Community Organization

Community Organization is one of the primary

methods of social work. It deals with
intervention in the communities to solve the
community problems.

The term "community organization” covers a

series of activities at the community level
aimed at bringing about desired
improvement in the social wellbeing of
individuals, groups and neighborhoods".
Cont..
According to Murray G.Ross, “Community organization
is a process by which a community identifies needs
and takes action, and in doing so... develops co-
operative attitudes and practices.“

Community organization is a technique for obtaining a

consensus concerning both the values that are most
important for the common welfare and the best
means of obtaining them – Sanderson and Polson
(1939).
Cont..

Community organization is described as the orderly

application of a relevant body of knowledge,
employing practice–wisdom and learned behavior
through characteristic, distinctive and describable
procedures to help the community to engage in a
desirable procedure to achieve planned change
towards community improvement –

National Association of Social Workers.

Community organization is the process of dealing with
individuals and groups, who are or may become
concerned with social welfare services or objectives,
for the purpose of influencing the volume of such
services, improving the quality or distribution or
furthering the attainment of such objectives –

National Conference on Community Organization, USA.

Russell H. Kurrtz in 1940 defined it as
“Community organisation is a process of dealing
primarily with program relationships and thus to be
distinguished in its social work setting from those
other basic processes, casework and group work,
which deal with people. Those relationships of
agency to agency, of agency to community and of
community to agency reach in all directions from
any focal point in the social work picture.
Community organisation may be thought of as the
process by which these relationships are initiated,
altered or terminated to meet changing conditions,
and it is thus basic to all social work...”.
Characteristics of community organisation
• Community organisation is a process
• Identification of needs and resources
• Community as a client
• Involvement of a community organiser
• Community organisation is a means and not an
end
Characteristics of community organisation
Community organisation is a process
It is a process by which capacity of the community is
utilised to achieve community needs. Community organizer
makes the process consciously and purposefully.
Identification of needs and resources
Community organiser help the community to identify the
needs and resources. It brings a harmonious combination
between community needs and resources.
Community as a client
In this process community organisation the entire
community is considered as a client.
Involvement of a community organiser
The community organiser helps the community
through his facilitation roles to identify its needs, plan
programmes and to evaluate its programmes.
Community organisation is a means and not an end
The end of community organisation is the total welfare
of the community. All the programmes should be organised to
achieve the well being of the community.
Principles of CO
Principles of community organisation, in the sense in which the
term is used here are generalized guiding rules for the sound
practice. Principles are expressions of value judgments. The
principles of community organisation, which are being
discussed here, are within the frame of and in harmony with
the spirit and purpose of social work in a democratic society.
We are concerned with the dignity and worth, the freedom,
the security, the participation, and the wholesome and
abundant life o every individual. This implies following the
principles of democracy, involvement of the marginalized,
transparency, honesty, sustainability, self-reliance,
partnerships, cooperation, etc.
In the literature of community organisation we find various sets
of principles. Dunham (1958) has presented a statement of
28 suggested principles of community organisation. He
grouped those under seven headings.
(i) Democracy and social welfare,
(ii) Community roots for community programs,
(iii) Citizen understanding, support, and participation and
professional service,
(iv) Co-operation
(v) Social Welfare Programs,
(vi) Adequacy, distribution, and organisation of social
welfare services, and
(vii) Prevention.
Ross (1967) outlined specific twelve principles------
1. Discontent conditions in the community must initiate
and/or nourish development of the association.
2. Discontent must be focused and channeled into
organisation, planning, and action in respect to specific
problems.
3. Discontent which initiates or sustains community
organisation must be widely shared in the community.
4. The association must involve leaders (both formal and
informal) identified with, and accepted by major sub-groups
in the community.
5. The association must have goals and methods and
procedures of high acceptability.
6. The programme of the association should include some
activities with an emotional content.
7. The association should seek to utilize the manifest and latent
goodwill which exists in the community.
8. The association must develop active and effective lines of
communication both within the association and between the
association and the community.
9. The association should seek to support and strengthen groups
which it brings together in cooperative work.
10. The association should develop a pace of work relative to
existing conditions in the community.
11. The association should seek to develop effective leaders.
12. The association must develop strength, stability and prestige
in the community
Keeping in mind the actual practice situations in India H. Y.
Siddiqui (1997) have worked out a set of 8 principles.

1. The Principle of Specific Objectives

2. The Principle of Planning
3. The Principle of Peoples Participation
4. The Principle of inter-group approach
5. The Principle of democratic functioning
6. The Principle of flexible organisation
7. The Principle of Optimum Utilisation of Indigenous
Resources
8. The Principle of Cultural orientation
Principles of Community organisation

• Principle of felt needs

• Principle of resource mobilization
• Local leadership
• Principle of participation
• Principle of self help
• Principle of democracy
• Principle of cooperation
• Principle of programme planning
• Principle of prevention
Steps in C. Organization
1. The recognition of problem or need
2. Analysis of the problem
3. Fact-finding
4. Planning
5. Official approval
6. Action
7. Recording and reporting
8. Adjustment
9. Evaluation

See- C. Welfare Org. by A. Dunham

Process of Community Organization

1. Study
2. Problem identification and analysis
3. Assessment
4. Determination of strategies
5. Organization
6. Action
7. Evaluation
8. Modification and continuation
Methods of C O
1. Programming
1. Fact finding 2. Analysis 3.Evaluation 4. Planning
2. Coordination and Integration
5. Conference 6. Consultation 7. Negotiation
8. Organization
3. Education and Promotion
9. Education 10. Legislative Promotion
11. Non-legislative Social Action
4. Financing
12. Fund Raising 13. Federal Financial Campaigning
14. Joint Budget
See- C. Welfare Org. by A. Dunham
Some Methods of Community
Organization
 Analysis
Analysis involves breaking up a problem, situation, or
collection of data.
The purpose of analysis is to gain insight and understanding ,
particularly, to understand the content better by dividing it
up on some logical basis; and to understand the relationship
involved in the content.
Ways to Analysis
The application of the six analytical questions: What, who,
where, when, why, how?
For example, the problem what shall be done about the
older people in our community of 100000, needs to be
broken down into the specific questions, such as the
following:
-What do we mean by older people?
-How many of them are there?
-What ages?
-Where do they live?
-Where do they live?
-What are their basic needs in respect to income,
maintenance, housing, health, employment, recreation and
so on?
-What are the resources available for dealing with these
problems?

Classification
For example, A large community welfare council must
classify its member agencies to obtain picture of the
resources in various functional fields in the community.
Comparison
Comparison of case loads, service statistics, and per capita
costs

Analysis of a formal document

For this following actions are required;
-Underlying the key words
-Sentences that state the basic provisions
-Where the text is definitely ambiguous
-Specific queries on the meaning of certain passages.
Evaluation
Evaluation in community organization means value judgment
about a certain phenomena.
For example, To select a campaign chairman, a united fund
committee evaluates several persons proposed for the jobs.
Urban social service office with request for grants totaling 1o
million and only 8 million to allocate evaluates the relative
importance of various proposals.
-Evaluation implies selection or ranking
For example, out of fourteen community action proposals,
these nine conform to the established criteria.
-Evaluation provides the basis for the establishment of
priorities.
For Example, A budget committee may have ten valid
requests for budget increases, but only a few of them can be
financed at this time.
Planning
Planning means determining a proposed future action or
course of action.
Planning related to community organization is
-The planning of extensive or long range program,
- Specific projects, services and activities,
- a course of action such as legislative strategies,
program alternatives,
- an organization , reorganization, merger,
- a budget,
- a time schedule for survey,
- community action procedures.
Education
Why?
How?
About what?

-Education in community organization is largely informal.

-It focuses on community problems and community
services.
-It is an open minded approach where individual is helped to
acquire information, to consider alternative, to analyze and
explore concepts.
Public Relations
Public relations include the whole area of relations with the
public and with groups and individuals outside the agency.
Why should a social service agency pay attention to public
relation?
1. The establishment of support( moral and financial)
Most of the agencies get their fund from the public. So
they depend upon public understanding and support for
the continuance of its program and services.
• 2.Promoting understanding of the aims, services and
methods of social welfare agencies
Interpretation through public relation shall be effective to
- attract the actual and potential consumers of the services,
- probable sources of referrals,
- cooperation with organization and
- Cooperation the general public
• 3. Defense
It is necessary against opposition. Such opposition may be
based on
- Program deficiency,
- Mistakes of the part of individual workers,
- prejudice
Legislative Promotion
The application of legislative promotion method in
community organization means to affect changes in social
legislation and social policy by modifying old and introducing
new ones suited in the changed social conditions.
 The agency’s relationship with various legislative actions are as
follows:
a. Endorsement or opposition to a bill ( this need not be
anything more than a public statement of the agency’s
position)
b. Incidental support
This refers to some activity in behalf of the bill. But it falls short
of major responsibility for promoting the legislation.
c. Major responsibility for promoting a specific bill
This would include carrying on educational, propaganda, and
pressure activities on behalf of the bill.
d. Planning, organizing and implementing an all-out legislative
campaign for a major piece of legislation.
• Steps in legislative campaign
- Recognition of the problem
-Genesis of the idea for legislation
-Formulation of the substance of the proposal
( this may include analysis, fact finding, discussion by
interested groups and formulating a statement of the
proposal)
- Planning the campaign, appointing a Steward Campaign
Committee and building the campaign organization,
- Drafting the bill,
-Securing the sponsor(s) and arranging for the introduction of
the bill,
- Carrying out the campaign,
- Sending letters of thanks, after the bill is passed and signed,
to those who cooperated,
- Analyzing, evaluating and making a permanent record of the
campaign as a basis for future legislative efforts.
Non legislative Social Action
Non legislative social action means an attempt to prevail upon
a group or officials to take desired action, other than passage
or approval of legislation for a social welfare objective sought
by a social actionist.
For Example,
Efforts to induce the mayor to appoint a qualified director of
welfare.
Bringing pressure on the state welfare commission to increase
assistance grants.
• Urging the board of hospital to start a separate department
of counseling for the support of rape victim.
The strategies may be
-Persuasion
- Appeals to both reason and emotions
-Emphasizing the favorable and unfavorable results of the
alternative courses of action,
- Attempting to make particular position or course of action
untenable or unpleasant.
• Personal Promotion
Which includes an attempt to influence an official, legislator,
or other leader through personal contact with a person close
to leader or close to someone who is close to the leader,
• Marshalling expressions of public opinion
This includes petitions and public mass meetings to promote
or protest for this purpose.
• Withdrawing or threatened withdrawal of funds or other
threats of punitive action.
Negotiation
Negotiation means communicating or carrying on dealings
with a view to coming to terms.
For example,
two institutions, considering a merger, negotiate on the use
of their respective buildings and equipments and the
employment of their respective staff members.
• Negotiation method may be applied in the areas of inter-
agency cooperation such as;
-making more or less inter- agency agreements between two
or more groups. For example. FIVDB and Social Service
Department have an agreement on the services for the
adolescent girls sent by the court.
- Taking concerted action by two or more organizations. For
example, city corporation that works out a plan for concerted
action by social and health agencies in the event of disaster;
four agencies agreeing to ask their workers to report
violation of housing code.
- An attempt to bring about a merger of two or more social
welfare agencies.
Conference
It means informal group discussion by three or more
persons, with the object of carrying on open-minded
exploration and usually of achieving consensus or
integration of thinking on a subject or problem.
This definition involves the following factors;
- Conference is carried out by a group which is regarded here
as three or more persons.
- Conference method may be used by committees, boards,
study groups, etc.
- Informal groups such as a conference of representatives
from three or four agencies discussing a mutual problem
-Conference normally involves a face-to-face meeting of the
group.
-Conference uses informal group discussion and implies general
participation.
-The underlying aim of the conference is to explore a subject
open-mindedly and usually to achieve agreement or
integration of thinking.
Consultation
Consultation means giving advice, counsel, or assistance to an
organization, group, community, or other unit by a person or
a team of persons with specialized knowledge, skill, or other
technical qualification.
For example, officials of the governmental agencies consult
with the representatives of social welfare agencies about the
staff development , recent amendments to the state law,
revision of policies and procedures.
The consultant should be equipped with:
- a technical knowledge and understanding of any specialized
field or content about which he is attempting to give advice.
- a knowledge of resources,
- skill in teaching
- an understanding of individual and group behavior, of social
problems, programs, and policies and of the nature and
situation of the consultee agency and its community.
- an ability to enter into a helping relationship
Fund Raising
It means obtaining the requisite funds for the operation of
voluntary agency.
• The ways of fund raising are;
- raising operating funds through voluntary contributions,
- obtaining capital funds from wealthy persons,
- Soliciting bequests which means encouraging testators to
include bequests for social welfare purposes in their wills.
- Soliciting grants from governmental bodies.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The process by which the efforts of the people themselves are
united with those of governmental authorities to improve
the economic, social and cultural conditions of these
communities into the life of the nation, and to enable them
to contribute fully to national progress. The complex of
processes is then made up of two essential elements: the
participation of the people themselves and the provision of
technical and other services in ways which encourage
initiative, self-help and mutual aid and make this more
effective (UN 1963)
A process by which a community identifies its needs and
objectives, orders (or ranks) them, develops the will and
confidence to work on them, and in so doing extends and
develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and
practices in the community. The result of the community
organization process is that the community should be better
equipped than at some previous stage, or before the process
began to identify and deal cooperatively and skillfully with
its common problems (Ross 1955)
• “Community development is the participation of people in a
mutual learning experience involving themselves, their local
resources, external change agents, and outside resources.
People cannot be developed. They can only develop
themselves by participating in activities which affect their
well-being. People are not being developed when they are
herded like animals into new ventures.”
Julius Nyerere, 1968
United Nation’s report states that

“Community Development is the process designed to create

conditions of economic and social progress for whole of
community development with its active participation and
fullest possible reliance on community initiative.”
• It is the process through which the human being is assisted
in his growth and development within the scope of his
potential (Depositario, 1991)
• The process of assisting ordinary people to improve their
own communities by undertaking collective action
(Twelvetrees, 1991)
• It concerns with the development of attitudes,
understanding and skills. These are manifested by the
change observed in people’s action such as cooperativeness
and social responsibilities (Benan, 1968)
• A process which strengthens the “horizontal patter” of the
community, that is the relations of individuals, groups and
organizations in local communities (Warren, 1963)
Background
Community development is a grassroots process by which
communities:
• Become more responsible
• Organize and plan together
• Develop healthy lifestyle options
• Empower themselves
• Reduce poverty and suffering
• Create employment and economic opportunities
• Achieve social, economic, cultural and environmental goals
Similarities between Community
Organisation and Community
Development
Similarities

i. Both are process

ii. Both are aimed at socio-economic development of the
community through varies welfare programmes.
iii. In both the unit of action is community.
iv. People participation is the key to both process.
v. Mobilization and utilisation of resources is ensured in both
process.
Distinction between Community
Organisation and Community
Development
 Community organisation Community development
People’s participation is important. People’s development is important.
Governments and external agencies External assistance from the government
assistances are not important or or other agencies is considered
needed. important.
It is used in all the fields. Used mostly in economic development
and development of living standards
Planning is initiated by the people Planning is carried out by an external
through their participation. agency mostly by the government.
Community organisers are mostly social Person can be from other professions
workers and social change agents. including agricultural experts, veterinary
experts, and other technical experts.
Community organisation is practiced in Programmes are mainly practiced in
any community. under developed or developing
communities.
Community Development approach
Process of Community Development

A fixed blueprint for perfect CD process is unrealistic. Rather

plan a framework that provides guidance and adapt it as the
situation evolves.
Process of CD

Process—

Building Support
Making a Plan
Implementing and Adjusting the Plan
Maintaining Momentum
Building Support
Community enhancement and capacity building are
fundamental to CD. The first step is to create awareness,
understanding and support for the CD process. There are
some queries---
Q1. Why do you believe a CD approach should be initiated?
Q2. What benefit would result form it?
Q3. What steps needed to be taken at first?
Q4. Who should take leadership role?
Q5. What are the longer term issue need to consider?
Q1. Why do you believe a CD approach should
be initiated?
Community Needs Assessment
Need
A need is something you have to have and cannot do
without it. So,……..

• Community need assessment is a process by which

assessment of the current situation in the
community is undertaken, value-based judgments
regarding the preferred or desired situation are
reached, and some determination of the priority
status of local needs is made.
A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining
and addressing needs, or "gaps" between current conditions
and desired conditions or "wants". The discrepancy between
the current condition and wanted condition must be
measured to appropriately identify the need. The need can
be a desire to improve current performance or to correct a
deficiency.
Values, Ethics and Principles in
Community Needs Assessment
Why assess a community?
• Identify needs
• See what are common in community
• People learn more about a situation
• Sometime needs are not revealed until crisis occurred
• Policies need to evolve considering the changing nature of
the community
• How to assess the needs
THE COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT PROCESS
Step 1: Define the Scope
Step 2: Decide to Go Solo or Collaborate
Step 3: Collect Data
Step 4: Determine Key Findings
Step 5: Set Priorities and Create an Action Plan
Step 6: Share Your Findings
Step 1: Define the Scope
Community issues are complicated. One issue is often related
to many others, and it is easy to keep expanding the range of
issues to include in your community assessment. Let’s look
at the following example:

• High school dropout rates are related to homelessness.

• Homelessness is related to head-of-household
unemployment.
• Unemployment can lead to gang involvement.
• Gang involvement is related to high school dropout rates.
• Gang involvement can be prevented if efforts are targeted at
middle school youth.
All of these issues are important. A community assessment can
address all of the issues and their interrelationships, or it can
focus on just one issue. To define the scope of your
community assessment, you must clearly identify the
community issue to be assessed, the impacted community
members, the geographic area to assess, the key questions
you want answered, and the level of detail you want to
include in the assessment. Here are some examples of key
questions:
• What are the basic demographics of my community?
• Who are the faith- and community-based organizations
serving people in my community? What services are they
providing and to whom?
• ..What services are local public agencies providing, and to
whom? (Include law enforcement, probation, courts,
schools, and workforce development.)
• ..What organizations are funded by foundations and
government agencies to address the community issues?
What do local residents see as the primary needs for this
community?
• ..What are the various intervention strategies being used in
my community to address the issues? Are these practices
demonstrating any clear outcomes?
• ..Who are the leaders in my community? What key players in
Step 2: Decide to Go Solo or Collaborate
• Deciding the scope will highlight the choices available to you
for conducting your community assessment. You can decide
to “go solo” and carry the entire responsibility for
completing all of the community assessment activities; or,
you can work with community partners as a collaborative
project to complete the assessment.
• One of the most important factors to consider is the level of
resources you have to conduct a community assessment.
Examine the time, effort, and human resources that are
available from your various stakeholders, including staff,
volunteers, consultants, and board members. Establishing
collaborations will increase the resources available to
conduct a quality and useful assessment.
Step 3: Collect Data
• This step will guide you through finding credible sources of
information and, when necessary, developing your own data
collection tools. In any data collection effort, it is essential
that you first set limits on how much data you will collect
and analyze. Consider the amount of time and resources you
have available prior to selecting any specific method or
combination of methods. Prioritize your data collection
needs according to what is essential to complete your
community assessment. Document your data collection
efforts using the “Creating a Data Collection Plan
Worksheet” (Appendix B). In using this tool, you will list the
key questions that you identified in Step 1 and then identify
probable sources of information.
Step 4: Determine Key Findings
The data collection step will result in a lot of data and
information about your community needs and assets. You
can analyze the data to identify the assessment’s key
findings. Key findings serve several purposes:
..They validate anecdotal evidence of community needs and
assets.
..They highlight significant trends found in the data collection
process.
..They reveal differences across segments of the community.
..They help clarify answers to the community assessment’s key
questions.
Step 5: Set Priorities and Create an Action Plan
• The completion of a community assessment process should
allow you to make informed decisions about your goals and
objectives. You are able to identify specific needs that came
up in your assessment that you want to address. Step five of
the community assessment process is to set priorities based
on your findings and create an action plan to guide your
post-assessment planning. For each part of your plan,
determine how you will measure the effectiveness of your
actions. Adopt measures that help define your strategy and
that you will be able to track over time.
Step 6: Share Your Findings

• The last step of your community assessment is to share what

you have learned with others and to disseminate your plan.
Now that you have taken the time to find out information
about your community, you should allow the community to
benefit from your findings. Community members are more
likely to support your efforts when they have a clear
understanding of the work you have done and of what their
community needs.
Steps to Assessing Needs Assessment
• Purpose of the needs assessment
• Know how to use the needs assessment
• Determine what type of data to collect
• Design a survey instrument
• Gather data
• Analyzing data
• Communicating the result of the needs assessment
Community Need Assessment Techniques
Keith A. Carter and Lionel J. Beaulieu

• The Key Informant Technique

• The Public Forum Approach
• The Nominal Group Process Technique
• The Delphi Technique
• The Survey Approach
Key Informant Approach
• Purpose
To collect information from those community residents who,
because of their professional training and/or affiliation with
particular organizations, agencies, or associations, are in a
prime position to know what the needs facing the
community are likely to be.
Types of Key Informants
• Elected officials (e.g., mayors, commissioners, etc.)
• Key persons in institutional areas of the community (e.g.,
religious leaders, bankers, public safety officials, school
administrators, hospital administrators, etc.)
• Agency administrators (e.g., social service department)
• Leaders of public service organizations (e.g., Chamber of
Commerce, )
• Professionals in specific service areas (e.g., physicians,
lawyers, school faculty, etc.)
How to Implement the Key Informant Approach
1.Compile a list of "key informants" by name.
2. Decide how you want to collect information from these key
informants—via questionnaires, interviews, or meetings
(perhaps all).
3. Construct a brief questionnaire and/or interview form which
can be used to obtain the information you need.
4.Gather data.
5. Organize data.
6. Interpret data.
7. Schedule a meeting with key informants. Present the findings
of your study to them. Discuss your interpretations and their
interpretations of the data.
Advantages
• One of the easiest and least expensive
• Permits input from many individuals with different
perspectives on the needs of the community.
• Can be implemented by community volunteers, thereby
building citizen involvement and awareness.
• Not the high cost of printing and data analysis.
• May help initiate or strengthen the lines of
communication among service organizations, agencies,
and associations.
• Discussion of the findings with the key informants
promotes insights for all concerned.
Disadvantages
• The information derived from this technique may represent
a "biased perspective": information is typically elicited from
"providers of services" (as opposed to the "consumers" of
services).
• Personal relationships between researchers and informants
may influence type of data obtained.
• Should be combined with other methods, because
representativeness of total community is difficult to
achieve.
• Few people can sense all the needs and concerns of all
people in a community—the perspectives of those who are
less visible may be overlooked.
The Public Forum Approach
• Purpose
To elicit information from a wide range of community
residents concerning issues and community needs via group
discussion taking place at a series of public meetings.

• One or more organizations, agencies, or associations sponsor

a series of public meetings (forums) during which time the
participants discuss what some of the needs facing the
community are, what some of the priority needs are, and
what can be done about these priority needs.
How to Implement the Public Forum Approach
1.Develop discussion questions that for group discussion.
2. Select a strategically located place for the initial meeting.
3. Publicize the purpose, data, and place at which the forum will
be held. Use the media as much as possible.
4. The group sponsoring the initial forum should take the
initiative in conducting the first meeting.
5. The discussion leader should pose the questions prepared in
advance to the audience after stating the purpose, objective to
encourage open discussion and interchange of ideas.
6. Make sure the recorder gets the names of all the participants
so they may be personally contacted prior to the next forum.
Advantages
• Offers a good way to elicit opinions from participants.
• Provides an opportunity for citizens to actively participate in
the needs assessment process.
• Participants in the forums may offer able assistance to
decision makers after the needs assessment process is
completed.
• Often contributes to enhancing the lines of communication
between the "providers" and "consumers”
• Perhaps the least expensive and easiest of all the systematic
needs assessment approaches.
• Can provide a quick, intensive picture of community concerns.
Disadvantages
• Opinions obtained are limited to those who attend—all
viewpoints may not be heard.
• Participants in the forums may actually represent a variety of
"vested interest" groups.
• Poor advance planning and advertising may result in limited
participation.
• Participants in forums may use the sessions as a vehicle to
publicize their grievances ("gripes") about local organizations
or agencies.
Continued..
• If not well-facilitated, only the vocal minorities will be heard.
• A large turnout may prevent everyone from speaking and
may limit time allowed for each speaker.
• May generate more questions than answers.
• The forums may bring about unrealistic expectations in the
minds of the participants in terms of what "providers" can do
to help meet needs.
The Nominal Group Process Approach
• Purpose
An idea generating strategy to gather individual’s ideas in a
face-to-face non-threatening situations. The nominal group
process is intended to maximize creative participation of
group members. Input from all participants is required. The
process takes advantage of each person’s knowledge and
experience.

This approach is useful in generating and clarifying ideas,

reaching consensus, prioritizing, and making decisions on
alternative actions.
How to Implement the Nominal Group Process
Approach

• If a large number of participants are involved, divide

participants into small groups of 6 to 20 persons.
• Members of the group write their individuals ideas on paper.
• Each person discusses his/her ideas and all concerns are
listed on a chart or board.
• Each idea is discussed, clarified, and evaluated by the group.
• Each person assigns priorities by silent ballot.
• Group priorities are tallied.
• Discussion of final group priorities.
Advantages
• If well-organized in advance, a heterogeneous group can
move toward definite conclusions.
• Can be used to expand the data obtained from surveys or
existing documents, or to generate a more specific survey.
• Generates many ideas in a short period of time; allows for a
full range of individuals’ thoughts and concerns.
• A good way to obtain input from people of different
backgrounds and experiences.
• Gives all participants an equal opportunity to express
opinions and ideas in a non threatening setting.
• Stimulates creative thinking and effective dialogue.
• Allow for clarification of ideas.
Disadvantages

• May be extremely difficult to implement with large

audiences unless advance preparation has taken place to
train group facilitators and divide participants into groups of
6 to 10 members.
• "Knowledgeable" individuals selected to participate may not
represent all community subgroups.
• May not be a sufficient source of data in itself; may require
follow-up survey, observations or ocumentary analysis.
The Survey Approach
• Purpose
To collect information from a wide range of community
residents concerning issues and community needs via their
responses to specific questions included in an interview
schedule or questionnaire.
Some Types of Surveys

• Personal (face-to-face) interviews

• Personal distribution and collection
• Self administered questionnaires completed by
respondents in groups
• Telephone interviews
• Mailed questionnaires
Advantages
• Perhaps the best approach for eliciting the attitudes of a
broad range of individuals.
• The data obtained are usually valid and reliable.
• Techniques—mail survey, telephone survey, personal
interview, drop-off and pick-up survey— may be selected in
relation to desired cost or response rate.
• Can be used to survey an entire population and provide an
opportunity for many in the decision-making process.
• Secures information from individuals who may be the
recipients of services initiated as a result of the findings,
thereby eliciting data from individuals who are usually in a
good position of critique present services.
Disadvantages
• This approach is often the most costly.
• To ensure statistical meaning, samples must be carefully
selected.
• Results may not be valid if survey is not designed correctly.
• May require time and expertise to develop the survey, train
interviewers, conduct interviews, and analyze results.
• Individuals sometimes hesitant to answer questions.
Individuals who do answer questions sometimes answer
them in the most desirable way (i.e., perhaps their answers
represent what they think the authors want to hear, not
necessarily how the respondents really feel. This is a problem
particularly with interviews.)
• Individuals’ attitudes can change rapidly. Attitudes can
change due to a variety of "intervening factors."
Approaches of Community Organization
Factors in Studying a Community
1. Description of the community
Geographical: Location, physiography, climate, etc.
Accommodation: House, rooms, ventilation, etc.
History
Religion and religious activities
Service and facilities
2. Population
Size, structure, trend, ratio, migration, etc.
3. Health and Sanitation
Health practice, diseases, drainage, water supply, medical facility,
nutrition, infant mortality, toilet, etc.
4. Communication and Transportation
Mood of communication, distance, e-service, internet use, roads,
use of television, news paper, etc.
5. Education: Literacy, Access, gender participation, trend, institute,
6. Economic Affairs: Mood of production, occupation, profession,
capital, market access, financial institute, women role, etc.
7. Kinship pattern: Family type, relationship, marriage, socialization
process,
8. Religion and culture: Religious practice, cultural practice, types,
rituals, relation, etc.
9. Recreation: Common practice, facilities, organization,
10. Political Institute: Political situation, practice, decision making,
leadership, etc.
11. Resources and Limitations: Local resources, use, barriers,
crises, etc.
Models of Community Intervention
 Model
Model is a set of concepts and principles used to guide
intervention activities
A model develops out of experience and experimentation
rather than a derivation from a theory of human behavior
The term model is also used when referring to a conceptual
framework that is borrowed from one field and applied in
another
Example- Social worker may use Legal model to social action
and advocacy
Example- Crisis intervention is viewed as a model because does
not rest on a single explanation of crisis situations
There are multiple opinions about the community intervention
models. Based on those opinions we can indentified the
following models of community intervention.
Neighborhood and community organizing
Organizing functional communities
Political and social action model
Social, economic and sustainable development model
Program development and community liaison
Social planning
Movements for progressive change
Coalition
Neighborhood and community organizing
This model is grounded in personal and interpersonal, group,
empowerment, organizational and social change theories. It is
applicable for the specific geographical location where face-to-
face encounter occur regularly with a triple focus on-
• To develop and stimulate leadership and organization
• To strengthen the organization capacity by improving leadership
and organization functioning
• To help organization help successful actions towards the
improvement of quality of life conditions and opportunities for
the community
Desired outcomes----
Develop organizing capacity
Direct/moderate impact of regional and external development
Organizing functional communities
Functional community
Have specific common interest but not necessary to live in
proximity. Like minded people may organize such
community.
Like– To prevent or protect or promote any social issues
Political and social action model
It involves research to indentify the issues related to social
justice.
It is an organized effort where people are gather to protest or
protect
Sometime it may be violent in nature
Social, economic and sustainable development model

Initiating development plan from a grassroots perspective. It

tries to change the systems such as banks, foundations, laws,
etc.

Social worker’s role: Negotiator, Promoter, Bridge-builder,

Educator, etc.
Program development and community liaison

It involves in initiating or expanding services by an agency or

others. But people’s need and desire should be considered
and their active participation is necessary

Social worker’s role: Planner, Manager, Trainer, Spokes person,

etc.
Social Planning
Community practitioners engage with community members to
learn their perspective on community conditions, needs,
resources and directions. They share their skills with
community members and coach them in carrying out
assessment, analysis and community based decision.
Movement for progressive change
Action towards progressive change that will provide new
paradigms for the healthy development of people and
increase opportunities, human rights and social justice

Social worker’s role: Advocate, facilitator or motivator

Coalitions
It brings together organizations having a common interest in a
social, civic, economic, environmental or political concern