Role In Community Development Research Articles

A Survey of Relationship between Social Participation and Feeling of Social Safety in City Of Tehran

Nowadays, social participation plays a significant role in development of communities. Improving public participation is provided for securing safety among citizens so that lack or increase in social participation results in several challenges and difficulties. As a result, social order supported social safety is disrupted. This research aims to investigate relationship of social participation and feeling of safety among citizens. On the other hand, what aspects of feeling of social safety in community are formed by social participation? And what are the most effective ones belonging to social participation? Library and field methodology has been used in this research. Statistical society is citizens over 16 years in city of Tehran of which 384 samples were selected using Cochran formula while date were collected using questionnaire and finally analyzed via SPASS Software. Study of relations between variables showed that physical, financial and public safety is increased by social participation in high level. Women enjoy less social safety in comparison with men. Participation with limited, medium and wide ranges has a correlation of 32 % with social safety at the same time. This research recommend that the most effective way in political manner to feel safety is attracting citizens' participation in urban activities.

"I learn to seek solutions but without work I can't solve anything" : Youth Education and Community Development in Rural Honduras

This paper draws on a social capital framework to explore the complex relationship between youth education, their roles in community development, and their future opportunities as they transition from school to work against the backdrop of the social, economic, and political realities of rural Honduras. Data is from a three-year qualitative study that followed a cohort of 6 th grade students as they progressed through the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (SAT), an alternative secondary education program that facilitates the development of capabilities so that youth can take charge of their intellectual and spiritual growth and contribute to the building of better communities. We focus on the youths’ own words to understand how they conceptualize the resources that exist in their communities, their access to these resources, when and how these resources are successfully mobilized for community development, as well as how youth perceive their limitations to create future opportunities, particularly with regards to work.

Socioeconomic effect on perception of urban green spaces in Guangzhou, China

Visitor perception can influence use pattern and inform planning and management of urban green spaces (UGSs). This study investigated visitors’ views on key UGS variables and socioeconomic effect on UGS perception in Guangzhou, China. A questionnaire survey solicited responses to positive and negative UGS attributes from 595 respondents selected by stratified sampling from visitors in the study area. The results showed good knowledge, positive perception and limited concern about safety. Benefits directly related to individual and family interests were emphasized, such as health enhancement, promotion of children development, and stress reduction. The social role of community development (social interaction) received less support. Significant differences in perception were found across most socioeconomic variables, including gender, age, marital status, education, occupation, and district of residence. The distance-reinforced negative perception of UGS called for the generous provision of proximal sites near homes to satisfy local demands. Future UGS planning could capitalize on the positive views to promote preservation, provision and use of UGS. Local governments could incorporate citizen perception and preference into the relevant decision-making process to meet the diverse and evolving demands for UGS. The findings could be applied to the design and management of UGS in other developing cities.

NEDA as a Community Development Agency

Community development in the Australian context is often viewed within a spatial context. Many peak agencies have an implicit community development role so that they are able to serve their communities of interest. The Australian discourse often excludes questions ethnicity and disability.

Designs on development: engineering, globalization, and social justice

This article critically appraises ‘engineering for development’ initiatives and seeks to imagine new models of interaction that incorporate social justice goals more effectively. In recent years, interest in engineering for development has surged within engineering communities in the US and around the world. While worthy of recognition and praise for directing engineers' attention to the problems arising from global economic inequity, many engineering-for-development programs share problematic assumptions about technology's role in community development and fail to grapple with the economic and cultural structures that direct (implicitly or explicitly) most development interventions. Using a case study approach, this article draws out some of these assumptions and shows how they impede the achievement of social justice goals – both in the context of specific development interventions as well as in the context of engineering as a professional activity. The first of two cases involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between two universities in Nicaragua and two in the US focused on educational capacity building for product design with an eye to local economic empowerment. Social justice considerations discussed here include power relations throughout the collaboration among individuals and institutions – including what constitutes meaningful community involvement – and the economic models assumed when launching products in the marketplace. The second case involves the work of a non-governmental organization in Sri Lanka and its approach to community development through renewable energy technologies. In this case, social justice considerations include questions of control over project decision making as well as power inequities inherent in development assistance. In both cases, concerns of technical functionality tend to occlude social power imbalances and epistemological divergence, leading to projects that inadvertently extend social injustices.

Re-Examining Concepts of Occupation and Occupation-Based Models: Occupational Therapy and Community Development

A growing body of literature supports the role of occupational therapists in community development. Using a community development approach, occupational therapists respond to community-identified occupational needs. They work to build local resources and capacities and self-sustaining programs that foster change within the community and potentially beyond. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some key issues related to occupational therapy practice in community development. The definitions and classifications of occupation focus primarily on the individual and fail to elaborate on the shared occupations of a community. As well, occupation-based models of practice are not easily applied to occupational therapy practice in community development. In order for occupational therapy to articulate its role in community development, greater heed needs to be given to the definition and categorization of occupation, occupation-based models of practice, and their application to communities.

MICROFINANCE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN BANGLADESH: PERSPECTIVE FROM SOCIAL WORK

Poverty alleviation has been a perpetual challenge to the contemporary world. Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries and about 45% of the total population are living below the poverty line. It is vital for Bangladesh to re-evaluate its policy on poverty alleviation in which microfinance has been a crucial element. Microfinance is now being recognised as one of the most impetus and effective mechanisms for poverty alleviation. Poverty leads to many problems in the society. Lack of access to education, family disintegration, poor quality of life, lower health status, unavailability of safe water, lack of sanitation, and absence of social life, are the major effects of poverty. It is the contention of this paper that social work by acquiring a community development role can help microfinance policy makers develop new policy or reverse existing policy for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Social work can also influence actors involved in the field of poverty alleviation from local and international humanity institutions or organisations to adopt new findings to minimise the issues of poverty.

Inhospitable sweetness: nectar filtering of pollinator-borne inocula leads to impoverished, phylogenetically clustered yeast communities

Identifying the rules and mechanisms that determine the composition and diversity of naturally co-occurring species assemblages is a central topic in community ecology. Although micro-organisms represent the 'unseen majority' of species, individuals and biomass in many ecosystems and play pivotal roles in community development and function, the study of the factors influencing the assembly of microbial communities has lagged behind that of plant and animal communities. In this paper, we investigate experimentally the mechanisms accounting for the low species richness of yeast communities inhabiting the nectar of the bumble-bee-pollinated Helleborus foetidus (Ranunculaceae), and explore the relationships between community assembly rules and phylogenetic relatedness. By comparing yeast communities on the glossae of foraging bumble-bees (the potential species pool) with those eventually establishing in virgin nectar probed with bee glossae (the realized community), we address the questions: (i) does nectar filter yeast inocula, so that the communities eventually established there are not random subsamples of species on bumble-bee glossae? and (ii) do yeast communities establishing in H. foetidus nectar exhibit some phylogenetic bias relative to the species pool on bumble-bee glossae? Results show that nectar filtering leads to species-poor, phylogenetically clustered yeast communities that are a predictable subset of pollinator-borne inocula. Such strong habitat filtering is probably due to H. foetidus nectar representing a harsh environment for most yeasts, where only a few phylogenetically related nectar specialists physiologically endowed to tolerate a combination of high osmotic pressure and fungicidal compounds are able to develop.

Community Learning Centers Program as an Educational Tool for Community Literacy Development in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Community of Golshan as a Case Study

Literacy plays an important role in Community Development (CD). Without literacy, people have difficulties improving their quality of life. Iran is no exception. Since the Islamic Revolution, the government of Iran has allocated great efforts and budgets on the literacy development to improve the quality of life. Following these efforts, the government has implemented various literacy programs. One of the major literacy programs that have been implemented for this purpose is the Community Learning Centers Program (CLCP). CLCP is the newest literacy program that has been implemented to develop literacy in order to improve the quality of life. CLCP has been emerged as a result of shortcomings of the previous literacy programs to solve the problem of illiteracy among people in the country. So far, the government of Iran has implemented 3517 CLCP into 3517 both rural and urban communities throughout the country. One of these rural communities is community of Golshan. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to examine the role of CLCP in Community Literacy Development (CLD) in the community.

The Factors Contributing to the Success of Community Learning Centers Program in Rural Community Literacy Development in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Case Studies of Two Rural Communities

Literacy plays a significant role in community development. Without literacy, development goals cannot be achieved easily. Through literacy, the community does not face any challenge to improve their quality of life. For this reason, developed and developing countries nowadays are investing a lot on social and natural innovations, plus human capital in communities to increase their level of literacy. Iran is no exception. For this purpose, the government of Iran has formulated several community literacy development programs in the country. One of the major programs that has been implemented for this purpose is the Community Learning Centers Program (CLCP) (Mehdizadeh, 2003). In the Islamic Republic of Iran, CLCP was implemented in early 2000. It has had very encouraging results in solving the problem of illiteracy in this country. All communities that have pioneered the program have experienced a remarkable increase in their literacy level (Ebrahimian, Bahirai, & Iranian National Commission for ISESCO, 2006). What are the reasons of such achievements? Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that have contributed to the success of CLCP in community literacy development in the Islamic republic of Iran.

Art spaces, public space, and the link to community development

Recent literature credits community art spaces with both enhancing social interaction and engagement and generating economic revitalization. This article argues that the ability of art spaces to realize these outcomes is linked to their role as public spaces and that their community development potential can be expanded with greater attention to this role. An analysis of the public space characteristics is useful because it encourages consideration of sometimes overlooked issues, particularly the effect of the physical environment on outcomes related to community development. I examine the relationship between public space and community development at various types of art spaces including artist cooperatives, ethnic-specific art spaces, and city-sponsored art centers in central city and suburban locations. This study shows that through their programming and other activities, art spaces serve various public space roles related to community development. However, the ability of many to perform as public spaces is hindered by facility design issues and poor physical connections in their surrounding area. This article concludes with proposals for enhancing the community development role of the art spaces through their function as public spaces.

Community Development: A Veritable Tool for Achieving National Development in Nigeria.

No doubt, no any government world over can be able to provide all necessary needs of life to its communities. The aims and objectives of this paper is to stress the importance of encouraging communities to embark on Community Development projects in other words, self-help projects. Government (Federal, state and Local) seriously mount enlightenment campaign through their various organs to enlighten its communities to embark upon self-help projects in order to enhance or to complement government efforts in providing social amenities to their communities. In this paper, efforts and attempts were made to identify the criteria for selecting community projects and some underlying problems affecting the success of community projects were discussed. Consequently, the efforts of women in community development programmes were also intensified. The writer was also able to analyze the role of community development in the National Planning Policy and suggest the way forward in achieving this strategy.LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 5 2008: pp. 320-330

Community media: local is focal

AbstractGiven the limited nature of global media with its emphasis on ‘infotainment’ driven by commerce, it has very little role in community development. We see the alarming and growing impact of the global media on the socio-cultural life of different communities in India. The rampaging growth of centralized distribution systems has not only undermined local expressions but is also loudly proclaiming its sole legitimacy and relevance. Where does that leave the diverse forms of local media that abound in our cultural landscape? Abhivyakti Media for Development, a Nashik-based Indian development communication organization, believes that local media forms have a vital role in shaping community life and its development. Abhivyakti has initiated a programme in the Maharashtra state of India that seeks to identify those who are already using some media forms in order to support them to participate in a loose informal network. This network mobilizes their creative energies to focus on the local and, in doing so, brings a host of diverse realities into public awareness and generates alternative nodal centres to distribute these voices and images. The programme is already shaping different possibilities and allowing them to emerge as viable alternatives for community empowerment.

Interview with Dr Abdel Hamid Afana

AbstractDr Abdel Hamid Afana, MA, PhD, is the President of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Director of the Training and Research Department at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, a non-governmental organization established in 1990 which adopts a community-based approach to tackle mental health problems, and President of the Board of Directors of the Jesoor Organization that deals with community rehabilitation for trauma and human rights abuse victims. He is a psychotherapist, a graduate of the University of Oslo in Norway, and has extensive experience in torture rehabilitation. Dr Afana is one of the scholars who believe that mental health and human rights are inseparable and that mental health professionals have a role in community development and building bridges for peace through health. He is the founder and former head of the international board of a postgraduate diploma in Community Mental Health and Human Rights and a member of national, regional and international organizations and professional bodies in fields related to health and human rights. Through transcultural psychiatry at McGill University, Dr Afana is analyzing the social representation, meaning of and means of coping with traumatic experiences in protracted conflicts.

Delivering services to the Bangladeshi community: the views of healthcare professionals in East London

To explore the views of primary care staff about delivering services to the local Bangladeshi community. Qualitative case study. Six focus groups, each with a different healthcare profession: speech and language therapists; child development team; health advocacy team; salaried general practitioners; school nurses; and occupational therapists. The study contributors spoke of the community as homogeneous and different from other communities. Language, religion and a lack of knowledge of the National Health Service were barriers to effective service use. There was only limited acknowledgement of the deprivation of this community and of similarities to other deprived communities. Health education and promotion were thought to be the best solutions to the difficulties identified. The study contributors' views seemed to derive from anecdotal rather than research-based evidence. There is a clear need for training, not only in equality and diversity, but also in core public health approaches: understanding the links between poverty and poor health; the scope and limitations of health promotion; and the role of community development.

Social Capital: An analytical tool for exploring lifelong learning and community development

AbstractIn her recent contribution to the British Educational Research Journal, Pauline McClenaghan identified the link between social capital and community development, particularly community development education, as a core area where scholarly and policy interests overlap. She concluded that the concept of social capital is unable to grapple with the complex social divisions that characterise contemporary Europe. The authors of this article question her account on three main grounds: the definition of social capital, which they hold is overly narrow, and does not deal with what Woolcock calls the ‘linking’ role of social networks; the presentation of the theoretical foundations of community development, which they believe is flawed in certain key respects; and a lack of clarity in the relationship between the research and the findings reported. The authors then present their own theoretically informed account of social capital as a means of understanding the role of community development, the challenges that it can face and the role of adult education for community development.

Three Faces of Empowerment: Expanding the Theory of Empowerment in Community Development

Empowerment as a process in leadership education is seen as fundamental to community development. Often, empowerment is considered only from the individual, psychological perspective in community development interventions. That is, practitioners may arguethat individuals basically empower themselves through personal knowledge, attitudes, and behavior (self-empowerment). The extensive literature on empowerment also makes clear that empowerment is an outcome of interpersonal (mutual empowerment) and collective social action (social empowerment). The extent to which community developers are incorporating these dimensions into their interventions via leadership education is explored. The results of the literature review indicate that these interventions fall short of fully utilizing what we know about empowerment and its role in community development.

The New Role of Community Development in Educational Reform

(2001). The New Role of Community Development in Educational Reform. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 76, No. 2, pp. 9-29.

The influence of initial colonization by hydropsychid caddisfly larvae on the development of stream invertebrate assemblages

Many aspects of the colonization history of a disturbed site can influence the development of a biological community. Initial colonization is known to play a significant role in community development because of the facilitative or inhibitory effects that `pioneer' species can have on subsequently arriving taxa. We performed an experiment to assess how initial colonization by two species of benthic invertebrates (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) might influence the development of stream faunal assemblages. Substrate baskets initially colonized by either Hydropsyche depravata or Ceratopsyche bronta were placed alongside control baskets in a recently flooded stream. After baskets had colonized for 30 days, we found that species composition in treatment baskets was identical to that in control baskets, indicating that the caddisfly taxa had no selective effects on colonization of other macroinvertebrate species. We did, however, find that C. bronta facilitated the recruitment of all species in the colonist pool leading to greater overall abundance and biomass of macroinvertebrates in the final assemblages. In contrast, H. depravata had no effect on the abundance or biomass of colonizing invertebrates. The differential effects of these two taxa on abundance and biomass may have been related to differences in microhabitat complexity created by the construction of their retreats and catchnets. The results of this study support the growing recognition that colonization history does influence the structure of lotic communities, but they also suggest that even closely related taxa can play different roles as initial colonists in community development.

Social Capital and Social Change

Community development organizations (CDOs) are the primary vehicle for development in low-income neighborhoods and have begun to be examined in terms of the degree to which they increase citizen participation, increase civic capacity, and stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods through the creation of social capital. Women play a key role in community development. The authors find that most women-led CDOs define their community development efforts broadly, increase community capacity, and strengthen local democracy. To the extent that women-led groups contribute differentially to the development of social capital by increasing community participation and trust and by creating community networks and civic action, they represent a model for community development efforts.