Community organization

Community organization

The community needs to develop its own organizational structure. There s no universal way of defining how this should be formed within the communities since variation exists between communities and between different ethnic groups which need to be carefully considered. There are critical elements that should be considered. The community should decide internally what organizational form they would like to develop for themselves. In some community, the community has been formed where the leaders of the communities are elected by the people. The leadership of these communities should be based on competence and not only on formal authority. In some communities one large community may steer the developmental process while in other communities, a subcommittee is formed of the original community and in turn are responsible for the different developmental task. Another organizational is form is that several committees may be formed, each of whom steers different developmental activities in parallel. The committees may be based on functional thematic or even spatial factors.

The community organization has the important task of eventually coming up with the development vision for the community which is made up of more than a mere collection of social development activities. The visions give direction for all the developmental efforts which the community wishes to undertake and the vision can also provide and important evaluation to in order to check whether the direction is correct. A vision also helps to set communities not merely to think in a problem-oriented manner rather look at potentials which may exist and then only focus on the constraints which hinder the community from exploiting the potentials. A stable transparent organizational structure which is based on the idols of democratic process in a community while respecting traditional authority provides the necessary frame condition for any future interaction with higher level developmental organizational take place, where such an organizational form does not exist, communities will continue to be dependent upon the state system, would have to be spoon- fed and would merely developed one set of prioritized development projects after the other with the firm expectation that other will come and resolve each and every pressing need.

The community is a place where the need for change, the effort to make that change and the resistance to change co-exist. There are three ways to perceive a community:

• Perceiving community as a community
• Components of community that is sub communities
• Groups are drawn to the arena of action

Community

• Geography area, defined boundaries
• Share interest and activities
• Purposeful grouping of individual into a common whole
• A fundamental capacity of our humanness
• A state of being
• Manner of people relating to one another

Community organization involves mainly six thoughts

• Cooperative
• Collaboration
• Integration
• Balance between need and resources
• Relation with other social works
• Democratic process and method

The term community organization covers a series of activities at the community level aim at bringing about the desired improvement in the social well-being of individual, groups and neighborhoods. Community organizing is about creating a democratic instrument to bring about sustaining social change.

Objectives of community organization

• Removal of blocks to growth in individual, groups as well as in communities
• Release of full potentialities in individual, groups as well as in communities
• Full use of inner resources in individual, groups as well as in communities
• Development of capacity to manage one’s own individual, group and community life
• Increase the ability to function as an integrated unit

Social work and community organization- assumptions

• Inherent dignity and worth of the individual- community pace
• Everyone or community possess resources to deal with his problems
• The inherent capacity for growth
• The ability to manage one’s own affairs

Concept of community organization

Power: The ability to make something happen. The way to build power is by getting people to understand the source of their social or political problems then devise solutions, strategies, take on leadership and more to action through campaigns that win concrete change.

Relationship building: Community organization relies on two different things, one on ones to find out the person’s passion and to create a strong connection that is sustainable over time. The second is a public relationship. Community power building organization exist to build members collective power, not their personal social status. The result is a network of public relationship.

Leadership development: Leadership development must build a base of members. More people mean more power. Guide member to see the root of the problems. Get members to understand what community organization is. Get people involved in development activities. It develops the base of members to be leaders. Leaders learn by doing, for example recruiting new members, giving testimony, running a meeting, developing strategies, making a decision, building an organization. More members to action and action foster commitment to build a strong organization.

Political education: Political education is a form of training about issues as well as about social movements and history that you engaged in both formally in a workshop session and informally in daily or regular contact with members and leaders. Through political education, member communicates the analysis or world view of the organization.

Strategies: Strategies is an overall approach to achieving objectives. It is the way or ways that a community power building organization use its power to win what it wants. A campaign is a planned series of strategies and action design to achieve clear goal and objectives. Effective organizations are strategic in everything they do. They are always refining their power and analysis and strategies. Research is an essential component before launching any campaign.

Mobilization: The essential process of moving people to action. Mobilizing human or natural resources to meet the needs of community members. Moreover, it coordinates the efforts to build welfare program.

Action: A public showing of an organizational power such as a march, lobbying meeting in the state capital, accountability session with elected officials, a press briefing. Actions take place during the campaign. In additional, a person can take action and individual to support a campaign or organization such as signing a membership card or writing a letter to an elected representative. The groups’ goal is to move power holders with the number of people they represent.

Winning: Community organization focuses on winning its goals. It results in a positive concrete change in people’s live. Community organization should run winnable strategies campaign. Campaign deliver wins.

Movement building: In movement building group use their resources to engage in broader social justice activities that are not solely correct to winnable campaign or the self-interest of community members.

Evaluation: Evaluation is the process of assessing your action and determining what work, what did not and what you would do differently next time. The evaluation takes place after every substantive event including the day of recruitment. Frequent evaluation homes and builds the skills, standards, and excellence if everyone in the organization. Sometime organizer refers to an evaluation that follows a specific activity as debriefing.

Objectives of community organization

• To get information about the resources and need
• To arouse the people to work for the welfare of the community
• To creates sound ground for planning and action
• To create a sense of cooperation, integration and unit among the people
• To motivate the people to take better participation in the developing community programs
• To develop better understanding of the people on the issues and needs
• To implement programs require for the fulfillment of people basic needs
• To mobilize the resources to create a suitable ground for the basis need completion and eradication of problems
• To develop idea of ability and better thinking to work for the betterment of the community