The slides explain the emergence of community development discipline.

1. ORIGIN, HISTORY, PURPOSE &
PRINCIPALS OF COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
BY Dr. P. Mwesiga

2. INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
OF COD
 Community development practice has arisen from a variety of sources
and settings. Within the international perspective the idea of community
development was firstly used during the end of WW-II.
 Its roots can be traced from the social reform movement in Britain
and North America in the latter half of the 18th century.
 In the 1950's and 1960's CD or community organization, was used in
deprived or underdeveloped urban and rural settings in North America
 It was a means to solve problems of people by themselves under
self-help.
 This was the response to discouragement which people faced and the
colonial legacy which they had of not being able to solve their own
problems
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 2

3. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN
TANZANIA – BEFORE INDEPENDENCE
•It emerged in phases to address
people’s felt specific needs;
• in 1946 (social services and
rehabilitation of WWII soldiers)
•Formation of Social welfare
organization to resettle the ex-
soldiers from WW II.
•The organization aimed at planning
and providing social services and
rehabilitation of WW II returning
soldiers
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 3

4. IN 1952- (NEED FOR HUMAN CAPITAL
DEVELOPMENT)
Human capital (experience, skills,
knowledge) includes assets:
education, training, intelligence,
skills, health, loyalty, punctuality,
integrity
Formation of Social Development
Department to enhance:
People’s development through the
provision of basic requirements to
the majority of people (Mass adult
education, promotion & formation of
self help group)
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 4

5. HISTORY OF CD IN TANZANIA
– AFTER INDEPENDENCE- 6
PHASES
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 5

6. PHASE 1: 1961-62- NEED TO
IMPROVE HOUSING, DOMESTIC WATER
WATER SUPPLY, EDUCATION, ROADS –
Just after independence - Fighting 3
main enemies disease, ignorance and
poverty
Social Development Department was
changed to department of Community
development under the Ministry of Local
Government and Housing
Emphasis was development of people
and by people themselves
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 6

7. OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT IN 1961
Give inspiration, guidance and practical
assistance to groups of people especially in
rural areas in order to;
Make improvements in their housing,
Domestic water Supply, Education, roads etc.
These were done under the following
objectives
a. Tackle the pressing problems of ignorance
by organizing mass literacy
b. Encourage women to start their own
groups, raise their own funds,
c. Stimulate formation of village development
committee
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 7

8. PHASE 2: 1963-64- A NEED TO IMPROVE
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION FOR
NATIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT:
Department of CD was changed into
Ministry of Cooperatives and community
Development.
The government wanted to accelerate the
economic and social development of the
country, through the use of cooperatives.
Also aimed at mobilizing people to work
together cooperatively in groups
Cooperatives were geared toward
improving agricultural production,
through the assistance of the CD worker.
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 8

9. PHASE 3:1965-1967- NEED TO
PROMOTE NATIONAL CULTURE WHILE
INCREASING ECONOMIC GROWTH
Ministry of CD and national culture was
formed
 The new government realized that the
nation was loosing its national identity in
terms of culture
The colonial legacy tended to ignore or
despise the traditional culture
The main goal of this ministry was to
promote national culture
Through establishment of community
centers for education and recreation
Mobilize and organize women groups for
economic and social activities
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 9

10. PHASE 4: 1967 – 1972 – NEED TO
HARMONIZE RURAL AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
The Ministry of Regional
Administration and Rural
Development was established
It emphasized on the equilibrium
between urban and rural
development
Arusha Declaration was introduced
It insisted on Ujamaa and Self
Reliance
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 10

11. PHASE 5:1981-84; 1990-92 THE NEED TO
ENHANCE AFFAIRS OF WOMEN AND
CHILDREN
CD department was changed to
Ministry of CD Women Affairs and
Children
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 11

12. PHASE 6:1994 TO 2015- NEED
TO INTERGRATE GENDER, HEALTH IN
DEVELOPMENT
Ministry of Community Development Gender and
Children was established
Insisted mainstreaming of the needs of men, women
and children in the development programmes
Phase 7:
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 12

13. PHASE 7 AND 8
PHASE 7- December 2015 Ministry of Health Community
Development, Gender, Seniors and Children was established
Emphasis- harmonising services for effectiveness while
minimising cost
PHASE 8; 202
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 13

14. PURPOSE OF COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
Reducing the element of
dependency syndrome
Promoting sustainability
of change
Sharing responsibility and
accountability
Improving productivity
Meeting community’s felt needs
through:
Community awareness creation
(on what?)
Community organization i.e
democratic structures or organs
(outline community organisations)
Multi-sectoral collaboration
(Networking)-(what sectors
collaborate in community
development work?)
Community capacity building or
empowerment
Effective use of locally available
resources
Technical support and financial
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 14

15. KEY PRINCIPLES OF
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
Sustainability,
participation and
empowerment

16. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Sustainable development is a basic principle of community development that
emphasises: meeting people’s present needs, maintaining potentials for
satisfying future needs, conserving the nature, and building people’s ability to
manage the change.
When change is introduced to a community, it is hoped that the community
will manage or maintain it.
Some principles of sustainability include: Active participation of
community members in all aspects of the project such as:
- Identification of problems/needs
- Planning
- Implementation
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Use of appropriate technology that can be maintained and serviced locally.

17. PARTICIPATION
Participation - Refers to listening to the voice of the
people and assisting them to develop their own
community, in a way that they want it developed
Some important principles of participation
include: ·
- Listening
- Questioning
- Respecting local knowledge
- Using local talent

18. EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment refers to the expansion of people’s capacity
to make and act upon decisions (agency) and to transform
those decisions into desired outcomes, affecting all aspects
of their lives, including decisions related to health.
It entails overcoming socioeconomic and other power
inequalities in a context where this ability was previously
denied.
Programmatic interventions often focus specifically on
empowering women because of the inequalities in their
socioeconomic status. (Adapted from Naila Kabeer’s and Ruth
Alsop’s definition of empowerment.)

19. KEY ISSUES RELATED
TO SUSTAINABLE COD

20. COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT
A community does not exist in vacuum
A community’s environment is not isolate from
other environments:
 Natural Environment
 Political Environment
 Social Environment
 Economic Environment
 Cultural Environment
 Psychological Environment
Their influences have effect on the people lives

21. Natural environment
(NE):
Sustainable
Community
Development should
take into the
account:
 Conservation of climate;
Soil type; availability of
water and forest
 Not to harm the NE but
improve it for community
development
Political Environment:
 Awareness of the political tendency
such as: the influence of the chief of
village, district leaders and even
Member of Parliament of province in
political party
 Get them involved in the process
from the beginning Seek their buy
in/ use their platforms to reach
people
Economic Environment
Be aware of:
Availability of the
fund resource for
community
Level of deprivation
of the people
concerned
Psychological
Environment
 It is usually an obstacle
 Not easy to observe (tend
to ignore)
 Rural area versus urban
area versus squatter
 Other community’s
environments influence the
psychological environment
strongly
Cultural Environment
 Place and role of the traditional
leaders - regards as gateway to the
community - The gateway can be
open or close - guarding over own
interest - a fear of the outsider
taking his position
 Roles of the women in the society -
need permission from husband to
be involved in action group
 Roles of the Community workers
Social Environment
 Every community own its social
activities and objectives:
 Employment (job) issue, religion
(belief), social life, social service,
social order, social security,
Relationship, friendship, affiliation,
 Club, church, school, association
development lead to community
social stratification
 The community worker must be
aware of these stratifications and
consequences but need not
respect these

22. ASSUMPTIONS OF CD
1. People needs change and they can
change
No person who don’t want to step
forward from the previous stage,
therefore everybody wants change.
2.People have capacity to change:
We believe that people have capacity
to change, because they couldn’t have
existed regardless of the problems
they faced.
It is only because they lack support to
adopt the change
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 22

23. ASSUMPTIONS OF CD
3.People need to participate in any
activity:
We want people to feel that they
are part and parcel of the project,
inorder to bring sustainable
development.
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 23

24. STRENGTH OF CD
It reduces the burden to the
government, since there is sense of
self reliance
It creates sustainability to the project
Create a sense of “we feeling”
Capacity building to community
members
Effective utilization of the locally
available resources
Brings the feelings and sense of
ownership
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 24

25. LIMITATIONS OF THE
ASSUMPTIONS
Need for change but what type of
change?- The issue of first problem or
change to be dealt with. i.e priority
Capacity for change is limited by their
education level (knowledge and exposure)
Participation is limited by the fact that it
is time consuming
Also existence of antagonistic groups in
the area will delay the project to
materialize
Lack of CD ethics may lead to
misallocation or misuse of fund.
11/21/2023 MWESIGA PE 25