- Published: December 12, 2021
- Updated: December 12, 2021
- University / College: Université Laval
- Level: Intermediate School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 23
Topic Community organizing serves as a major way of empowering a society and addressing social issues such as poverty and health. There are key steps followed in community organizing and building. First, an organizer integrates with the community and experiences the everyday life of the community members. Following this is social investigation where studying the structure of the society and identifying issues facing society. After identification of the issue at hand, the need to involve community members arises. This occurs in two sub-steps. First, the organizer identifies society leaders among the people; respectable and influential people in the society. Next, with the help of local leaders, the organizer mobilizes the public and creates awareness on the issue at hand. Once society members are full participants, social planning and social action follow (McKenzie, Neiger & Thackeray, 2012). This involves coming up with the means to carry out a project and the actual process of implementing the project.
Evaluation follows to study the success of the action and make adjustments if necessary. In this step, accomplishments get acknowledgement and lessons on how to improve future mobilizations noted. The community organizations get formalization after engaging in social action. Once this happens, the last step occurs. It involves the organizer leaving and the people taking over entirely. Community organization is an empowering process and, therefore, an organizer needs to leave once to let the empowered people carry on from there. In building community support for a health intervention, the social action step is the most crucial. This is because it involves the actual implementation of the project meant to improve health systems in a society. Social action is an act of power that proves indeed social organization and empowerment works.
References
McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R., (2012) Planning, Implementing & Evaluating
Health Promotion Programs: A Primer (6th edition) San Francisco, CA: Benjamin
Cummings
