Assessment 4 ( ATI 331 )
mrb_oo7
NISMAN-72066.edited.docx( Running head: COMMUNITY ISSUES AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES ) ( 0 )
( COMMUNITY ISSUES AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES ) ( 1 )
COMMUNITY ISSUES AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
Introduction
In the present scenario of the community development, it has been seen that primary institutions in the society do not have enough resources for supporting the overall development of the community. The policies of the government directed at addressing the risk-bearing issues and that which might help to promote complete development has not been that effective. However, the most regressive issue that has failed to gather attention is that there are many issues in community development that is not addressed and get neglected as there is not enough information on such issues. Moreover, there is the need for better methods of assessment so that the community issues can be identified and based on such identified issues, intervention strategies need to be sorted so that the issues can be minimized and the overall community development can be possible. It is also important to review the assessment methods so that the best strategies can be implemented for developing local community work practice.
Talking about the community issues, it can be said that community issues cannot be solved and catered with the effective solution if there is not much information on such issues then the challenges would remain to be big challenges for the local governing bodies and the government also. It has been observed that the major community issues that hinder community development are: civil protection, domestic violence, health disparities, housing and poverty, contamination of environment among others. In order to procure measures in which such issues can be identified, and their intensity can be measured, two major assessment or identification methods can be used: qualitative methods and quantitative methods . All other methods of identifying community issues are included in the divisions of these two major methods of identification and assessment (Richey and Klein, 2014). Qualitative methods are more proficient for assessing information that cannot be measured in numbers such as feelings, the action of different communities and community history (Green and Thorogood, 2013). On the other hand, quantitative methods are more objective and scientific method of gathering information such as assessing the results of the community programs, the effect of economic development. Quantitative measures are of great importance to the policy makers as they help to identify issues and gaps without any room for biasness (Richey and Klein, 2014). In the qualitative method of identifying community issues measures such as individual interviews or group interviews can be conducted locally of local people or their representatives, centred around a certain community. Group interviews have focus groups and the motive is that they can voice their issues collectively without being under any social pressure(Green and Thorogood, 2013). Observations may also yield long-term results of persistent issues that need to be catered. Such observations might of social change or facility depreciation. It has also been observed that community meetings are forums where through collective discussions community issues are discussed and assessed (Green and Haines, 2015). This can be initiated through and supervised under local community bodies. Interpretation of records or local reports can provide effective insight into the unwanted changes that had affected the community and can convince the policy makers to take necessary action (Green and Haines, 2015). There are various software programs that are present for analyzing the qualitative data in a number based framework such as Atlas.ti and NVivo ( Green and Thorogood, 2013). On the other hand, there are quantitative methods that can be used for assessing community problems. One such pertinent method is the community-based reports on different areas such as health, economic development, FD reports; Human Development Index reports that provide numeric data on community development that also provides insight into the community problems that need to be addressed (Green and Haines, 2015). This is one of the most common methods through community issues are identified. Apart from the reports, success or failure reports for the healthcare system and institutions, the crime reports reported also provided insight into the various crimes that is threatening the community development which needs to be addressed by the local bodies and government ( Green and Thorogood, 2013). The reports on unemployment and the poverty index also are indices based on which economic development of a community at large is identified and assessed (Mertens, 2014). Apart from that these days, surveys are also considered to be the convenient and smart method of assessing community issues where the responses of the respondents in the society provide information on their issues by participating in community-based surveys (Mertens, 2014).
Community-based interventions can have varied interpretations, and as discussed in the book The well-connected community: A networking approach to community development, it has been argued by Gilchrist (2009) that community-based intervention strategies can have four basic construction such as community as an agent; community as a target; community as a resource and community as a setting. In the realm of ‘community as a setting', intervention strategies can be defined geographically and thus the strategies would be citywide and would include institutions such as schools, religious institutions, neighborhoods, voluntary local organizations. Their contribution would be assessed in the community-based intervention strategies when a community is considered as a setting and strategies would focus on developing the behavioral and infrastructural setting (Gilchrist, 2009). In the interpretation of ‘community as a target’, the goals of interventions would be to develop the community environment and to provide systemic changes including health initiatives, environment conservation. Strategies would be aimed at creating recreation facilities, federal poverty levels assessment, environmental protection agencies (Gilchrist, 2009). In the view of ‘community as a resource’, community’s internal resources are channelized for community development such as major public health initiatives might be created in the form of ‘healthy cities’. In interventions focused at ‘community as an agent’, the supportive and developmental capacities of the communities are reinforced. Community institutions and bodies such as families, businesses, informal networks in the society, provide the required resources for meeting the daily requirements of the society (Gilchrist, 2009). In “Community development: Action research in community settings” Social Work Education, it has been argued by the Munford and Andrew (2003) that the vitality of the civil society is very essential for health programs addressed for the society especially when it is recognized that the community-based health promotions is necessary for recognizing and mobilizing the community resources for addressing community issues. It has also been opined by (Munford and Andrew, 2003) that there are various dimensions in community capacity such as knowledge, leadership, trusting relationships, learning that defines the ecology of a community. The acknowledgement of the community capacity shifts the paradigm for better strategies on community building (Munford and Andrew, 2003). As given in the research provided by Bennett, Zubrzycki and Bacon (2011), on the experiences of the social workers as they worked among the aboriginal people in Australia, various aspects of social work and its effects on community development have been highlighted. Although the results have been on the social workers, those have worked among aboriginal communities, yet the highlight on their skills provide the range on knowledge on community development interventions (Bennett, Zubrzycki and Bacon, 2011). It has thus been deduced that it is necessary that social workers that work for community development and minimizing community issues need to be characterized by reciprocity, and should integrate the different world views (Bennett, Zubrzycki and Bacon, 2011).
No matter what measures might be taken to address the community issues, it cannot be undermined that the community-based practices cannot be considered to be successful until the serves the interests of the community at large. Thus it is very necessary to assess the implications of the community intervention strategies and work practices to identify their efficacy. As opined by Chaskin, Brown, Venkatesh and Vidal (2001), in their journal of social welfare and sociology, ‘Building Community Capacity’, the history of community development practices and initiatives of policy makers and charitable organizations have been highlighted. In this research journal, Chaskin, Brown, Venkatesh and Vidal (2001) have identified various components of ‘community capacity that needs to be promoted for addressing the community interests. The primary components have been identified as ‘interaction of organizational resources, human capital and social capital’. In this book, it has been identified that it is equally necessary to address relationships in a community and link of the community with external community. In this book, Chaskin, Brown, Venkatesh and Vidal (2001) have also established four strategies that can lead to the building of community capacity effectively. These four strategies include leadership development; community organizing; enhancement of collaboration among different organizations and organizational development (Chaskin, Brown, Venkatesh and Vidal, 2001). The impact of these strategies would help the development of the community capacities that would, in turn, pave the way for better amenities and provisions for improvised and effective work practices for community development. As given in The Handbook of Social Work Research Methods, the views and opinions of many social workers and practitioners have been envisaged and the focus has been on quantitative research designs such as surveys, controlled trials, single system designs for availing the reliable information on community issues that the social practices and applied research of the social workers need to cater (Bruce and Thyer, 2001). Such research designs become tools of measurement for the work practices of the community institutions and also those involved in building the community capacity such as leaders and government (Thyer, 2010). This view has also been shared by Kenny (2011) in Developing communities for the future. In the book Developing communities for the future, the author of the book Kenny (2011) has penned his insights into the various challenges and dilemma that the community faces while catering to issues in the community and also suggests ways in which the citizens can be empowered (Kenny, 2011). It has thus been highlighted in the book that practitioners of the community development such as the government, social workers, practitioners need to be aware of such challenges and take measures for empowering the citizens so that they can avail the benefits of the community development and capabilities (Kenny, 2011). In the book by Ife (2002), Community development: Community-based alternatives in an age of globalization, it has been established that free economy has exerted new opportunities and challenges for communities at large (Ife, 2002). The global economy is now taking measures for laying the foundation for human progress as well as protecting the environment (Ife, 2002). In the broader context of globalization, all the parties involved in community development are bent on using technological support for decreasing the social costs (Ife, 2002). In this manner, Mendes and Binns (2013) are also diverting more attention towards the development of the rural communities for overall community development as highlighted in the Community Development Journal. As opined by Mendes and Binns (2013), the work practices of the government, social work practices are now being directed to the rural communities through the creation of better amenities and provisions. More stress is also being given to the development of values and skills that those involved in community development need to possess for identifying the community issues and developing strategies for overcoming those.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion, it can resultantly be concluded that community issues are emergent issues that every society needs to minimize for ensuring overall development. In the era of globalization and emergence of social workers and practitioners, it can be stated that all the parties involved in community development need to make effective use of technological support for decreasing the social costs and improving the community capabilities and support system. Various methods such as qualitative and quantitative methods of assessments can be efficiently used for identifying the community issues that need the attention of the community developers and social workers and practitioners. Intervention strategies need to be developed so that such community issues can be addressed and minimized. Importance is also given to the development of skills, values and behavioral changes for addressing such community issues and for developing community capabilities.
Reference
Bennett, B., Zubrzycki, J. and Bacon, V., 2011. What do we know? The experiences of social workers working alongside Aboriginal people. Australian social work, 64(1), pp.20-37.
Gilchrist, A., 2009. The well-connected community: a networking approach to community development. Policy Press.
Green, G.P. and Haines, A., 2015. Asset building & community development. Sage publications.
Green, J. and Thorogood, N., 2013. Qualitative methods for health research. Sage.
Ife, J., 2002. Community Development: Creating Community Alternatives in an Age of Globalisation.
Kenny, S 2011, Developing communities for the future, Cengage Learning: Melbourne, Chapter 3.
Mendes, P. and Binns, F., 2012. The integration of community development values, skills and strategies within rural social work practice in Victoria, Australia. Community Development Journal, 48(4), pp.605-622.
Mertens, D.M., 2014. Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Sage publications.
Munford, R., Sanders, J. and Andrew, A., 2003. Community development--action research in community settings. Social work education, 22(1), pp.93-104.
Richey, R.C. and Klein, J.D., 2014. Design and development research: Methods, strategies, and issues. Routledge.
Thyer, B. ed., 2010. The handbook of social work research methods. Sage.
