Bed 2127 Introductionto Community Development

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BED 2127+ Introduction+TO+ Community+ Development
Principles of Social Work (Mount Kenya University)
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DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
VIRTUAL CAMPUS, UNION TOWERS, 6TH FLOOR.
P.O BOX 13495-00100 GPO Nairobi.
Email: distance.learning@mku.ac.ke.
Tel: 0700-912353, 0702-041042.
Author: Patrick Kamweti

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DED 1102: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Preliquisites: None
Purpose
This course unit is designed to equip the trainee with knowledge, skills and attitudes that
would enable him/her participate in community development.
Expected Learning Outcomes
 Understand the principles and practice of community development

 Understand the role of organizations in community development
 Apply various approaches to community development
 Appreciate the importance of empowerment and partnerships in sustaining
development projects in a community.
Content
WEEK TOPIC SUBTOPIC HOURS
1 &2 Overview/introduction - Definition of community 6

- Defining development and
community development
- Characteristics of community
- Characteristics of community
development
- Theoretical background of
community development
- Perceptions of community
development
- Evolution of community
development
- Philosophers of community
development
- Community development and other
disciplines
- Sustainable communities
- Qualities of community
development worker
- Challenges faced by development
workers
3 &4 Community - Analyzing community need 6
development process - Planning for action
- Awareness or sensitization
- Mobilizing resources
- Implementation
- Evaluation
- Community responsibility
- External agents

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5 &6 Community - Concept of community 6

participation participation
- Importance of participation
- Levels and types of community
participation
- Challenges to participation
7 &8 Community - community action plan (CAP) 6

development tools and - baseline survey
techniques - needs assessment
- Rapid rural appraisal
- Participatory rural appraisals
- participatory learning and action
(PCA)
9 &10 COMMUNITY -what is leadership? 6
LEADERSHIP
- characteristics of effective leadership
- styles of leadership
- roles of leadership in community

development
- leadership development
Learning and Teaching Methodologies
Lectures, Group discussions, Assignment
Course Assessment
Examination - 70%; Continuous Assessment Test (CATS) - 20%; Assignments - 10%; Total -
100%
Required Text Books
 Banks S. et al, (2003), Managing Community: Practice, Principles, Policies and

Programmes, The Policy Press, Bristol.
 Mulwa, W. f, (2010), Demystifying Participatory Community Development. Paulines
Publication Africa.
 Chitere, P. O, (1994), Community Development: Its conceptualization and practice
with emphasis on Africa. G.S Were Press Nairobi.
 Ledwith M., (2005), Community Development: A critical Approach, MPG Books,
Bristol.

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DCD 113: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Definition of community:-
It’s a collective of people who may or may not be living within the same geographical
locality but bound by certain social relationship i.e. beliefs, lifestyle, ancestry interests e.t.c.
The concept of community can be defined as a relatively limited geographical area of living,
identified as such by residents that are with reference to common residence, interest and
emotional reaction. Another important concept in community is social unit which identifies
the community as a group/associations based on common needs, interests, values and
functions. This links to the issue of membership in the group and sharing of common interest
as well as the acknowledgement of the rights and responsibilities of all other community
members.
Another important aspect of community is its universally dynamic nature. It undergoes a

process of alteration, adjustment, adaptation, and recognition. And change whether natural or
planned is very important to the community because it helps them to endure as well as
develop.
Therefore, the term community may mean different things to different people. Interpretation
of this term is varied and sometimes with very little in common. However, the following are
some of the definitions:
 In everyday usage of the term community refers to a geographical locality and its
residents.
o According the Midgley, community is usually defined in terms of geographic locality,

shared interests or in terms of deprivation.
o According to Edwards and Jones they share a simple line of thought and define
community as a grouping of people who exercise some degree of local autonomy in
organizing their social life in such a way that they can satisfy a full range of their
daily needs.
o According to Zenter, it is concerned with the utilization of habitation space in the

understanding of a community but add that the common bond is concern.
A community in general may refer to a group of people who are found within a certain
geographical settings and who seem to share common interests. A community is a group of
people who share a common experience e.g. history, geographical location, customs e.t.c. it
can be identified through a common history value of predicaments and undergoes alterations
adjustments adaptation of social change.

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Characteristics of a community: (Features)

1) A community has membership or a population or group of population.
2) Each member has shared values, norms and beliefs which determine how they interact
with each other and the environment. (A common culture or way of life)
3) Communities have a locality symbols or name which gives an identity (A geographical

setting or a common location)
4) They interact with each other and the environment (Interaction and social relations)
5) Communities are dynamic i.e. some come and others go.
6) Communities have an organizational structure of or form.
7) Communities may also be bound together by shared resources such as land, water
 Shared community structures like schools and institutions
 Shared social relation like clans, families and neighborhoods
 Shared rules or regulations such as missions, visions and goals
Association – it’s a group of people who come together for a common interest usually based
on mechanical solidarity-based on the values of codes of conduct that super seed individual
cultures.
An association may not necessarily share a common history, culture, values and customs.
Defining development and community development

Develop:-
This means to increase in complexity from simpler to complexity, capacity, capability,
maturity, e.t.c.
 It’s exchange from simpler state to a more complex state.
 Expansion in capacity, e.t.c.
Development:-
It’s the process or the effect/ consequence of a transition.
It’s the process of improving the well being of a people-standard of living and quality of life.
It’s a process of moving from a lesser state “to a higher state” such as sustainable way of
meeting needs e.g. traditional to modern primitive to civilized needs to sustainability.
It’s also a qualitative gradual change that results to better living.
Development may also mean the provision of basic necessities
It is also a process of changing people’s attitude, knowledge and practices
Development is a process of improving the well being of the people. It is about raising their
standards of living, creating new and equal opportunities for the exploitation of their
potentiality. Thereby, achieving a desired, richer more varied and sustained life.

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Development is freeing people from their limitations. It is a process by which people gain
greater control over themselves, their situations and their future in order to realize their
potentialities in life.
Characteristics of development
Development is a gradual process through which certain things must take place:
1. Provision of basic necessities: people must have access to basic necessities like food,
clothing, shelter, and education.
2. There must be creation of favorable conditions, opportunities and varied choices
3. There must be the involvement of people ( peoples participation which promotes
sustainability)
4. Development is meant to dynamic, multi-dimensional and in need of a relative
concept
5. It must also be peoples centered
Community development:-
This is an approach to community betterment which involves the active participation of the
community members in the entire process. i.e.
 From initiation to planning, organizing, implementation and evaluating.
 According to the United Nations, community Development is a process by which
efforts of the people themselves are united with those of the governmental
authority to improve economic, social and cultural activities, integrate them into
the life of the nation and enable them to contribute fully to the national progress.
 It’s the process of building capacity of the community so as to identify their own needs,
prioritize them, and initiate programs to address them.
 It involves mass education, building relationships, mobilizing resources and developing

capacity.
 Dr. Julius Nyerere said “communities cannot be developed they only develop
themselves”.
 Thus community development is a bottom approach to development. It is people centered

development and seeks to achieve sustainable development.
 The concept of community development is defined by scholars such as Parsons and

Sanders as a social system, composed of people living in some spatial relationships who
share common facilities and services having a common psychological identification
having common symbols and also sharing a common communication network.
 Community development is a set of values and practices which plays a special role in
overcoming poverty and disadvantages, knitting society together at the grassroots and
deepening democracy.
 Community development is a structured intervention that gives communities greater

control over the conditions that affect their lives. This does not involve all the problems

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faced by a local community but is does build up confidence to tackle such problems as
effectively as any local action can. Community development works at the level of local
groups and organizations rather than with individuals or families. The range of local
groups and organizations representing communities at local level constitutes the
community sector.
 Community development is a skilled process and part of its approach is the belief that
communities cannot be helped unless they themselves agree to this process. Community
development has to look both ways: not only at how the community is working at the
grass roots but also at how responsive key institutions are to the needs of local
communities.
 It is crucially concerned with issues of powerlessness and disadvantage: as such it should

involve all members of society and offers a practice that is part of a process of social
change.
 It is about the active involvement of people in the issues which affect their lives; it is
based on the sharing of power, skills, knowledge and experience.
 Community development takes place both in neighborhoods and within communities of

interest as people identify what is relevant to them.
 The process is collective but the experience of the process enhances integrity, skills,
knowledge and experience as well as equality of power for each individual who is
involved.
 Seeks to enable individual and communities to grow and change according to their own
needs and priorities and at their own pace provided this does not oppress other groups and
communities or damage the environment.
 Where community development takes place, there are certain principles to it. The first
priority of the community development process is the empowering and enabling of those
who are traditionally deprived of their power and control over their common affairs. It
claims as important the ability of people to act together to influence the social, economic,
political and environmental issues which affect them. Community development aims to
encourage sharing and to create structures which give genuine participation and
involvement.
 Community development is about developing the power, skills, knowledge and

experience of people as individuals and in groups thus enabling them to undertake
initiatives on their own to combat social, economic, political and environmental problems
and enabling them to fully participate in a truly democratic process.
 Community development must take the lead in confronting the attitudes of individuals
and the practices of institutions and society as a whole which discriminates unfairly
against black people, women, people with disabilities and different abilities, religious
groups, elderly people, lesbians and gay men and other groups who are disadvantaged by
society. It also must take a lead in countering the destruction of the natural environment

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on which we all depend. Community development is well placed to involve people

equally on these issues which affect all of us.
 Community development should seek to develop structures which enable the active
involvement of people from disadvantaged groups and in particular people from minority
ethnic groups.
Theoretical background of community development.

Definition of community development
There are many definitions of community development.
 One of the very 1st definitions was made during the cartridge conference (1948) on the
encouragement of initiative in Africa society which used the term “mass education” in its
definition to mean a movement designed to promote better living for the whole
community with active participation and if possible on the initiative is not forthcoming
spontaneously by use of techniques for arousing and stimulating it in order to secure its
active and enthusiastic response to the movement.
 Some participants during the conference where however uneasy with the term mass
education and proposed the use of the term community development which was adapted
to mean all forms of betterment kept by government and NGO’s in the field of health,
agriculture and education.
Other definitions: - By the United Nations :- (1963)

 According to the UN, it’s a process by which the effort of the people themselves are
united with those of governmental authorities to improve the economic social and cultural
conditions of community and integrate these communities into the life of the nation and
to enable them to contribute fully through national progress.
According to the UN, definition; the two essential elements of the complex process are;
A. Participation by the people in efforts to improve their level of living, with us much
reliance as possible from their own initiative.
B. Provision of technical and other services in way which encourage initiative, self help and
mutual help and to make this more effective.
C. According to the international cooperative administration (1956). Community

development is a process of social action in which the people of a community organize
themselves for planning and action; define their common and individual needs and
problems, execute this plans with a maximum reliant upon community resources and
supplement this resources when necessary with services and materials from governmental
and non- governmental agencies outside the community.
Definition by:-
D. Biddle & Biddle (1965):-
According to these two people, this is a social process by which human beings can became
competent to live with and gain some control on a local aspect of a frustrating and changing
world.

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It’s a group method of expediting personality growth which can occur when neighbors work
together to serve their growth concept on the good of all.
E. Definition by Clifford (1956)

The community development is technical assistance at the village level that helps the people
to work together for a better living.
Objectives:-
a) To help the people find methods to organize self- help programmes.
b) To formulate / furnish / provide techniques for corporative actions on pans which
they have developed to improve their own local circumstances.
c) Show people how to work together
d) To create a self reliant community
From the above definitions, it’s clear that:-

a) Community development is an educational approach (empowerment approach) to
community betterment.
b) Community development is an approach that seeks to involve the people in planning and
implementing various programmes; in the process people gain experience and grow as
persons as the process unfolds to a point where they find themselves competent enough to
initiate and carry out other actions aimed at the improvement.
c) Emphasis is not on physical facilities but on people.
d) The role of outsiders and development agencies is to facilitate the process.
Perceptions of community development:-

Since 1940’s, there has been a rapid growth in community development, however,
community development is still searching for a more mature definitions.
Different people in both the government and private sector understand community
development differently, i.e.
1. To local public official, community development may mean local industrial growth, new
schools, better housing, and community beautification e.t.c.
2. To an environment; community development may mean preserving the desirable
attributes of the environment i.e. forest, H2O, clean air, e.t.c.
3. To a community activist; community development may mean better health services, more
job opportunities, and education for the disadvantaged.
4. To a senior government official: - community development may mean revenue sharing.
From the above examples, it’s clear that we still have confusion as to what community
development really is. People tend to look at it and understand it depending on their position
in the society.
 The reason for the confusion is partly due to the youthfulness of community development
as a profession.
 Difficulty is also evident from the literature where community development has been
conceived differently by different people; some consider it as a process, others a method,
a program or a movement or educational approach.
I. Community development as a process:-
 Community development is seen in this case as work done in stages.
 The stages permit movement from a state which is less desirable to another which is more
desirable i.e. from a state of dependence on outside help to self reliance.

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II. Community development as a method:-

 Community development in this case is seen as a means for achieving an end, or a
particular goal.
 It is seen as a way of working towards an end that is desired by some development
agencies or their desire for people in the community.
 It’s seen as a technique for resolving community problems.
 Community development is seen as permitting quicker attainment of development goals,
and that whatever is done, tends to have long lasting effects.
III. Community development as a program:-
 As a program, community development is seen as a set of activities whose
implementation is properly carried out facilitates the attainments of the objectives of the
program.
 The program may be conceived broadly, to include different projects, i.e. health projects,
education, housing e.t.c. or narrowly to include a set of activities within a given project.
I.e. the construction of a school calls for a number of activities which have to be done i.e.
Formation of a committee
Obtaining of materials
Assigning/ contracting the work to builder’s e.t.c
If all these activities are done as planned, the objective of having a school is obtained.
IV. Community development as a movement:-
a. Is encouraged across nations/communities to promote development.
b. It’s perceived as an ideology / way of thinking which involves the encouragement of the
masses by the leaders’ programmes.
c. It was very evident in the early years of independent in Kenya and was captured in
slogans i.e. “uhuru na kazi” and “turudi mashambani tujenge Kenya”.
V. Community development as an Educational approach:-

 Community development is seen as an effort to raise the level of local awareness and to
increase the confidence and ability of community groups to identify and tackle their own
problems.
 It’s seen as a process of communicating useful information to people and then helping
them learn how to use it to build a better life for themselves, their families and a whole
community.
 The education provided is seen as an “eye opener” to enable people to see that which was
never observed or vaguely seen before.
 The education provided in community development is practical with both material and
non-materials goals.
 The underlying philosophy of education in community development is learning by doing.
 Education increases the local people’s awareness of their own problems and their
communities’ conditions, and their desire to do something about them.
 It may include technical and organizational skills and it’s intended to help a community
or group to grow as it takes action after the other towards a position of self – reliance.
 The education takes either a directive approach where the change agent formulate
programmes which he / she thinks will benefit the community or a non – directive
approach which seeks to stimulate the community members to recognize their problems
how they can solve them and take action.
Characteristics of community development
 It must be community oriented

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 It must seek to improve the living conditions of people in communities
 It involves participation of the beneficiaries
 Community development involves learning acquisition of skills & behavioral change

arising out of experience in development (improving life’s)
 It is a gradual process of change
 It involves resources mobilization.
 It involves building of profitable relationships e.g. government development workers,

civil societies, CBOs, NGOs e.t.c
 Effective community development requires organization and planning
 It is a need based approach, that is, it seeks to establish the real needs of a community
and development programs for addressing them.
Qualities of a common development worker
 Should be knowledgeable.
 Should be well sociable.
 Should be well organized and able to plan.
 Should be patient.
 Should be impartial (not take sides).
 Should be empathetic (identify with the community)
 Should be a person of integrity.
The functions of community development workers
 A change agent- the change roles are change initiator, changer catalyst (CL) and change
actuator (CA).
 S/he is access facilitator- i.e. he provides a level field for the community members to
access the required services.
 S/he is councilor- i.e. they provide training and information on social issues and life
skills.
 He is a service developer-i.e. to provide the needed programmes based on needs
established.
 He is a capacity builder.
Features / Elements of Community Development Process:-
1) The community is the unit of action.
2) The process gives significance to local initiative and leadership.
3) Encourages the use of local resources: - External resources should only be used if the
locally available resources are limited, but priority should go to what is in the locals.
4) It’s democratic: - participation is voluntary and decisions are reached through consensus
sit and discuss.
5) The process includes wide participation: - it involves/ opens to all individuals, groups and
organizations within the community.

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6) The process is comprehensive:- it seeks to address all type of concern affecting the people
Benefits of community development
1) Encourages the transfer of knowledge and skills.
2) Promotes the feeling of community / community ties.
3) Promotes democratic values in the community.
4) Promotes the effective use of locally available resources.
5) Reduces resistance to innovation.
6) It quickens the pace of change.
7) Ensures the incorporation of local cultural values in project to be implemented.
Roles of community development:-
1) It helps societies to adapt to new realities i.e. technology, urbanization e.t.c.

2) It provides an opportunity to attain change democratically.
3) It seeks to develop the competence of a community so that it may be able to confront its
own problems, deal with its own problems)
4) It seeks to initiate, give direction to sustain community action.
5) Aims at creating caring societies
6) Aims at restoring or providing human dignity and growth.
Why community Development?

 Many countries in the third word give priority to rural development. These country’ s
main problem is identify and implement ways that can speed up rural development since
resources are often limited while the population is increasing as a past rate.
 It has also been observed that, while the few available resources are invested in
development programs, the local people do not often appreciate the programs/ project and
are usually involved in the implementation.
 Community development is considered to provide a large proportion of the needed
solution to the above problem. This is because it aims at creating conditions under which
the people are motivated to support development programs.
(Benefits of involving community members in development projects)
The justification for the approach includes:

1. It enables the supplementation of the limited public resources locally available resources.
2. It enhances the relevance of development projects
3. Enhances the sustainability of development projects
4. It increases the participation of the people in their own development
5. This approach speeds up the pace of change.
6. It ensures the bottoms up approach to change.
7. Enhances the level of appreciation of development projects by the people
Weakness of community development approaches:

1. As e.g. men society becomes more industrialized the community becomes less able to
deal with problems that emerge .This is because
Some of these can only be dealt with at the regional or international levels
2. The ideal board, based inclusive participation is rarely achieved.

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This is because; apparently withdrawal and complacency are common features in many
societies especially where the people do not participate actively in decision making.
3. Community development has been observed to lead only to minor changes only in the
community.
4. Community development is a young disciplined (profession). Due to (workers
community) and (community members) which limits its effective application in
development work /activities.
5. Some community development agencies have been shown to perpetuate an attitude of
community dependence upon them, thereby securing permanent employment for
themselves.
6. There usually a wide range of competing interests in a community which limits the ideal
wide spread participation of community members in the developmental process.
7. Some established economic and social injustice tends to be ignored especially if they are
perpetuated (Involve power individuals in the society).
EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:-

The origins of community development can be traced to a number of sources in the USA.
Britain and former British colonial territories particularly, India.
Community development as a profession originated from different sources which include:-

 Utopian communities,
 The growth of local government,
 The adult education movement,
 Agricultural extension work and social welfare programmes
 Rural reconstruction work done in the early part of the last century in the
colonial territories (British Colonies).
1) Utopian communities (ideals):-
These were communities based on religious or secular beliefs; efforts were tailored to
creating ideal communities i.e. through the importation of people of different values and
seeking to integrate them in a given society so as to bring in a certain change in morality,
industry e.t.c.
An example of this: - the French and the assimilation policy in the French colonies of West
Africa.
2) Social welfare work:-
It emerges in the U.S.A and Britain in the late 19th century to early 20th century. It was aimed
at improving conditions i.e. overcrowding, inadequate housing, poor sanitation, illness, long
working conditions.
These conditions were as a result of rapid industrialization, changes in technology, and the
migration of people from the country side to the cities, since they had been displaced from
the firms.
Social welfare work began as an effort to assist those people who had moved to the cities in
search of livelihood but ended up with poor living and working conditions. It was initially
undertaken by relief societies, churches and volunteers, charitable organizations and local
authorities were also the player.
They sought to reform ions and to influence the legislation to improve social conditions.

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They also sought to establish urgencies and programmes for dealing with beggars, vagrants
(homeless people) and dependent children. They also initiated surveys for gathering data
about problems to the communities.
The societies were followed by social settlements in the slum parts of town, where the needy
i.e. the aged and the destitute reserved case.
Developments that followed in social welfare work.
Development of social work:-

a) A change from the reliance on effort of volunteers to reliance on services offered
increasing numbers of professionalities
b) The training of social welfare workers started i.e. by the end of the first world war, if
schools of social work had been established in the U.S.A and Canada.
c) The number of social welfare institutes continued to increase especially after the First
World War. The institutes held funds for war and community welfare, activities.
d) Social survey which is a disciplined effort of gathering data about problems affecting
communities was developed. The data gathering was crucial for planning purposes.
e) The involvement of the federal gut in welfare work and progaramme. For example: -
through the enactment of legislation on social security and minimum wedges.
f) Agricultural extension: - it emerged and grew in the U.S.A. it started with agricultural
societies around (1785) which sought to decemvirate information to farmers in farm
institutes.
The US government later passed act which required each sate to set up a college and
establish and experimental research stations.
A department of agriculture was also established. The US government provided technical
and financial support. Agricultural extension work included:
a) Institution on technical aspects of agriculture
b) Business management
c) Home making
d) Sanitation and drainage.
e) Social and moral subjects
 Former participated in the planning and implementation of extension work programmes
through various agricultural committees at the local level.
 In Britain, extension work began around 1890, when the parliament passed an, act to
provide grants for the institutions of formers.
 Many countries later started agricultural colleges that acted as centers for lectures and
farm demonstration.
Rural reconstruction work India:-
This was undertaken by pioneers in rural development i.e. Franck Lugard and Robin Dramath
Tagore i.e. Mahatma Gandhi believed that the salvation of the people / villagers has to come
from themselves through self help efforts.
However he felt that ignorance was the main problem of the villagers. The pioneer attributed
the poor living conditions of the villages to bad habits i.e. laziness, poor hygiene, cost
litigation (cases in court) death and marriage feasts.
The reconstruction work involved extension work in the villages which included:
Improvement of agriculture, health services, roads, villages crafts, sanitation and drainage.
Training institutions were also started for the training of village guides who owe / undertook
the actual task of assisting villagers to improve conditions of their villages.

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The nature of reconstruction work varied from one approach to another i.e. Frank Lugard
from one pioneer where most of the activities were imposed and effected through official
pressure.
Other pioneers however did not impose their ideas on people. This was however a more
difficult approach in view of the general level of poverty in the villages indebtedness (debts),
fear of oppression of one group by another, and the lack of corporation from among villagers.
There was also lack of qualified staff. Government workers (colonial administration) were
more concerned with collection of taxes and the administration of justice and paid less
attention to village improvement work.
Conclusion:-
The early efforts of betterment of communication occurs independent of each other.

Community development work as a profession has been influenced by all of the earlier
efforts.
Utopian communities.
Social welfare work
Agricultural extension works
Reconstruction activities in the former.
British colonial territories.
The emergence of community development in British colonial territories in Africa:-

In the earlier tears of colonization, the provision of most servicers including health and
education was in the hands of missionaries.
This is because the colonial administration other time was preoccupied with the enforcement
of law and order.
The local people were forced to provide unpaid labour for the construction of roads and other
public facilities i.e. school, hospitals, railways, e.t.c. and soil conservation activities.
At that time, the missionaries received grants and aid for the support of social welfare and
education work. It was an education work. It was however observed that the work of the
missionaries benefited a few individuals rather than the whole community. This brought
about the need for a new approach that is mass or fundamental education which would make
the services benefit the whole community.
Mass education is what later came to be known as community development.
The problem with earlier focus in education:-

Is that, it emphasized on literacy and numerously skills? Mass education was aimed at
providing a type of education that would help in the betterment of the community.
It was however noted that mass education work was not adequate because the education
provided to Africans could not enable them to settle in their communities.
The advisory communities of education in British tropical Africa in 1925 recommended that
there was need for education to emphasize the welfare of the whole community by
improvement of not only schools, but also in agriculture native industries and health.
They also recommended that Africans be taught about the ideals of citizenship and service.

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This education was called “community education” which aimed at betterment of the whole
community.
In (1935) the committee issued another memo which emphases co-operation initiative and
self help among African people to improve the conditions of their communities.
The communities emphasized on the need for team work.
In 1944 a sub community was formed which emphasized on the need of cooperation of all
people at all levels if true democracy was to function and the rising hope of self government
was to fulfilled.
Also emphasized on the means to be found to enable people in the community to understand
and appreciate the forces which had and continues to chase their lives
Mass education was suitable for eliminating illiteracy among both the young and older
members of the community.
The term community development came up in the Cambridge summer conference did not all
agree on the use of the term mass education which had earlier been proposed.
The final development which influences the emergence of community development was
experiments in mass education carried and the experiments influenced the decision of the
colonial office to encourage self – help work in the colonial territories in Africa .The
experiment started in June 1944 and they were aimed at showing whether village
development by voluntary labour was feasible.
In this experiment literacy classes were encouraged through the division. However the
villagers were not eager to attend adult literacy classes which the local people converted to
vernacular schools for children. The local people bought dusks, employed a school teacher
and meet other expenses of the school. The administrative officer “U- division” helped the
villagers to acquire machine for processing palm fruits. The people paid a minimal fee for the
use of machines.
The money was used for paying the machine operator and the balance put in the village fund.
Other activities included:

Construction of a village shop
Formation of consumer and women cooperatives.
The establishment of a health outpost.
Most of the resources for the project were raised by villagers with assistance from the local
authority and administration.
Most of the activities were also from the villagers as initiative.
The success attained by this community led other communities to start betterment activities
which became a success in the eastern regions and other division of Nigeria.
The growth of community development in Colonial territories.

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After seeing the success of community developments African colonial territories and in other
territories elsewhere Britain took the following measures whose aim was to ensure that
community development grew stronger.
1. A new advisory committee on mass education (community development) goals
appointed by the secretary of state of the of the colonies in (1949).
Community development at this time covered a larger field that the one covered by
the education development activities and solve related problems.
2. Mass education (community development) clearing house was established in (1949)
in the London university institute of education for tropical areas. The cleaning house
was headed by anthropologists. The cleaning house provided a center in London for
passing and acquiring information on the principles and techniques of community
development from all parts of the world.
It aimed at helping all those engaged in community development and social welfare
work by discussing the experiences with them and by making them available to
workers elsewhere.
3. A community development bulletin was started. It was published regularly by the
cleaning house. It contained information on ongoing community development work
activities in the dependent territories.
4. Training of officers in community development techniques was undertaken I.e. short
courses were arranged at the London university institute. These were the earliest
courses in community development.
5. Conferences on community development were held on annual basis i.e.
The Malaysia conference of 1953 and the Ash- ridge conference of (1954)
In the former British colonial territories in Africa community development entailed:-

a) The establishment of social welfare centers or halls at which literally classes and
recreational activities were carried out i.e. the Tononoka social hall in Mombasa and
Kariokor social hall in Nairobi.
b) Training institutes were established in the territories for the training of community
development workers, i.e. The Jeans school (presently Kabete Technical Institute)
c) Pilot betterment schemes were started whereby work was done on an intensive scale.
d) Teams of staff of different departments were involved in carrying out the work, i.e.
Agriculture, public health, fisheries, e.t.c. especially in the pilot scheme areas where.
e) Women of the territories were involved in the work.
 There were difficulties in fitting community development work in the already
established government frame work
 This is because community development work is broad in nature, while the gvt
structure has different departments involved in specific functions. Thus
community development was therefore either placed in the hands of
administrators (Nigeria) or a section of the administration named social
development and welfare i.e. in Kenya and Tanzania.
 Funds for community development projects came both from the British colonial
territories and the British government.
 In east Africa after the Second World War, funds for the construction of
community centers especially in towns were provide by the British government
and supplement by those raised by the government of the territories.
 The local people were forced to contribute labour, materials, land and money.
 Although community development was created by the British, this was done
through experiments in the colonies and not in Britain. The work involved self-
help efforts based on the traditional principals of mutual assistance.

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORK DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD IN

KENYA:-
 In Kenya, community development work started in welfare work, under the social welfare
organization established in (1946) as a section of the administration.
 In 1954, the social welfare organization became one of the departments of the newly
created ministry until, around (1963) during independence.
 Initially social welfare works concentrated around social welfares halls or centers. These
centers were aimed at improving the social and economic conditions of communities
through informal education and social recreational activities.
 Construction of the centers begun in the (1946) with funds provided by the local
authorities and the central government. In (1947), 23 centers had been built with 35
thousand pounds allocated by the central government. In (1948) 25, more centers were
constructed. After (1952) there were a total of 75 centers, very few more were built after
these.
 Services and facilities provided by these centers include literacy and English classes.
 Library and reading rooms. Recreation places for games and dances e.t.c. Home craft
lessons for women, film shows.
 Each centers had a wireless set. I.e. radios for listening to news, information was passed
through posters, pamphlets and other educational materials.
 The centers served as meeting places for local people and their associations. The centers
were managed by community development assistants and officers i.e. DO’s e.t.s. After
World War II family remittance officers who later came to be known as civiler-absorption
officers had been appointed to a few districts to work after the welfare of ex-soldiers in
the war. In 1949, the civil re-absorption officers were reappointed as district welfare
officers and in 1950 re-designed as district officers/community development officers. In
1951, there were DO’s mainly in the then Nyanza, Central and Eastern provinces. In
1957, community development officers were employed through and aid grant of 68
thousand pound from the international cooperative administration of the U.S.A. in the
following years more communities’ development officers were employed and some were
Africans.
 The 1st training institute in Kenya for village guides was established in 1925 (Jeans school
Kabete institute). From 1946, the school was begun training social welfare workers who
later came to be known as community development assistants. The institute also trained
farmers, local leaders and craft men.
 Women were trained in domestic science and handicrafts i.e. Weaving, Pottery e.t.c. In
1954 another Jeans school was established in Maseno. T he staff of the Jeans schools
assisted rural communities with betterment work. Jeans schools were also established in
countries like northern Rhodesia, (Zambia) south Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland
(Malawi).
 Betterment work was started with pilot schemes in Manyasi central, Nyanza (Siaya) 1951,
Malaha in northern Nyanza (Kakamega 1952) and at Mbooni in 1954. In each scheme,
local problems of the area were surveyed and a team of agricultural health and other gvt
workers was constituted for intensive work in the areas. Betterment work included:
a) Fencing of homesteads
b) Digging of pit latrines.
c) Improvement of houses.
 Experiences in Mbooni were replicated (copied) in other parts of Machakos district. After
appointment of DO’s in (1957) more betterment activities were done including soil
conservation, farm planning, homestead improvement, building of cattle sheds, bush
clearing, road making, building of water dams.

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 Work was done in more districts. The work was done in self help groups and continued
up to independence.
 Women self help work was also encouraged. It started during the World War II as
weaving and spinning work at small centers established and done by European women.
Training of women leaders started at Kericho weaving and spinning centers and at the
women station of Jean School Kabete.
 Home craft training centers were also established at Kakamega, Kisumu, Machakos and
Nyeri. These centers later grew into, district home craft centers or district training centers.
 Women leaders trained in these centers were encouraged to start women’s dabs when
they went back home. These dabs grew from 15 in 1950’s to 1045 in 1958.
 In 1951, maendeleo ya wanawake organization was formed to coordinate by the women’s
section of the department and assisted by the women’s section of the department of
community development. The dabs carried out domestic sighs of activities including
handicrafts. In the 1950’s the dabs were also involved in community activities.
Contributions of universities other organizations to the growth of community

development.
 In the U.S.A, a number of educational institutions were involved in community

development related activities.
 In 1924, the national university extension association used the term community
development in its proceedings. In 1935, it made an appeal for university sponsored
community workers. In 1948, it established a section of community development within
it.
 Training in community development was provided; St. Francis saviors university in
1930’s (southern Illinois university) in 1940’s.
 In 1959, the southern Illinois University also establishd a section within it called the
community development institute. Other colleges that offered community development
training programmes included the Spring College (Massachusetts), West Georgia
College and University of Missouri. All started offering training in community
development work in North America.
 Provision of consultancy services. The universities and other organizations also provided
consultancy services in community development by making available fields experts. They
developed/provided hand book or guides on community and projects and library
materials.
 The growth of community development as an academic fields happened mostly in the
1950’s especially because of the involvement of educational institutions in research and
the practice of community development. Associations of community development society
(1970) and the international association of community development (1952).
Contributions of these associations to the growth of community development were in the

form of;
a) Organizing meeting of experts on community development.
b) Holding annual conferences on community development (training).
c) Gathering as much information on community development as possible.
Reasons why the British engage in work in the colonial territories:-
1. To ease tension between the Europeans and Africans. The course of the tension included:-
 Taking away the African land for European settlement.
 Forced labour.
 Force taxation

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 Restriction in relation to types of crops & livestock the Africans were allowed to
keep.
 Restricted movements.
 Discrimination to movement/all walks of life / public transport.
2. The need to prevent the Africans from the templatation of joining the eastern block, led
by Russia (USSR) during the cold war.
The Kenyan field service:-
In Kenya, community development work is found in department. The community
development agents are employed either by the ministry of National Plan.
Roles of government in promoting national development
Why the government is considered as a change agency in the country or the local authorities(
Ministry of local government ) in the department of social services.
Organizational chart/ structure.
Director of social services
Deputy of social services – Responsible for social service at provincial levels
Community development officers – coordinate development at district levels
Deputy community development officers – Coordinate development at district level
Deputy community officer – In charge of directors
Assistant development officers- In charge of development activities at location levels.

The assistant development officers are responsible for guiding and supervising the self help g
movements in the country. Are also responsible for recreation functions ie sports, welfare
activities, rehabilitation work adult education.
The arrangement of personnel in the organization structure places the better qualified people
at the higher level of authority while those with lower qualification play the role of real
change agents .Decision making is centralized with key decisions made higher levels
authority while those with lower qualifications play the role of real change agent.
Decision making is centralized with key decisions made at higher levels of the organizations.
Information tends to flow from the top to the bottom in form of instructions and directives.
Challenges experienced by the department include:
a) Positing of agents in places too far from their families

Such changes agents spend a lot of time traveling to see their families as struggling to get
transfers at the expense of their work. Such agents are not mentally set for work.
b) Change agents ported in places where they do not undertake the local such change agents
tend to spends a lot of their time in their offices and rarely make contacts with the people
due to their officers and rarely make contact with the people due to their limited ability to
interact with them.
c) Change agents posted in far places that are also remote such agents spend a lot of time
traveling to get transfers.

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d) They are also not mentally settled to concentrate on their work

e) Change agents posted in the more developed parts of the country have been observed to
spend more time for the or private work than official work.
f) Lack of resources.- This mainly includes lack of adequate means transport ie vehicles and
field which limits the mobility of staff in the department.
g) Lack of adequate personnel- This leaves certain areas without the relevant change agents.
It also places a lot of work on the limited change agents available.
h) Rapid transfers of change agents in the affluent areas. This constituency is approach and
the continuity of development initiative
i) Lack of skills-Some of those people employed by the government lack relevant
knowledge and skills (not trained) which limits their level of effectiveness in their work.
j) Un attractive conditions of work- This especially affects the junior level change agents ;
low of training limited commission prospects etc negatively affects the morale /
motivation of the work and this has also made some to be pouched by other development
agencies i.e. NGO’S.
Roles of NGO’s in development

1) Fastening or promoting peoples self reliance
2) Developing human resources local leadership and organization.
3) Developing and improving the quality of life of the people.
4) Increasing local people’s productivity
5) Supports agriculture ( Increase productivity in farms etc)
Reasons why people sometimes do to appreciate projects / programs by NGO’s and

Government.
1) Change agents as professional tend to be loyal to the agency as they are expected to meet
the agencies goals; they therefore tend to take solutions which are in line with their
agencies position.
2) Some community workers tend to see themselves as caretakers of the community
members and this attributes causes/leads to inflexibility which may lead to a breakdown
of communication and good working relationship between the community members and
the change agents.
3) Variances /differences between agency goals and community expectations. This makes it
hard /difficult for the change agents to get the operations of the people.
4) Lack of effective involvement of people in planning activities.
5) Leads to overlap of serves and wastage of resources.
6) Lack of coordination of activities of different change agencies
7) Leads to confusion among the community members due to different approaches
employed.
8) Decision making is centralized with more authorities vested in the headquarters .This
reduces the likely hood of adaptation of program to local conditions.
9) Many times law community members have no say in rural development policies.
10) Most junior level staff is paraprofessional with inadequate training in community
development techniques which limits the effectiveness of the ground.
Assumptions of Quassi Equilibrium

a) There are the forces in a situation that support a certain level of behavior and negative
forces that oppose that level of behavior.

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b) When positive and negative forces are balances then they are to be in a state of
equilibrium.
c) Change in the level of behavior results when positive forces are strengthened or added
while negative forces weakened or eliminated.
d) It can be done in 3ways
Freezing – state of balance
Unfreezing – Study the situation to discover both positive & negative forces
Moving- Altering levels of behavior towards the right direction
The assumptions and principals of community developments.

The theoretical conceptions and practices of community development is based on number of
assumptions and principals.
Assumptions
1. Knowledge involves physical and social science passed to members of a society through a
process of education helps to perfect them society to meet its needs.
According to this assumptions both physical and social sciences knowledge helps to
facilitate the progress of change.
2. All members of democratic society need to have access to both social and physical
science, knowledge to help them improve their lives.
The underlying thinking is that the local people have to assume their responsibilities for
improving their living conditions hence the need for empowerment.
3. Community development works has to be entrusted to trained professionals who know
what needs to be done and have the skills for doing it.
4. Community development is either radical or conservative in outlook
Radical
Big and sudden change is introduces or conservative in that change is introduces gradually
within the existing structure or systems (Gradual change).
5. Community development seeks to develop or strengthen local organization and groups to
ensure coordination of activities.
 It aims at identifying and developing community organization and groups through
relevant training to enhance their ability to identify problems, plans solutions implement
and manage activities.
6. A Community mobilizes and utilizes owned resources both monitory and material.
According to these assumptions, community development workers help the community to
determine locally available resources how to utilize them, the importation of resources
should not undermine the local capacities.
7. The needs of the community have to be identifies to serve as a basic of action. A need is a
measurable gap between the existing state of affairs and desirable state.
The need should be understood first before any actions are taken.
The principal of community development according to community development theory
include:
a) The principal of need:

A need is the existing gap between the present state of affairs and the desirable state.
The existence of such a gap motivates action.

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 According to this principal a community worker should mobilize and organize people
around actions that aim at fulfilling their needs because such actions are likely to obtain
the support of the people.
b) The principal of greed (Priority) upon goals.
The principal refers to the need by the community members to work towards a particular
goal.
 According to this principal some needs considered by the community members to be
more argent than other hence the need for their immediate fulfillment.
 It the people hunger (longing for something) for particular need to be fulfilled they are
more likely to commit themselves toward its fulfillment.
c) The principal of involvement
 This referees to making as many members of the community and many individual or
group / organizations as possible in the resolution of community problems.
 Through collaboration the community is able to access resources that it does not have to
implement suggested actions.
Internal community:
This is a group of people who have intention / purpose or goals and objectives.
Geographical community
A group of people living in the same geographic area.
Community Services
These are services which are offered to the community projects which are initiated by the
members.
Community Organization
There may be group formed by members for a common interest or goal.
Virtual Community
A group of people who may be necessable living together but they have the same goals and
objectives
Community development and other disciplines

The relationship between development and other professional fields:
a) Community Organization.
It’s one of the means for ensuring betterment of communities .It has its roots in America
Social work (It’s a sub disciplined of social work)
Community organization provides a systematic manner of management and direction of
welfare including activities of group involved in social planning and recreation.
It facilitates mobilization of action at the local level as well as utilization of local resources ad
it perceives the community as made up of groups and organization whose operations need to
be less ordinate (This includes the government and non-governmental organization ie City
council or local authorities , school , churches clubs

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Community organization seeks to ensure that these organizations function in a manner that
benefits the people who need their services.
It also gives attention to any overlap of the services provided as well as any gaps that may
exist.
Community organization also emphasizes on fundraising to support their work which entails
a lot of publicity and reliance on influential people and the media.
The term community organization tends to be used to describe community improvement
programmes in the third world countries.
The term community development is more widely used that the term community organization
since the world development is broader and is more appealing to potential programmes.
b) Community action
The concept of community action came up in the 1940’s. This term is closely associated with
community development. It refers to the organization of groups to achieve change within the
community. It’s usually initiated in response to real problems as perceived by members of a
community.
The problems are analyzed and realistic goals and agreed upon. This is then followed by
action.
Community action is short termed in nature, while community development is long term.
The level of organization community action is thus low i.e. we may not have formally elected
officials or a committee to oversee the activity to be taken. Community action is also issue
specific.
SOCIALOGY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
From a sociological perspective community development may be seen as an emerging sub –

discipline of sociology of development.
It can also be seen as an aspect of applying sociology which show how to facilitate the
process of development in 3rd world countries and how local people can be encouraged to
participate actively in the process of development.
Self help work:-
This is oftenly equated to community development.

The Cambridge summer conference (1948) conceived community development as self help
activities in which local people were to show, initiative.
In Kenya and in other 3rd world countries, community development is seen as synonymous
with traditional self health not being a new thing. In Kenya self-help activities are currently
wide spread in all sections of the nation both at the local and the national level i.e. walking to
raise fund for a particular courses, fundraising for publicly run facilities i.e. schools and
hospitals, harambee’s for students & patients, soil conservation and tree planting activities.

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However, not all self help efforts may be considered as community development. It’s only
those self help activities which are guided or assisted by community development workers
fall under the umbrella of community development.
Community works:-
This is an umbrella, term used to denote (imply) community organization, community

development & community action.
In most cases, the term community work, field work and extension work are used
synonymously.
Rural development:-
This is conceived as the planning of desire action to alter the economic & social structure
aimed at realizing improvement in the lives of the majority of the people.
It’s supposed to lead to a more equitable distribution of resources and services i.e. education
and health facilities, housing, participation in political decision making e.t.c.
Indicators of rural development in many African countries, including Kenya consist of:-
a) Presence of health facilities
b) Good soils
c) Type of housing
d) Level of farm productivity
e) Growth of industries
f) Growth in people’s capabilities e.t.c
Part of this development is achieved through community development and extension works
an agricultural.
It’s also achieved through the direct actions of the government i.e. construction of health
centers, e.t.c. N.G.O.’s can also do the private forms or organizations, individuals, groups o0r
the community as a whole.
The center of activity is rural development is in the county side.
Conclusion:-
The concept of community development as an approach to betterment of communities’

emphasis on both human and material growth.
It’s an approach aimed at changing the environment.

Which include it being viewed as a process, a method, a programme, a movement as well as
an individual approach.
Assumptions that guide the process are:-
 The need for use of physical and social knowledge for the betterment of communities,
reliance as far as possible on local resources and the need for community
development to be practiced by training professionals.

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 Community development is an approach to betterment not much different from

related fields i.e. community action, community organizations or agricultural
extensions.
 Community development is largely a non- directive approach to change.
Group One: Discuss about the Philosophers of community development

Group two: Sustainable communities
Group three: Challenges faced by development workers
SOCIAL ACTION DEVELOPMENT MODELS

SOCIAL ACTION
It’s an effort that involves two or more members of a social system and can be positive or
negative .It involves cooperation
Can also be seen as an undertaking of collective action to resolve a social problem
Social action recognizes that people can improve their society through organized collective
efforts.
Large scale social action includes many people joining together to support efforts aimed at
improving some aspects of society.
 Giving help to the needy

 Protesting social injustice
 Raising money for medical causes
These activities can be carried out by professional social activist lawyers, social workers
community organizers, radical religious leaders.
Social action implies a disadvantaged section of the population that needs to be organized so
as to make demands on the larger community for resources and treatment according to social
justice and democracy.
It seeks to make changes in major institutions to make changes in major institutions or
community practices.
Examples of social action include:-

a) Civil right groups
b) Non-violent groups
c) Labour unions
d) political action group
e) social movement
Induced social action model:-
This model was initially developed by Beal & Bohlen (1955). It can be referred to as a
process or model, and it occurs in stages although may vary from one scholar to another.
NB:-These stages do not always have to occur in the above way. Some stages may be
skipped, may come earlier or overlap others. This depends a lot on.
a) The nature of the change process.
b) The skills of the change agent.

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c) The stage off the development of the community being assisted.

A. The exploratory stages.
 It starts as soon as the change agent has been located in a community. The agent may visit
community members in their homes or meet them in public places (market, schools,
church e.t.c)
 The agent may also make an invitation by introducing himself to a few local people and
make them aware of his/her presence and the assistance he/she can provide.
 The conversation held may cover various aspects of the community and may reveal
people attitudes towards outsiders including the change agent/agencies.
 The agent looks for ideas that suggest potential for cooperation or for local initiative.
People apathy or eagerness to improve their lives can also be detected in these
discussions.
 The agent also searches for leadership qualities among community members both formal
and informal. The agent also identifies local groups and organizations and finds out about
their objectives activities and leadership. He/she also identifies groups and organizations
that influence the community from outside. I.e. Government and NGO’s. The agent also
gathers information’s about the physical environment, social-economic conditions and
practices and the history and development of the community.
 The agent will also try to understand political, ethnic, religious and other forces which
divide the community and lead to lack of cooperation.
 This stages may take from a few days to several months depending on;
a) The people’s attitude.
b) The people degree of trust.
c) The skills of the development worker.
 This stage enables the community worker to enter into a relationship with the community
members. The community members should be involved in these studies so that their
capabilities to carry out such studies in future growth.
B. Organization stages:-
 It happens when members of the community begins to discuss particular problems in
details.
 The concerned members of the community are invited to a meeting and are encouraged to
invite other fellow members in the next meetings for further discussions of the
community needs and problems.
 The people who came to these meetings constitute a basic nucleus or the initiating set
which is an action or frontline group.
 At the meeting, an interim/steering committee is chosen. The group may be formalized
through a constitution and by-laws or it may be informal consisting of officials i.e. the
chairman, treasurer or the secretary. Training should be provided for group member’s and
selected officials in technical and management know-how and their projects.
C. Discussions:-
 It begins when the agent encourages wide spread discussions of the problems of the
community. This helps in the development of the discussion skills, especially among
member of the interim committee, needs to be encouraged to choose one problem among
many alternatives.
 They also need to focus the discussion to the chosen problem and alternative ways of
solving it.
D. Group decision making:-
 This is necessary when there is need for consensus among members of a community. A
decision may be made during a community wide meeting. This may catch the attention of
the unaware or previously disinterested community members. It’s also a forum for more
discussion of the problem.

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 All previously collected facts may be presented at this meeting. Tentative decisions and
plans made can also be presented.
 Decisions by the committee may be secured through a both, adamantine or any other
acceptable way. At this meting, the interim committee may be dissolved and a proper
management committee chosen. It may or may not include the initiators.
E. Planning of social action stage:-
 It includes although examination of the chosen problem by the management committee or
by a specially chosen task force. Alternative solutions are also examined in details. Goals
to be achieved are set and an agreement is reached on resources needed, and how they are
to be sourced from both within and outside the community. Costing of the project of
choice has to be alone. This might need input of experts.
 Each member of the community maybe made aware of the type and amount of resources
needed from each of them and how they are to be maintained; this may provide a fine
commitment fro the proposed action.
F. Action stage:-
 People carry out actual activities as planned. Adjustments can be made where necessary.
Implementation, depending on the project may last a few hours a day, a weekend, several
weeks, months or years. This stage calls for active involvement through contribution of
labour, money, materials, e.t.c.
G. Evaluation stage:-
 It may be done at any stage of implementation. It reveals both progress made and
constraights met at each step. Overall evaluation may be needed at the end of the process.
The change agent should assist the community members I the evaluation. This will give
them advance in learning from experience and develop appropriate self critics.
H. Subsequent or action stage:-
 Biddle and Biddle (1956) called this stage new project or continuation: - the community
members are now able to take more projects, using the experience gained from the first
project.
I. Spontaneous social action model:-
 In spontaneous social action model change is engineered from within the community
from one of his members. This is referred to as spontatious change.
 The community member may also have come up with the idea after seeing or learning it
from members of another community. This is referred to as contact change.
 The community worker may also have had discussions with members of a community
about an individual and community problems. Some of them may identify problems that
need attention. They may use the above social model to get support from other
community members.
 The spontaneous social action model was conceived by Walden (1970), he believed that
an idea from a single individual may form the /basis for action. He sees social action
developing in steps or stages.
1) The “job” step.
This is where some need is identified by at least one individual who interprets it in terms
of a job to be done.
2) The “I” step:-
The individual has to think of the job, its various dimensions and has to convince him/her
about and its desirability. He/she must be sufficiently convinced as to be willing to invest
time, energy, financial resources and reputation to get its dome.
3) The “we” step:-
The individual talks to other people about the task to coin their interest and help. The
individual who will get concerned are seen as local “spark plug” who will get other to be
interested in the project.

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4) The “group” step :-

It’s reached when the interested community members organize themselves for action.
They may hold meetings to discuss about the task and how to go about it. This may
encourage a group decision about the action to be taken and they may then organize
themselves for action.
5) The DO step:-
It begins when members actually organize themselves. It’s followed by action which were
those agreed upon by members of the community and not those that crew originally
conceived by the initiates.
J. Quasi stationery equilibrium.
Was developed by Lewin in 1970. It’s more suitable where work is done with groups
especially in crisis situations. The model is based on 3 assumption i.e.
a) There are positive forces in a situation that support a given level of behavior and negative
forces which oppose this level of behavior.
b) When positive and negative forces are in balance, there’s a state of equilibrium.
c) Change in the level of behavior can result when positive forces are strengthened or when
new positive forces are added, or when negative forces are weakened or eliminated.
Change can be brought about in 3 steps i.e.
i. Unfreezing: - this is studying the situation to discover the existing level of
behavior. Effort is made to find out the positive and negative forces existing in a
situation.
ii. Moving: - this is altering / changing forces in the desired duration by adding to or
strengthening the positive forces, weakening or eliminating the negative forces or
doing both.
iii. Freezing: - it involves stabilizing the situation at the new level or behavior.
SOCIAL ADVOCACY MODEL:-
The main proponents are Saul Alinsky and Paulo Ereire.
 This model is based on the assumption that a disadvantaged segment of the community
needs to be organized and mobilized to gain power and resources in accordance with the
principles of democracy and social justice.
 Social action is built on conflict theory where the disadvantaged party is organized and
helps to pressure, agitate and negotiate with the party with which is in conflict.
 Alinsky organized the oppressed groups to bargain fro more power through acts that
could embarrass opponents. He could see almost any tactic except open violence.
 His goals were humanistic in nature, e.g. helping workers demand for work from
employers. This model has been used in democratic societies by civil rights groups and
other social movement groups.
 Freites effects consisted of educational campaigns in his country side and encouraged
them to talk about their problems as well as longer natural problems. He later embarked
on literally campaigns which helped the poor to read, write and be better able to recognize
the forces responsibilities for their poverty.
NB:- The above methods have helped and lightened the poor about their rights. They show
the need for some of the power to be controlled by the poor, whose poverty is not necessarily
due to laziness or lack of initiative, but because of a defectively functioning society. The
activities have helped to bring awareness to the poor about their situation and what can be
done to improve it. This can be achieved from work done with members of communities over
prolonged period of time. A number of educational institutions have been involved in this
type of work. They emphasize in action research and stimulating practical rural development
activities, and assisting rural house to carry them out.
K. Diffusion of innovations model

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It shows the social change could be brought about in a community through the adoption
of innovations by the individual members of communities. Innovations could be
introduced to a few members of a social unit. From the few members innovations could
diffuse trickle down or be communicated to other members of the social unit.
Factor influencing the diffusion process:-
1. The innovation discussion process: - it’s a series of mental stages through which an
individual passes from becoming aware of a new idea to the time its adopted. The stages
are:
a) Awareness: - this is where the individual has heard of a new idea.
b) Persuasion: - the individual compares the pros and cons of the idea based on the
information collected at the 2nd stage.
c) Trial:-the individual tries out the idea on a small scale where possible.
d) Adoption:-the individual opts to use the new ideas as part parcel of his/her on
going operations. An adopted idea can be discontinued depending on the
individual’s experience with it. This is called dis-continuance.
2. Personal characteristics of adaptors:-
a) Innovation:-they are anxious to try out ideas and pare willing to take risks. They
have resources that enable them to adopt new ideas.
b) Early adoptions: - they have more education and resources to enable them adopt
new ideas introduce.
c) Laggards:- these are the last members of a community to adopt new ideas. They
may be less educated with fewer resources for adoption of new ideas.
3. Attributes of an innovation:-
This is the degree to which a new idea is perceived as better than the old idea it replaces.
Fro instance in terms of economic profitability or saving in labour. The attributes are:-
i. Compatibly: this is the degree to which the innovation is consistence with the
whole idea.
ii. Divisibility:- this is the extent to which the new idea can be split in smaller
packages which can be tried.
iii. Observability: - its the degree to which the result of an innovation can be easier
to demonstrate.
Innovations with all the above attributes are more to be adopted.
iv. The process of communication of innovation’s process:-
Sender message channel receiver feed back.
FACTORS AFFECTING COMMUNICATION OF INNOVATION PROCESS:-
Type of media used: - it could be mass or interpersonal communication. Mass
communication includes radio, TV, printed matter i.e. gazette journals or firms. Interpersonal
media includes.
a. Face to face communication between agents and clients i.e. the agent visiting client, client
visiting agent, informal group discussions or any other educational for a formal the agent
is able to discuss issues on a face to face basis.
In mass communication, many people are reached at the same time making it cheaper and
time saving. In interpersonal sources, few clients are reached at a time, but at higher cost in
terms of manpower and resources. In mass media there is one way flow of information and
feedback is realized after a time lapse or not realized at all. Information can be distorted or
not gotten at all. Interpersonal communication permits to way flow of information sources
can persuade, explain or clarify issues. Feedback is possible. Both types of media can be used
simultaneously.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

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Community sustainability revolves around the following components:
For a community to be sustainable it must adequately address the following concerns:
Social
Technology
Economic
Structural or organizational
Environmental
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
This is the restoration of people’s sense of worth, dignity and self-belief.
This is to allow the community to be self-reliant and flush out dependency attitude among the
target group this will involve cultivation of a sense of dignity and self-worth among the
communities as they develop the conviction that they can do many things y themselves
despite their financial poverty. Partners are advised not to give everything for free but ask for

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contribution from the local community no matter how little. The main aim is to give people
necessary support to rediscover, restore and preserve their potential.
ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY
It is the ability of the community to create and mobilize resources
People’s ability to identify, procure and employ available resources – whether human or
material (both local and where necessary, external), should be strengthened without creating
dependency. The promotion of creative local fundraising strategies is emphasized e.g.
through savings and credit schemes, people to learn on how to generate income through
viable projects. Help people develop management skills that will enable them use the
available resources effectively and efficiently.
Communities should be encouraged to start non-donor funded projects as this will be a source
of pride in their own potential to make things happen, but will also provide an excellent
learning opportunity in self-management.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable use of resources and preservation of the environment.
Communities should develop the ability to generate, exploit and replenish resources in such a
way as to ensure adequate resource base to meet the needs of the present generation without
compromising the survival of the future generations. This is the basis for sustainable future.
STRUCTURAL OR ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY
Organizational development through structural transformation
This involves effort to transform dominant institutions in the community towards becoming
more responsive and more sensitive to local needs and aspirations. This will lead to a
widened scope of transparency and accountability to the public. It also ensures the protection
of civil rights and promotion of social justice. The sensitive structures will challenge
communities to deal with root causes and not symptoms of problems.
Sustained consistency in the quality of leadership and management input.
Consistency in quality management is born of determination by stakeholders to place the

right people in their rightful positions of responsibility commensurate with their experience

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and talents and where necessary, their training as well. Other factors such as honesty,
transparency, creativity, commitment and self-motivation should be considered.
Promotion of community based organization as power instruments
Through this effort people attain leadership skills as they build organizations, which are self-
managed, including the ability to manage internal affairs through a democratic and
participatory decision making. They take full responsibility for the decision they make
including consequences that follow.
Integrated approached to community development
Programmes/partners should seek to accommodate the diversity of people’s fundamental

human needs in one way or another; this include the physical, social, psychological and
spiritual needs. This calls for a multi-sectoral approaches opposed to piece meal, sector-
specific strategies characteristics by professional biases. Where a partner is limited in scope,
linkages and networking with other actors should be sought
Initiate open information sharing
There should be a well established open information flow system and information sharing
within the organization. This includes sharing of the latest technological information that
would enhance people’s sense of control and autonomy. Open community forums, open
community libraries, collective or communal bureau (where they can send and receive
messages worldwide using modern but affordable communication technology). When people
learn to access and create information of their own’ they will be on their way towards a
sustainable development process
Collaboration and networking
Communities should learn to forge the necessary contacts and linkages e.g. to access human
resource inputs.
TECHNOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY
1. Appropriate technology
This involves and effort to develop appropriate technology and promote the use of
Indigenous Technical Knowledge in order to achieve its control, as a result people will be

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able to produce goods and services for self-sufficiency and surplus for “export” in exchange
for good and services that cannot be produced or generated locally
2. Local capacity building through training

People need to achieve self-sufficiency in social and technical skills that enable them meet
their own needs by getting appropriate training and exposure. Such skills would sustain
internal operations at the people’s own pace and space without resorting to dependency on
external expertise except when most necessary. These include leadership skills, management
skills, organizational skills and training of para-technicians and para-professionals (e.g.
community health workers, traditional birth attendants, etc)
CHALLENGES FACED BY COMMUNITY WORKERS
Unwillingness to share information
Members of the community may not be willing to share information with Community
Workers especially where they are strangers in the community hence need to identify
gatekeepers who can facilitate your entry and access of information.
Duplicate of activities
Community Workers may find that there is another organization doing the same things they
are doing. For example an organization dealing with the issues of HIV/AID may find there is
another organization offering the same services. This makes the community members lose
interest in what the Community Workers are offering therefore there is need to create
network with organizations working in that particular community and come up with common
programs to avoid duplication.
Culture of handouts
Members of a certain community may be used to receiving handouts for something small
they participate in. If they are not given something in return, for example money, they may
not be willing to participation in community activities. There is need to sensitize the
community on dangers of dependency.
Un-empowered community
Where members of the community have no skills or knowledge about a project that is being
carried our in their area, Community Workers may be forced to look for skilled labour from
elsewhere which most of the time is not received well by local community this can be
avoided by mentoring the community members so that they can be self reliant in future.
Lack of Collaboration and Networking
Most members of the community are not ready to collaborate with the Community Workers
in order to come up with a proper working relationship to move the community forward

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hence the community worker should be able to convince them why it is important for such
networking.
Overdependence on external actors
Where the community is over-dependent on donors, members are not willing to participate in
development projects as they do not own the projects, in other words they feel as if they are
not part of it hence there is need for the community to be involved in deciding for the
activities being undertaken and as they participate they feel part of the process and they plan
for future takeover of the project.
Lack of Security
Community Workers visit high risk areas such as slums where they are mugged and
sometimes are physical injured. They are sometimes required to be accompanied by someone
who is familiar with the area to ensure their security.
Language Barrier
A Community Worker may not understand or speak the same language with the people in the
community they are working in leading to communication breakdown. In such a case an
interpreter is involved because the community worker is not able to communicate one on one
with the community members. This may sometimes bring about cases of misinterpretation
hence the community worker will have to learn the local language
In accessibility
Infrastructure is a big problem especially in slum areas and sometimes community workers
have to walk for long distances as the paths leading the area are narrow in such a way that not
vehicle can pass through. Also during the rainy season the paths are muddy and inaccessible.
Lack of alternative solutions
Where Community Workers may be sensitizing members of the community to conserve the
environment by not cutting down trees, they are faced with a lot of opposition as they may
not offer instant solutions to the community members due to cost implications. For example
if they were cutting down trees to burn charcoal for domestic use and commercial purposes,
they may find the alternative the community workers are giving them are not affordable. The
community workers may suggest that instead of using charcoal or firewood from the trees
they could use gas. Not many people can afford to buy gas as much as it helps conserve the
environment.

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Misleading information
Sometimes Community Workers are given misleading information especially when they are
carrying out research. For example where Community Workers may be carrying out research
on how many people are in each family in order to supply relief food, members of the
community will give a larger number of their family members so that they are given larger
portions of the relief food.

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TOPIC TWO: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
The key to community development is facilitating a community in applying the principles to

guide a flexible series of actions that are appropriate for the situation of the community.
There are many “models” and frameworks for community development processes. There is a
trade-off between communities having clear future plans for steps in the process and retaining
flexibility and versatility. Considerable skill, confidence and judgment is needed to maintain
an adaptable community-led process guided by the principles of community development.
The general community development process can be synthesized into several basic steps.
These steps are not prescriptive, but they rather describe the usual stages that most
communities go through during a versatile process of community development. Communities
may not progress through all the steps and some may occur concurrently.
ANALYZING COMMUNITY NEEDS

1. Learn the community/Community Preparedness
Communities need to have some of the key ingredients for a development process –
motivation, local leadership, a sense of ownership. Not all communities are interested in, or
prepared for, undertaking a process of community development. At any one time, only a few
communities may see the need, or have people motivated to organize and lead the community
in development activities. Communities may have only a couple of the ingredients for
success.Whether you want to be an active member of the community, an effective service
provider or a community leader, you will have to be familiar with its issues, resources, needs,
power structure and decision-making processes.
Your initial orientation could include reading your local newspaper regularly, attending
community events, reading reports and familiarizing with available services as well as
community projects and activities. Close observation of the community as you interact with it
will also provide significant insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the community.
2. Listen to community members (Bubbling Concerns).
Community development processes develop from a situation where issues and concerns are
“bubbling” around form the members of the community. People are concerned, enthusiastic,
motivated, frustrated. Private “troubles” become public concerns as people share issues that
matter to them individually. People may begin to see some advantage for them in community
improvement. They also may have altruistic feelings of contributing to the welfare of the
whole community.
You won't be able to learn everything you need to know by reading and observation. You will
need to talk to others about their interests and perceptions to put it into context. You can

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contact community members through formal channels, such as joining a local organization, or
informally by chatting with people that visit the library or that you encounter in other
situations, such as shopping at local stores or attending school activities. By listening to the
community you may identify an area in which there seems to be a common interest in making
a change.
Health organization staff needs to maintain regular contact with the community to collect
enough information to make sound recommendations and decisions on health services and
priorities and to identify important community issues.
3. Bring the people together to develop a shared vision
Once you have identified that there are some common interests among community members
and you have identified a few individuals who seem willing to work on a community
development initiative, the next step is to hold a community gathering. In some
circumstances it may be appropriate to invite representatives of specific organizations or
sector to attend, but more often it would be a public event for a neighborhood or, for other
types of communities, for all the identified members. The purpose of this gathering would be
to develop a shared "community vision"; i.e., through imagining their ideal community and
discussing their ideas together they will determine arrive at a common vision and some broad
strategic directions that all are committed to working towards. You may also use this
gathering to ask for support for the initiative, elicit community input or invite members to
join a steering committee or help in other ways.
4. Assess Community assets and resources, needs and issues
To be able to work effectively in a community development context, you will need to gather
some information about your community. It is extremely helpful to undertake a
comprehensive community assessment which will collect both qualitative and quantitative
data on a wide range of community features. Unfortunately, often time and budget restraints
will necessitate choosing between methods and limiting the assessment to particular areas of
interest. Deciding what and how much information to collect may be aided by a SWOT
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the community, which may
point to particular areas being higher priorities for action.
Compiling a community demographic profile is an excellent start. It is helpful to update the

profile periodically so you will be able to track changes that occur within your community
and respond accordingly. A demographic profile includes statistical information about age,
gender, language, visible minority status, education, and family income.
Other community statistics may also be of interest to you, such as crime rates, morbidity and
mortality rates, or availability of affordable housing. Some of these are available from
Kenyan Statistics bureau, but local data may be obtained from local agencies; e.g. the local
police service will have crime statistics.

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However, simply collecting information is not sufficient; it must be analyzed in order for it to
be meaningful. For example, you might be interested in the relative proportion of seniors to
youth in your community, or the proportion of the population who speak English. You may
want to compare the most recent data available with previous years; perhaps to identify the
rate of growth of the population, changes in ethno-cultural patterns or age distribution.
Statistical information isn't the only type of information that is important to collect. Finding
out how residents perceive their community is also essential to effective community
development practice. Community surveys, community asset mapping, environmental scans,
focus groups and key informant interviews are other methods of obtaining community data.
AWARENESS OR SENSITIZATION
5. Help community members to recognize and articulate areas of concern and

their causes
In any community development process, it is the community that is in the driver's seat.
Community members will define the issues and the process for resolving them, which might
be quite different than what would be proposed by an external "expert". However, it is the
community members that are most familiar with the situation and, in many cases, have
knowledge and wisdom that an external "expert" lacks. By providing tools, resources,
meeting space and facilitation, community developers empower the community to start to
take ownership of the issues and the development of solutions.
If we genuinely want to empower [communities], we must do it in such a way that they

become independent of our charity, that they become self reliant, that they can sustain their
own development without our help.
PLANNING FOR ACTION
1. Establish a vehicle for a change
In most circumstances it will be necessary to create a "vehicle for change" for an

organizational change, which in most cases will start as a steering committee. Depending on
the circumstances, this nature of the group could range from a few unaffiliated individuals or
a coalition of organizations and institutions. In time, the steering committee may evolve into
or be adopted by a community organization. There is a wide range of activities that the
steering committee will need to undertake to ensure that it will be able to plan, organize,
implement and evaluate the initiative effectively, including developing a charter or terms of
reference, establishing governance policies, obtaining sufficient resources to carry out the
work and identifying potential partners who can contribute to its success.
2. Develop an action plan
Assuming that the community as a whole has set the strategic directions for the initiative, the
steering committee will now develop the action plan. Depending on the size of the group and

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the complexity of the initiative, there may be other steps between setting the strategic
directions and the action plan. You may want to create a comprehensive strategic plan
containing long, mid and short-term objectives, and mid-level plans for communications,
resource development or human resources. In addition, if there are a number of activities or
events to plan, you will need a separate action plan for each one. The point you need to arrive
at is a well thought out plan that is easily comprehended by community members, clearly
links activities with objectives and indicates responsibilities, time frames and resources
required.
ACTION PLANNING: BASIS FOR WORKSHEET
Below is a list of the categories and questions that should be asked for each identified project.
The purpose of using a worksheet for action planning is to help the CBO or other group to
thoroughly analyze and assess how it can start and complete a project. An important facet of
this analysis is a political assessment. A formal acknowledgment and assessment of the local
political situation can help move projects forward. This assessment will help the CBO or
group to decide whether or not it is feasible to move forward on any particular project.
1. Assess Fit of Vision and Project: What is your vision theme? What is your project?
Why are you doing this project (purpose or desired outcome)? Who will potentially
benefit from this project? Who will potentially be harmed by this project?
2. Analyze the Situation: Where does this project fit into current community priorities?
Are there any groups working on related projects? Have there been past attempts on
this or similar projects? Who does it affect positively (individuals and groups)? Who
does it affect negatively (individuals and groups)?
3. Assess Helping and Hindering Forces: Who are the decision makers (formal and
informal, individuals and organizations, internal and external)? Who can help or
hinder this project? Who makes the contact? What strategies will we use to influence
the decision makers? Who is likely to support the project in the community and who
should contact them? What do the people contacted think of the vision and project,
what would they like to see as an outcome, and how would they carry out the project?
How will you enlist their support? Who is likely to oppose the project and who should
contact them? What do the people contacted think of the vision and project and what
are their specific objections? What would they like to see as an outcome and how
would they carry out the project?
4. Decide Who Is Going to Do It and How: Were there any new individuals identified
who would be valuable resources for your task force? Are some task force members
ready to move on to other projects or feel they have made their contribution? Who
will coordinate the task force? How often will the task force meet? What subgroups, if
any, are needed? How will you keep each other informed? How will you keep the
community informed? How will you keep people outside the community informed?
5. Create a Community Resource Inventory: What skills, knowledge, linkages
(networks), representation, or resources are needed for the CBO or group at this stage
of the project? The inventory should cover the following categories of needs: skills
and expertise, physical (facilities, equipment), information, finances, and other.
MOBILIZING RESOURCES AND IMPLEMENTATION
3. Implement action plan

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This is the heart of the initiative, in which financial and human resources, including
volunteers and community members, are mobilized to take action. This may take many
different forms. Perhaps the community has decided to establish a coalition against
homelessness and is working to ensure all organizations that come into contact with homeless
persons are able to provide referrals to appropriate sources of assistance. The actions might
consist of:
 working with community workers to identify needs and appropriate services;

 developing informational brochures;
 eliciting support from targeted organizations;
 distributing the brochures to the organizations; and
 meeting with organizational representatives to provide further information.
In addition to implementing the various action steps, it is important to ensure that the factors
that are required for the success of any community initiative are in place, such as:
 shared vision and purpose

 concrete, attainable goals and objectives
 sufficient funds, staff, materials and time
 skilled, participatory leadership
 clear roles and policy guidelines
 mutual respect
 open communications, including both formal and informal methods
 recognition that there are "process" people and there are "action" people; ensure there
is a variety of ways of participating in or contributing to the initiative
 time and resources management; don't take on more than you can handle at one time;
set priorities
 conflict management; don't let problems slide - address them in an open, honest and
timely manner
 good record-keeping; e.g. financial reports, meeting minutes, successes
 celebration of successes
 fun; don't forget to celebrate your successes - even small ones!
EVALUATION
Monitor, Evaluate, and Revise
Communities engaged in development are seldom interested in monitoring their progress and
evaluating their efforts. They are primarily concerned with getting things done. There are
several reasons, however, why it is useful for a community to measure its progress and
evaluate its efforts:
 To keep people involved in the community development process by showing them
tangible results of their efforts
 To show foundations, local governments, and other financial supporters that their
resources are well spent
 To improve the community’s efforts by establishing a reliable system of monitoring
progress

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 To gain support of the community-at-large for development efforts by having an

effective evaluation system in place
Monitoring is an assessment of the planning process. The purpose of monitoring is to provide
indications of whether corrections need to take place in the action plan. For each element of
the action plan, communities should ask questions such as the following:
 Are the deadlines being met?
 Is the budget appropriate?
 Is the staffing appropriate?
 Is the amount of work realistic?
 Are priorities receiving the appropriate amount of attention?
 How are we working as a group?
 Are we learning something important to share?
 What else do we need?
Evaluation focuses on the specific accomplishments of the process. A distinction should be
made between measuring outputs and outcomes. Outputs are usually things that can be
counted that result from the action plan. They are an intermediary measure.
Examples of outputs include:
 the number of jobs created,
 number of houses built,
 or number of programs developed.
Outcomes, however, are usually much more long term and are more difficult to link to the
specific elements of the action plan. They are more closely linked to the ultimate objectives
identified in the visioning process.
Examples of outcomes are:
 decreased levels of poverty or increased levels of personal income,
 more people accepted into leadership roles,
 improved social networks among residents.
It is difficult, however, to make a causal link between outcomes and an action plan.
Participants in the visioning process should ask how a community is better off as a result and
then try to measure success in terms of goals stated in the action plan.
To monitor or evaluate a community’s actions it is useful to assess the change in the outputs
and outcomes over time. It is important to collect information on the value of the measure at
the starting point, often referred to as the base line. When evaluating change, a community
should identify the unit of analysis. The unit of analysis is the basic unit whose properties you
choose to measure and analyze. For most communities, the unit of analysis is the
neighborhood, the city, or even the county. The decision of what unit of analysis to use may
be determined by who is involved in the effort or by data availability.
The length of time used to assess change also may vary. The length of time should be based
on a reasonable expectation of how long it should take the actions to have an effect. So, if
your goal is to create new jobs, you might be able to see the effects of your actions in a few
years. Improvement in environmental quality, however, may take a longer period. Thus, the
period to be studied may vary by the specific outcomes and impacts that the community
wishes to examine.
A written action plan, containing benchmarks or performance indicators, describing the

points of success along the way when possible, is essential in monitoring results. Benchmarks
are especially useful for long-term projects.

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For instance, a community may have a long-term vision that involves high quality health
care. Reaching this vision may involve a set of goals and strategies that span several years.
Knowing the number of people without access to health care or the number of physicians in
the community at the start of the project helps local leaders track their progress.
The benchmarks should be reasonable in terms of what can be accomplished in a specified

period of time, but, at the same time, benchmarks should keep efforts focused on the ultimate
goal(s) in the strategic visioning document. In this regard, photographs of the community
when the visioning process started can be useful in making “before” and “after” presentations
to show that benchmarks, such as improvements in buildings or streets, have been met. In
designing benchmarks or performance indicators, however, community leaders must
recognize that community development is not limited to job or income creation; rather, it
should include sustainability, historic preservation, health care, education, recreation, and
other essential characteristics of a healthy and vibrant community.
Linking benchmarks to each goal provides residents with information about progress in each
section of the plan. When one part of the overall effort is not performing well, adjustments
can be made to bring it in line without substantially changing the entire approach. Regular
reviews of the action plan and comparisons with benchmarks can be very useful. Showing
progress on small projects can build confidence and encourage more involvement by
residents and businesses.
Class discussion: after the above discussion what will be the responsibility of
community and that of external agents?

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TOPIC THREE: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Concept of community participation
Should we continue to speak of “participation”? It has been the central development concept
of the last decades and nearly everyone refers to it. Yet, in practice, it covers many“non-
participatory” approaches.
For example, we cannot really refer to a participatory approach when researchers and
development practitioners use participatory techniques in a context where they have already
decided on the issue and where they use the information generated for the purposes of the
research or development project itself, rather than for the purposes of a community-owned
initiative.
The concept of “participation” is used in many ways and covers practices of all kinds.
Sometimes it is used as a legitimization of non-participatory approaches. In some cases,
people will say “it is participatory because we did PRA (participatory rural appraisal) with
the community” when in fact they utilized a technique without an understanding of the
underlying fundamentals. In fact, such techniques should help build a process where
community members take ownership of a development initiative.
Participation is not limited to the notion of “consultation”. In development, communities

must be involved in identifying their own development problems, in seeking solutions, and in
taking decisions about how to implement them. If there is some generation of information, it
should be conducted in order to help the community understand and act upon the debated
issues, not as an “extractive process”, as has generally been the case with traditional research.
Participation does not equate mobilization either. The concept goes well beyond enlisting
community support for a development project defined by authorities, NGOs or experts. This
cannot lead to the expected results in a sustainable way because decisions are taken outside
the community.
So what is “participation” all about? We may say that a good indicator of participation is
when people take responsibility for carrying out a development initiative. This means that
people are not only taking part in the different activities, but also in the decision-making
process and the planning of the development initiative.
To facilitate participation, research teams and development practitioners must consider the
people they want to communicate with as partners in a development effort, and not merely as
beneficiaries. The corollary on the communication side is that efforts must be made to bring
people into the discussion on the development problem or the goal to be addressed and the
actions to be undertaken.
The concept of participation also involves that of “community”. If the goal is to facilitate
participation, we must not forget that a local community is not a unified group of people, but

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rather a grouping of individuals and groups with their own characteristics and their own
interests. It often happens that decisions taken in the name of the community in fact reflect
the interests of one group or another. At this point, communication becomes a guise for
manipulation. It is important then, to identify clearly the different community groups that are
affected by a common development problem and who are willing and able to deal with it, and
to ensure that each group can express its own viewpoint.
Participation also goes hand in hand with responsibility. It is useful here to distinguish the
roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders involved and to work out participants’
material or financial contribution to the process. This contribution can take many forms:
services, materials, funding, etc. However small it may be, it will help participants feel a
sense of ownership over the communication activity. Without ownership, the effort will
always be seen as “someone else’s” initiative.
Promoting participation also depends on making room for democracy and recognizing the
right to express divergent opinions. Without democracy and respect for fundamental human
rights, and without the freedom of expression, the ability to use communication to foster
social change is severely limited. Democracy implies recognizing other peoples’ right to
exist, to have their own points of view, and to express them freely, as long as they do so
peacefully, without inciting hatred or bullying other people. When this ethos does not exist,
participatory development communication cannot be of much help.
Obviously, recognizing the right to express divergent opinions can pose problems in many
settings. Also, in many cultures, this runs counter to traditions that recognize the unarguable
superiority of the Chief’s opinion, or that reserve decision-making powers for the community
elders. In such a setting, how are women or young people to express themselves? How can
we avoid violence in situations where viewpoints or actions run counter to the will of
traditional or political authorities, or set different groups against each other?
In using communication, you must be aware of all these factors: you must understand what is
legally and socially accepted and acceptable, and be ready to deal with situations where the
freedom of expression is suppressed or severely constrained. Thus, when development
actions involve changes in the law or in the way things are done, or imply confrontation
between the privileges assigned to different groups; the situation can become delicate indeed.
In these situations, researchers and practitioners are ethically bound not to provoke conflicts
by their own acts, for which the participants would end up paying the price.
Reason for lack of participation
Although time is cited frequently as the primary reason for lack of participation, it is rarely
the real issue. A variety of other constraints may limit participation. Among the most
important barriers are lack of child care, transportation, accessibility for the disabled, and
interpreters, as well as a lack of advance information. Local organizations need to consider
providing services to overcome these barriers if they want to have a diverse set of residents
participate in meetings and activities.
Communication is another reason why residents may not participate. This issue may be
especially important in communities where there are no local newspapers, radio stations, or
television stations. Even in communities where there are adequate communication systems, it
may be difficult to reach people in the community. Nothing beats face-to-face
communication.

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Residents also need to see real, direct benefits to participation and that their actions are
having an impact. Thus, it is important for community organizers to identify small projects
where they can demonstrate success with the community.
The residents will show little or not participate at all in the community project at the point
unfair distribution of work and resources is noted. Highly individualistic behaviors in the
community and the felling that the government or agencies are using to community for its
own interest will be a factor that hinder community participation.
Importance of participation
 Local people have a great amount of experience and insight into what works for them,
what does not work for them, and why.
 They contribute to the success of any community intervention.
 Involving local people in planning increases their commitment to the programme and
it help them to develop appropriate skills and knowledge to identify and solve their
problems on their own.
 Involving local people helps to increase the resources available for the programme,
promotes self-help and self-reliance, and improves trust and partnership between the
community and community workers.
 It is also a way to bring about ‘social learning’ for both community workers and local
people. Therefore, if you involve the local community in a programme which is
developed for them, you will find they will gain from these benefits.
Types of Community Participation
Extractionist' Participation
This type of participation is reminiscent of central government development, where
'blueprint' plans are drawn-up and handed down for execution through government extension
networks.
 People are drawn into the implementation of pre-determined development goals.
 People are seen as a resource potential need to be mobilized and readily available and
free labor for rural modernization programmes. Knoetze (1983, 99-100) terms as
"sweat equity."
 In 'extractionist' orientation, people are often treated as objects to be used by
development experts (Bryant and White, 1982). In this paradigm, people are stripped
of decision-making responsibilities regarding community development planning and
the concomitant project initiatives. Explicitly or implicitly, people are treated as
objects of change and relation between the planning bureaus and the people take the
form of a subject acting upon an object as people are dictated about what to do.
People are only expected to obey what authorities and planners tell them to do.
 Through carefully planned manipulation loaded with participatory slogans and
rhetoric, people are degenerated into mere tools for the execution and implementation
of plans or priorities drawn out by others.

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 The approach assumes that people do not know what their development needs and
priorities are or what ought to be done to solve the development problems. Law
enforcement and punitive measures are usually employed to coerce people to co-
operate where persuasion fails (Cohen Uphoff, 1977).
 Such approaches doubtlessly create room for abuse of power not the least, the undue
appropriation of development benefits by a few for whom it was not initially intended in
the first place.
 On the other hand, coerced participation is not consistent with democratic values that
one may wish to associate with participatory development process. With 'extractionist'
approach, the credit on the success of projects is accorded to the project staff while its
failure lays the blame on the 'lazy' and 'conservative' rural poor.
 In a more subtle perception, this type of participation has been referred to as
'participatory partnership'. It is perceived as an approach that seeks to include people
in the planning and implementation of large development projects, which are usually
externally initiated, funded, and ultimately controlled. This approach attempts to create
participatory partnerships between development authorities and the rural population.
 Input of opinions and ideas are collected from local people prior to project planning; are
incorporated by outside officials who actually prepare project plans. Or in a more crude
form, authorities might bring plans that have already been formulated externally and
submit them to local people for their rudimentary comments and tacit approval. Rural
populations may or may not be included in some aspects of project implementation and
evaluation (Bergdall, 1993. 7).
The crux of the matter here is the question of the quality of people's level of participation in
decision-making regarding the development process. The less the decision-making scope by
the people, the more the 'extractionism' is embedded in this kind of participation. Conversely,
the greater the scope of decision-making by the people, the less the prevailing conditions
would be conducive to 'extractionism.'
Vertical' Participation
It has been argued that this kind of participation manifests itself in the circumstances where
community power brokers develop mutually beneficial relations with individual elites or
government officials as the basis for people's mobilization for participation (Bryant and
White, 1982). Examples include patron-client networks and political alliances. In both these
cases, people are not so much concerned with influencing government policies as with
developing a paternalistic relationship that -ill assure them of immediate and long-term
benefits.
Such forms of participation are said to be perpetuated by local power brokers within the
communities who form the links between the people and the patrons. These individual power
brokers usually have direct alliance with government officials and/or politicians. They
benefit individually from such relationships of vertical linkage, usually with some 'peanuts'
reaching the people they represent. People are kept under illusionary expectations of security

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in time of hardships in addition to the occasional and insignificant trickles of material

benefits from the top. In this model, people are drawn in or co-opted into the execution of
top-down determined development plans and projects (De Beer and Swanepoel, 1998, 22).
Another form of vertical participation develops when people's chosen representatives turn out
to be compromised or 'bought' by powers that be, even though serially intended to be a
genuine representation. This begins with a community appointing one or more of their formal
representatives as a decision-making organ. The basic understanding is that unless people are
represented in such bodies, their interests, preferences and demands would most likely be
sidelined or overlooked. In this case people's participation is understood in terms of
representation. This way becomes possible for the authorities again to 'co-opt' the
representatives' without much resistance, "A worker placed on a board of directors or a low-
income serving on an advisory board will become engulfed by the perspective of
management”. (Bryant and White, 1982).
One solution, among other options, is for the people concerned to have their own independent
base of authority, whereby local leaders with an organized power base are elected to the
boards of public organs or service organizations, These wield genuine bargaining power over
the outcome of deliberations with the ability to engage effectively in give-and-take
negotiations (Verhagen, 1985). The issue is not whether people should rely on their
representatives or not, but the question is how those representatives are identified and chosen.
People should send their democratically elected representatives with a clear mandate from an
organized group of people with common interests. Such mandate should be made
categorically clear to their representatives. That is more efficient than a mere mass
representation; a clear line of accountability on the part of the representatives.
Representatives’ influence could also be enhanced by reducing the social gap between them
and other members of the board(s) they are sent to sit in.
The ultimate aim is to minimize, as far as possible, any chances that would give rise to
'partial-participation.' Partial-participation is understood as a process in which two or more
parties’ influence each other in the making of decisions but the final power to decide rests
with only one party. The ideal situation is that of ‘full-participation' in which each individual
member of a decision-making body has equal power to determine the outcome of decisions.
Handout-induced Participation
Participation has also been understood in terms of handouts receivable from a development
activity. This perception has been more associated with economies and technocrats, who,
even though conceding the widespread failure of conventional development approaches in the
alleviation of poverty, yet maintained the supremacy of development expertise and technical
know-how over the potential for the ordinary people to assume such responsibility. Their
argument is that sine poverty is basically caused by mal-distribution of the benefits of
development, would consequently be sufficient to emphasize on 'equitable' distribution of
grove through handouts to the people and leave the development designs to the expertise.

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Hence, people's participation is ensured through their 'fair' share in the benefit accruing from
development endeavors.
The 'handout-induced' approach to participation tends to maintain the supremacy of

professional knowledge and expertise, which leads to bureaucratization of professional
services (perhaps inadvertently so, since professional services are scarce anyway). This often
stifles people's initiatives, as people have to wait for professional guidance and approval to
make any progress.
Dependence, therefore, develops and leads to paternalism. The orientation of this approach is
the 'modernization' school of thought, which believes that poverty is in essence endogenous
(or internally generated). It is believed here that poverty is caused by internal factors such as
ignorance, diseases, disasters, climatic conditions and the like. People are understood to
exacerbate the situation of poverty through 'laziness' and unwillingness to work. With this
understanding in mind, development planners perceive the solution to poverty as essentially a
matter of delivery of materials and goods for distribution to the people within a package of
technological assistance as defined by the experts.
On the other hand, the professional technicians could only disseminate their know - how to a
few, and carefully chosen, local people within the context of demonstration projects.' The
training involves gradual dissemination of skills on how local people (usually relatively
better-off farmers) coupled with rigorous supervision and follow-up through extension
service network, guarding against misuse' or 'abuse' of the newly acquired knowledge and
skills. It is believed that this stage, people do not have to understand everything since the
extension staff is always ' available. Some areas of information are too technical and
scientific for the common person to be able to follow. Instead, the trainees would be advised
to follow just what they have been told to do by the experts and the benefits would be
overwhelming.
This model is characterized by an attempt to bring development to people through deliveries

of varies of knowledge and resources from outside. With this approach people would be more
apt to listen and co-operate with those who promised some kind of immediate material
benefits than those who promised some better times to come "sometime in the future. This
way, the human development ideals are sacrificed for immediate gain. People would thus be
more likely to appreciate an intensive expert-led edge-banking' lecture in a training
environment to be immediately rewarded with a certificate than a participatory experience-
sharing workshop facilitated by a community animator. In the former case, people's
participation would be measured by numbers of attendance and questions raised after the
lecture sessions.
Authentic Participation
This type of participation is the ideal model, which seeks to empower the powerless towards
assuming full responsibility over their own destiny within the framework of their cultural
and socio-economic realities. Poverty is believed to be structural product whose blame could
not in any way be attributed to the poor "people's behavior but to the structural forces of

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local and global society. Hence, becomes everybody's responsibility to make the world a
better place and more hospitable for every single human person.
“In this context, they argue, "the most result of a development activity might not be an
increase in economic incomes but rather the development of people's capacity to initiate their
own or influence decisions of more powerful actors".
The promotion of popular participation is concerned with the distribution of power in society,
for it is power which enables groups to determine which and whose needs will be met
through the distribution of resources.
Passive Participation
Decisions and plans are made from above. People are not consulted. Experts carry out their own 'needs assessment,'
often from secondary documentary sources or file study on the profile of the area. The area is not visited for
observation. Instead, experts use national development priorities as a guide. People will only see contractors and their
machinery move in and start constructions. Local contribution may or may not be required of the people. But leaders
at public meetings inform people what the project is all about and how it will benefit them.
As above, but this time, people's contribution is a requirement. This is in a form of labor, local materials and
sometimes, financial resources.
In addition, people are consulted, either through public meetings, or through interviews in a baseline survey. People
are asked to express their views about the proposed intervention. Their views may or may not be incorporates in the
final project design.
Active participation
Development interventions are based on baseline surveys made to establish local priorities or needs. However, the
outcome of such surveys will largely be limited to the sectoral orientation of the intervening organization. Health
relates agencies will only carry out health related surveys. The same can be said for education, food security and
credit-oriented agencies among others. People will be required to make a local contribution in labour, materials and
finances but also to a lesser extent, in ideas. There is heavy dependency on the 'external leaders' or donors for direction,
financial and technical support. In fact, paternalistic recipient-donor relationship will be accentuated. It is not until
towards the end of the project intervention that people will be made to form committees for management of the
project as the 'external leaders' or donors prepare for exit.
As above but formation of committees is a requirement from the ‘extremely leaders’ or donors right from very early
stages. People will be expected to mats their own decisions, but which they cannot implement without approval from
the donor. There is heavy dependency on the donor for direction, financial and technical
support.
People are free to make their own decisions, which leaders or donors will abide with. If the
'external leaders' or donors cannot comply, people are free to look for alternatives, including
alternative 'external leaders' or donor partners. People assume responsibility over their own
decisions and the consequences thereof. Local committees are formed of their own volition
and not because it is an external requirement. This is meant to steer the project development.
In fact, in this case, call committee exists long before the project idea. The committee applies
to the external leaders' or donors for support as may be necessary. Such support may not even
be in monetary form. The 'external 'leaders' or donors are required to keep the project
leadership fully informed about their policies and limitations, including regular update on any

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resources held by them for the project. Ideally, the project funds are transferred to a local
project account, with the project leadership taking legal responsibility over the accountability
of the same. Local capacity building, through training and institution building, is crucial in this
paradigm as local institutions and human resource get prepared for eventual phase out of the
external change agents. Regular consultations are seen to be healthy among the partners
stakeholders involved. There is relationship of equals characterized by respect, rust and
responsibility.
According to Chambers (1993, 12), this new approach to development calls for paradigm
shift. A shift from the conventional approaches to extension that are fundamentally 'banking'
in nature, 'imparting' technical knowledge and skills to local people, to mutual learning
process between the local people and the extension workers.
Levels of community participation
All participation is not equal. The extent of participation in projects/programmes and in the
community can vary from minimal to complete ownership. The figure below shows
increasing degrees of participation from the low end of co-option to the upper end of
collective action. This shows that as community participation increases, community
ownership and capacity increases.
Community ownership and sustainability.

Degrees of community participation
1. Co-option: Local representatives are chosen, but have no real input or power.
(tokenism and/or manipulation).
2. Compliance: Tasks are assigned with incentives, but outsiders decide the agenda and
direct the process.
3. Consultation: Local opinions are asked for, and outsiders analyse and decide on a
course of action.
4. Cooperation: Local people work together with outsiders to determine realities;
responsibility remains with outsiders for directing the process.

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5. Collective action: Local people set their own agenda and mobilize to carry it out, in
the absence of outside initiators and facilitators.
6. Co-learning: Local people and outsiders share their knowledge to create a new
understanding, and work together to form action plans, with outsiders facilitating.
There are different tools to help the community to participate effectively. Two of the
commonly used participatory tools are community mapping and community conversation.
Community mapping
During community mapping a map is drawn of selected physical features on a flat surface
(see the figures below). The selected features for a village could be:
 The natural resources.
 The poverty pattern(s).
 The territory of the village.
 The housing pattern(s).
 The cropping pattern(s).
 The space and the area the village occupies.
Community mapping is an assessment tool that can help communities and community
Practitioners identify and understand the real situations in local communities that positively
or negatively impact the community.
Community maps can help you to identify households, community water points, health
services, etc. The mapping exercise is done with the participation of the community
members, and helps the community to explore and visualise the community and their local
environment.
Prior to the mapping, do the following:
 Choose a place where most of the community members can participate.
 Involve the community to collect materials like ash or sand to sketch the map.
 Go round the localities on foot, or do a walk to see the key areas like the site of the
health centre, the chief’s office, the church, the main road, the river, etc. Ask the
community members to sketch the map, and put signs for those key areas using ash or
sand.
Clearly, community mapping is a collective exercise. But if you have not done it before,
begin by just trying out a map for yourself on a piece of paper. Do a walkabout and draw in a
rough plan of the village — where the crops are, where the various public places are. After
you have done this, you may want to try thinking about where there are particular pockets of
poverty in the village, or locations where you know there are more health problems than
others.

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The process of doing a community map is really important and can help people understand
several problems in their community.
Doing an exercise like this does not compromise you doing it with members of the
community. If you aren’t used to mapping then a rehearsal is probably a good idea. When
you do it for real a number of you will go on a walkabout, and in these circumstances you
will find that many eyes find different things from one pair of eyes. You will get a genuinely
communal map. You will also have a much richer map.
Even a very simple map might help you and the community to understand some community
issues.
Summary
1. Participation enables local people to develop commitment, skills and knowledge, and
it enhances the partnership with community workers.
2. You will need to identify the right people in the community who can explain to you
the norms, taboos and rules of the community before you start work in the community.
3. Community mapping is a good community participatory tool.
Challenges to participation
 The relationship between the communities and the government or development

agencies: the relationship is coupled with constrains of trying to understand the role,

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interest and intention of each other. The policies are developed and imposed to the
community with very little and/or no proper consultation or community participation.
 Lack of understanding of the policy process. The policy making process tends to be
very complex and difficult for anyone to understand it completely.
 Inadequate funding to initiate training programmes, education and leaders leading to
negative impact on community’s ability to effectively influence and develop policies.
 The reliance on volunteers, and lack of access to financial resources necessary to
address problems and concerns of communities, which leads to organizations relying
on volunteers or donors to carry out community based activities.
 Absence of community representative in decision making process: this where the
urban areas have a great representation in decision making, while rural areas are less
or reduce the influence that rural community members have in decision making
process.
 Lack of access to information
 Time and policy timeline restriction

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TOOLS AND TECHNIQUE

Rapid Rural Appraisal
In reaction to the shortcomings of structured surveys, at the end of the 1970s and in the
beginning of the 1980s a series of methodologies were developed to help outsiders
understand rural life better in a short time: ‘sondeo’, rapid reconnaissance, exploratory
surveys, informal methods, informal agricultural survey, etc. Their basic feature is ‘organized
common sense’. Finally, Rapid Rural
Appraisal emerged as the most widely used methodology for outsiders to learn about rural
life.
The term RRA is used to refer to a discrete study (or series of studies) in one or more
communities. These RRA studies typically last from four to eight days. During this period a
multidisciplinary team of researchers looks at a set of issues that are clearly defined by the
study objectives. The team works in close collaboration with community members, involving
them in all aspects of the collection and analysis of information. Information is collected
using a diverse set of tools and techniques that facilitate the participation of community
members. The focus is generally on gathering information and ensuring that the information
is as rich and as accurate as possible. An RRA generally results in a report that summarizes
the research findings. This information can then be used in a variety of ways including
project design, improvement of an ongoing project, revision of national policies, etc.
Description of the methodology
Rapid Rural Appraisals are based on the following principles:

1. Quick and cost-effective;
2. Multidisciplinary teams (at least social and technical sciences being present);
3. Optimal ignorance: don’t collect more information than strictly needed; as far as possible
the information should come from the people themselves;
4. Triangulation: in order to ensure that the crucial information is valid, information from one
person is checked by seeking it from another person as well;
5. Observations in the village, the houses and the fields are seen as a valuable source of
information.
A series of tools have been developed to facilitate the interaction between the team and the
people. Most commonly used are:
- Semi-structured interviews: an informal dialogue with farmers, loosely structured by a
check list of issues the team wants to address;
- Dialogues with key persons or local experts: the importance of the first is based on their
(formal) position and of the latter on their expertise/skills;
- Transect walks: walking with a (small) group of villagers along a transect, e.g. from the top
of the hills to the centre of the village in the valley;
- Group interviews in terms of Focused groups discussions.
A complementary standard tool is the analysis of secondary data.
Uses of RRA
I. Pre-project
RRAs are particularly useful in gathering information that will help agencies to orient their
programs. By conducting several RRAs in an area that is new to the agency, they will get a
sense of the range of issues that need to be addressed, and be better informed on the context
(social, economic, political, environmental, etc.) in which the projects will intervene.
II. Project Design
RRAs are essential in the design phase to ensuring that the project is appropriate to the
realities in the area where it will be working. There is ample experience now to suggest that
standardized, off the shelf projects are of limited effectiveness. The more that projects can be

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customized to the peculiar circumstances where they will intervene, the greater their chance
of success. CRS/Kenya has used RRA to plan its food security interventions (see case study
in Vol. II).
III. Early project intervention
RRAs early in the project can help the project further refine its objectives and activities. If
RRAs have not been done in the project design phase, these studies will be essential to
correcting any design flaws. In some cases, these RRAs will logically lead into PRAs that
draw the communities more deeply into the planning process. Several CRS health projects
have or are planning to use RRA to refine their development of health education messages by
studying community perceptions of health problems, barriers, and enabling factors, e.g.
Madagascar.
IV. Mid-project
As the project gets underway, the staff may choose a select number of communities in which
to do regular RRA studies to monitor implementation, and to assess the effectiveness of the
approach. This will enable corrections to be made as problems are identified. RRA is also a
very useful method to use in mid-term evaluations of project activities in selected sites.
CRS/The Gambia used some RRA tools for a mid-term review of its Sesame Growers
Association project with its counterpart, GAFNA, in order to find ways that the project might
be improved during the second phase of its implementation.
V. End of project
The end of project evaluation will almost certainly wish to include an RRA assessment of
strengths and weaknesses. This evaluation will look at who was affected by the project and
the impact on those who participated...as well as those who did not. A CRS project in Senegal
used RRA techniques to evaluate the impact of its seed cereal banks.
Strong points
RRA delivers what it set out to do: it assists outsiders to gain insight into the daily life of the
members of the target group and their problems and opportunities. Using a series of tools it is
able to deliver fairly reliable information in a cost-effective way.
In RRAs the target group is given a voice: they become the experts who explain their ideas
and their knowledge to outsiders. The ‘dead’ and impersonal information of surveys is
replaced by personal stories from the people concerned.
Risks
The tools used during RRAs assume that local people are willing to provide the information
requested, but in practice people can have several reasons not to do so:
- They can be afraid of all kinds of political complications;
- They can be short of time to explain everything;
- They can be afraid of having to pay taxes;
- They can give desirable answers in order to please the enumerators
- They can give those answers which they think will assist them to be among the beneficiaries
of expected projects (not only the project doing the RRA!);
- They can be afraid to show they do not understand a question or do not know the answer,
and so they just make up an answer.
Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) is an approach used by ns non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and other agencies involved in international development. The
approach aims to incorporate the knowledge and opinions of rural people in the planning and
management of development projects and programmes.
PRA will be used to refer to a more extended process that involves not only the collection of
information but also its eventual use by the community as it plans further activities. The
emphasis in PRA is often not so much on the information as it is on the process and seeking
ways to involve the community in planning and decision making. If an RRA is a discrete

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study, a PRA is an extended process that can last for months or years as communities develop
their own skills needed to address issues, analyze options, and carry out activities.
Participatory decision making reflects respect for human dignity by affirming the right of
each person to “participate in the making of all decisions which affect [his or her] life and the
life of the community” and by creating the opportunity for individuals to fulfill their
responsibility to exercise that right.
PRA also reflects the core principle of subsidiary which includes the value of participation by
encouraging and supporting individual, family, and community initiatives. However,
subsidiary goes further to protect the common good by recognizing that higher-level or
outside interventions are necessary when (and only when) the demands of the common good
cannot be met at the lowest level.
Origins of participatory rural appraisal
The roots of PRA techniques can be traced to the activist adult education methods of Paulo
Freire and the study clubs of the Antigonish Movement. In this view, an actively involved
and empowered local population is essential to successful rural community development.
Robert Chambers, a key exponent of PRA, argues that the approach owes much to "the
Freirian theme that poor and exploited people can and should be enabled to analyze their own
reality.
By the early 1980s, there was growing dissatisfaction among development experts with both
the reductionism of formal surveys, and the biases of typical field visits. In 1983, Robert
Chambers, a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (UK), used the term Rapid Rural
Appraisal to describe techniques that could bring about a 'reversal of learning' Two years
later, the first international conference to share experiences relating to RRA was held in
Thailand. This was followed by a rapid growth in the development of methods that involved
rural people in examining their own problems, setting their own goals, and monitoring their
own achievements. By the mid 1990’s, the term RRA had been replaced by a number of other
terms including ‘Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)’ and ‘Participatory Learning and
Action’ (PLA).
Chambers acknowledges that the significant breakthroughs and innovations that informed the
methodology were not his, but that development practitioners in India, Africa and elsewhere
were responsible for this. Practitioners such as James Mascarenhas, Parmesh Shah, Meera
Kaul, John Devavaram and others in India collaborated with Chambers to explore emerging
techniques and tools. These early pioneers were responsible for the spread of PRA to Africa
and elsewhere. In Africa, the methodology found enthusiastic advocates in Kenya (Charity
Kabutha, Daniel Mwayaya), South Africa (Kamal Laldas Singh and others), Zimbabwe (Sam
Chimbuya, Saiti Makuku), and Ghana (Tony Dogbe). Chambers got funding for South-South
Exchanges which were seminal to the internationalisation of the PRA community of practice.
Kamal Laldas Singh who joined Chambers at the IDS, helped catalyse the South-South and
in-country networking that attempted to encourage reflection and learning amongst
practitioners. The rapid spread and adoption of the methodology led to issues of abuse and
quality.
Description of the Methodology

As with RRA it is hard to define what exactly a PRA is (some even prefer not to define it and
just refer to “a family of approaches”). PRA shares the basic principles of RRA (quick,
multidisciplinary, observations, etc.), yet now it is the local people who are encouraged to
analyze their own situation and plan activities to improve it.

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The three basic pillars of PRA (and the basic differences from RRA) are:
1. The Behaviour and attitude of outsiders, who facilitate rather than dominate;
2. The methods, which are open, group-oriented, visual and comparative;
3. Sharing of information, food, experiences, etc. between in- and outsiders.
For the tools used, two issues stand out:

1. ‘Handing over the stick’: instead of outsiders trying to understand the knowledge of the
local people,
PRA tries to facilitate local people to develop their capabilities. They collect and analyze the
data and propose actions to be undertaken.
2. Visualization and sharing: local people convey their ideas and knowledge in a visual way.
In verbal communication, outsiders dominate the dialogue more easily (via eye contact,
cross-checking, etc.) than in communication via visual aids. When a map is drawn by a stick
in the soil all can contribute, and local people feel more confident than when outsiders try to
draw a map on a piece of paper with a pen - a typical tool of powerful outsiders. Sharing also
explicitly involves the food and shelter during the PRA.
The most commonly used tools are:

- Participatory mapping: a group of villagers makes a map of the community. The way they
do this and what they find important provide good entry points for discussions about crucial
aspects of village life;
- Village transects: together with a (small) group of villagers the team walks through the
village (or another relevant area) and discusses the things observed;
- Ranking: people are asked to compare units (e.g. families /trees /crops) and to group them
according to their own criteria. For example, via pair-wise comparing the importance of
certain trees, people find out which criteria they use to assess the usefulness of these.
Ranking is also used to stratify the local population, e.g. via wealth ranking. Both the results
of the ranking and the criteria used provide entry points for further discussions.
- Historical recalls: the life-story of families is recalled and the main events are used as
reference points in the analysis of the present situation;
- Calendars: people indicate how things change over time, e.g. in which months they have to
borrow money, when their children get malaria, when the rains are normally expected, etc.
Combining information obtained from all the tools provides the villagers with an explicit
picture of their daily life. This not only helps them to start a discussion on their main
problems and how to tackle them, it also boosts their self-esteem because they are able to
make this analysis themselves.
Uses of PRA
As noted above, PRA is not really about discrete studies in the way that RRA is. Instead, it
offers an approach to project planning and implementation that integrally involves the
community throughout the length of the process. Hence, the PRA process will involve the
community, and CRS support, through all the stages outlined above. The village will first use
PRA to assess their needs and to customize the project interventions to their priority concerns
and the peculiar circumstances of their community. As the project advances, they will
monitor their own progress and engage in rolling planning in which new activities and
strategies are planned as previous ones take off. Over the course of this process, we expect
that communities will build their skills in analysis and planning so that there will be sustained
benefits that outlive the project’s interventions. CRS has used PRA very effectively with
communities in Cambodia as they address local sanitation needs. In Benin, CRS has adapted
these methods for planning in its emergency response program.

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PRA principles and features

- Respecting people’s knowledge and learning from them.
- Listening to the disadvantaged: Respect
- Optimal ignorance: Do not collect data, which you do not need.
- Flexibility: PRA does not stick to fixed plan to action.
- Visualization: All data collected from the people are visualized by them
- Triangulation
- It involves a team of people working with a community for several days.
- Analysis is done in the field
PRA has three pillars.
Development operators have got some practical and theoretical knowledge of realities. All
knowledge is extractive. Nobody knows everything of something.
One has to be ready to learn from all kinds of people. Our learning basically is limited to one
aspect of life. The pillars of learning say,
1. Unlearn yourself: learn to give up what you know when you come to learn. From the
people listen carefully
2. Use your own best judgment at all times: Be critical of what do learn.
3. Do it yourself: PRA is a method, which everyone should try on one, has to facilitate PRA
process in the field and comment on the approach.
Strong points
PRA presents a major step forward from RRA. Local people do the analysis and plan for the
future.
Their own values, needs and priorities are the point of departure. They themselves develop
criteria to classify aspects of their life. This not only leads to a better understanding of the
situation (for both the in- and the outsiders) and therefore increases the chance for realistic
plans, it also generates a much higher commitment of the people to the planned activities.
The many different perspectives on daily reality and the visualization offer good
opportunities to go beyond the most obvious and dominant points of view in the community.
The only warning here should be that too much attention to group discussions/ -activities
might enable some groups to dominate the discussion.
The methodology is open to modification; everybody can develop new tools and new ways of
organizing things. This makes PRA applicable in a very wide range of situations. Indeed, it
has been used in both rural and urban areas, both in developing countries and industrial
countries, in agriculture, in health care and in social programmes.
PRA can also be used to collect data; local people are able to generate and/or collect reliable
data which they themselves analyze and use for planning.
Risks
As with RRA there is still a major problem with defining what a proper PRA is and how it
should be implemented. The debate on this is lively and as yet unresolved. The social
scientists that developed it are invariably disappointed when they see how PRAs are
implemented by others. There is quite a lot of literature on what is called ‘bad practice’. The

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social scientists call for a reversal in the thinking of professionals (read ‘technical experts’),
but apparently have not yet managed to reach their target group.
The following ‘bad practices’ should be mentioned:

- PRAs are implemented mechanically; the tools are used, but the attitude of the staff and the
organizations involved has not been changed;
- The technicalities of problems are taken as crucial, leaving out socio-political issues;
-Local diversity is ignored, both in technical issues (e.g. soil units) as well as in social issues
(e.g. the different interests of the different social groups in the village tend to be played down
in the process);
- A specific aspect of the previous point is that gender issues are often insufficiently taken
into the collective events emphasize the general rather than the specific, which might be more
interesting;
- Most PRAs are too technique-led (despite the opposite rhetoric).
A Comparison of RRA and PRA
RRA PRA
Inform project Design, gather Purpose Capacity Building for
baseline information, monitor improved decision making at
and evaluate community level, situational
analysis, planning and
monitoring by community
Multi-disciplinary Team of Team Team Composed of Villagers
Project Staff and Specialists sometimes facilitated by
Project staff person that
works with larger community
Limited Number of Sites Communities where project
Representative Sites activities will take place
Discreet Studies usually Time Period Ongoing throughout the life
lasting 5-7 Days of project, usually begins
with training and initial
situational analysis
(approximately 10 Days)
leading to Community
Action Plan
The Range of Tools and Tools and Techniques The range of tools and
techniques deemed as techniques deemed as
appropriate appropriate
Comprehensive well written Documentation Village Log Book with notes
report that captures the depth of principal findings,
and complexity of activities and Community
Information obtained in the action Plan
study.

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TOPIC FOUR: COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
WHAT IS LEARDERSHIP?
 Is an art of organizing people and inspiring process that enable people to set
individual and collective priorities and goals in life.
 It is the art of mobilizing, organizing and guiding the resources (both human and
materials) or a group or organization in order to achieve defined goals.
 It is the ability to effectively guide and influence a people to reach their defined goals.
 Is also the process where a person exerts influence over others and inspires, motivates
and directs their activities to achieve goals.
 Leadership function is visionary, exploratory, innovative and inspirational or
motivational.
 Leadership involves facilitating the creation of appropriate structures of operation and
governance. It is such structures that seek to organize, inspire and motivate people
towards their optimum use of talents and skills for attaining their individual and
collective goals.
 In fact, leadership is about influencing people to do what you want, willingly and with
enthusiasm.

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COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP: this is the ability or capacity to lead a community living in

a particular area or region sharing the same religion, race, job, culture etc. This leadership
entails attainment of goals and objectives in that specific religion in order to bring successful
living environment in the religion or locality. Without leadership in a community, there will
be no success in anything that is being done within the community (failed community). A
successful community needs good leaders.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

Effective leadership increases the firm’s or organization’s ability to meet new challenges.
Qualities of an effective leader (Great Man/Trait Theory of Leadership)
This theory assumes that leaders are born and not made. Hence the traits far] leadership are
assumed to be inborn or even inherited.
 Acceptability: acceptable behavior/good rapport, meets community normal of
conduct, good interpersonal human relations, commands respect and self discipline.
 Job-competence: track record of performance in particular skill.
 Ability to listen: and understand others.
 Tolerance: ability to accommodate dissenting views.
 Delegation: willingness to share responsibilities.
 Flexibility: open to reasonable change.
 Communication: can influence others through effective communication.
 Empathy: ability to enter into the other's feelings.
 Self-organization: setting example on personal orderliness.
 Self-confidence: radiates and stimulates the same in others.
 Honesty: can be trusted at all times.
 Reliability: dependable on words and promises.
 Impartial: guided by truth and justice.
 Creative: constantly seeks for ways of doing things better.
LEADERSHIP STYLES AND COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
Basically, there are three types of people in the world: The few who discuss ideas as they
make things happen; The many who discuss people and events as they watch things happen;
and the multitude who have no idea as to what is happening - Source unknown).
Pertinent Observations on the Leadership Function

"A leader is a scaffold."
 A scaffold is conceptualized as a source of support to enable goals to be attained. In
this context, it is defined as a structure built next to a wall, for workers to stand on
while constructing, repairing, or painting a building.
 A scaffold has been defined as a suitable platform meant to Tiete out capital
punishment to wrongdoers in a society. In this sense, it is defined is ''a raised structure
which was used in the past as a place to kill criminals by hanging them or cutting off
their heads."
 When you come to think of: Are leaders born or made? Obviously, the answer to
this question has far-reaching implications in our effort to understand leadership.
 If we choose to believe that leaders are born, then that justifies the continued
lamination of a society by dictators and leadership of dynasty.
 If leaders are made, the concept challenges the status quo, calling for continuous
development of new leadership in the spirit of democratic leadership practices and
succession planning. This calls for conscious and planned effort to build the

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leadership capacities among the younger generations as they learn from those with
experience.
 I believe leadership is both a science and an art at the same time.
 Leadership is a science since great part of the knowledge we hold on leadership has
been derived from experiments that have involved testing, and examining
assumptions to provide facts or proof (as opposed to guesswork). That's how basic
principles and guidelines on leadership have been established and books written as
useful frame of reference.
 Leadership is also an art since it would be unrealistic to think of leadership skills that
are universally applicable at all times under all circumstances. Hence, effective
leadership involves on-going adjustment of skills, styles tact and tactics to suit the
people in a given situational context.
 Ideally, one is not born with a skill but with instincts (intuition? 6th sense?), and in-
born talents, which constitute potential abilities that are waiting to be discovered,
explored, developed and exploited.
Leadership and Management Functions

Let’s now investigate the difference between a leader and a manager.
Leader Minds Ethical or Moral Decisions/Choices; Manager Minds Professional decisions
/Choices.
according to Bennis and Nanus (in Gary Yukl, 2002, 5), leaders and managers serve two
distinct organizational functions. "Leaders are people who do the things (they consider
the ethical and moral implications of the choices decisions they make in accordance
with the norms of the society). Managers are people who do things right (they make
skilled professional choices and decisions)."
Leader is Visioning/Strategizing; Manager is Planning and Budgeting

Leaders are busy establishing direction in form of a wider purpose, overarching clarifying
goal, vision and mission, and setting strategies towards the big picture. On the other hand,
managers are responsible for planning, budgeting, and establishing agendas and setting
practical goals, setting work timetables, and allocating resources."
Leaders initiates Change for a Better Society; Manager Sets Order and
consistency for Effective Implementation
According to Northouse (in Kotter, 3-8), leaders produce change and movement (rallies
people behind his/her vision of a new society) while managers produce order and consistency
(organizing people and resources).
Leader is aligning People by Their Talents; Manager is organizing for Staffing by their
qualification.
Leaders are busy assessing people's potential and aligning them accordingly, as leaders
communicate goals, build teams and coalitions and communicate goals.
Managers are busy organizing and staffing (job placements) as they produce structures (e.g
procedures, policies/rules, systems, contracts, committees, management hierarchies, etc.).
Leader is motivating by Inspiring; Manager is Controlling (Motivating?)
by Incentives

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Leaders inspire and energize the group/teams, empower the subordinates and seek to satisfy
un meet needs. Managers are developing incentives, generate creative solutions to problems
and take corrective and, at times, punitive measures.
Other functions of leaders according to T.B. Roby and R.M. Stogdill

Creating harmony of diversity by bringing about congruence of goals among members then
focuses on defining objectives clearly while maintaining group's goal direction;
He or she provides the means for attaining goals by availing the necessary resources and
facilities;
Leaders balance group resources and capabilities with environmental demands, thus
reconciling conflicting demands that arise within and outside the group (e.g. the society may
demand particular standards or quality of service and if that is missing in the team, the leader
goes about searching for short-term resource people or additional staffing to fill the gap);
Provides a group structure that is necessary to focus information effectively on solving
problems (e.g. creation of the office of ombudsman/person to receive and manage internal
organizational complaints);
Makes certain that all needed information is available at a decision centre when required -
that is, leader seeks to gather and avail appropriate and up-to-date information to the right
organizational teams and for timely decision-making; and
Facilitates cohesiveness and interaction among group members by creating appropriate
forums for the same, such as retreats, regular but pre-planned meetings; interest-based
initiatives such as staff welfare and staff savings and credit schemes, etc.
Other functions of managers according to J. J. Morse, F.R. Wagner, and J. P. Kotter

 They manage the organization’s environment and its resources; plans and activities are
well matched with organizational objectives and goals.
 They organize, coordinate and provide reasonable rules and regulations to accomplish the
objectives of the organization.
 They access and distribute relevant information coming in and going out of the
organization in keeping with the objectives of the organization.
 They facilitate the growth and provide the development of subordinates in accordance
with the objectives of the organization.
 They transmit their own enthusiasm to others for attaining organizational goals
 They schedule strategy and review sessions to improve organizational performance and
solve organizational problems.
 They monitor results as they solve problems.
Conclusion
To summarize the above functions, we can conclude that leaders initiate change that moves
the organization forward and in the right direction, and managers provide direction and
influence within existing status quo of the organization.

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It is notable that the strongest attributes of leaders include: visioning, innovation; motivation,
creativity, analysis, and passion for achievement. Yet it is possible for a manager to possess
leadership qualities and therefore play leader-manager roles while a leader could also play
manager-leader role if he or she possesses the attributes of a manager as well. But it is
recommended to separate the two functions in assigning duties within a community
organization or a community project. One would need extraordinary energy, time and ability
to play the dual roles. Evidence is said to abound whereby gifted leaders become distracted
from leading by administrative issues. Wise manager-leaders (leaders with good management
abilities) do well by delegating their administrative responsibilities.
The Concept of Security in Leadership

It is to the extent that people recognize and accept their leader, that the pattern and
effectiveness of that leadership is determined.
When a leader is secure and comfortable with his people, she/he becomes more tolerant, more
understanding, and a better listener. It is the secure leaders who can afford to be democratic.
Conversely, the insecure leader develops fear and becomes paranoid against those she/he
leads. Suggestions for change are normally interpreted as personal attacks, criticism,
disapproval and, therefore, subversive.
An insecure leader when threatened will easily resort to authoritarian leadership which tends
to rely more heavily on the constitutional parameters and organizational policies as opposed
to the voice of reason.
Leader-centered Approaches to Leadership Theory

According to R. L. Katz (quoted in Mumley, 2009), there are three Leader-centered
approaches to Leadership Theory. These are:
Skill Theory -This theory believes that leaders are made through three types of training:
mentorship; hands-on (training by doing, as an apprentice); and formal training in school or
college.
Trait theory- This theory believes that leaders are born with appropriate genes for
leadership. Hence, leadership is believed to be rooted in innate personality traits that leaders
are born with.
Style Theory - This theory believes that a leader's judgment will, at any one time determine
the appropriate leadership style to apply in a given situation. Hence, a leader is justified by
his or her ability for good judgment in determining when to be autocratic, authoritative,
consultative, laissez-faire or democratic depending the situation at hand and the social
environment. This is what may, in general terms, be termed as situational leadership.
1. The Skill Leadership Theory of R. L. Katz

In 1955, Katz elaborated more on the skill theory by observing that there were t
fundamental skills associated with effective leaders. These are expounded below:`
a) Technical skill (THINGS): competencies related to hands-on proficiency with
operation, production, and technological details of a product line or service.

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b) Human skill (PEOPLE): competencies related to interpersonal proficiency working

well with superiors, colleagues, subordinates, clients, and external contacts.
c) Conceptual skill (IDEAS): competencies related to ideological proficiency in the
comprehension and communication of abstract concepts in the leadership task.
Hence:
• Top Management (CEOs, Corporate President, Political Leaders, etc.) must high level of
proficiency in HUMAN and CONCEPTUAL skills. However higher leaders ascend within
an organization, the less they will need hands on technical skills.
• Middle Management (report to upper management but also lead lower managers) must
have high level of proficiency in HUMAN skills but requires mod proficiency in technical
and conceptual skills.
• Supervisory Management (managers overseeing small teams of 'workers') must possess
high level of proficiency in HUMAN and TECHNICAL requires skills. Requires lower
proficiency in conceptual skills.
Now respond to the questions below in the light of the foregoing conclusions
1. Should a person who knows little about water technology but possesses good human and
conceptual skills be assigned as the Cabinet Minister for Water and Irrigation?
2. Should an experienced water technologist who has also written brilliant, philosophical
papers on the importance of water management, but lacks human skills competence be
assigned as the Cabinet Minister for Water and Irrigation?
3. Should an experienced water technologist who works well with various people but lacks a
comprehension of abstract concepts related to the importance of water irrigation to society
be assigned as the Cabinet Minister for Water and Irrigation?
Note:
There is consistent demand for high human skills at all levels of leadership (that is, no
matter how smart you may be in skills and ideas, you must have 'people skills' to succeed).
There is increase in demand for conceptual and decrease in need for technical skills as you
move up the ladder of leadership.
There is increase in demand for technical and human skills and decrease in demand foe
conceptual skills as you move down and away from top leadership.
M.D. MUMFORD'S POSITION ON SKILL LEADERSHIP

According to Mumford (in Mumley, 2009), skill-based leadership can be described as
leadership built on capacities rather than on genetics or behaviors (best -judgment).
 Leader's skill-set is enhanced by the degree of alignment or harmony between his/her
past experience and present environment as well as the positive or negative influence of
the present environment.
 Mumford categorized skills under the following three competencies:
Problem-solving Skills

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 Ability to conceptualize and clearly define an unusual problem and that must be
confronted;
 Ability to create solutions to new and/or unique challenges that emerge outside the
scope of existing procedures and practices;
 The capacity to take advantage of new and/or unique opportunities which demand
innovative responses; and
 Includes the ability to gather relevant information and expertise in order to generate
understanding.
Social Judgment Skills

 Involves perspective taking, the ability to discern and process the attitudes, opinions,
and points of view of others involved in a course of action; and
 Social performance, which includes a wide range of abilities such as communicating
vision, persuasion, and mediation.
Knowledge
 Includes accumulation of information and the mental structures used to organize that
information;
 An effective leader:
 Knows the organization and its vision/purpose well;

 Has grasp on facts related to the challenges at hand; and
 Understands the assets available including human, physical and financial resources.
2. Trait Leadership Theory

According to Mumley (2009), the debate about Trait Leadership Theory revolves around the
proposition that:
At the fundamental level leaders are born not made - physical characteristics such as good
looks as determined in varying cultural contexts; personality traits (character, behavior,
individuality, qualities); personal ability and genetic factors such as mental capacity, and
natural gifts.
Intelligence as an important determinant - manifested through verbal skills perception,
reasoning ability. However, in situations where the leader's intelligence vastly exceeds his
followers, intelligence has often been counter-productive.
Self-confidence: willingness to act and take risks based upon an expectation success or
security in the face of possible failure.
Determination: initiative, perseverance, and energy. Leadership obstacles, both human and
circumstantial, are inevitable. Determination remains crucial.
Integrity: honesty, trustworthiness. Followers will only be led willingly someone they trust.
Integrity in leadership is not just moral; it is also effect ability to lead.
Sociability: ability to promote positive relationships by being personable (agreeable, likeable,
friendly, charming, etc); courteous, tactful, and diplomatic.
Other traits include: energy level, stress tolerance, internal self-control, emotional maturity,
and integrity.
The original theory that propagated the prominence of Personal Trait determining leadership
(Bass, 1990, and Jago, 1982, in Northhouse, 2004, was popularly referred to as the 'GREAT

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MAN' theory. This is because it focused on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics
possessed by great soc political, and military leaders. They were believed to be the privileged
few b to lead.
3. Style Leadership Theory

It is the use or abuse of power that determines the nature and form of leadership exercised.
This is essentially what entails leader's behavior as a determining factor or style of his or her
leadership. We will identify four styles of leaders common in community development
setting. We will also look later at the Bk Mouton's Leadership Grid that expounds on Leader's
behavior and gives of set of styles of leadership.
According to Ohio State University Research of 1950*s (see Mumley, 20( the Style
Leadership theory is built on the premise that leadership behavior cc be categorized in two
basic groupings: PEOPLE oriented behaviour and TA oriented behavior. The central purpose
of the style approach is to explain leaders combine these two kinds of behaviours to influence
subordinates in their efforts to reach a goal.
People oriented leadership style entails:

• Enhancing camaraderie (friendship, fellowship, solidarity, etc)
• Building leader-to-follower and follower-to-follower respect and trust
• Promoting a user-friendly environment
Task oriented leadership style entails:
• Determining goals and objectives
• Defining, assigning, and supervising responsibilities
• Delineating and monitoring timetables, deadlines, and schedules
Ohio State studies established that staff turnover rate as a result of low job satisfaction is
directly proportional to both low people and high task orientations and inversely proportional
to high people and low task orientations.
Authoritarian/Dictatorial/Autocratic Leadership (Low People/High Task Orientation)

Authoritarian leadership is negative in the sense that it thrives by unleashing terror and
instilling fear in the subjects. This is possible through the use of law enforcement instruments
such as police, courts, and prisons to coerce people into obedience. This means the laws and
policies to be enforced are not necessarily good or popular with the people. On the contrary,
authoritative leadership is fashioned from its positive attributes. Authoritative leadership is
earned whereby a leader commands respect from his or her subjects derived from one's skills,
abilities, and talents.
Authoritarian leadership hands down rules and policies, orders and instructions to be
followed. Consultations are rarely made. These are handed down from the top echelons of
power through the various layers of governance, right to the bottom. They (the subjects) are
expected to obey or comply as required without question resistance. The subjects have no
power to make decisions. People are only expected implement decisions made from above. It
is assumed that the leader knows what is good for everybody and for the people as a whole.
To practice authoritarianism effectively, the leader must remain in full control.

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This is the kind of leadership characterized by high centralization of decision making and
control such as would be found in a cobweb structure. The leader using this style makes
decisions all by him/herself. This is because such a leader has 2-orated all the powers to
him/herself. Remotely speaking, this style may only be ireful in emergency situations where
decisions have to be made quickly and swift section taken, for example to save lives. But
while it is true that authoritarianism quick decision-making and task accomplishment, it has
serious consequences. Authoritarian leadership injures people's sense of dignity and self-
esteem. It erodes people's confidence, and promotes suspicion, sectarianism, and mistrust. In
a group, this leadership stifles participation and creative thinking thus limiting the positive
exploitation of people's potential in talents and abilities. The end result is that people end up
abandoning the group to join other groups where they feel respected and their views are
considered.
Consultative leadership (Moderate People/High Task Orientation)

This style of leadership promotes individual thinking and initiative. It is best used for
brainstorming on an issue which requires broad-based contribution of opinions and ideas e.g.
when seeking to introduce change or innovation. In such circumstances we certainly need to
hear from each and every body. Several ideas and options are floated before (possibly)
consulting an expert-opinion on the matter and then the final decision is made.
However, this style of leadership has a tendency to delay decision-making and eventual
implementation of activities, as decisions take too long to be made. Oftentimes when the
decision is finally made, there is no guarantee that people's views, which were generously
expressed, will even be considered.
Laissez-faire leadership (Low People/Low Task Orientation)
This 'let alone' or 'leave alone' style of leadership leaves people free to do whatever they want
at their own time and convenience. The leader has no control and is a leader in name only.
The leadership is so weak, inefficient and irresponsible that decisions are made by chance. In
this style of leadership, chances for group success are remote.
This style of leadership can be likened to a wire mesh kind of structure with no obvious
leadership structure coordinating efforts. Instead, there are parallel efforts cris-crossing each
other without seeking common direction or collective influence. This style of leadership
mainly fits best in a situation of passive conflict mitigation where the leader does not want to
take sides, but rather to remain noncommittal because of possible consequences or reprisals.
The leadership approach has often been applied to save a leader from danger or
embarrassment in situations of dilemma.
The negative side of laissez-faire includes the fact that it dissipates morale and promotes
disunity within the group. It makes the leadership look like it has no authority, direction and
decisiveness. Besides, it does not empower leaders nor group members in the whole process
of decision-making and follow-up action.
Democratic or enabling leadership (High People/High Task Orientation)

This kind of leadership can be symbolized by a traditional African hut with its poles rising up to converge at a central
point, thus forming a strong pinnacle. A central pole is in place to provide an enabling pivot, giving the necessary
support for reinforcing the convergence.
The leader promotes participatory decision-making. In the event that there is absence of consensus on opinion, the
decisions of the majority are accepted. Each person is regarded as equal to the other and opinions of every person are
respected well as considered in the process of decision-making. This style of leadership c be a disastrous failure if the
majority are not aware of the problems at hand, though numbers are also important, it is not always only numbers that

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count, decision-making is a slow process in democracy, though once decisions are arrived at they are more binding,
lasting and unifying.
The enabling kind of leadership involves active and evenly spread participatory processes of decision-making. Both
the leader and the members of the group are likely to be empowered in the process if it is handled well. Responsibility
and initiative are promoted as people's views are taken seriously. But if not properly handled (in terms of process), the
freedom may be abused. Freedom, which is given -embers to participate genuinely in making their own decisions,
may easily be taken for weak leadership. The democratic, enabling leadership is seen as more desirable in the
community development process that seeks to attain integral human development. Development at improving the
socio-economic, political and cultural well-being of a people, development of an individual or a group is a basic
human right. Democracy gives the opportunity to make a real contribution to the development process, means that
everyone has a right to help decide what type of development is and the best way of achieving it. It means that citizens
have to decide how money is used to generate wealth for the common good and satisfy the needs citizens.
Democracy also provides citizens with the right to distribute and use power. This that citizens have to decide who
should hold what power when they elect representatives and how the latter should use the power they are given.
Where the dominates society, it does not leave enough room for citizens to decide their development priorities. For
these citizens, the lack of contribution (or democracy) deprivation of a fundamental human right and, therefore,
absence of mean-development.
Understanding the Leadership Grid

Impoverished Leadership (1X1)
This is the kind of leadership that has no accountability whatsoever. The leadership is not
responsible to any party and therefore 'anything goes.' It a selfish sort of leadership in which
the leader is solely preoccupied with the protection of his or her interests. The leader neither
cares about the interests of team members nor the interests of the employer.
Characteristics:
• Typical phrase or outlook: "Don't Rock the Boat."
• Conflict: Doesn't get involved. Avoids conflicts. Completely avoids issues that might give
rise to conflict. Carries out past procedures (most comfortable with routine). No change.
• Decision-Making: Avoids or defers problems to others for solutions. Refers to rules and
regulations.
• Creativity: Ideas not usually related to organization goals or morale. Usually connected
with outside hobbies and activities.
• Commitment: Little commitment on the part of leader or group to the task or objective of
the organization. This breeds competitive atmosphere to seek personal advancement.
Task Oriented Leadership (9X1)
This kind of leadership is zealous about achieving production targets. The leader is so
obsessed with production that he or she does not find it a big deal to compromise his or her
own and other team members' personal lives. Such leaders have often been branded
'workaholics.'
Characteristics:
• Typical phrase or outlook: "Produce or perish." "Do or Die."
• Conflict: Suppresses conflicts by using authority. Takes a win-lose approach: fights to win
his or her own points.
• Decision-Making: The leader depends upon own skills, attitudes, beliefs knowledge in
approaching problems and making decisions. No consul! with his or her subordinates.
• Creativity: Stifles individual creativity. Ideas considered the responsible of a few. The
result is negative creativity from the workers that appear directed towards defeating

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organizational goals. Sometimes creative ideas serve personal goals to succeed in the
organization.
• Commitment: Commitment is attained through fear. In this task- oriented atmosphere,
hostility builds up, especially if the individual feels coerced to achieve the task. Such leaders
often work late in the office and carry with them work to 'finish' at home, sometimes at the
expense of their families and friends. They find their satisfaction is achievement of
organizational goals.
Country Club I Relationship-Oriented Leadership (1X9)

This is the kind of leadership where relationship is paramount. Such leader will seek to please
team members and other people associated with the organization at any cost. Often this
happens at the expense of the organizational goals. Such a leader in management position
will usually be popular with the subordinate staff of the organization.
Characteristics:
• Typical Phrase or outlook: "Try to win friends and influence people."
• Conflict: Smoothens over conflict. Tries to reduce tension. Appeals to 'the goodness of
man.'
• Decision-Making: Finds solutions which reflect ideas and opinions of others.
• Creativity: Creativity not expected. Innovations only to make jobs easier, workers more
comfortable.
• Commitment: Commitment to each other as people, but not for productivity or to achieve
tasks of the organization.
Practical Leadership (5X5)
This is an 'in-between' kind of leadership. Sometimes it is referred to as pragmatic
leadership. It tends to survive by striking compromises between work demands arc people's
personal and collective interests.
Characteristics
• Typical phrase or outlook: "Be firm but fair." "Give a little, take a little."
• Conflict: Compromises and adjustments. Tries to let conflict situations cool down. Seeks
political solution.
• Decision-Making: Samples opinions. Manipulates participation. Compromises. Sells final
solution.
• Creativity: Valued and sought after. Usually climate of non-threatening conditions.
Prevailing ideas seek to advance individual and organizational goals to some extent. •
• Commitment: Medium to high commitment, but not enthusiastic, energetic nor
outstanding.
Team-Leadership (9 X 9)
This is the most ideal kind of leadership which aspires to maximize on both individual and
organizational goals and targets. This kind of leadership believes that meeting individual
goals of staff is concomitant (not a prerequisite) to meeting organizational goals. Honest
dialogue between the organizational stakeholders is believed to be the backbone to the
survival of this kind of leadership.
Characteristics:
• Typical phrase or outlook: "People support what they help create." "Achievement through
participation."
• Conflict: Confronts conflict directly, openly, and constructively. Communicates feelings
and facts to work out creative solutions.
• Decision-Making: Seeks solutions that result from debate, deliberation, and
experimentation by those with relevant facts and knowledge to contribute.

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• Creativity: Those interested and able to tackle a problem do so. Experimentation becomes
the rule rather than the exception. Innovations meet shared goals and solve important
problems.
• Commitment: High commitment to people and tasks. Integration of individual needs with
organizational goals. Atmosphere is purposeful, meaningful challenging, confronting.
Roles of leadership in community development

Leadership development

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RESEARCH PROPOSALS
Definition
A Research proposal is a specific kind of document written for a specific purpose. Research involves
a series of actions and therefore it presents all actions in a systematic and scientific way. In this way,
Research proposal is a blue print of the study which simply outlines the steps that researcher will
undertake during the conduct of his/her study. Proposal is a tentative plan so the researcher has every
right to modify his proposal on the basis of his reading, discussion and experiences gathered in the
process of research. It is also known as a research work plan. It explains what will be done, how it
will be done, why it will be done, where it will be done and the benefits of doing it.
Importance of a research proposal
1. It presents the problems to be researched and its importance.
2. It suggests the data necessary for solving the problem, how the data will be gathered, treated
and interpreted
3. Research is a team work and it is easier for you have opinion of others if it is in written form.
4. Research Proposal is used for finalization of a research plan after presentation and discussion
before research committee or board.
5. Once developed, it serves as a plan or guideline to the researcher. It will enable him or her to
collect relevant data only and not waste time and effort on sidetracks.
6. By formulating a research proposal, researcher wants to show that the problem proposed to
beinvestigated is significant enough, the method plan to use is suitable and feasible, and the
results are likely to prove fruitful.
7. The research proposal explains why the investigator and his research team are the right group
of individuals to carry out and accomplish the work described in the research proposal.
Types of proposals
Internal proposals: This type of research proposal is done by staff specialists or by the research
department within the firm.
External proposals: These may be sponsored by university grant committees, government agencies,
government contractors, not for profit organizations or corporations.
Solicited proposals: This is often in response to a request for proposal (RFP) and is likely competing
against several others for a contract or a grant.
Unsolicited proposals: These represent a suggestion by a contract researcher for research that might
be done.

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Components of research proposals
Generally, the main components of a research proposal are as below :
1. The Introduction
2. Background for the Study
3. Statement of problem
4. Aims And Objectives Of The Study
5. Research question/hypothesis
7. Research methodology
8. Literature Research & Review
9. Conceptual Framework
10. Limitations of the Study
11. Budget
12. Curriculum Vitae for Principal Investigators
INTRODUCTION
It gives the background of the study, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study,
research hypothesis, research questions, significance of the study, limitations of the study and the
conceptual and theoretical framework.
The introduction section should introduce the research problem, its significance, and the technical
approach your work will take to investigate/solve the problem. It should establish that a problem
exists and that there is a need for the study to be carried out.
In all cases it should be stated whether a relationship exists between the proposed research and
research undertaken before. If no such research has been undertaken previously, this should be
pointed out.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Thissection gives a brief overview of the problem the researcher plans to work on.
Importance of a Background Study
It explains the need for the study
It describes the challenges faced due to that issue
It helps convince the readers that the problem exists and should be addressed

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It shows the opportunities for improvement
It demonstrates the researcher’s point of view in regard to that problem
It shows the reader that the researcher is familiar with the research problem
An effective background of study :
Is brief and specific
It should be easy to understand
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Give a clear and concise description of the research problem or question.
The researcher should explain exactly what he or she intends to do and what he or she wants to
achieve with the research.
A good Statement of problem:
Is clear and to the point.
The problem stands out and is easily recognized
Indicates the urgency of the research
Is researchable or feasible
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Aims are the goals that the researcher wants to achieve. They reflect the purpose of the research and
what he hopes to accomplish at the end of the study.
The objectives specify what the research will do in the study. The objectives constitute the means by
which the aim of the study could be achieved.
Effective of aims and objectives should:
Help in the formulation of objectives.
Help in identifying whether the research is urgent or not.
Reflect the expected outcome of the research.
State the purpose of the study
Be clearly stated and focused
Should be measurable

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Should be realistic
Should be easy to evaluate
Should follow a logical order
Should deal with all aspects of the research problem
RESEARCH QUESTION/HYPOTHESIS
A hypothesis is an assumption that tries to explain a certain behaviour pattern, phenomena or events
that have occurred or will occur.
It is important because it states the researcher’s expectations. It also defines a research problem and
enables the researcher to collect data that either supports or rejects the hypothesis.
On the other hand, the research questions are the issues that the researcher seeks to answer. They are
related to the research objectives and guide the research process.
There are different types of hypothesis
a) Conceptual Hypothesis
This explains the expected relationship between theoretical concepts. These concepts are not
measurable
b) Research Hypothesis
This explains about the expected relationship between observable or measurable events. It has both
dependent and independent variables
c) Statistical hypothesis
This explains the expected relationship between numbers representing statistical properties such as the
mean, variance and correlation.
An effective hypothesis:
Gives logical arguments
Is stated as clearly as possible on the expected relationship between two or more variables
Is verifiable or can be tested
Is consistent with existing body of knowledge

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This is also referred to as the strategy for research.
Clearly indicate the methods of data collection either within a quantitative or qualitative methodology;
as well as the techniques for data collection, measurement (the validation of the techniques) and their
sequence. For example, a questionnaire will be constructed first, then the data will be analysed,
followed by the writing of the relevant chapter. Indicate whether field workers will be used to collect
data and whether computer programmes will be employed to analyse the data.
Identify the target population, i.e. the respondents and the sample sizes.
Problems always arise in research. Things never go as anticipated. So, it is important to provide the
reviewer with enough information to give them confidence that when problems arise, as they
inevitably will, that you will be able to handle them in such a way that meaningful science results.
LITERATURE RESEARCH & REVIEW
The literature review is a list those sources which were consulted during the literature survey to
demarcate the research problem. It –
*Answers the following questions: What has been written about your topic? What theories,
methods, and sources have been used? Where is the gap that your research will fill?
* This review needs to be concise and focused
* Provides a conceptual framework for the reader so that the research question and
methodology can be better understood.
* Demonstrates to the expert reader that the researcher is aware of the breadth and diversity
of literature that relates to the research question.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A conceptual framework can be defined as a set ofbroad ideas and principles taken from the
relevant fields of inquiry and used to structure subsequent presentations.
It assists the researcher to develop awareness and understanding of the situation and how to
communicate this.
Importance of a conceptual framework
It strengthens and keeps the researcher on track
It provides clear links from the literature to the research goals and questions
It provides reference points for discussion of literature, methodology and analysis of data
It contributes to the worthiness of the study.

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Conceptualizing a problem provides a means to link ideas and data so that a deeper
connection is made.
An effective conceptual framework:
Should be logical and address the title, research objectives and statement of problem.
Should be simple and straight forward
Should have evidence to support the ideas used
Should be consistent with the literature review
Should show a link between the literature review and the study problem
Should act as a reference point from which to locate the research questions within the
contemporary theorizing
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A theoretical framework is a set of assumptions about the nature of phenomena. It explains a

phenomena. It attempts to clarify why things are the way they are based on theories. In research, we
have several theories.
1. Structural functionalism theory ( Emile Dunkhem, 1858 - 1971 )
This theory proposes that human society is like an organism and is made up of social
institutions/structures. These structures perform different functions on behalf of the society.
According to this theory, one organ can affect the others and ultimately the whole i.e affect one or all
of the social institutions since they are all interdependent.
A researcher can use this theory to point out why and how some societies operate relatively well
compared to others socially.
2. Symbolic interaction theory (Max Weber 1867 – 1920)
This theory tries to explain how individuals relate to each other. According to this theory, human
beings do not act individually but interact with each other thus reacting to each other.
A researcher can use this theory in an attempt to explain and understand how people relate to each
other and what is used in facilitating a relationship between individuals and groups in society.

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3. Conflict theory (Karl Marx 1818 – 1883)
This theory emphasizes the existence of opposing forces in the life of individuals, groups, social
structures and society in general. The assumption is that all members of the society do not have the
same values, interests or expectations.
A researcher can use this theory in an attempt to explain why conflict occurs in the society.
4. Basic needs Theory ( Abraham Maslow 1943)
According to this theory, there are certain minimum requirements that are essential to a decent
standard of living.
A researcher can apply this theory when attempting to prove that lack of basic survival needs may be
a contributing factor to the situation of the phenomenon under study.
An effective theoretical framework:
It should account for and explain a phenomenon
It should be specific and articulated
Reflect the research problem being addressed
Be practical
It should provide tentative answers to questions, issues and problems addressed in the research
problem.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Problems always arise in research. Things never go as anticipated. So, it is important to

provide the reviewer with enough information to give them confidence that when problems
arise, as they inevitably will, that you will be able to handle them in such a way that
meaningful science results.
What are the constraints that limit your research? What strategies will you use to ensure
credibility of your research despite these limitations?
BUDGET
The budget should identify the anticipated cost for everything (salaries, materials, instrumentation,
travel costs, etc.) that will be required in order to accomplish the research project. The budget
justification is simply an explanation, item-by-item, stating why you must spend the money
requested in order to carry out the experiments planned.

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The budget should identify the anticipated cost for everything (salaries, materials, instrumentation,
travel costs, etc.) that will be required in order to accomplish the research project. . It needs to be
realistic

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EXTRA NOTES
According to Eade and Williams, empowerment entails a measure of people’s capacity to

bring about change, whether this is modest or far-reaching in its impact. It involves enabling
individuals and groups to develop enough courage confidence to challenge and overcome
oppression and injustice (Eade an; 1995, 12). It is power which enables groups to determine
which needs will be met through the distribution of resources. Empowerment: people,
especially poorer people, are enabled to take more control over and secure a better livelihood
with ownership and control of productive sol one key element. Decentralization and
empowerment enable local people . The diverse complexities of their own conditions, and to
adapt to rapid change they generate their own innovations, find their own solutions, and
determine™ own pathways (Chambers, 1993, 11).
In yet another perspective, it can be asserted that poverty does not existed because of lack of
resources. It is a question of inequity in power relations either put in place structures that
stifle the people's participation in the decentralizing process, or none at all. Studies on
poverty and experiences from other -the world have shown strong links between popular
participation and decrectralizing resource imbalances (Daily Nation, 15th November 2000, 6).
OXFAM is similarly assertive on the responsibility of the people towards their own
empowerment they observe that the poor and marginalized people have the right to decide the
own priorities in overcoming the forces which oppress or exploit them, and to for social and
economic justice. It follows that women and men have the right: organise together, in order to
bring about equitable change, and to shape the decisions which affect their lives (Eade and
Williams, 1995, 10).
It is within this framework of understanding that it becomes imperative to discuss the place of
power relations in poverty analysis towards effective poverty alleviation programmes.
Basically, it is power relations that ultimately determine who gets which and whose needs are
to be given priority in policy formulation within a community The poor are often the least
represented in circles where such decisions are mad Below is a discussion on different types
of power. This is meant to clarify, no: the types of power inherent in us (whether active or
potential), but also hov> ia power could be harnessed in the efforts to empower the powerless.
Seven Pyramids of Power

(Hope and Timmel, 1995)
Powerlessness and causes of poverty are closely related. A community's position of power (or
lack of it) will determine the scope of its opportunity to influence public policy. Where
influence on public policy is optimal through effective represents! People’s interests and
aspirations are more likely to be catered to. In such a case it would be expected that people's
priorities are given the consideration they rightfully deserve and that people have a fair access
to national resources and life opportunities. On the other hand, owing to the democratic
environment characteristic of an empowered community, the latter will be expected to initiate
local decision-making and take full responsibility over the consequences of those decisions.

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In social science, power can be defined as that ability by a leader (or a group of people) to
influence others to do one's will, whether that will is for personal or public interest. Below is
a set of seven pyramids of power (see Figure 8).
Each of these kinds of power gives persons or people concerned the ability to influence
public policy
Economic Power
This is the kind of power acquired from one's material accumulation, whether such wealth is
legally or illegally obtained. Economic power can be inherited from family property, acquired
from political patronage, or hard earned with saving and investment plans. More often than
not, economic power has been used a stepping-stone towards the acquisition of political
power. Regardless of the way it is obtained, elevated economic status has been equated with
success. The concomitant immense purchasing power and the connections with highly placed
persons in society puts the rich people in a position of advantage when it their influence on
public policy. They are listened to and their views rarely challenged. This way, their interests
are more protected by the system as compared to the interests of the poor.
ii) Popular or Political Power

"Each day, we individually strive to rise above poverty. If we pooled sources, took advantage
of each other's strengths, we would be less vulnerable the vagaries of poverty" (Daily Nation,
15th November, 2000, 6).
Ideally, political power should come from the people. It is the power of It has sometimes
been referred to as popular power. It is the power bestowed upon somebody by the people,
and it is only the people who have the authority to strip off the power from the person. A
good example is Members of Parliament which to their positions of power through popular
vote. It was through popular power our freedom fighters pushed their struggle with
confidence on behalf of the people. It was through popular power that the multi-party era of
pluralism was reborn Kenya in 1992. Attempts to buy popular power from the people are
well-known but, power captured in this way does not last and if it lasts, it is laden with
shame.
iii) Idea or Skill or Knowledge Power

"The experiences of women all over the world demonstrate that they have had more gains
from civic empowerment than from donor handouts to groups that more benevolent than
developmental." (Daily Nation, 15th November, 2000, 6)
The old adage 'knowledge is power' serves to describe this kind of power. Most professionals
depend on their power of knowledge and skill for their survival and public influence. Be it a
city tailor, a village mechanic, a medical doctor, a mason, an artisan, a pilot, a shoeshine, a
village medicine man or a traditional birth attendant, all and each has a special place and a
unique contribution to make in the society. The skill and know-how gives him or her some
kind of power that cannot be taken away by anybody. The use of this power at the right time
will influence decisions and the lives of others and the life of the community at large. This
either be abused or made a blessing to an entire community.

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iv) Coercive Power

This is sometimes referred to as the 'power of numbers.' It is one of the most abused types
of power as a short cut to the use of logic* Coercive power can be assumed by anybody at
any time, young or old, as long as the person has a| to the means of enforcing physical threat
and physical punishment. The more kind of power is used; the more irrational judgments are
enforced. It should actually.
Using communication to facilitate participation
We have discussed the need to go beyond transmitting messages or information and

persuading people. The role of the researcher or development practitioner in using
communication does not consist in transmitting or disseminating messages, but in facilitating
participation in local development.
The success of communication activities is closely linked to the perception of the researcher
or development practitioner’s role as facilitating that process of community participation. If
you see your role as conceiving and disseminating messages, you will no longer be of help to
community groups in identifying development problems and implementing action. Similarly,
you must be careful not to substitute yourself, often unsuccessfully, for the competent local
technical resources; instead you must facilitate their collaboration and participation in the
development initiative identified.
As well, you must learn to involve community groups more closely in the communication
strategy, and help them take ownership of the initiative rather than seeing themselves as
beneficiaries of a research or development intervention.
To facilitate this participation, the researcher or development practitioner must be prepared to
assume several different functions:
 Facilitate dialogue and the exchange of ideas among different groups and specific
individuals: this presupposes a sound understanding of the local setting.
 Encourage thinking about local development problems and possible solutions or about
a common goal to achieve the desired results: this presupposes a thorough
understanding of the subject, or enlisting people who have such an understanding.
 Support the identification and realization of a concrete set of actions for
experimenting or implementing the solutions identified or for achieving an identified
development goal: by facilitating the different groups involved in those actions to
share their views.
 Support efforts at awareness-building, motivation, learning and implementing the
development action: by using communication strategies appropriate to each group of
participants.
 Ensure the effective circulation of information among different participants: by using
communication tools and channels appropriate to the groups involved.
 Support decision-making: by facilitating consensus among different categories of
players.
 Develop local collaboration and partnerships by establishing alliances with local
resource persons and agencies and serving as a conduit between the groups and these
partners.
 Monitor the development initiative: by ensuring that actions taken are followed and
evaluated.

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 Make sure that the authorities or resource agencies in a position to assist the
development action are aware of local viewpoints and needs.
Implementing such a process demands many skills including the capacity to act at different
levels. The following six areas are considered to be key skill areas for researchers and
development practitioners.
Developing a two-way communication process
The researcher or development practitioner must first learn to establish a dialogue with a
community. You should be able to bring people to express their points of view and listen to
others, and to build consensus around a course of action. This demands the ability to listen, to
be aware of the participants’ viewpoints and to be in a position to bring them to share
information and views.
At the local level, in many people’s minds, researchers and development practitioners are
considered as a type of authority: therefore they are expected to speak and community
members, with the exception of local authorities, are not used to taking part in such
exchanges. This new role requires a change of attitudes.
Researchers and development practitioners should not act like schoolteachers insisting on a
quiet and attentive class. Nor should they try to mobilize people in support of actions that
they neither choose nor desire. Their role should be to develop a two-way communication
process.
Planning and developing a communication strategy
On the basis of that two-way communication process with members of the local community,
another function consists of planning and implementing a communication strategy. This
will be discussed in details in part 2 of this guide.
Facilitating learning
Where the goal of the research or the development action involves acquiring knowledge and
developing skills or know-how that will allow participants to implement a development
initiative of their own choosing, communication must also facilitate the learning process.
Adult education has demonstrated that people learn better through a non-directive teaching
approach, where learning is active and takes their experience into account, as well as their
knowledge and their way of seeing the world. Accordingly, you should act as facilitators of
that process. It can be difficult to follow this approach if you have not been trained
accordingly. At this point, research teams or practitioners may want to enlist the collaboration
of a resource person who has these capacities and who can help facilitate learning and
knowledge acquisition.
Moderating discussions
As a communication facilitator, you are also a moderator: you must listen to the various
viewpoints expressed, create opportunities for interchange, encourage participants to state
their views, resolve conflicts, and be judicious in the use of time available, while keeping the
discussion on track.

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Discussion and exchange of viewpoints should lead to decisions about how to implement the
solution selected. You must therefore be able to sum up the debate, introduce a decision-
making process, and facilitate consensus. This is not always easy: it may sometimes be
necessary to expose attempts by an individual or an interest group to manipulate the decision.
Since not everyone is equally endowed with such skills, it may be best in some situations to
look for a moderator within the local community or to associate such a person in the research
team.
Formatting and shaping information
Another function consists of making information accessible, in a form consistent with the
characteristics of the participants in the communication process. Information on
desertification prevention, for example, will not necessarily have the same meaning for
nurses, peasants, soldiers, traders and youngsters. A new farming technique will not be
viewed or understood in the same way by a poor, illiterate peasant and by a prosperous,
educated farmer.
Encouraging and organizing women participation
Finally, it is important that women be encouraged to serve as communication facilitators. In

many countries, where the agents employed by development organizations and technical
extension services, or the members of research teams are mainly men, a real effort is needed
to recruit female communication facilitators to take part in activities.
It will often be found that women alone are able to communicate truly with other women
about their needs and to help them channel their efforts to bring about change. Indeed, in
most settings, only women can approach other women, encourage them to speak their minds,
and assist them in the process of individual or social change.

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Bed 2127 Introductionto Community Development

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lOMoARcPSD|18882435

BED 2127+ Introduction+TO+ Community+ Development

Principles of Social Work (Mount Kenya University)

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DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

VIRTUAL CAMPUS, UNION TOWERS, 6TH FLOOR.

P.O BOX 13495-00100 GPO Nairobi.

Tel: 0700-912353, 0702-041042.

Author: Patrick Kamweti

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DED 1102: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Expected Learning Outcomes

 Understand the principles and practice of community development

WEEK TOPIC SUBTOPIC HOURS

1 &2 Overview/introduction - Definition of community 6

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5 &6 Community - Concept of community 6

7 &8 Community - community action plan (CAP) 6

- roles of leadership in community

Learning and Teaching Methodologies

Lectures, Group discussions, Assignment

Required Text Books

 Banks S. et al, (2003), Managing Community: Practice, Principles, Policies and

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DCD 113: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Another important aspect of community is its universally dynamic nature. It undergoes a

o According the Midgley, community is usually defined in terms of geographic locality,

o According to Zenter, it is concerned with the utilization of habitation space in the

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Characteristics of a community: (Features)

3) Communities have a locality symbols or name which gives an identity (A geographical

 Shared community structures like schools and institutions

 Shared social relation like clans, families and neighborhoods

 Shared rules or regulations such as missions, visions and goals

Defining development and community development

It’s also a qualitative gradual change that results to better living.

Development may also mean the provision of basic necessities

It is also a process of changing people’s attitude, knowledge and practices

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 It involves mass education, building relationships, mobilizing resources and developing

 Thus community development is a bottom approach to development. It is people centered

 The concept of community development is defined by scholars such as Parsons and

 Community development is a structured intervention that gives communities greater

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 It is crucially concerned with issues of powerlessness and disadvantage: as such it should

 Community development takes place both in neighborhoods and within communities of

 Community development is about developing the power, skills, knowledge and

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on which we all depend. Community development is well placed to involve people

Theoretical background of community development.

Other definitions: - By the United Nations :- (1963)

C. According to the international cooperative administration (1956). Community

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E. Definition by Clifford (1956)

From the above definitions, it’s clear that:-

Perceptions of community development:-

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II. Community development as a method:-

V. Community development as an Educational approach:-

Characteristics of community development

 It must be community oriented