Community Development

3A (SCW3AA3)
28 February 2023
Lecturer: Ms. C N Latakgomo
 Purpose of today’s session
• Introduce you to the concept of community and community
development

• Identify the key principles and ethics underpinning community

development

• Discuss the overriding principles of social development that

informs our practice of community development

Outcomes:
• At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
– Understand the concepts of community and community development
– Know the key principles and ethics of community practice
– Understand how community development fits into the broader
 Defining the term community
• A community is a grouping of people who
reside in a specific locality and who exercise
some degree of local autonomy in organising
their social life in such a way that they can,
from that locality base, satisfy the full range of
their daily needs (Edwards and Jones, 1976, p.
12)

Edwards, A.D. & Jones, D.G. (1976). Community and community development. The
Hague: Mouton
 Defining the term community
“a social system which originates when a population of
individuals (social dimension),

localised in a specific geographic area (spatial

dimension),

establishes and utilises structures and relationships to

deal with impediments (functional dimension) and

at the same time develops a sense of communal

thinking, identity and activities (cultural-symbolic
dimension)” (Weyers, 2011, p. 56)
 4 major dimensions
• A spatial dimension - some form of geographical
location and boundary

• A social dimension - some form of person-to-person

and person-to-environment interaction

• A functional dimension - units that would in some way

meet human needs

• A cultural-symbolic dimension - entities with which

people could identify
 Type of community
• Geographic community – stresses the
geographic distribution of individuals,
groups and organisations within a
geographic locality.

• Functional community – emphasises the

shared interests and values of a group of
people not contained within a specific
geographic boundary
• Geographic functional community-
functional community combines the 2
above. Where there are shared interests
and a shared geography ( e.g. youth in a
care centre in Diepsloot). Community
workers are mainly concerned with
geographical functional communities.
Alexandra Township
Communities in Soweto
Family home in Sandton
School in a rural area
Rural school
Noordgesig Primary
St Johns Private school
Private school
 Group activity
• Look at the picture that I have displayed
– Every picture represents a community
– Describe what this photo means for you, what do
you see in it, what do you feel about it

• How would you define the specific community

in which you live?
 Community Work
One of the three intervention methods of
social work.

Weyers (2011, p. 28): The method of social

work that is targeted at community systems,
with the purpose to bring about social
change
• The basic aim of community work is to
bring about

– some form of social change that would

develop human potential,
– provide the resources and services that are
required to prevent and eliminate
– social dysfunctioning,
– promote social justice, enhancement people's
problem-solving, coping and interactional
capabilities, and
– to link community members with resources
and services
A social work method based on a ‘scientific
process’ – i.e. conscious and planned
relations and the distribution of decision-
making powers (Lombard, 1991: 72)
 Community Organising
“An intervention approach in which social
workers worked with groups of people to
collectively bring about social change” (Kirst-
Ashman, Hull, 2001 :166)
 Community development

“...a process designed to create conditions of

economic and social progress for the whole
community with its active participation and the
fullest possible reliance on the community's
initiative...” (Johnson as quoted by McKendrick,
1987, p. 110)
 Community development is regarded as

“a process, a method, a programme, a

movement aimed at enabling and encouraging
communities to become involved, with the
necessary support from the private and
government sectors, in improving and managing
their own living conditions in all areas of
development.” (Lombard, 1991, p. 118)
 Community Development
A bottom-up process of meaningful human
empowerment, where people are responsible
for their own sustainable development. A
political process which allows participation and
decision-making (Swanepoel & DeBeer, 2011,p.
xix).
• According to Swanepoel (1990, pp. 2-8), community
development covers the following aspects:
– It addresses human needs
– It is a learning process
– It is collective action
– It is orientated towards addressing needs while
recognising community assets
– It is objective orientated
– It is action at grassroots level
– It leads to community building
– It creates awareness
– It leads to further development
 Community Development
“Community Development involves local
empowerment through organised groups of
people acting collectively to control decisions,
projects, programs and policies that affect them
as a community.” (Rubin and Rubin, 1992: 44)
Community development is made up of two essential
elements:

• “the participation of the people themselves in an

effort to improve their living, with as much reliance as
possible on their own initiative; and

• the provision of technical and other services in ways

which encourage initiative, self help and mutual help
and make those more effective.

It is expressed in programmes and projects designed to

achieve a wide variety of specific improvements” (United
Nations Report 1963, p. 4)
• The teachings of Freire (1994) also relate to the process of
community action and social change as follows:

• A group of people (oppressed) identifies awareness/ awakening)

• That there is a difference between the reality (here and now)
• And the ideal (what/how it is supposed to be)
• This difference should be viewed as a constraint

• There should be purposeful action (dialogue; liberation; activism)

• in order to overcome the difference between the reality (that are
perceived and felt as a constraint)
• and the ideal situation (emancipation; empowerment;
transformation)

• in order to create something new (innovation like new resources

for intervention).
 Facilitation
• Oxford Dictionary : “A skill to make easy or less
difficult or possible”.
• A participatory process where participants are
actively involved to make learning, development
and growth processes possible.
• A change and management process facilitated with
a community of people to take action to actualise
their fundamental human needs to enhance the
quality of their own lives and those of the wider
community that they are part of.
 Facilitation (cont)
• It involves social change, learning and
development and this skill is crucial for any
community developer.
• Not only a technique for running workshops,
but a system of beliefs and attitudes.
• Facilitation is not telling participants what to
do, but on asking questions that enable them
to find their own solutions to their problems
and deciding how to change their behaviour.
Principles and ethics of
community practice
Introduction
• As in micro-practice, in community development,
social workers are bound by certain ethics, values
and principles

• These form part of the professional code of ethics

for socials service professionals as developed by
the SACSSP
Seven (plus 1) principles of community
work practice
1. People centredness
2. Participation
3. Empowerment
4. Ownership
5. Self-reliance
6. Sustainability
7. Learning process

Schenk, R; Nel, H; Louw, H. (2010) Introduction to participatory community

practice. Pretoria, UNISA Press.
 +1 Ubuntu
• Ubuntu suggests that ones own humanness depends upon recognising the
humanity of others and their recognising of yours.

• Ubuntu relates to bonding with others. This is in line with what the word
expresses in most African languages: being self because of other
• This is also in line with the popular Zulu saying: ubuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.
Such sayings as I am because we are and I am human because I belong
• To be human is to affirm one ́s humanity by recognizing the humanity of others
and, on that basis, establish respectful human relations with them.

Ubuntu is captured by the following expressions:

• Group solidarity
• Conformity
• Compassion
• Respect
• Human dignity
• Collective unity

One’s identity as a human is intrinsically dependent on the community

Mugumbate, J. & Nyanguru, A. (2013). Exploring African Philosophy: The Value Of Ubuntu In Social Work. AJSW, Volume 3, Number 1, 2013
1. People centredness
• People’s experiences, perceptions and values are central
• Recognising and fostering people’s right to human dignity
• Having an attitude of respect, implying justice and equality
• Promotes the development of the person within that
context
• Enhancing their capacities to self-determination
• Implies transformation of people (creating new
awareness, new behaviour, facilitating the creativity of
people)
• Projects must correspond with the capacities of the
community so that they can manage and sustain it
2. Participation
• Implies collective activity of interested people in
achieving a jointly determined goal
• They need to participate in an inclusive and
engaging learning process that includes their ideas,
their perceptions, culture, values and concerns
• Is more than merely informing, involving,
consulting or including people in pre-determined
plans
• Real participation means that they will decide what
needs to change and how it should be done
What promotes community
participation?
• 1. Effective leadership
• 2. Collective awareness
• 3. Self-organisation with functioning structures
• 4. Supportive networks
• 5. Small scale projects
• 6. Less dependence on bureaucratic structures and
professionals
• 7. Reduced risks
• 8. Cooperation and harmony
Advantages of participation in
community practice
• Contributes to ownership
• Encourages creativity
• Provides access to resources
• Contributes to diversity of alternatives
• Increases self-reliance
• Leads to community building
• Contributes to learning opportunities
• Develops people’s confidence
• Provides an opportunity to exercise control over their own
lives
• Respects the dignity of people
• People as the most important resource for development, is
accessed
3. Empowerment
• Process of human development to be able to make
their own choices and develop the capacity to take
responsibility for these choices
• Starts by taking people who are voiceless (culture
of silence) and listening to them
• Don’t think people are not empowered, they have
their own wisdom and experience and can often
teach us
• Empowerment is facilitated through participation,
collective action and cooperation
4. Ownership
• Ownership is a result of participation and
empowerment
• Refers to being in control and taking responsibility, being
accountable, and being capable of responding to what is
needed
• Ownership is facilitated through:
• People centredness
• Giving the process time
• Supporting the initiatives of people
• Cooperation
• Management and leadership among the people
• Collective planning, action and reflection
• Opportunities for learning
• Starting with small efforts that builds people’s confidence
5. Self-reliance (closely related to
ownership)
• Is an outcome of participatory community practice
• Is the act of the people mobilising themselves, taking
initiative and relying mainly on local resources,
knowledge, and strengths
• Self-reliance comes from within, is an attitude, and
state of mind
• What happens when people don’t have local funding
resources and have to rely on external funding
sources
• Self-reliance does not mean rejecting outside help
and resources but that these remain secondary
resources
6. Sustainability

• Being able to support or continue adequately for an

extended period.
• Closely related to self-reliance
• Sustainability refers to the following:
• Sense of community and relationships, reducing conflict
and increasing cooperation
• Projects continue when community practitioner
withdraws, because they feel it is theirs and they have
the capacity to continue
Factors contributing to sustainability of
projects
• Size and affordability in terms of the community’s
resources so that they can manage it themselves
• Facilitating a participatory and learning process
• Skills development and capacity building to
maintain the change which includes appropriate
organisational development and management
7. Learning process
• Community practice should be a learning process
for the community and the community practitioner
• Learn from one another
• CP is not a ‘know all’ expert, does not teach or
educate the community
• Have to learn from the community
Ethical community practice
• Position: Being aware of your position as someone
who has a particular set of skills, you are better able
to organise and plan, usually you might be better
educated than they are, you might be able to
anticipate outcomes before they can, so it is natural
that they might want you to

• Goals: Enhancing human dignity, self-reliance, positive

self-perception; enhancing the learning process, help
people achieve meaningful empowerment,
• Attitudes: Respect, compassion, guard against
paternalism

• Roles: Be conscious of the roles you play in a

community (guide, advisor, advocate, enabler,
facilitator)
Basic values associated with
community practice include
• Cultural diversity and understanding.

• Self-determination and empowerment.

• Development of a critical consciousness.

• Mutual learning and partnership with

constituents.

• A commitment to social justice and the equal

distribution of resources.
The 7 principles of healthy community living: an Afro-centric perspective
The goal of community development is basically to bring about a change in the perceptions of
people. Such perceptions should, however, fit local circumstances. The following Afrocentric
perspective of healthy community living is a case in point (Weyers, 2011, p. 32)
1. UNITY: To strive for and maintain unity in within the community (and decrease
the family, community, and nation. expenditures outside the community) and to
circulate the money paid into the local
economy within the community for as long as
possible before it is paid out.
2 SELF-DETERMINATION: To define ourselves, 5. CREATIVITY: To do always as much as we
create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. can, in the way that we can, in order to leave
our community more beautiful than we
inherited it.
3. COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY: 6. PURPOSE: To make as our collective
To build and maintain our community vocation the building and developing of our
together, to believe in the value of community and to be in harmony with our
neighbourliness (ubuntu) and to make our spiritual purpose.
brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems,
and to solve them together.
4. CO-OPERATIVE ECONOMICS: To strive to 7. FAITH: To believe with all our hearts in our
produce as much of its own energy as parents, our teachers, and our people.
possible, to supply local needs first, to
strive to increase earnings in whatever form