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Community Development

This document discusses various approaches, strategies and policies related to community development. It defines community development as a social action process initiated by a group of people in a community to change their situation. Three main approaches are described: technical assistance, conflict approach, and self-help approach. Various strategies of community development are also outlined such as locality development, social action, social planning, and capacity building. The key difference between community development and economic development is that community development involves local citizen action and improving quality of life, while economic development does not necessarily involve citizens or quality of life.

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Joey Bojo Tromes Bolinas
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214 views

Community Development

This document discusses various approaches, strategies and policies related to community development. It defines community development as a social action process initiated by a group of people in a community to change their situation. Three main approaches are described: technical assistance, conflict approach, and self-help approach. Various strategies of community development are also outlined such as locality development, social action, social planning, and capacity building. The key difference between community development and economic development is that community development involves local citizen action and improving quality of life, while economic development does not necessarily involve citizens or quality of life.

Uploaded by

Joey Bojo Tromes Bolinas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Approaches, Strategies and

Policies of Community
Development
Defining Community Development
 A group of people in a community reaching a
decision to initiate a social action process
(that is, planned intervention) to change their
economic, social, cultural, or environmental
situation.
» Christenson and Robinson, 1978
 Collective Agency
– believe working together can make a
difference
– organize to address their shared needs
collectively
Key Qualities of
Community Development
 It is always purposive
 Its purpose is always positive
 It exists in the efforts of people and not
necessarily in goal achievement. Trying is
enough to qualify as community development
 It is structure-oriented
Development “In” vs. “Of”
the Community
 Development in the community is principally
concerned with building the economic or
physical infrastructure of a community.
 Development of the community is focused on
building the human capacity to address local
issues and concerns. As such, it
affects the structure of the community.
Reasons for Community
Development
 Expand participation
 Reaction against some proposed change in
the local area that is deemed as having
negative consequences on residents’
quality of life
 Modify severe social, economic or
environmental problems in the
community
 Satisfy missing needs or resources
Approaches to Community
Development
Three Approaches to
Community Development
 Technical Assistance

 Conflict Approach

 Self-Help Approach
Technical Assistance
Characteristics
 Usually involves the delivery of programs of
services to a local area by some agency or
organization
 It is often a “top-down” approach that involves
the use of experts
 The focus is mainly on the task to be
performed
 Assumes that answers to community
problems can be arrived at scientifically
Technical Assistance
Characteristics
 If residents wish to participate, they must
study and understand a great deal of
complex information
 Local citizens are defined as consumers of
such development - not participants in it
 The most frequent employers of the
technical assistance model is
government
Problems with this Approach
 Local community participation is
downplayed due to a greater interest in
realizing efficiency rather than access on
the part of citizens
 Some question as to whose values are
influencing development decisions; often
are guided by middle class values of the
government officials and consultants
 The assisting group does not always
have a full understanding of the
community
Conflict Approach
 Primary focus is upon the deliberate use or
creation of confrontation by professional
organizers
 The goal is to redistribute power
 A major organizing tool is to confront
those forces seen as blocking efforts to
solve problems
 In this approach, there is a deep suspicion of
those who have formal community power
Conflict Approach
 This perspective assumes that power is
never given away, that it has to be
taken.
 Goal is to build a people’s organization to
allow those without power to gain it
through direct action. Their strength
is in numbers -- people working
collectively.
Steps in the Conflict Approach
 An outside organizer enters the community,
usually at the request of a local group
wanting change. Outside
person usually informs the local leaders,
analyzes the power structure, and assesses
what the major problems are
 The organizer and the local allies seek to
build a people’s organization
Steps in the Conflict Approach
 The coalition engages in direct action
– traditional power structure is confronted
through direct action involving a large number
of people
• publicity or threat: press conferences,
advertising, public hearing
• action: courts, lobbying, sit-ins, strikes,
demonstrations
• pressure: boycott of goods or facilities
 People’s organization is then formulized by
developing a permanent organizational
structure (although not always)
Criticisms of this Approach
 Maintenance of effort: once problem is
solved, hard to maintain commitment
 Burn-out: key organizers and volunteer staff
often become burnt out after their initial
organizational efforts
 Loss of leaders: professional organizer often
leave after the issue has been addressed; leaders
who remain get tempted to seek local or external
positions in government/corporations
 Finance: hard to keep a reliable source of
funds available to support the group’s work
Self-Help Approach
 Emphasis is on process -- people within
the community working together to arrive
at group decisions and taking actions to
improve their community
 Based on the principle that people can
collaborate in a community to provide
important needs and services
 The process is more important than any
particular task or goal
In the Self-Help Approach . . .

 Want to institutionalize a process of


change based on building community
institutions and strengthening community
relationships, rather than to achieve any
particular objective
Self Help Approach Also
Includes
 Key Persons & Interpersonal
Relationship Approach
 Group Approach
 Committee Approach
Key Features of the
Self-Help
Approach
 Project is community controlled
 Local needs are clearly defined and action is initiated by
the community
 Effective leadership and skills are present; effective use
of volunteers
 Good efforts to secure financial resources
 Significant cooperation and integration of people and
organizations in the effort
 Access to outside support, as needed
 Self-sustaining enterprises that can spur other
community improvement efforts
Community vs. Economic
Development
 Community development is much broader than
economic development
 Unlike CD, economic development does not
necessarily involve local citizen action, and it may
not result in an improvement in the quality of life
 If economic development is undertaken without
much community involvement, than there is no
community development
 Economic development for community
development has distinctive features that
economic development alone might not have
Community vs. Economic
Development
 It seeks to increase the resources for
people to meet their needs
 It encourages the development of jobs,
services, facilities, and groups that are
needed by the whole community
 It seeks to reduce inequality
 It provides for and depends upon local
community action and involvement
Strategies Of Community
Development
A) Locality Development
Improvements in the well-being of local citizens
through increased resources, facilities, services, etc.,
brought about by the active involvement of
citizens. Examples:
Building a community center, Home renovation
subsidies
B) Social Action
~Seeks a redistribution of power
~Focus is on a specific issue
~Advocacy activities
Examples:
Anti-poverty activists seeking increases to social
assistance rates.
C) Social Planning
~Rational problem-solving process to address social
problems
~Involves needs assessments, analysis of service
delivery mechanisms, systems co-ordination
and other technical expertise
~Involvement of community members in
consultation, interpretation of results and service
planning
Examples:
Conducting a needs assessment of people who are
homeless and using the results to plan a new housing
development in needed locations, with appropriate
services on-site.
D) Social Reform
Activity by one group on behalf of a relatively
disadvantaged group
Example:
Advocating for community acceptance, supports and
services for people that have a mental illness
E) Community Relations
Focus is on increasing social integration
Often attempts to improve the social status of
minority populations
Examples:
Mediating between community factions, Anti-racism
programs
F) Social Capital Formation
~Focus in on connections among individuals - social
networks and the norms of reciprocity and
trustworthiness
~high social capital = effective schools,
governments, lower crime, higher economic
equality, greater tolerance
~includes political engagement, civic and religious
organizations, family gatherings, socializing, group
recreational activities
Examples:
Creating places and opportunities for community
members to gather and network with each other,
Orientation programs to welcome newcomers,
Community activities to develop and/neighborliness.
G) Capacity Building
Capacity is the participatory leadership,
resources,
skills, knowledge and tools of individuals in
communities and organizations that enable
them to address, and have greater control over,
conditions and factors that affect their quality
of life.
(a)Individual Capacity is the sum of the assets (skills, talents,
experience and knowledge) possessed by an individual that
will help them succeed and contribute to their community.
(b)Organizational Capacity is the participatory decision-
making, program development, planning, research,
resources, tools, skills, education & training, knowledge
contained within an organization
(c)Community Capacity: the combination of a community's
commitment, leadership, resources and skills that can be
deployed to build on community strengths and address
community problems and opportunities.
H) Asset-Based Community Development
~Assets are the gifts, skills, resources and abilities of
community residents; sometimes physical resources
are also included
~Every community has a unique combination of
assets upon which to build its future
~Starts with identifying assets rather than needs
~Is internally focused and relationship-driven
Examples:
Some communities have mapped the location of their
community assets and used the data to connect
people with similar interests, or people in need of
help with someone that can provide it. Co-operative
businesses and new volunteer groups have been
established from community mapping projects.
Policies of Community
Development
National Policies and Legal Provisions for
Community Development

 Local Self‐Governance Act, 2055


 The Local Self Regulations, 2056 and
 The Local Body (Financial
Administration) Regulations, 2064.

Being based on them a new national program


is in operation called LGCDP
What is LGCDP????

 Local Governance and


Development Programme (LGCDP) is a
Community
national programme, managed and
implemented by the Ministry of Local
Development (MLD).
 financed by the Government of Nepal
 Supported by ADB, CIDA DFID,
DANIDA, GTZ, Norway, SDC, and UN
Agencies including UNDP, UNCDF,
UNICEF, UNFPA, UNV, UNIFEM etc.
Programme Components

 Policy: Governance Reform


 Supply: Service Delivery and Capacity
Development
 Demand: Citizens Empowerment
 Local Development: Socio-Economic
and Infrastructure Development
Programme Goal
 To contribute towards poverty reduction
through better local governance and
community development
Programme Outcomes (1st Phase)
 Citizens and communities hold their local
governance actors accountable.
 Local Bodies are more responsive to citizen's
demand.
 All citizens are provided with efficient and
effective local services.
 Strengthened policy and institutional
framework for devolution, sub-national
governance and local service delivery

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