Community development is the process by which a community assesses its needs, decides how to address them, and then takes action. There are many organizations that work on the ground to help develop communities, including social services, non-profit organizations, and concerned citizens. Social change is any lasting alteration in the structure of a society and its social institutions. These alterations can take place through altering public opinion about how issues should be handled or by bringing about large-scale change such as implementing new laws or policies.
Community development is a comprehensive approach to a variety of social changes, including community empowerment and organizing, economic development, social work, or even building. It aims to strengthen a sense of ownership and responsibility within a community, in order to harness local capabilities and resources for positive social and economic change.
Social change has been one of the greatest impacts on community development. If a community is developing is means that it is growing and changing in a positive way. Social change has helped to bring about community development in numerous ways.
Community development is the process of enabling individuals and communities to achieve their potential by improving their quality of life. Community development practices have been associated with social change at all scales, from rural villages to neighbourhoods within cities. Community developers engage people in strengthening their own identities and communities in order to create positive systemic social changes.
Community development is a bottom-up approach to social change. It looks at the level of direct interaction between individuals and community organizations. This allows communities to develop non-government programs, activities and opportunities that help community members address the daily issues they face.
Communities coming together to improve their quality of life is often a long process accompanied with many problems and obstacles. However, using community based social change processes are effective in creating sustainable and practical long-term solutions. Community Development is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It takes into consideration the individual characteristics that make up each community and uses this information to ensure that the goals of a project are both feasible and realistic.
Community development plays a part in social change by improving living conditions. For example, a community can build a public water well to improve the health of villagers, expand educational facilities to improve literacy and facilitate opportunities for employment, and implement income-generating programs such as microfinance to help people prosper.
The community development approach is used to strengthen communities and advance social change by meeting basic human needs while helping people move toward greater self-reliance and self-determination.
Community Development & Social Change aims to transform the way people think about development, as it emphasizes community empowerment and social justice rather than increased wealth production. By bringing together cutting-edge research from different disciplines—including anthropology, sociology, political science, geography, economics, and planning.
Communities have always been the engines of change, both nationally and internationally, as they are inherently suited to meeting the needs of local inhabitants. However, when community development approaches are coordinated with social changes and advocacy, they can play a vital role in influencing local or national decisions that impact the safety, health and well-being of local people, especially in the poorest regions where most projects are based.
Community development involves social change that results from sustained involvement in critical reflection and action to achieve goals important for individuals, neighborhoods, cities and world. Not only do such efforts contribute to social change locally and globally, but they necessitate critical reflection on issues of power and oppression in the context of development.
Community development is a social change process that builds local communities, neighborhood by neighborhood. It aims to improve the quality of life in low-income neighborhoods and to strengthen disadvantaged individuals and families. Its basic premise is that people who live, work and play in close proximity are most effective at creating positive change.
Social Change is the transition from one way of living to a better and more advanced manner. Community Development is a program in which the people develop their community by themselves. Through this, it means that they are improving their society, housing, employment and nutrition through active participation. This social change is possible by providing the communities with information on their situation and the ability to mobilize themselves.
Social change focuses on the alteration of social relations, power, or institutions. This process can be slow or quick, often taking many years to generations. Community development is a part of this process having a clear impact at the local level. It is often associated with grassroots efforts organized by members in an affected population and municipal officials react and acknowledge these community efforts as significant because they engage individuals to take direct actions that positively affect their lives.
Community development is a strategy for social change that seeks to improve the welfare of communities by combating poverty, growing the economy and building community assets. Community development relies on partnerships between residents and public, private and nonprofit entities. These partnerships can engage in just about any activity, from developing affordable housing to working to attract jobs to an area.
Community development is a tool used by practitioners to achieve social change. Community development is a social change strategy, which uses an integrated approach to mobilize the community and expand on the agencies it has in place to solve its problems and satisfy its needs .
Social change involves the improvement of society. Community development is tied to Social Change. The goal is for community development professionals to aid in improving people’s living standards, and bringing together a positive social atmosphere. Community Development professionals work with both businesses and communities so that they can help each other, and have a better future.
A community development party is probably best known for the work it does on the ground: providing basic services, stimulating income generation and employment, and improving environmental conditions in low-income communities. But this NGO also does one thing only its members do: it encourages social change. It challenges the status quo by taking on dominant ideas, policies and institutions and promoting alternative models of political economy that are more equitable and sustainable.
Social change happens in communities. It takes place through conversations, agreements, and disagreements between people who are willing to listen, share, and be open to other points of view. Community development is a collective effort: an effort to come together with the shared goal of improving life for those who live there. Change can organize communities around new schools, improved neighborhoods, or jobs programs.
Community development efforts and social change occur simultaneously in an interdependent fashion. Community development helps people to organize, understand their needs at a community level, and work toward positive social change in the community.
Community development provides social change with the understanding that a community is a group of people living in a specific place. Active members of the community contribute to their society in many ways.
Community Development organizations build neighborhoods by improving the housing and economic assets of an area in order to help meet a community’s present needs so that it is well positioned to face future challenges. At the same time, social change organizations address broader issues such as race, poverty, and gender.
References
Christens, B. D., & Dolan, T. (2011). Interweaving youth development, community development, and social change through youth organizing. Youth & Society, 43(2), 528-548.
Roseland, M. (2012). Toward sustainable communities: Solutions for citizens and their governments. New Society Publishers.