Community Development Principles Research Articles

Toward participatory participation: A community perspective on effective engagement in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction

ABSTRACT Engaging citizens is crucial in disaster recovery efforts, yet its actualization remains elusive. Communities often find themselves relegated to passive recipients, leading to suboptimal reconstruction projects. The primary objective of this study was to explore the community’s perspective regarding optimal processes and outcomes requisite for their meaningful participation, aligning these insights with community development principles. Utilizing qualitative research methodologies such as face-to-face interviews, observations, focus group discussions, and questionnaire surveys the study identified key processes, including equitable stakeholder representation, empowerment in decision-making, integration of indigenous knowledge, early community engagement, and capacity enhancement. These processses are pivital for achieving sustainable development outcomes such as project ownership and successful attainment of project objectives. This research provides critical insights into engaging residents in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction efforts emphasizing the integral role of community development in facilitating inclusive and effective recovery and ensuring projects meet community needs and expectations.

COVID-19 as a catalyst for alcohol policy change: A case study of the Gove Peninsula.

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a natural experiment for alternate ways of living and working. Although alcohol supply was one of many aspects impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, few of those alcohol-related measures have been continued. This commentary presents a unique case study from the Gove Peninsula in northern Australia, where pandemic restrictions acted as a catalyst for a review of an established alcohol management system. A permit system was introduced on the Gove Peninsula in 2008 to control who can purchase takeaway alcohol and how much they could buy each day. Development of the system was rooted in the principles of community development and self-determination. This commentary describes how COVID-19 and associated changes in levels of alcohol harms mobilised community support for a review of the system, that had operated unchanged for the past decade. COVID-19 was adventitious in revealing compelling localised information which encouraged examination of potential improvements to the system. An updated regime is now being trialled, which sets daily limits on the alcohol purchases of everyone in the area. This experience illustrates the benefits of timely and relevant data to assist communities in formulating local solutions to local problems.

Implementing a Senior Community Care Model: An Italian Top‐Down Cohousing Project and Nursing Home

Not ageing in place is an increasing reality for many older Europeans. For several decades societies have applied different care models in developing initiatives to provide safe and age-friendly spaces. This article presents the community care model implemented by the Italian service provider ISRAA in Treviso (Italy) in one of its nursing homes and senior cohousing projects. The aim of our study was to analyse this senior community care model and find out how residents have responded to it. Participants were both the older adult residents in the two ISRAA facilities and professionals responsible for their social attention. A qualitative methodology was used: questionnaire, interviews, and focus groups with professionals and care facility residents. Results reveal the care philosophy implemented, residents’ experiences, the main barriers to creating a community, and how this model could be improved by following community development principles, with the older people’s help, participation, and engagement. The conclusions highlight the importance of applying principles of self-determination and social inclusion in a preventive care model for the senior community. In addition, a key factor in promoting community development is for professionals to act as community development practitioners and to allow older adults to be part of the change.

Bridging the gap between social work and community development: implementing a post-graduate training partnership

ABSTRACT Although, arguably, the origins of social work in the UK have been closely aligned to community development in the past few decades, social work has occupied a bureaucratic landscape focusing primarily on individual risks and needs, leading to both fields drifting further apart. Dismantling of shared values and practices was fueled by layers of government policy and legislation, driven by a neoliberal agenda and public management reforms. However, a horizon of hope emerged when university staff in Social Work and Community Development Departments in Northern Ireland were approached to examine the need to reintroduce community development principles and practices into social work training. This paper aims to trace the development of a post-graduate diploma in community development approaches for professional social workers and analyses research that explores community development as the essence of social work. The programme was developed through a synergistic partnership between university, health trusts and the professional awarding body. Tracking 4 years of programme delivery, the paper highlights the effectiveness of, and learning from, collaboration between the two professions at strategic, technical, and operational levels. We posit here well-learned lessons for future collaborations and make recommendations providing a route map to mainstreaming community development in social work practice.

Analysis and Relevance of Hamka's Praise Thought in The Post-Modern Age

Delivering da'wah in this post-modern era cannot be separated without leaving the teachings of Islamic law. Hamka is of the opinion that da'wah is a means to make Muslim individuals understand good things and bad things. Hamka offers the concept of da'wah that can be saidcomprehensive. Hamka's thinking is contextual in nature which can be a guide for preachers at that time, the present, and the future. Hamka places da'wah as a very important matter in Islam. The purpose of this study is to analyze and find out the relevance of Hamka's da'wah thoughts in the post-modern eramodern. In conducting this research, the authors used library research, namely research that utilizes or uses library resources to obtain research data. Da'wah in Hamka's thinking is a means of humans and Allah Swt in the form of invitations between humans to do good. Da'wah in Hamka's thinking cannot be separated from the concept of developing Islamic society both in the realm of objectives which both make mad'u or society empowered economically.ideology so that it can make society better than before, in the realm of principles of community development with da'wah which in its implementation there is no element of coercion based on the needs and potential of each, and in its implementation which is followed by all groups. To deal with problems in modern times that can resulting in moral and ethical deviations, Muslims are required to stick to the teachings of their religion which are based on itAl Quran and Sunnah. Basically, Islam does not conflict with modern life, as long as modernity does not conflict with the values ​​of Islamic teachings.

A Relative Importance Index Analysis of Drivers of Land Degradation in Agro-pastoral Systems in Mbulu District, Tanzania

Growing concern over land degradation impacts everyone via food security, rising food costs, climate change, environmental threats, and loss of biodiversity. Land degradation harms food production, livelihoods, and the ecosystem. This study aimed at examining the drivers of land degradation in semiarid Agro-pastoral systems in semiarid areas of Tanzania by classifying land conservation practices adopted by the community in efforts to ensure land restoration within the selected district using a relative importance index approach. The study selected the Mbulu district as a study area and sampled 178 agro-pastoralists. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The data collected were analysed using a Relative Importance Index to classify the most important criteria based on the participants’ responses. Results show that the severity of the factors causing land degradation ranges from 66.97% to 70.90%: Cutting trees for building purposes (70.9%), overgrazing (70.79%), a lack of a land use plan (69.21%), charcoal burning (66.97%), agricultural practices including poor farming methods (66.97%), and land ownership and tenure system (57.98%). The study identified that 90% of agro-pastoralists do not use any land conservation practices, while less than 10% use the practices. The study concludes that the five dimensions identified have a considerable effect on land degradation. However, nearly 90% of sampled households did not use land conservation methods. Thus, the study recommended that stakeholders should increase efforts to reduce the severity of land degradation by engaging the local communities with frequent training and extension services and involving the community in protecting and managing their environment. Policymakers and conservationists should develop programs that will engage the community and put sustainable land management practices into action. Moreover, community development experts should be involved in the whole process of sustainable land management since they know how to engage the community through principles of community development.

Scientific-theoretical basis of the territorial development strategy

The scientific research relevance is determined by the need to substantiate the scientific and theoretical basis for the planning, development, and implementation of the tasks of the territorial community development strategy, considering the current conditions of the country’s development. The purpose of the paper was to analyze the theoretical basis of the concept, content, and principles of territorial community development and to provide suggestions on the main directions that should be the basis for the development strategy task. The methodological approach is based on the dialectical cognition method, systematic approach, theoretical generalization method. As a result of the research, normative legal acts, theoretical foundations of regional policy and practical approaches to the development of the territorial development strategy were summarized. The concepts of “territory” and “territorial development” were determined by studying different scientific points of view on these definitions; the problems of territorial communities’ development as components in the formation of the development strategy were identified as a whole; the basic principles and objectives of the development strategy were summarized. The main results obtained in the framework of this work should be considered as the definition of the main principles and directions of forming the tasks of the territorial development strategy, which considers the problems existing in the territorial community and are aimed at ensuring the restoration of the development of territories in the post-war period. The results of the scientific work, as well as the conclusions formulated on their basis, are of practical value and can be applied by local authorities during the planning of development strategy tasks and assessment of the region’s capabilities to increase productive forces, as well as by entrepreneurs who direct their activities to improve the well-being of the population of a certain territory

Reimaging Cairo’s garbage collectors: The role of design thinking and story mapping in developing social learning to identify community assets and challenges

ABSTRACT Mapping the challenges and assets of a community for driving development strategies applies to many methods, yet it can be difficult to reflect residents’ collective concerns and interests. This paper reports and critically reflects on an educational exercise of design thinking and story mapping in Cairo’s Zabbaleen community, a hard-to-reach disadvantaged group comprised of exclusively low-income Christian garbage collectors. The article investigates the potentials and challenges of the tools employed to better facilitate the social learning process that is centered on understanding the underlying challenges and assets in disadvantaged communities. It concludes that designers and educators learned that they need to better incorporate community development principles of local self-determination, self-help and community participation into the design process. Students learned that community members cannot be passive recipients of academic concepts. The study demonstrates a need for an integration of professional or technical knowledge with indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

Counselling Adult Leaner for Community Participation in Development of Literacy Centers in Akampa Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria

This paper focus on how adult literacy education and community development are explored to determine how adult literacy education might be used to further the goals of community development in Akampa Local Government Area of Cross River State. While there are parallels between these two disciplines, there are also barriers to overcome if an integrated approach to dealing with community issues is realized. This paper reflected an interest in advancing a comprehensive approach to community development in communities with limited economic resources, low-level literacy and limited access. It seeks to address the issue of whether adult literacy education programs have a meaningful role to play in community development. The strengths of participatory approaches such as community-based literacy, and community development principles such as collective action, shared values, participation, social justice, political awareness and action, comprehensiveness, empowerment, and learning and reflection, facilitate an interdisciplinary approach. putting these three perspectives sought to stimulate and provoke the adult learner to critically analyse issues around him/her and be able to suggest practical solutions that will lead to his/her personal development and that of the rural community, all within the cultural setting. promotes confidence as an individual in a modern society, and as a member of a national and world community

An Analysis of the Role of the Missional Church in Community Development

This article reports findings on an analysis of the role of the Missional church in Community development. The study relied on document analysis, with data collected from hard and electronic formats. The following themes were analysed: Missional Church, Missional methods of Effective Presence, Community Development, communities, the Contribution of the missional Church to Community Development and Challenges facing the Missional Church within. The analysis reveals that a missional church is a missional community, in other words, people who are united in living God’s mission in a specific neighbourhood. The study further illustrates that community development is an essential part of God’s mission, whereby the church, notably the missional church promotes active citizenship to enable people to work together to improve human circumstances for the well-being of their communities. In narrating the correlation between the missional church and community development, the study elucidates the principles of community development as a cornerstone to the success of community development. Moreover, the paper argues that better relationships, reconciliation, and solidarity are the value judgments engendered by the involvement of the missional church in community development. The study further illuminates that the involvement of missional churches in community development is not easy as they face challenges like religious pluralization and racial polarisation. Keywords: Missional church, community development, justice, transformation

Cooperative Extension in Urban America: Place-Based Approaches for Improving Health

While the bulk of Cooperative Extension’s (Extension) historical work has been with rural populations, its future work should also address the needs of those living in urban areas. The opportunity to live a long and healthy life is paramount among those needs. Cooperative Extension’ National Framework for Health Equity and Well-Being (Framework) provides a roadmap by which Cooperative Extension can help ensure that all people have that opportunity. The central premise of the Framework is that future work of Extension must include but extend beyond the promotion of healthy behaviors to place-based approaches for improving conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play. Recommendations for doing so include advancing health equity as a systemwide value, integrating data science with community voice to surface health inequities, investing in health-focused work, initiating new partnerships, and utilizing community development principles to influence social determinants of health. This article sequentially introduces the reader to the five recommendations and highlights how each of those recommendations is already being put into practice in urban areas of the United States.

The Renewal of Arts, Lives, and a Community through Social Enterprise: The Case of Oficina de Agosto

The present work investigates, with a cultural approach, the emergence of an art-based social enterprise and an art-entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southeastern semi-rural Brazil, shedding light on how local private initiatives may build stronger communities and vice-versa, in a mutually transformative relationship. The focus lies on Oficina de Agosto, a folk-art studio, school, and shop. Fieldwork design combined ethnography and art-based research. The thick description of the phenomenon is organized under the acronym P.L.A.C.E., a conceptual framework describing five principles of community development. The contributions of this study are three-fold: (1) it illustrates how social enterprise may work as an alternative market model that could support community building; (2) it raises awareness to the possibility that social enterprises’ initial social focus may not be perennial or unshakeable, in an undesirable change that might require a both/and mindset and a patient management of paradoxes; and (3) it offers practical managerial recommendations to the SE under focus, which might be extended to other local businesses, or to SEs in other semi-rural Brazilian towns, or even in international settings that might bear economic and social resemblance to our researched context.

Rethinking Internal Public Relations: Organizations and Publics as Community Members

ABSTRACT This essay connects the community-building approach, embedded in responsive communitarianism, with internal public relations. By integrating principles of the community perspective with components of current scholarship in internal public relations, we reposition internal public relations as a community-building function. We introduce seven tenets of internal public relations from the community approach, including but not limited to communitarianism being the philosophical foundation, creationand dissolution of internal communities, the importance of solidarity, and principles of community development – cultivating members’ individual agency, committing to agreed-upon rules and core communal values, and balancing individual rights and common good. We also explain how conducting research on internal public relations from a community approach enhances community agency, internal relationships, internal communication, globaland intercultural community building, and methodological diversity. We hope to further stimulate theoretical dialog in internal public relations.

Community Development, Local Wisdoms, and Ineffective Government Aid: The Case of Lombok Post-Disaster House Reconstruction Project

Despite the high frequency of disasters, post-disaster development projects in Indonesia have yet been implemented effectively. Such may not be easily reflected through the number of aid projects given, for the reality is much more complex. This article believes that the significance of development projects should be assessed from the aid recipients' perspective. The excess rebuilding back in Aceh's 2004 post-disaster case is one example that shows the importance of paying attention to recipient needs from their perspective rather than aid giver perceptions. The post-disaster condition in Lombok back in 2018 could serve as an example to show the effectiveness of post-disaster development in Indonesia recently. In accordance, this article aims to show how the post-disaster community development programs implemented by multi-stakeholders in Indonesia, especially government-initiated ones, have yet successfully fulfilled Lombok post-disaster victims' needs. The article also found that active initiation from the locals and careful attention to local potentials and wisdom is crucial to determine post-disaster development's success. Such a conclusion is based on the assessment of whether the programs have fulfilled community development principles, in addition to satisfying the victim's human security.

The Possibilities for an Urban Community Action Plan and Collaborative Work Support for Slum Improvement: A Case Study in Jakarta

This study describes community development in the preparation for a community action plan for slum management in DKI Jakarta. The case study chosen for this research is the Akuarium village. The existence of slums is an inseparable part of the development of a city. The slum area contributes to several problems such as population density, building conditions, ventilation, sanitation, garbage, drainage, environmental roads, lighting and building layout. In an effort to overcome these problems, it is important to develop a community development concept that emphasizes the participation of the community through collaborative work between the government and citizens in the development process. The research that has been done has not touched on the substance of the problem faced by the urban poor and how the community plays a role in supporting the program. The purpose of this research is to find out how community-based development patterns can encourage collaborative work of each actor in structuring slum villages in DKI Jakarta. In this study, the method used is qualitative with in-depth interviews and data processing using the Nvivo 12+ application. The results showed that the principles of community development, including integrated development, participation, sustainable development, empowerment, and human rights, greatly influence the collaborative work of various stakeholders in planning an Akuarium development action plan.

Social Prescribing and Therapeutic Recreation: Making the Connection

An increasing number of people are experiencing social isolation and loneliness and this trend is becoming cause for concern around the world. Considering that isolation and loneliness give rise to a number of health problems, it is essential to find innovative ways to address this issue. One such approach is to enhance experiences of belonging within communities. Social prescribing (SP) is a method that can promote belonging by connecting people to the social support they need. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential relationship that can exist between therapeutic recreation (TR) and SP. As we explain, TR can complement SP efforts by ensuring people have access to inclusive, social leisure and recreation opportunities. In this sense, TR professionals are well positioned to be key players in SP processes. We contend that TR practice is best positioned to work in tangent with SP to nurture socially connected communities when it focuses on building community capacity, facilitates welcoming and inclusive leisure and recreation experiences that foster regular social interaction, and adopts principles of community development as part of a social justice model of practice.

Authentic African community development practices in a diverse society: A transdisciplinary approach

The South African people continuously engage in social actions characterised by intolerance, pointing to frustrations and disillusionment in a post-apartheid era. A need to find creative ways to engage diverse communities to work together to participate in their own development and well-being was identified. This article is based on long-term transdisciplinary discourse and work. The aim is to explore how the disciplines of social work, theology and the arts could contribute together towards the development of communities where participation, collaboration and cooperation as key principles of authentic community development are actively implemented. Within a transdisciplinary framework, the disciplines engaged in participatory research projects that resulted in findings that informed the development of a process where people at grassroots level become aware and more tolerant of each other, begin to work together and as such become involved in their own futures. It is concluded that by encouraging participation, collaboration and cooperation in social change processes, the South African people can be empowered towards working together and becoming involved in their own futures.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The disciplines of social work, theology and the arts entered into a transdisciplinary dialogue and work over the past years. The transdisciplinary team engaged in four participatory research projects to include input from grassroots levels to inform their understanding of how the different disciplines can better contribute towards a process of authentic community development in the diverse South African society. This resulted in the process

Enacting Community Development Principles in Women Empowerment Projects: a Case Study in Ondo State, Nigeria

Enacting Community Development Principles in Women Empowerment Projects: a Case Study in Ondo State, Nigeria

Agricultural Territory Entrepreneurship and Regional Integration in the CEMAC Zone

The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that it is possible to promote agricultural Territorial Entrepreneurship (TE) capitalising on the opportunities of the CEMAC. To this end, two specific objectives guided this research (1) To prove that the territories (T) where PIDMA Agricultural Cooperative Partners (Agricultural Investment and Market Development Project) are prepared for an agricultural TE; (2) To demonstrate that there is a significant link between PIDMA and TE capitalising CEMAC opportunities. Using the hypothetical-deductive method, base on case study (Bangangte and Ngoulemakong Municipality), the institutional diagnostic (of PIDMA), and the documentaries analysis that including economic policies and activities reports of economic development; the research established the unpreparedness of the territories and the communication between PIDMA and TE due to the inadequacy of the political institutional context. This context is marked by a policy of industrialisation, based on poles (10 regional poles) which in fact do not correspond to areas of proximity, territorial identity, community self-promotion and functional specialisation. The research has also shown that the PIDMA has the statutory, organic, cognitive and material to promote an agribusiness that conquers the community and the international markets. Unfortunately, its strategy is ineffective because of: its development objective, which is not the development of territories (T), but rather the completeness of value chain; the failure to observe the principles of community development, in particular: transversally, integration of development action, the development of local partnership and the animation of territories. Given its capacities, age-old traditional institutions and territorial identity favourable to the community development in the territory, and the modest adjustment required for its intervention strategy, it is possible for the PIDMA to promote territorial agricultural entrepreneurship, capitalising on the opportunities of the CEMAC.

Women, wellbeing and the city: A model of participatory health research exploring physical activity in Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities

Objective: The aim of this project was to document a partnership working process from a cross-sectoral and cross-cultural participatory health research study focused on promoting physical activity among women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Design: A participatory health research paradigm was used to support this pilot feasibility study into partnership working for health promotion. Action research and community development principles underpinned the design, delivery and interpretation of findings from a community-based survey, data from four focus groups and bespoke interventions. Setting: Community groups from education, leisure, health and religious community sectors, and charity sectors, in the City of Liverpool, met in different venues representing those sectors. Method: Reflection on the process of community engagement in a research study guided by socio-ecological model, community development and action research principles. Results: Seven emerging collaborative processes based on effective partnership working, capacity-building practice and sustaining health and wellbeing evolved from a partnership between a Community Researchers Advisory Group and a Partners Advisory Group. BAME ‘community connectors’ were key to obtaining feedback from 213 women from 16 ethnic groups, which influenced the development of bespoke interventions and local sport and physical activity long-term policy, as one means of reducing social inequalities for women from BAME backgrounds. Conclusion: This feasibility study demonstrates the effectiveness and limitations of partnership working as a public health tool. The local Sport and Physical Activity Alliance and council department worked together to promote the sustainability of BAME-focused programmes as part of their governance and policy frameworks.