Social work:

Definitions

Social work is a professional service based upon scientific knowledge and skills in human relation
which assists individuals alone or a group to obtain personal and social interaction and independence. It
is usually performed by social agency or by a specific organization.

(W.A Fried landor)

Social work is a discipline involving the application of social theory and research methods to study and
improve the lives of people, groups, and societies. It incorporates and uses other social sciences as a
means to improve the human condition and positively change society's response to chronic problems.

Origin of Social work

Social work has its roots in the struggle of society to deal with poverty and the resultant problems.
Therefore, social work is intricately linked with the idea of charity work; but must be understood in
broader terms. The concept of charity goes back to ancient times, and the practice of providing for the
poor has roots in all major world religions.[1]

Types of methods in Social work

Community.

Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common
location
 Community development Method
Community;

Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a

common location

Community Development;

 Community development, informally called community building, is a broad term

applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved
citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities.

 The process of developing active and sustainable communities based on social justice
and mutual respect. It is about influencing power structures to remove the barriers that
prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives.

 Community workers (officers) facilitate the participation of people in this process. They
enable connections to be made between communities and with the development of
wider policies and programmes.

 Community Development expresses values of fairness, equality, accountability,

opportunity, choice, participation, mutuality, reciprocity and continuous learning.
Educating, enabling and empowering are at the core of Community Development.”

(Community Development Exchange)

A process of developing or building up communities of men and women to enable

empowerment, self-sufficiency and control over their environment. ...

www.acil.com.au/glossary.htm

History
Community Development has been a sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit goal of community people,
aiming to achieve, through collective effort, a better life, and has occurred throughout history. In the
18th Century the work of the early socialist thinker Robert Owen (1771-1851), sought through
Community Planning, to create the perfect community. At New Lanark and at later utopian communities
such as Oneida in the USA and the New Australia Movement in Australia, groups of people came
together to create intentional utopian communities, with mixed success. Such community planning
techniques became important in the 1920s and 1930s in East Africa, where Community Development
proposals were seen as a way of helping local people improve their own lives with indirect assistance
from colonial authorities.
Community development, often linked with Community Work or Community Planning, is often formally
conducted by non-government organisations (NGOs), universities or government agencies to improve
the social well-being of local, regional and, sometimes, national communities. Less formal efforts, called
community building or community organizing, seek to empower individuals and groups of people by
providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. [14] These skills often
assist in building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a common
agenda. Community development practitioners must understand both how to work with individuals and
how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions.

Scott Peck Contribution in community Development.

In The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace, Scott Peck argues that the almost
accidental sense of community that exists at times of crisis can be consciously built. Peck
believes that conscious community building is a process of deliberate design based on the
knowledge and application of certain rules.[18] He states that this process goes through four
stages:[19]

1. Pseudo-community: Where participants are "nice with each other", playing-safe, and presenting
what they feel is the most favourable sides of their personalities.
2. Chaos: When people move beyond the inauthenticity of pseudo-community and feel safe
enough to present their "shadow" selves. This stage places great demands upon the facilitator
for greater leadership and organization, but Peck believes that "organizations are not
communities", and this pressure should be resisted.

3. Emptiness: This stage moves beyond the attempts to fix, heal and convert of the chaos stage,
when all people become capable of acknowledging their own woundedness and brokenness,
common to us all as human beings. Out of this emptiness comes

4. True community: the process of deep respect and true listening for the needs of the other
people in this community. This stage Peck believes can only be described as "glory" and reflects
a deep yearning in every human soul for compassionate understanding from one's fellows.

Community building that is geared toward citizen action is usually termed "community
organizing."[21] In these cases, organized community groups seek accountability from elected
officials and increased direct representation within decision-making bodies. Where good-faith
negotiations fail, these constituency-led organizations seek to pressure the decision-makers
through a variety of means, including picketing, boycotting, sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral
politics. The ARISE Detroit! coalition and the Toronto Public Space Committee are examples of
activist networks committed to shielding local communities from government and corporate
domination and inordinate influence.

Community organizing is sometimes focused on more than just resolving specific issues.
Organizing often means building a widely accessible power structure, often with the end goal of
distributing power equally throughout the community. Community organizers generally seek to
build groups that are open and democratic in governance. Such groups facilitate and encourage
consensus decision-making with a focus on the general health of the community rather than a
specific interest group. The three basic types of community organizing are grassroots organizing,
coalition building, and "institution-based community organizing," (also called "broad-based
community organizing," an example of which is faith-based community organizing, or
"congregation-based community organizing")

Aims

Development Principles is to provide a framework for Council and its staff to use in its everyday practices

to ensure individuals, communities and networks are connected with one another by:

• Providing opportunities for residents to meaningfully participate in decision making

processes that affect their community.

• Supporting individuals and communities

through the provision of resources and

fostering of partnerships between individuals

and within communities.

• Assisting with the development of strong and

resilient communities that have the ability to

identify and meet the communities’ needs,

achieve self-reliance, contribute to solutions

and support their own advocacy efforts.

Principles

It is intended that the following principles will be

reflected in the practices of Council and its staff.

Inclusiveness – Provide the wider community with

opportunities to meaningfully participate in

information gathering, planning, direction setting and

decision making regarding outcomes that affect the

communities’ development. An ultimate goal is that

communities would drive this process.

Collaboration – Establish and foster partnerships that

aim to achieve positive outcomes for all residents.

Council aims to assist communities in finding

solutions to issues that are important to the lives of

individuals, families and communities. This includes

developing networks between people, encouraging

different communities to work together and building

relationships with and between those different

communities.

Capacity building – Support and strengthen

individuals, families and communities to identify

needs and develop solutions at a local level. This

may involve advocacy, empowerment, education,

awareness raising and distribution of resources to

individuals and communities.

Equity – Ensure that opportunities and resources

available to the community are distributed in a just

and equitable manner according to community

needs. In addition, all communities should have the

right to access all Council services and resources

without discrimination. This includes ensuring

Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander and

marginalised groups in the community have an equal

say.

Responsiveness – Ensure the evolving nature and

constancy of change within the community are

responded to efficiently and effectively in line with

community development methodologies and

practices. This will enable the demands of the

community to be met in a relevant and timely

manner.