COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT KEYNOTES FOR STUDY

DPAD 0109: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

NOTES BY LEC. Mr. Erick Obwocha.15/01/2024
It is intended for a student: -
• To gain knowledge and skills on participatory tools and techniques in community development
work such as community entry, surveys, appraisal, awareness building, needs and resource
identification, organizing and facilitating, planning, implementation and evaluation.
Learning and Teaching Strategies
• A combination of Lectures and Tutorials
• Pair and Group Work
• Case Study Exercises

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Definition Community
• a group of people who have come together to work and live.
• a group of people united by the common objects of their love.
• a group of people working together actively to achieve a common goal.
• a unique living entity and it continuously changes physically and psychologically.
• a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and
often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
A Community can therefore be defined as a group of people who live close to one another, who
are interested in the same things, who have similar problems, who depend on each other, and
who realize that they are an important part of the community.
Community development is not one off events, consultations to inform goals or strategies. It is
not advising groups or community neither is it leadership trainings. However the above could be
part of community development not community development by themselves.
Differences between community development and community work.
COMMUNITY DEVT. COMMUNITY WORK
1 There is negotiations between 1 Decision making power on community work
agencies and community members. rest with the agencies.
2 The problem is named by community 2 The problem is defined by the agency who go
and advanced through shared interest ahead and do it by themselves.
between comm and agencies
3 Work is long term in duration 3 Work has defined timelines
4 Desired outcomes include increased 4 Outcomes are specific e.g change in specific
community members capacities e.g behaviour or knowledge.
changes in the neighbourhood.

Elements of a community:
• A social unit of which space is an integral part.
• Community indicates a configuration as to way of life, both as to how people do things and
what they want--their institutions and collective goals.
• A collective action.
• Development can be simply referred – Bringing out the capabilities, bringing to a more
advanced or effective state.

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– Improving, changing, making something better.

Community development is therefore a collaborative or collective action taken by local people to
enhance the long term social, economic, and environmental conditions of their community.

• Community Development: is when a community uses a process whereby people get together;
communicate; identify priority needs; plan and take action to resolve problems and achieve
outcomes which are desired by the community.
• Increasing the strength and effectiveness of community life and building social capital
• Improving local conditions, especially for people in disadvantaged situations, and overcoming
social exclusion
• Enabling people to participate in public decision-making and to achieve greater long-term
control over their circumstances
To improve and sustain the quality of local communities and society in general • To develop the
ability of communities to take initiative and action
• To empower people’s active participation in determining change
Community Development is a process of social action in which the people of a community
organized themselves for planning and actions; define their common and individual needs and
solve their problems; execute the plans with a maximum of reliance upon community resources;
and supplement these resources when necessary with services and materials from government
and non-government agencies outside the community and to help people to develop
economically and socially viable communities which can assist, strengthen and adequately
support individual and family growth and enhance the quality of life.
Community Development is need oriented it addresses specific and concrete needs facing the
community which requires ordinary people to play a leading part with all other outsider actors
.
INTERDISCIPLINARY RELATIONSHIP;
Psychology
Sociology
Political science
Law
Religion
Business

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Developmental studies
ACTORS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.
1. Action Group - refers to a group of people involved in a community.
Examples of concerned groups referred to action groups are;
1. An institution can act as an action group (school; church; sport club)
2. A few institutions who have common interests can form an action group
3. A legal entity can act as an action group (an area under jurisdiction; specific ward in urban
area)
4. A geographical unit (village; suburb)
5. An ad hoc collection of concerned individuals with common need (student parents; mother of
the babies)
CHARACTERISTICS OF ACTION GROUPS;
1. Nearness in proximity
2. Need alignment/ similar objective
3. Small in size
4. Usually assigned by authority or agency or invited by villagers
2. Community worker/practitioner- it is an individual who could be male or female, lives
among the community but should not necessarily be well know or a so called “superman”.
Role:
• Instructing people (in technical/professional aspect) as an expert based on area of profession.
• Facilitating in community organizing provide the know-how in order people is enable to do by
Themselves
•Assisting in taking initiative and do the planning
• Assisting in solving problem as a mediator or advocate as well as dealing with and encouraging
outsider (governmental authority, high political, economic power institution)
• Helping to discover the resources
• Guiding in implementing and managing the project

Good community worker should be;

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• He/she is acceptable to and trusted by people

• He/she is a good communicator
• He/she knows his/her client population
• He/she is reliable
• He/she recognizes the local political structure
• He/she respects the people
• He/she has the interests of the people
• He/she is a responsible person

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A COMMUNITY

A community does not exist in a vacuum it is affected by various external factors which must be
taken into consideration by either an action group or a community worker to achieve
expectations.
 Natural Environment
• Natural environment is important in the rural area
• Soil type; availability of water; climate; forest
• community development should be in harmony with the natural environment
• No harm to the natural environment but to improve it for community development which is
sustainable should be taken into the account.
 Political Environment
• No development effort stand outside of politics
• Awareness of the political tendency is key to success or failure of a project
• The influence of the chief of village, of commune, of district and even of county
in political party population.
• The best way to circumvent the political problem is to “Dive Deep”. The more higher
profile the more politics involved.

 Social Environment
• Every community own its social activities and objectives: employment (job) issue, religion
(belief), social life, social service, social order, social security

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• Relationship, friendship, affiliation, club, church, school, association development lead to

community social stratification.
• The community worker must be aware of these stratification's but need not respect these. The
community worker must be aware of consequences.

 Economic Environment
• These is usually close to the natural and social environments
• Availability of the fund resource for community
• Level of deprivation of the people concerned

 Cultural Environment
• Place and role of the traditional leaders
-Regards as gateway to the community
- The gateway can be open or close
- Guarding over own interest
- A fear of the outsider taking his position

• Roles of the women in the society

- Need permission from husband to be involved in action group.
• Roles of the Community workers (refer to roles and tasks)

 Psychological Environment
• Not easy to observe (tend to be mostly ignored)
• Rural area versus urban area versus squatter
• Other community’s environments influence the psychological environment strongly.

SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

• Improves and sustains the quality of local communities and society in general
• Develops the ability of communities to take initiative and action
• Empowers people’s active participation in determining change.
• Promotes equality of opportunities
• Leads to social inclusion

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• Promotes human rights

• People learn to respect diversity, and
• Develops democracy in a community
WAYS TO ENHANCE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.
• Through imparting knowledge and consciousness in public awareness campaigns
• This skills and competence enable community to be all hands on deck when doing a project.
• Attitudes and confidence which determine their project acceptance and decision to support it.
• Organizational ability by the community and the promoters to collectively achieve the project.
• Resources which are necessary for the project including labour are available.
PROCESS OF PARTICIPATION.
Need identification and goal determination - through an open engagement identify the need of
the community, the history and the factors contributing to the gap/need existence.
Contribution of land, cash, free labor by locals - gather information and necessary skills, labor
and other equipment that the community can provide, here an harambee can be done to raise
funds.
Locals involvement in decision making – the locals are then asked to give their views on who,
how, when, where the project will be implemented. This will give the best information necessary
so as to own it and also set time limits and expected outcomes. Here other stakeholders are
engaged through consultative meetings, focused group discussions or open forums.
Establishing structure/ action – the given activity/project is implemented under the supervision
of the agency.
Providing ownership and control – the project is handed over to the community when
complete for use and management except for limited maintenance by the agency or review.
Establishing accountability – a robust mechanism is established to show how the resources
contributed were utilized thus ensure no pilferage of funds and resources.
Sharing of benefits – the community and the agency share the benefits of the project.

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PROJECT
•Is a plan to solve a problem to meet a need
• Or a plan to do something so that we can achieve our aims.
Therefore a community project is a plan to solve a problem that is preventing a group of people
or the whole community from meeting a basic need.
SUCCESS OF A COMMUNITY PROJECT NEEDS ONE TO;
• Find out about community before you begin working in it
• Start your work with community leaders and organizations already in the community
• Listen to people in the community and respect their ideas
• Work with a team not being a community “superman”
• Share your skills
• Take your time and be patient

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Signs of Successful Community Projects;

• Local people participate in every step during the life of a project
• The aims and objectives of the project are simple and clear
• Benefits of the project are shared in a fairly way
• Strong management team
• Good communication make project works better
• Try to use local resources as possible as it be
Community Needs Assessment
Is the process of finding out what the needs are and the gap between what a situation is and what
it should be/ reality vs expectation. Find out what our needs are and what causes them.

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An example of a need is food, water and shelter whilst a want is like a DVD player, swimming
pool or a car.
Needs Assessment: Why do it?
Before carrying out a project it is necessary to do the need assessment because it helps ;
_x0016_ Identify community needs, concerns and issues
_x0016_ Target outreach programs
_x0016_ Empower grass-roots action around needs
_x0016_ Determine if needs make changes
_x0016_ Collect communities’ hopes/dreams/desires

PROCESS OF DOING NEED ASSESMENT

1. Data/Information Collection:
Gathering information about the community’s needs/problems and what causes them
2. Data/Information Analysis:
Analyzing the information we gather to sort out problems so that we can find the true problems
and causes.
3. Decision on Priority Needs/Problems:
Deciding what are the most important needs/problems for action to solve them
Tools for gathering information;
1. Review Records and Reports
2. Observation and Community Mapping
3. Interview/informal Discussions
4. Community Profile
5. Community Meeting
Public Issues Forum
Community forums are public meetings that involve residents to express their concerns about
community issues, problems, and needs. This is among the most effective and preferred method;
Advantages
• Diverse members can share ideas

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• Provides quick look at community issues

• Involves local citizens
• inexpensive
Disadvantages
• Requires skill/time
• Opinions obtained only from those who attend
• May generate more questions or conflict

Steps: Preparing for the Forum

1. Form representative working group (5-15 people)
2. Identify pressing issues to form the focus of forum
3. Select a trained facilitator
4. Set a time and place:
• Seating arrangement should encourage dialogue
• have appropriate acoustics (i.e., microphone)
• make sure the location is neutral (school is a great place)
5. Publicize the forum , Hit all the major media outlets

Factors for Choosing your Assessment Tool

_x0016_ Purpose of Assessment
_x0016_ Type of Data Needed
_x0016_ Time Commitment
_x0016_ Cost
_x0016_ Skills needed
_x0016_ Target Audience
_x0016_ Sources of Bias

Participation
• Refers to a process of joint dialogue, sharing and analyzing situations to attain consensus
towards action and change.

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• Could also be an active process by which beneficiaries of client groups influence the direction
and execution of the development project.
• It is also people involvement in decision making process
• Transferring of power to the rural people enabling them to negotiate with development delivery
systems, and deciding and acting on what is essential to their development.

Level of Participation
• Informing
• Consulting
• Partnership
• Self-Management
PROCESS OF MOBILIZATION.
Prepare to mobilize – government/agency deciding on all matters by itself e.g writing minutes,
organizing a mobilization group and setting timelines except where the law requires them to like
getting permits.
Organize community for action – providing information to public through leaflets, organized
public forums and thus creating awareness through mobilization techniques.
Explore the issues and set priorities – after engaging the community and stakeholders the
government/agency retreats to make decision on what the community has presented as views and
set priority on implementation.
Involve community in planning – let the community be involved also in the how to achieve the
project stage.
Engage community in action – let the community be part of the action.
Do evaluation – it is necessary for the agency to sit after the mobilization and undertake an
analysis to see the hits and misses.
Plan to scale-up – this a stage to initiate a new cycle of mobilization.

APPROACHES OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

1. Needs based approach – focuses on needs, deficiencies and problems. It focuses on
identifying needs in a deteriorating community. Creating external inputs to meet their
needs. This is a traditional approach and is usually referred to as a deficit approach.
2. Problem solving approach – focuses on different ways of solving a problem that the
community is facing.

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3. Participatory approach – the approach encourages and educates the community

members to participate in the development process. People ought to participate in every
stage from initiation to evaluation.
4. Asset-based (ABCD) – this concentrates on identifying and mobilizing existing but often
unrecognized assets.
5. The power conflict approach – deals with working solutions that deal with conflicts that
slow the progress and hamper/derail development process.
6. Welfare approach – deals with working communities to build their capacity, improve
their well being, happiness and eventually prosperity.
7. Right based approach – focuses on human rights which are their leaders by themselves.
Process deals with rights abuses which have kept people in suffering and poverty. Human
rights are universal rights that are to be enjoyed by every human being, they include,
right to food, water, shelter, basic education, life etc.

THEORIES OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT,

A theory is a statement or group of statements established by reasoned argument based on known
facts, intended to explain a particular fact or event. There are three main theories of community
development.

The three theories are;

1. Conflict theory
2. Structural functionalism
3. Symbolic internationalism.
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM.
The theory was put forth by scholars such as Herbert Spencer, Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim
among others. This theory is also referred to as systems theory, or simply functionalism theory.
According to the theory societies contain certain independent structures each, which perform
certain function for societal maintenance. It focuses on existing social structures. A functionalist
oriented community developer will focus on functions in a society. If the existing institutions are
not solving the local needs the functionalist will tend to build community capacity by
transforming the existing organization to meet social demands. Empowerment means to give
the community power or ability to achieve certain goals which they are limited by circumstances
from achieving. The structures of community include religious institutions. Herbert Spencer
presents the part of the variety as organs that work together proper functioning of the whole
body.
A functionalist could h
According to Durkheim societies tend to stable and survive for long because they tend to
segmented with equivalent parts blend together with social bonds.
CONFLICT THEORY.
The main proponent of this theory was Karl Marx. The theory focuses on the rubbing of various
components of society such as between economic class, ethnic groups or gender groups. This

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constant rubbing creates a society in a state of constant conflict because of competition for the
limited resources.
Mill C. Wright in modern conflict theory views social structures as being created the conflict
with people with differing resources and interests. These conflicts can be overcome through
fundamental transformation of the existing relations in society and these produces new social
relations. Conflict theory is an agent of social change and as a result of conflict we achieve social
status quo.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONALISM THEORY.
The theory was put forth by George Herbert Med. He provides essential insight for community
development. The theory provides members of a society with a sense of sharing meaning it
brings people together people based on a shared understanding .
The focus is mostly on factors that help people understand what they say and do by looking at
the origins of symbols and the meanings. Symbolic interactionists are interested in the
circumstances in which people question, challenge o reconstruct meanings. The theory assumes
that people make sense of their social world through communication and social interaction.
N.B.
1. people react to others on things based on meaning given to them.
2. the meanings are based on social interaction with the people.
3. humans adjust meanings they assign people or things depends on how they interpret the world
FAMILY AND OTHER SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
A family is a social institution which is basic and a primary one. A family is a group of people of
one or more people and their children living together as a unit.
A family refers to all descendants of common ancestral home.
A family is a group of people of two or more persons joint by birth, marriage or adoption and
live together.
Types of Families.
1. Nuclear family- consists of parents (father,mother, and one or more children if available.
2. Single parent family- consists of one parent either father or mother and the child or
children conceived thereof.
3. Extended family- consists of father, mother, children who live together with their
grandfather or grandmother, nephews, niece aunties and uncles in the same compound or
even house.
Characteristics of a family;
1. Presence of a father mother and children.
2. A place where one gets love, care, and is provided other needs such as food, shelter,
clothing, education and security.
Functions of a family.
1. Socialization of children - making them feel part of the family and introducing them
into the society by teaching them norms and values of such a society.
2. Addition of new members - reproduction of new family members though birth.
3. Inducing of positive societal norms to its members
4. Affection, security, food, water, shelter, education and other needs provision to family
members.

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Emerging issues in family;

Divorce - it is the separation of a wife and husband under the guidance of individuals under
question.
Causes of Divorce
1. Lack of acquaintance/friendship between the partners.
2. Promiscuity- cheating with women/men other than the one married.
3. Underlying unresolved family conflicts
4. Societal influences
Social Institutions.
A social institution is a basic structure or unit in a society. Material resources norms and fulfill
social needs. Social institutions are universal but varies across culture from time to time in terms
of complexity, formality or organization. We can classify social institutions into five groups.
1. Educational.
This are institutions where skills and knowledge are imparted in formerly organized structures.
2. Religious
Refers to unified system of beliefs and rituals with symbols based on some sacred and
supernatural power that guides human behaviour. Religious institutions include churches,
temples, mosques and traditional shrines.
3. Economic
This ensure maintenance of society through production, distribution and consumption of goods
and services e.g business traders, banks and cooperative societies.
4. Political
In the distribution system of power and authority in order to maintain social order e.g
administration police or the county government.
N/B the above institutions regulate morality through laws to control behaviour and preserve
social order.
Characteristics of social institutions.
1. Use of symbols e.g the flag, the cross, etc.
2. They are relatively permanent in change is gradual not constant
3. They posses material objects e.g buildings, furniture or books
4. They are interrelated and interdependent though diverse ways.

Ethnicity and Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism refers to the presence of several distinct groups within a society or simply
ethnic pluralism. This is where several ethnic groups coexist an example is in our major cities
where different races live e.g, Indians, Chinese, Arabs, whites, among our various African
communities living with Kenyans.
Types of Multiculturalism.
We can classify them based on;
1) Linguistic
Where a society consists of different people with diverse languages.

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2) Ethnic multiculturalism,
People of different communities with diverse culture and belief coexisting together.
3) National multiculturalism
Refers to people of different nationalities living together e.g people from India and those from
Saudi Arabia others from Japan living in Pretoria South Africa with the Zulu.
Advantages of Multiculturalism.
 Encourages open mindedness amongst different groups of people.
 Dispels negative stereotypes
 It integrates different ideas and introduces better ways of performing certain tasks.
 Provides room for growth and development.
 Encourages intermarriages.
Disadvantages
 Conflict and wars. UN reported that 1/3rd of the world conflicts have a cultural dimension.
 Leads to moral degradation and loss of cultural values and norms of the original group.
N/B. multiculturalism gives greater understanding of other believes, attitudes and behaviors thus
higher interpersonal and social skills.

ETHNICITY.
This is refers to belonging to a population group or sub-group who are made up of people who
share a common cultural background and descent including language, heritage, religion and
customs. Examples Kikuyu, Igbo, Zulu, Baganda , Turkana, etc
Ethnicity is not tribalism which is a negative norm of social profiling people based on their
ethnic group.
N/B. A race is the concept of dividing people into groups on the basis of various sets of physical
characteristics and the process of ascribing social meaning to those groups e.g we have the
African race, Whites, Indians OR Koreans.
Characteristics of Ethnicity.
a) Physical characteristics such as skin color,
b) Similar language
c) Similar behaviour or cultural customs.
d) Sharing a common place of origin or home.

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