Community organization

1. Community Organisation






Submitted to:
Ms Princy T Sebastian,
School of Social Work,
Marian College, Kuttikkanam.
Submitted by:
Bimal Antony,
1
st
MSW,
School of Social Work,
Marian College, Kuttikkanam.
Date of Submission:
18th
November 2010.

2. Introduction
Community is a very necessary part in the development of human beings. It helps in the
social, psychological and intellectual growth of human beings. Size and type of community can vary.
There will be a common behaviour pattern for all the community members. There are various types
of communities among each societies and nations.
Community organisation is the process of organising community for the development of its
members. Community organisation can be also said as an institution or as the organisation of people
joined together for a common cause, directed by the feeling of together for development and is
governed by an elected body of governance by themselves.
Community
Community can be said as a group of people who form relationships over time by interacting
regularly on some common beliefs, principles, life styles and experiences, which are of interest to all
of them for varying individual reasons.
Knowledge in history is a necessary factor in the development of knowledge about
communities and its structure. In the development of the humans from the animal tom social it is
through the development of the communities and societies the humans attained this growth. The
origin of community can be traced back to the times when humans started to live together in groups.
These small groups later expanded to larger communities and to societies which later acted as the
foundation stones in the development of cultures and civilisations.
Community organisation
Community organization is that process by which the people...organize themselves to 'take
charge' of their situation and thus develop a sense of being a community together. It is a particularly
effective tool for the poor and powerless as they determine for themselves the actions they will take
to deal with the essential forces that are destroying their community and consequently causing them
to be powerless.
-Reverend Robert Linthicum, World Vision International
Community organization covers a series of activities at the community level aimed at
bringing about desired improvement in the social well being of individuals, groups and
neighbourhoods. Community organizing is about creating a democratic instrument to bring about
sustained social change.
Community organizations (sometimes known as community-based organizations) are civil
society non-profits that operate within a single local community. They are essentially a subset of the
wider group of nonprofits. Like other nonprofits they are often run on a voluntary basis and are self
funding. Within community organizations there are many variations in terms of size and

3. organizational structure. Some are formally incorporated, with a written constitution and a board of
directors (also known as a committee), while others are much smaller and are more informal. The
recent evolution of community organizations, especially in developing countries, has strengthened
the view that these "bottom-up" organizations are more effective addressing local needs than larger
charitable organizations.
The early attempts in community organization were an outcome of the serious problems i.e.
problems of unemployment, poverty etc. faced by the communities. Thus grew up many
organisations and social agencies to provide support to the community. Soon, it was realized that all
these efforts need to be co-ordinated and streamlined so as to avoid duplicity of work and to reduce
the gap in the delivery of services to the community.
Community Organisation is one of the primary methods of social work. It deals with
intervention in the communities to solve the community problems. As a method of social work
community organisation can solve the problems of many people in the community through their
collective involvement. Community organisation and community development are inter-related as
two sides of same coin. The community organisation includes other methods of social work, that is,
group work, and casework. The power structure plays a role in community organisation. The social
workers need to know the community power structure to practice community organisation method,
which is used for empowering people for their development
The fundamental aspect of the community organizations is the principle of "Co-operative
spirit" which promotes the people to unite together to address a common issue. Community
organization recognizes the spirit of democratic values and principles and community organization is
about is creating democratic involvement.
Organizing is about empowering. When people unite together, barring all discriminations and
get involved in the community organizations, they develop confidence. This empowerment comes
when people learn skills to help themselves and others. The collective action helps in community
building.
The community organization recognizes the power of individual. It believes, through the
collective strength of the people, better teamwork and adopting scientific methods can make
comprehensive social problems.
Another Philosophy is that of coordination. It is concerned with the adjustments and inter-
relations of the forces in the community life for a common welfare.
Modern CO rests on a solid bed of key principles around which most knowledgeable
practitioners and observers are in general agreement. The degree of adherence to these principles,
and the relative emphasis placed on one principle or another, provides the best means to distinguish
CO groups and efforts from each other. These same principles also help to distinguish CO from
other types of strategies for neighborhood and community change and social betterment.

4. According to Borgos and Douglas, the key principles of contemporary CO are:
A Participative Culture. CO organizations view participation as an end in itself. Under the
rubric of leadership development, they devote considerable time and resources to enlarging
the skills, knowledge and responsibilities of their members. "Never do for others what they
can do for themselves" is known as the iron rule of organizing.
Inclusiveness. As a matter of principle, CO groups are generally committed to developing
membership and leadership from a broad spectrum of the community, with many expressly
dedicated to fostering participation among groups that have been "absent from the table,"
including communities of color, low-income constituencies, immigrants, sexual minorities
and youth

Breadth of Mission and Vision. In principle, every issue that affects the welfare of the
community is within CO's purview, where other civic institutions tend to get stuck on certain
functions while losing sight of the community's larger problems.

Critical Perspective. CO organizations seek to change policies and institutions that are not
working. In many communities, they are the only force promoting institutional accountability
and responsiveness. Sometimes community organizations take critical positions and because
of that they can be viewed as partisan or even polarizing in some contexts, and an obstacle to
social collaboration. However, research suggests that effective governance depends on
"civicness" - not consensus. A critical stance may generate conflict, but it can also stimulate
participation and sharpen political discourse in ways that lead to deeper forms of social
collaboration.
Typical community organizations fall into the following categories: community-service and
action, health, educational, personal growth and improvement, social welfare and self-help for the
disadvantaged. In Canada and elsewhere, amateur sports clubs, school groups, church groups, youth
groups and community support groups are all typical examples of community organizations. In
developing countries (like those in Sub-Saharan Africa) community organizations often focus on
community strengthening, including HIV/AIDS awareness, health clinics, orphan children support
and economic issues.
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come
together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-
consensual "community building," community organizers generally assume that social change
necessarily involves conflict and social struggle in order to generate collective power for the
powerless. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization
representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on a range of issues over
time. In the ideal, for example, this can get community organizing groups a place at the table before
important decisions are made. Community organizers work with and develop new local leaders,
facilitating coalitions and assisting in the development of campaigns.

5. While community organizing groups often engage in protest actions designed to force
powerful groups to respond to their demands, protest is only one aspect of the activity of organizing
groups. To the extent that groups' actions generate a sense in the larger community that they have
"power," they are often able to engage with and influence powerful groups through dialogue, backed
up by a history of successful protest-based campaigns. Similar to the way unions gain recognition as
the representatives of workers for a particular business, community organizing groups can gain
recognition as key representatives of particular communities. In this way, representatives of
community organizing groups are often able to bring key government officials or corporate leaders
to the table without engaging in "actions" because of their reputation. As Alinsky said, "the first rule
of power tactics" is that "power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have." The
development of durable "power" and influence is a key aim of community organizing.
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 organisations rather than with
individuals or families. The range of local groups and organisations 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 works on the following policies.
Community Development is crucially concerned with the issues of powerlessness and
disadvantages 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 neighbourhoods 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.

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

6. oppress other groups and communities, or damage the environment.

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 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 a 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.
Community organization and community development
There is a common philosophical base between community organization and community
development. Both aims to enable people to live happily and fully developed life. Both have basic
faith in the common man and his right to self-determination in the framework of the society. Both
give emphasis to self-help and help the people to help themselves to solve their own problems.
However, community organization and community development should not be considered as
synonymous.
CD is concerned with the promotion of all aspects of life including social, economical and
cultural; both in rural and urban areas. While CO is concerned with adjustment of social welfare
needs and resources in cities, states, Nations as well as in villages.
CO is practiced in the USA on a voluntary basis. While CD in almost all the developing
countries are a government-sponsored program.
CO is a product of urbanization and industrialization. Here the main concern is problems of
the population mobility, problems of the family, problems of the aged, problems of the juvenile

7. delinquency, of unemployment and provision of social security. But CD is concerned with how to
induce people to meet their basic human needs.
CO tends to be more process oriented while CD as practiced in India tends to be target
oriented.
Conclusion
Community is the very essential part in the development of human society and life. There are
various types of communities in the society and sometimes with the community itself. Community
organizing and community development are two sides of the coin. Both are very necessary in the
field of Social Work. A social workers role must be all times that of a facilitator and he or she must
follow the principles associated with a professional social worker in both as a community organizer
and community developer.