Community Psychology Practice Competencies in Egypt: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The Society for Community Research and Action’s proposed competencies for community psychology practice are examined within the Egyptian context, specifically from the perspective of a Master’s program at The American University in Cairo. While this program integrates most of the competencies into the curriculum, thesis, and internship opportunities, the emphasis on various competencies may differ from programs in the United States because the program is situated within a different cultural and political climate. Many contextual factors impact competency training, including the current state of development work in Egypt, political considerations with implications for safety, the lack of a clear public policy process, and language as well as cultural differences. Sources of exposure, expertise, and experience for graduate students are discussed in regard to the five overarching competencies: foundational principles, community program development, community and organizational capacity-building, community and social change, and community research. The benefit of examining the competencies from an international perspective is also discussed. Keywords: community psychology, competencies, Egypt Within the field of community psychology, and in particular within the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA), there has been a growing body of literature aimed at establishing a set of competencies for community psychology training programs (Meissen & Hakim, 2011; Sarkisian & Jimenez, 2011; Thomas, Neill, & Robertson, 1997; Wolfe, 2011). The rationale for establishing these competencies includes creating concrete expectations of what skills will be learned in a particular program, educating communities about community psychology as a profession, and defining community psychology as a field (Berkowitz, 2009; Bond, Hostetler, Tran, & Haynes, 2012; Dziadkowicz & Jimenez, 2009; Stark, 2012; Wolff, 2009). While there has been some discussion regarding the applicability of community psychology competencies across international settings, specifically in Australia and New Zealand (Australian Psychological Society, 2010; University of Waikato School of Psychology, 2012), there is little information available on the appropriateness of these competencies for community psychology practice in other parts of the world. As faculty members at the American University in Both authors are Americans. At the time of this writing, the first author had lived in Egypt for three years and the second author for one year. Cairo (AUC), a private university in Egypt, we are in a unique position to contribute to this discussion of competencies. In this paper, we address the applicability of the proposed competencies to practice in Egypt. Additionally, we describe how we tried to build these competencies into our newly formed Master of Arts program in community psychology. There are many similarities between our program and those in the U.S. However, due to cultural differences and a changing political situation, we face unique challenges in terms of the freedom that we have to practice various competencies, and the relevance of particular competencies to the present context. By sharing our experience, we hope to contribute to the understanding of how these competencies are practiced in diverse contexts. Community Psychology in Egypt In Egypt, psychology is an underdeveloped and frequently misunderstood discipline (Mohamed, 2012), and community psychology is essentially unknown. The people who work in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based 3 Founded in 1919, AUC boasts as “the region’s premier English-language university” (see http://www.aucegypt.edu/about/Pages/defaul t.aspx). In 2012, AUC’s student population was 6,652, including both undergraduate and graduate students. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice Volume 4, Issue 4 December 2013