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Role of Ethics in community development

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Role of Ethics in community development

By Ronald Buye

Community development empowers people in society to build their capacity to improve their
livelihood. Community development is a positive change and value based process which aims to
address imbalances in welfare and power based on inclusion, human rights, social justice,
equity and equality. Community development empowers persons and groups within society to
have capacity to improve their lives. Community development is a positive change and value
based process which aims to address imbalances in welfare and power based on inclusion,
human rights, social justice, equity and equality.

Is also seen as a course of action where community participants or settlers agree to take
collective action and create results to overcome the challenges faced in the area of jurisdiction.
Its also seen as a progression where the public residents coming from a particular village are
buttressed by interventions to deal with challenges and take shared action on issues which are
important to them. Community development empowers the community and creates stronger and
more networked communities.

Ethics refers to a set of principles and moral rules of behavior that guide human relationships
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) about what is morally good and bad. And leadership involves
influence processes within human relationships. Ethical behavior is understood as one that can be
judged according to generally accepted moral norms of behavior (Brown, Treviño, and Harrison
2006). Leadership is defined as a process of a leader influencing followers or a group of
individuals to achieve goal

Community Development Challenge report(2009) defines it as a set of values and practices

which plays a special role in overcoming poverty and disadvantage, knitting society together at
the grass roots and deepening democracy. Community Development Exchange defines
community development as: both an occupation (such as a community development worker in a
local authority) and a way of working with communities. Its key purpose is to build communities
based on justice, equality and mutual respect. The United Nations defines community
development as "a process where community participants, settlers, or citizens come together to

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take shared or communal action and make or generate solutions to collective challenges or
difficulties1.

Community development promotes equality, egalitarianism, classlessness, consensus, fairness,

human rights and social justice, through education and empowerment of people within their
communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings
(Gilchrist and Taylor 2011).

Community development should promote the ethical standards and improve the performance of
community practitioners. Ethical issues in community development should be dealt aimed
towards the promotion of protecting the community members by promoting ethical standards.
Community practitioners should harmonize and complement with leaders when working with local
when taking action on issues that are affecting local people’s lives. Crucial here is that community
workers resist the initial urge to settle for consensus and as a consequence limit the possibilities for
creativity, exploration and interpersonal development(Gradener and De Kreek 2019).

Ethics are the rules that define moral conduct according to the ideology of a specific group.
Moreover, ethics in community development are important for the community and leaders to
conduct based on the needs of a specific town, state or country.

Ethics provide accountability between the community and agents of change and development.
Adhering to a code of ethics ensures that the public receives what it needs in a fair manner. It
also gives the development agencies to use guidelines for integrity in their operations. That
integrity, in turn, helps foster the trust of the community. By creating this atmosphere of trust,
the administration helps the community understand that they are participating with their best
interests in mind.

Additionally, a code of ethics creates standards of professionalism that community development

agents in the community use to respect the people they serve. The community also uses it
gauge the community development workers. The code of conduct is also used by community

1
Community development". UNTERM. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014

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development employees as guidelines to carry out their tasks and motivate and standardize what
needs to be done by them .

Another positive outcome of good ethics in community development is timely and informative
communication with the community. This kind of transparency builds trust and prevents or
minimizes the potential issues that can arise when information is divulged from outside sources..
Communication also keeps all people involved so that they can all work toward a common goal.
Good communication ensures that the community can engage their leaders on important issues.

The code of conduct guides leaders in ethical decision making. It’s used to deal wit ethical
challenges and dilemmas. It’s also as ethical framework for promoting integrity and
commitment to ethics in public administration.

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.

References

Andy S. Blanke & Norman Walzer (2013) Measuring community development: what have we
learned?, Community Development, 44:5, 534-550

Banks, S. (2019). Ethics, equity and community development: Mapping the terrain. In Banks S.
& Westoby P. (Eds.), Ethics, equity and community development (pp. 3-36). Bristol:
Bristol University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvhhhdxq.7

Brown, M. (2010). Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future
Research. Business Ethics Quarterly 20(4):583-616 DOI: 10.5840/beq201020439
Brown, E.,& Treviño, L (2006). Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions.
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Cabaj, M., & Weaver, L. (2016). Collective impact 3.0: An evolving framework for community
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