3 Understanding Community Organization and Practice

Prerna Sharma

Content Outline

§  Introduction

§  Concepts and Definition

§  Historical Evolution of Community Organization Practice

§  Goals in Community Organization

§  Community Organization Practice

§  Process in Community Organization

§  Skills in Community Organization

§  Roles of a Community Organizer

Objectives

At the end of the session leaners will be able to:

1.    Provide the concept and definition of community organization practice

2.    Enlist goals in Community Organization

3.    Explain the process in Community Organization

4.    Enumerate Skills in Community Organization

5.    Discuss roles of a Community Organizer

Introduction

Methods and directions of social work practice have changed and evolved just as social and economic realities of the times have changed. Community organization is social work practice designed to improve or modify some aspect of society. It is a clear and simple process to transform society in the direction of equitable distribution of resources, harmonious co-existence of groups and communities of people. Improvements or changes can be sought in organizational or societal policies and procedures that regulate the distribution of resources to people.

Community Organization involves working on behalf of whole groups or populations of clients. It transcends working with individuals or groups. It involves questioning and sometimes confronting major social issues and global organizational policies.

Therefore, it is one of the methods of social work practice, where the social worker’s level of intervention is within the community. In its simplest form community organization is achieved whenever a group of people/citizens, recognizing a need come together to ensure that need is met. Thus, people have to get together over a problem, form social relationships and develop cooperative attitudes, and through this, work out solutions.

Core values in social work include the fundamental rights people to have their basic needs met, to make their own choices (assuming such choices do not harm others or themselves), and to maintain their human dignity. When these core values of people are violated or when inequities and unfairness in society are identified, the community organizer will need to plan strategies for changing such situations.

Sometimes, the services people need are not being provided; at other times the policies under which community organizers are expected to work are unfair, or inhuman or unethical. At such times workers at community level need to consider whether or not to try and change the organization, policy or system on behalf of the community. One may need to assess the situation from a broad perspective and evaluate what impact the intervention may have on people in the community or on the community as a whole.

Concepts and Definition

Community organization enables people to voice their problems and concerns and organize themselves as collectives. It is key to bring changes in community that are widely felt and reflect the conscious and deliberate desire of the people directly affected by problems.

Therefore, the concept of ‘community’ is very significant for social workers. So, how can ‘community’ be explained or understood. Is it a neighbourhood (people living in a particular geographic location)? Or is the ‘community’ a group of people with common issues, concerns and problems? For example there is the social workers community or doctors’ community or the community of people with disabilities. Does the word community connote a certain cultural, regional or ethnic group? How large or small should a community be? Can India be considered a national community or Mumbai a metropolitan community?

Barker (1999) defines community “as a group of individuals or families that share certain values, services, institutions, interests or geographical proximity”. Thus, community may be a group of people living in the same area, having same language, religion, culture or occupation. They have a common purpose for living together. The community can therefore be defined in many ways depending on the context and situations of people and different criteria can be used for identifying a community. It could be a geographic territory, language, religion, caste, culture, profession, values and codes of conduct, common interests and so on. World Health Organization (1998) postulated a comprehensive definition of community which is, “community is a specific group of people often living in a defined geographic area, who share common culture, values and norms, are arranged in a social structure according to relationships which the community has developed over a period of time. Members of a community gain their personal and social identity by sharing common beliefs, values and norms which have been developed by the community in the past and may be modified in the future. They exhibit some awareness of their identity as a group and share common needs and a commitment to meeting them”.

Due to the wide range of possible meanings associated with the term community, some of the major concepts required for practice of community organization are discussed here. First, community refers to a group of people related in terms of geographic location. Second, these people also have some interests or functions in common. Third, owing to their common geographic location, functions and/or interests people in community interact together on some level or at least have the potential to interact. Fourth, the community may be seen as a target for change to occur. A fifth concept in community is important from social work perspective. A community can be organized so its members can participate together and solve their mutual problems or improve their overall quality of life. Social workers (community organizers) can use their professional skills to mobilize citizens within communities so as to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves.

Now some definitions of community organization which provide a broad perspective helping, to develop an understanding that it is a process which enables people to remove or deal with obstacles and hindrances coming in their way of growth, development, optimum use of resources, building capacities of people and enabling them to realize their fullest potential.

Community Organization thus can be defined is a type of activity practiced by people who are employed to help others to identify problems and opportunities, and come to realistic decisions to take collective action to meet these problems and opportunities in ways that they determine for themselves. Community organizer also supports people in the process of putting decisions they make, into effect, to help them develop their abilities and independence (Baldock, 1974).

According to Kramer and Specht (1975) community organization refers to various methods of intervention whereby a professional change agent helps a community action system composed of individuals, groups and organizations to engage in planned collective action in order to deal with special problems within the democratic system of values.

Community organization may be defined as a social development approach that aims to transform powerless and voiceless poor into a dynamic, participatory and politically responsive community. Another way of defining CO is that it is a participatory, systematic and sustained process of building people’s organizations by enhancing the people’s capabilities and resources for the resolution of their issues and concerns (National Rural Community Organizing Conference, Philippines, 1994).

Historical Evolution of Community Organization Practice

The first efforts at community organization were initiated in the UK during the nineteenth century to overcome the problems of acute poverty which led to beggary (Kramer and Specht, 1975).Thus the London Society for Organizing Charitable Relief and Mendicancy was formed. Its functions were to organize the poor, collect funds to meet their basic needs and enable them to lead moral lives through education.

The Settlement House Movement originated in England during the 1880s. Settlement houses were set up in order to cater to the needs of rural poor who flocked into the cities. Professors and students left their homes in better class neighbourhoods and lived in areas inhabited by the poor and working class. They identified with the poor and became their spokespersons. They paid attention to the physical and social aspects of slum dwelling so as to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers.

These two movements – organizing charity and serving neighbourhoods through settlement houses — impacted the United States which had maintained close links with England. Therefore in 1880 the Charity Organization Society sprang up in USA. This was the first attempt in USA to create orderliness in the area of charity and relief. Economic depression of 1873 had created several social problems. Also the rapid movement of the rural population into urban areas due to industrialization called for coordination to prevent indiscriminate charity, fraud and duplication.

The Settlement Movement which reached USA around 1886 catered to the poor immigrants from Europe. In addition the leaders of this movement engaged in social action resulting in reform and social legislation. Hence they tried to change society in order to meet the needs of the people.

The early part of twentieth century saw the birth of community councils in the USA. These functioned to increase efficiency, encourage specialization, set standards for service and provide leadership to member agencies for joint planning. World War I gave rise to war chests in many communities to promote central fund raising, coordination of service and control of funding. Majority of community organization practitioners were employed in community councils and chests. Due to dominance of this type of practitioners in community organization, the method was equated with coordination, raising standards of services, collecting and distributing funds and supervise spending.

Gradually, welfare responsibilities shifted from voluntary effort to public welfare departments of government. This slowed the use of community organization to some extent. The wider use of community organization was further restricted due the preoccupation of social work profession with case work practice. The concept of community development became popular again during the 60s, as urban renewal projects and the war on poverty again focused attention on people in communities, providing direct service to them.

The spirit behind all these activities was charity. In India, the very concept of charity is deeply rooted in the religious philosophy. Even before commencement of social work education in India in 1937, community organization was in place, although in dormant phase. This was because social work profession was in its infancy and not many social workers were engaged in community settings since there were hardly any jobs in community settings. Jobs were mostly available for case workers. In 1952, community development project was launched and with this emerged the era of community work. The goal of community development project was to awaken rural people to their need for basic amenities, instilling in them an aspiration for a better life and making them aware of their right and power to find a resolution to their problems. Till the 1970s the thrust of community work mainly remained rural whereas social work practice mainly remained urban in character. 1970 onwards social workers expanded their scope of work from case work to working with communities. Many social workers are engaged in full time community work. It became popular due to paradigm shift in social work approach from charity to welfare and eventually to social development.

Goals in Community Organization

For the practitioner to get a sense of direction for community work, goals have to set up. In community organization goals evolve through interaction between the agency, the practitioner, and the community. With the beginning of interaction, the needs of the community, purpose of the agency, and the aspirations of the practitioner come into play. The final outcome is the integration of the three. Goals grow from the activities of the practitioner who tries to find out the specific and tangible results that the community wants. Then the practitioner helps the community to achieve these through mobilization of resources.

Community Organization Practice

Work in the community is a long term process. There are several unjust and repressive situations in the society. The key to achieving community organizing process among people depends on how they can be facilitated to collectively arrive at a common understanding of their situation and consensus on the course of action to be taken. There are a number of approaches to social work practice in the community. All the approaches have change as a goal, but the nature and extent of change varies greatly in each approach.

1. Social Reform

Basic concern in social reform is development and improvement of conditions. The social reformer’s focus is on modifying the conditions of society that seriously threaten the well-being of citizens or prevent them from developing their potential. The social worker/community organizer works to maintain and strengthen programmes aimed at development of citizens like the Integrated Child Development Scheme, Mid-Day Meal Programmes, family planning programmmes, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan etc. He/she fights homelessness, drug abuse, and opposes changes in public assistance programmes that will have negative impact on citizens. Thus social reform is concerned with problems on a large scale and focuses efforts on legislative change. Social reform focuses on doing things/working for the client.

2.  Social Action

The goal in social action is change in power relationships and access to/distribution of resources. The clientele are disadvantaged segments of community and the practice is one of helping them become organized, to crystallize action issues and to engage in conflict-oriented action against power structure. Social Action involves three different but related types of activity: (1) advocacy around specific problems/issues and specific populations such as food security, development induced displacement etc; (2) working in local and national elections to elect sympathetic representatives and to support new programmes designed to combat large scale problems; and (3) networking with other groups pursuing a similar agenda. This approach emphasizes on greater involvement of the clients in the change process. Social action focuses on working with the clients. The community organizer has the role of an activist, advocate of the people he/she is representing and collaborator/liaison person.

3. Locality Development

The goal of locality development is self-help and integration of community groups. The target is the total community regardless of any cleavages on the basis of class, caste, region, religion etc. Common interests among different groups are identified and the strategy is directed towards achieving communication and consensus among people in the community. The community organizer is an enabler, catalyst, coordinator and educator but the community is self-determining.

4.  Social Planning

Problem Solving is the focus of community planning. A basic assumption is that change can be brought about through rational decision making. The community is considered as passive recipients of change which is planned and implemented by the rational decision makers consisting of often representatives of organizations often outside of community. The community organizer takes up the role of an expert, fact finder, analyst, as a programme executor and facilitator.

Process in Community Organization

Community organization is a process of bringing about and maintaining a progressively more effective adjustment between social needs and resources within a geographic area or a functional field. The term process implies the various stages by which the capacity of the community is built to function as an integrated unit.

Planned and effective community organization requires an analysis of both the general context within which practice takes place, and of the specific issues which need to be resolved. The analysis of the context requires an understanding of the social, political and economic structures, processes and policies. This analysis is critical in in understanding the issues which form the agenda for community work. The process in community organization includes the following:

1.    Integration

The community organizer immerses himself/herself with the local community and undergoes the same experiences as community people so as to build mutual respect, trust and cooperation. This can be done in many ways such as direct participation in events within community, house visitations, congregation and interacting with people and so on.

2.    Social Investigation or Community Study

This is the process of systematically learning and analyzing the various structures and forces in the community as well as the problems and issues that need immediate or long-term solutions. The organizer determines the community interests and attitudes, identifies potential leaders and comes with a tentative approach to organizing. This step includes personal observations of the organizer, interviews or dialogues with people, collection and review of secondary data, or a participatory approach like Focus Group Discussion.

3.    Issue Identification and Analysis

This stage involves defining, analyzing and ranking/prioritizing problems in the community according to their importance, the urgency of resolving them, the number of people affected, and the probability of arriving at some kind of resolution through mobilization of community. The aim is to identify common felt needs of the community. These needs are often met through self-help or externally assisted socio-economic projects.

4.    Core Group Formation

This requires involving local leaders who have been spotted by the organizer during the phase of integration to constitute a core group. This is necessary for the next stage in organizing which is mobilizing and organization building. Good community leaders are those who belong to the community, are well respected and influential, possess a critical perspective, are desirous of change and willing to work for bringing about change, value collective leadership and democratic participation and can communicate effectively.

5.    Ground Work and Community Meeting

This phase involves motivating community people through informal group discussions or individually to take collective action. Core group has an important role to play in this phase. The aim is to bring the physical, mental and emotional energies of the people to one level and raise them to a level so that they are willing to take collective action together. After this achieved, a community meeting is held to arrive at a consensus for on the necessary actions and the tasks to be undertaken in order to resolve the problems or issues.

6.    Role Playing

This phase aims to prepare leaders for the actual process of negotiation with the authorities and anticipate possible outcomes to ensure victory for the community. It is a simulation practice for the community members who have the responsibility of conversing/confronting or dialoguing with the people in power.

7.    Action

This is the high point of the organization process. Action may mean engaging in a dialogue or protest for seeking services or entitlements for the community. This is the expression of power while dealing with the powerful.

8.    Evaluation and/or Reflection

This is an activity conducted after every action to extract lessons learned on how to improve future mobilizations. This is a vital part in the training of the core group and the community. A note is also made of what has been and what has not been accomplished and what remains to be done. It also an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the community. It can also be a self-assessment of all participants.

9.    Formalization of Community Based Organization

This is the phase when the community based organization is formally formed. For this we must ensure maximum participation of community people, practicing a shared or democratic leadership and simplicity of structure.

10. Phase Out

As Community Organization is an enabling process there comes a time when organizer is not needed any longer because the community based organization takes over completely.

Skills Required in Community Organizers

1.    Positively reinforcing others and the ability to form relationships with people from vastly different backgrounds and orientations are essential for working in the community.

2.    The capacity to observe and understand verbal and non-verbal behavior and to interpret and summarize the words of others is very important.

3.    The ability to portray oneself as confident and competent are necessary for winning the trust of community people.

4.    Conflict resolution

5.    Developing win-win outcomes

6.    Team building

7.    Public Speaking

8.    Consultation

9.    Coordination

  10. Evaluating outcomes

11. Fund raising

12. Budgeting

13. Negotiating

14. Mediating

15. Influencing Decision Makers which includes petitioning, working with the media, media releases, educating, persuading, confrontation, collaboration etc.

16. Needs assessment

17. Planning

18. Working with coalitions

Roles of a Community Organizer

The community organizer has several roles depending upon the need of the community, its context and the stage in the process of change. These are explained here.

1.    Initiator is the person who draws attention to the problem/issue in the community. This role is then followed by other kinds of work because just pointing out a problem is not enough for guaranteeing that the problem will be fixed.

2.    Negotiator is the person who can turn any situation into a win-win situation by finding a middle ground that satisfies both sides.

3.    Advocate speaks out and takes action on behalf of the clients in order to enable clients to access their entitlements.

4.    Spokesperson is required for communicating the needs of the marginalized communities to the larger society and at various fora/levels.

5.    Organizer coordinates individuals or groups to pursue designated functions by developing the potential of others to serve as leaders.

6.    Mediators are neutral persons who resolve disagreements among various systems or groups in conflict with each other. They must understand the positions of both parties and attempt to find a suitable compromise.

7.    Consultant for providing advice, suggestions or ideas to other people. Two things to be kept in mind as consultants is that they must know more than the consultee and must not feel offended if their advice is ignored.

Summary

Community organization aims to improve or modify some aspect of society. It is a clear and simple process to transform society in the direction of equitable distribution of resources, harmonious co-existence of groups and communities of people. Community Organization involves working on behalf of whole groups or populations of clients. In this module some of the major concepts required for practicing community organization were discussed. Also models of community organization were referred. What needs to be done to facilitate the process of community organization was seen. The skills required to the Community Organizer and whatroles the Community Organizer has to play were explained. The Community Organization is an enabling process. Work in the community is a long term process. Improvements or changes can be sought in organizational or societal policies and procedures that regulate the distribution of resources to people. The community organizer succeeds when community based organization is formed and takes over completely.

References

1. Baldock, P. (1974). Community Work and Social Work, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
2. Barker, R.L. (1999). The Social Work Dictionary (4th Edition), Washington DC, NASW Press
3. Kramer, R.M. and Specht, H. (1975). Readings in Community Organization Practice (Second Edition), New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
4. Siddiqui, H.Y. (1997). Working with Communities. New Delhi, Hira Publications.