The Significant Role of Youth and Community Development Work

Abstract

Youth and community development work has its historical roots in informal education. Values and principle are a central and integral part of youth and community development work and how we should practice. As practitioners of informal education, the work that we do is about making a difference to the lives of people and their communities. At the heart of this is the commitment to social justice and change. Central to the philosophy of youth and community development work is an understanding and commitment to anti-oppressive practice. This requires an understanding of ourselves, and locating and reflecting on our own values, within a cultural and structural context of oppression and power in society. Such an approach is embedded with a Marxist philosophy and framework. Youth and community development practitioners should have an understanding of the operation of power and inequality in society. They should be committed to anti-oppressive practice values and to tackling inequalities and injustices in society. Practitioners should act as agents of social change, seeking to empower those around them, and therefore are by their very nature, Marxist in their values and approach. This paper argues that the role of youth and community development practitioners, the work that they do, is essentially out of love for humanity. This is what Marxism and socialism offers in the twenty-first century. This is what youth and community development work has to offer today. The philosophy and analysis was relevant in the past, it is relevant today and it will continue to be relevant in the future.