, confidence and relationship with the community.
2. Strengthening and building groups
The intensity and intimacy of direct community work or service work allow the
individual or group assess the strengths and weakness of existing groups
and to facilitate the creation of new groups and relationships.
3. Facilitating the creation of a strategy
Communities and groups within them do not readily think and organize
themselves strategically. Indeed, a community that values tradition and continuity
may feel quite uncomfortable with concepts of organizations and strategy.
 4. Putting Ideas into Action
To implement a strategy or take an action to meet identified needs may seem the
natural and spontaneous core of the community work process, but it may need the
community worker’s involvement both to happen at all and to work well.
5. Refreshment and Regeneration
A community- based action is not a simple process of beginning, middle and
ending, but rather a complex overlay of relationship, processes, highs and lows,
false starts, dashed hopes, successes, bursts of enthusiasm and visions. The
community worker is involved in this complexity: spurring people when spirits
are low, encouraging fresh thinking, creating challenge, promoting participation,
and compassion, caring and sharing, helping to see things not only as they are but
how they could be.

Responsibilities to the Community

One of the responsibilities of citizens is to help make their community a good place to
work and live. Good citizens are concerned about the welfare- the health, prosperity, and
happiness- of all members of the community. They are concerned about people who are poor as
well as those who are rich.
Responsible citizens are also concerned about the welfare of the community as a whole.
They may be concerned about the environment, or surroundings, of the community or the about
the quality of life. Safeguarding these things may require any number of government actions.

Community Work in the 1980’s – Service Extension

In the early 1980’s report sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in UK (and
written by David Thomas) suggested that community work had three major aspects:
1. To help people take action on specific issues of importance to them.
2. The development of political responsibilities; and
3. That of communal coherence. (Thomas 1983: 102)
Thomas (1993) underscored five main approaches in his study of community work in the
early 1980’s:
1. Community Action focuses on the organization of those adversely affected by the
decisions, or non- decisions, of public and private bodies and by more general
structural characteristics of society.
2. Community Development emphasizes self- help, mutual support, the building up
neighborhood integration, the development of neighborhood capacities for problem-
solving and self-representation, and the promotion of collective action to bring a
community’s preferences to the attention of political decision- makers.
3. Social Planning is concerned with the assessment of community needs and problems
and the systematic planning of strategies for meeting them. Social planning comprises
 the analysis of social conditions, social policies and agencies systems; the setting of
goals and priorities; the design of service programs and the mobilization of
appropriate resources; and the implementation and evaluation of services and
programs.
4. Community Organization involves the collaboration of separate community or
welfare agencies with or without the additional participation of statutory authorities,
in the promotion of joint initiatives.
5. Service Extension is a strategy which seeks to extend operations and services by
making them more relevant and accessible. This includes extending services into the
community, giving these services and the staff who are responsible for them a
physical presence in a neighborhood. (Thomas 1983: 106- 139)
In the sense these five approaches are far broader than ‘community work’- especially
the last, service extension. As Thomas argues:
The correct relationship is that community work is a contribution to each of these
approaches and, perhaps more importantly, we need to be aware of the range of other
contributions that are possible and desirable, and whose value may have been obscured
by the attention given to community work. (Thomas 1983: 107)

The Three Most Effective Tools for Community Work Engagement by Hildy Gottlieb
What to know before you start
Before we get into the tools themselves, it’s important to understand what these Community
Engagement tools can do that standard business marketing tools cannot. First, the following is a
definition we have used for Community Engagement:
Community Engagement is the process of building relationships with community
members who will work side- by- side with you as an ongoing partner, in any and every way
imaginable, building an army of support for your mission, with the end goal of making the
community a better place to live.

Community Engagement Tool #1: Writing

One of the best ways to engage the world with your objectives/ missions is to write.
Most organizations understand the power of sharing information about their mission in writing,
as they watch the effect of their newsletters and direct mail pieces. By extending that writing
beyond your own organization, and writing for the general public or for membership associations
or others interested in your work, your written wisdom will not just go to those who already
know you, but to those who do not know you yet.

Community Engagement Tool #2: Speaking

 Another effective way to engage the community in the objectives/ mission you care about
is Public Speaking. There are always groups looking for effective speaker.
Speaking goes one step beyond writing, because when the community members hear you
speak, they are getting a direct and tangible sense of your issues, and you are right there, in real
time, able to engage their questions and dispel their misconceptions. They will immediately
sense the importance of your mission, and how it relates to them personally.

Community Engagement Tool #3: One- on One Conversations

We all know the word of a trusted friend or colleague can go miles to open doors.
Building those one- on- one friendships lies at the very heart of friend raising and Community
Engagement. And yet it is surprising how few institutions or organizations take full advantage of
this simple tool.