Working and Developing Communities-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Working and Developing Communities. Answer: Introduction: Community service is basically the concept of helping people in need so that the work as a whole benefits a particular person or group of people of a particular area who are taken under consideration. It can concern the area of a persons residence, it can be a particular area of focus involving a particular area or locality. It can also refer to a particular type of area of focus mainly a village or a town which helps in the application of the models of community service. In general it is seen that a sense of community brings out the best in people and also inspires them to consciously do much more for themselves and for those people who are around them (Swanepoel De Beer, 2012). Empowerment in the areas of social development and community improvement leads to long lasting impacts in such cases. The main consideration in such instances of community service involves the socio-economic barriers which lead to poverty, crime, poor health conditions and also the underperformance of schools (Ife, 2013). Community of focus: The plan of action with respect to community development requires that there be a specific area that is a geographical background which needs to be considered in this particular situation. This area of focus can be a town or a suburb, a village or neighbourhood. In this particular study the main area of focus of the community service is taken to be a village. The reasons for choosing a village as an area to focus on for community change is because villages are deprived of certain basic facilities which the residents and the village as a whole should ideally receive (Flora, 2018). Villages face issues of gender equality, education, exposure, age related issues, farmers associations, issues of the minority community, children and women-centric issues, which ideally need to be addressed. Therefore villages need to be given their due importance and majority of the issues it has been facing in the realm of community development need to be addressed as fast as possible. Desired changes to the community: There are several issues in the concept of village development. All these issues are equally important. No issue is less crucial than another. Therefore it is desirable that there is an all round development of a village with special attention to all the aspects of community development. First and foremost there needs to be an inspired community. It is usually considered that even more than the infrastructural development of a village, there needs to be a focus on making the lives of the residents better with respect to the development of the village. In order to become a village which is a perfect model for social change, then the people of the village need to be inspired to participate in the improvement of their own lives and the communities. In case a community is willing to work together and keeps the improvement of their lives in mind, a village can be transformed from the negatives which it has been facing and there can be a proper quality of life which should ideally be the case in rural areas (Eversole, Barraket Luke, 2013). Another crucial change which can be implemented in the villages for proper development is the enrolment, engagement and proper empowerment of the people to actively take part in the construction of the village sand also to take part in the village level maintenance and operation. Villages need to be developed and maintained and the villages need to be encouraged to maintain the infrastructure which is being provided to the particular area. The villagers also need to be encouraged to create decision making bodies which help in the representation of their communities and also help in finding solutions to their problems (Green Haines, 2015). The villages also suffer due to the location they are placed at. This might be a cumbersome procedure as certain areas are prone to environmental hazards each year. Model of community work best suited to the desired change: There are three main models of community organisation and community development. These include focussing on the broader social approaches to human betterment, emphasis on the effective delivery of procedures and services, strengthening of community life and prevention of social ills. The three main models which are suited to the community change are the social planning model, social action model and the local development model. The social planning model is concerned with the rational, deliberately planned and technical procedure of solving problems which are a characteristic of the model. The degree of participation in the community might vary. It needs to be understood that the building capacity of the community or fostering fundamental social change is not a crucial goal of the specific model of community practice (Arensberg, 2017). The practitioners help in the practicing of the model assume that there is a disadvantaged segment of the people which needs to be organised to make demands on community at large. The crucial themes in this model include social justice, democracy, redistribution of power, resources and the concept of decision making (Berkes Ross, 2013). The local development model is based on the belief that for the effective implementation of change there need to be a wide variety of community people who should be involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation. The themes involved in this particular procedure involve that of democratic procedures, voluntary cooperation, development of leadership and educational objectives. From a proper study of all the three models which have been discussed above, it can clearly be stated that the locality development model is the ideal model which can be used in this context of community change and development (Chambers, 2014). Conclusion: In the recent times, there have been a number of forces which have changed the landscape of the family life, community life and the social life of the people in the community. Unless the villages prosper, the overall human race cannot develop. Therefore it is desirable that the villages are given as much importance as the cities. The all round development of the villages is desirable along with the educational growth of the children in all the rural parts. All in all community development is an important aspect which needs to be employed for the advancement of civilization as a whole References: Arensberg, C. M. (2017).Introducing social change: A manual for community development. Routledge. Berkes, F., Ross, H. (2013). Community resilience: toward an integrated approach.Society Natural Resources,26(1), 5-20. Chambers, R. (2014).Rural development: Putting the last first. Routledge. Eversole, R., Barraket, J., Luke, B. (2013). Social enterprises in rural community development.Community Development Journal,49(2), 245-261. Flora, C. B. (2018).Rural communities: Legacy+ change. Routledge. Green, G. P., Haines, A. (2015).Asset building community development. Sage publications. Ife, J. (2013).Community development in an uncertain world. Cambridge University Press. Swanepoel, H., De Beer, F. (2012).Community development: Breaking the cycle of poverty. Juta and Company Ltd.