COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY:
term
community
has
two
distinct commutative meanings: 1) Community can refer to
a usually small, social unit of any size that shares common
values. The term can also refer to the national
community or international community, and 2) in biology,
a community is a group of interacting living
organisms sharing a populated environment.
In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferenc
es, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be
present and common, affecting the identity of the
participants and their degree of cohesiveness.
The

SEVEN COMMUNITY DEFINITIONS

Definition 1.

Community is a way of relating to other persons as

brothers and sisters who share a common origin, a
common dignity, and a common destiny. Community
involves learning to live in terms of an interconnected
"we" more than an isolated "I'. It involves making
choices which reinforce the experience of relatedness
and
foster the sense of
belonging and
interdependence. Community begins, but does not
end, in our face to face relationships with the
persons who are closest to us.

 Definition 2.

A community is best defined as a group of people

who, regardless of the diversity of their backgrounds,
have been able to accept and transcend their
differences, enabling them to communicate effectively
and openly and to work together toward goals
identified as being for their common good.

 Definition 3 .

A community is a group of two or more people

who have been able to accept and transcend their
differences regardless of the diversity of their
backgrounds (social, spiritual, educational, ethnic,
economic, political, etc.) This enables them to
communicate effectively and openly and to work
together toward goals identified as being for their
common good.
The word community. . . can refer to a specific
group of people (a geographical community, a church
congregation) or it can describe a quality of
relationship based on certain values and principles.

 Definition 4

Reaching community is both intentional and

challenging. The group process requires that an
individual give up learned defenses and habitual way
of behaving. Through increased responsibility, risk
and vulnerability of its members, a group develops
into a "safe place" providing an environment of
acceptance, appreciation of human diversity, and
nurturance of personal growth, healing and selfdiscovery.

 Definition 5.

Emptiness is a central to the community building

process. A challenging place to enter and inhabit
emptiness is fertile ground for the growth of personal
insights and deeper relationships. Community
Building is a powerful process - a technology and a
discipline -which helps us learn about ourselves and
relate to others in new ways.

 Definition 6.

A Learning Community is a group that can live the

experience of authentic community. Competent and
capable of vulnerable and authentic communication,
individuals have developed their capacity to attend
simultaneously to their own and the group's
consciousness.

 Definition 7.

Community is the goal. When this stage is

reached the full range of emotions can be expressed.
Even though community is the goal, it is not a static
state that once reached never changes. Community
can be palpable to some and very subtle to others.

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
"Community development is a structured intervention that gives

communities greater control over the conditions that affect their

lives. This does not solve all the problems faced by a local
community, but it does build up confidence to tackle such problems
as effectively as any local action can. Community development
works at the level of local groups and organizations rather than with
individuals or families. The range of local groups and organizations
representing communities at local level constitutes the community
sector.
"Community development is a skilled process and part of its
approach is the belief that communities cannot be helped unless
they themselves agree to this process. Community development
has to look both ways: not only at how the community is working at
the grass roots, but also at how responsive key institutions are to the
needs of local communities".

 Community development, often linked with Community

Work or Community Planning, is often formally conducted

by non-government organizations (NGOs), universities or
government agencies to progress the social well-being of
local, regional and, sometimes, national communities. Less
formal efforts, called community building or community
organizing, seek to empower individuals and groups of
people by providing them with the skills they need to effect
change in their own communities. These skills often assist
in building political power through the formation of large
social groups working for a common agenda. Community
development practitioners must understand both how to
work with individuals and how to affect communities'
positions within the context of larger social institutions.

FOUR ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:

1. Attention to the desires of the people involved and to

the areas where they live and work.
2. Control by community members, who become active
participants.
3. The concept of self-help, which is vitally important to
the community development process.
4. A holistic view of the community, in which groups
take into account one anothers goals and actions, as
opposed to operating as if each were in a vacuum.

Community building and organizing:

Conscious community

building is a process of
deliberate design based
on the knowledge and
application of certain
rules. He states that this
process goes through
four stages:

 Pseudo community: The beginning stage when

people first come together. This is the stage where

people try to be nice, and present what they feel are
their most personable and friendly characteristics.

Chaos: When people move beyond the inauthenticity

of pseudo-community and feel safe enough to present

their "shadow" selves. This stage places great demands
upon the facilitator for greater leadership and
organization, but Peck believes that "organizations are
not communities", and this pressure should be
resisted.

 Emptiness: This stage moves beyond the attempts to

fix, heal and convert of the chaos stage, when all

people become capable of acknowledging their own
woundedness and brokenness, common to us all as
human beings. Out of this emptiness comes

True community: the process of deep respect and

true listening for the needs of the other people in this

community. This stage Peck believes can only be
described as "glory" and reflects a deep yearning in
every human soul for compassionate understanding
from one's fellows.

TYPES OF COMMUNITY:
Geographic

communities: range
from the
local neighboorhood, su
burb, village, town or city
, region, nation or even
the planet as a whole.
These refer to
communities of location.

 Communities of culture: range from the local clique,

sub-culture, ethnic
group, religious, multicultural or pluralistic civilization, or
the global community cultures of today. They may be
included as communities of need or identity, such
as disabled persons, or frail aged people.
Community organizations: range from
informal family or kinship networks, to more
formal incorporated associations, political decision making
structures, economic enterprises, or professional
associations at a small, national or international scale.
Note: Communities are nested; one community can contain
anotherfor example a geographic community may
contain a number of ethnic communities.

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES:
Community Development is crucially concerned with

the issues of powerlessness and disadvantage: as such

it should involve all members of society, and offers a
practice that is part of a process of social change.
Community Development is about the active
involvement of people in the issues which affect their
lives. It is a process based on the sharing of power,
skills, knowledge and experience.
Community Development takes place both in
neighboorhoods and within communities of interest,
as people identify what is relevant to them.

 The Community Development process is collective,

but the experience of the process enhances the

integrity, skills, knowledge and experience, as well as
equality of power, for each individual who is involved.
Where Community Development takes place, there
are certain principles central to it. The first priority of
the Community Development process is the
empowering and enabling of those who are
traditionally deprived of power and control over their
common affairs. It claims as important the ability of
people to act together to influence the social,
economic, political and environmental issues which
affect them. Community Development aims to
encourage sharing, and to create structures which give
genuine participation and involvement.

 Community Development seeks to enable individuals

and communities to grow and change according to

their own needs and priorities, and at their own pace,
provided this does not oppress other groups and
communities, or damage the environment.

Community Development is about developing the

power, skills, knowledge and experience of people as

individuals and in groups, thus enabling them to
undertake initiatives of their own to combat social,
economic, political and environmental problems, and
enabling them to fully participate in a truly democratic
process.

 Community Development must

take the lead in confronting the

attitudes of individuals and the
practices of institutions and
society as a whole which
discriminates unfairly against
black people, women, people
with disabilities and different
abilities, religious groups,
elderly people, lesbians and gay
men, and other groups who are
disadvantaged by society. It also
must take a lead in countering
the destruction of the natural
environment on which we all
depend. Community
Development is well placed to
involve people equally on these
issues which affect all of us.

 Community

Development should
seek to develop
structures which enable
the active involvement of
people from
disadvantaged groups,
and in particular people
from Black and Minority
Ethnic groups.