Describe the importance working with communities as a method of social work

1. JAMAL MOHAMED COLLEGE (Autonomous)
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(Affiliated to Bharathidasan University)
PG AND RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK
TIRUCHIRAPPALLI- 620 020
Social Work Students can make use of this simple material on
WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND SOCIAL ACTION
Prepared By
Dr.S.RAJESWARI
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK
JAMAL MOHAMED COLLEGE
TIRUCHIRAPPALLI - 20
Since 1951

2. COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND SOCIAL ACTION
UNIT – I
COMMUNITY
MEANING:
Community is a collection of people or a group of people living in a
geographical area on a permanent basis for a common purpose interacting and sharing.
DEFINITION:
Community is an aggregation of people or a group of people or group of
families confined to a geographical area or a locality for a common purpose having
commonness, interdependence, a shared way of life and relationship on a continuous
basis or permanently.
Community is an aggregation of families and individuals, settled in a fairly
compact and contiguous geographic area, with significant elements of common life as
shown by manners, customs, traditions and modes of speech – Mac Iver
TYPES OF COMMUNITY
The different types of community could be identified based on certain
components like area, occupation, caste, class and religion.
On the basis of Area – Rural community, Urban community and Tribal
community
On the basis of occupation – Farmers, cultivators, landless, business, workers
etc
On the basis of caste – Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Most
Backward Class (MBC), Backward Class (BC), Other Caste (OC), Forward
Caste (FC)
On the basis of class – Upper class, Middle class and Lower class
On the basis of religion – Hindu, Muslim and Christian.
On the basis of Area:
Based on the residential area where the density of the population, size of the
population and major occupation of the people will enable to decide about whether the
area is rural or urban or tribal.
If the density of population is less than 300 per square kilometre, size of the
population is less than 5000 and more than 75 percent of the people are engaged in
agricultural activity that area is declared as a rural area.
If all the above three components are not true that area is declared as an urban
area.
In the case of a tribal area all the rural characteristics have to be present and the
geographical location has to be in general a hill area

3. On the basis of occupation:
India being predominantly an agricultural country, majority of our population
is involved in agricultural activities. Therefore, there are farmers who could be
further classified as big farmers, small farmers, marginal farmers and agricultural
labourers in the field of agriculture.
A big farmer is one with more than 5 acres of wet land or 10 acres of dry land,
a small farmer is one with 2.5 acres to 5 acres of wet land or 5 to 10 acres of dry land
and the marginal farmer is one with less than 2.5 acres of wet land or with less than 5
acres of dry land. Sometimes a farmer may possess both wetland and dry land, which
have to be considered while classifying the person based on the land ownership. The
landless person is one who does not possess any land for cultivation purpose at all.
The farmers or the cultivators or the peasants are normally the landowners who
will be cultivating their land directly. Sometimes there are landowners who do not
cultivate the land directly but instead they may do the cultivation indirectly. The land
owners may supervise the cultivation once in a way or the land may be given on lease.
In the non-agricultural field the people may work as business people, teachers,
industrial workers, government employees, unorganized workers etc., A group of
people from such categories then becomes a community.
On the basis of caste:
Caste is a peculiar phenomenon that exists in our country. India is the only
country, which has the maximum number of caste groups. The broader classification
used for reservation and other benefits are Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste, Most
Backward Classes, Backward Classes, Other Castes and Forward Caste. In the
government documents the term caste and class are being used interchangeably to
mean the same.
On the basis of Class:
The economic status is also used to identify the community as Upper class,
middle and lower class. Poverty line is one of the factors, which is being used to
identify the economic status of an individual or a family. The poverty line is
determined by the income of the family and the amount varies according to the money
value as per that year. On the other hand it is also calculated in terms of calories,
which is required for a person. In rural areas, a person requires 2400 calories, whereas
in urban areas it is 2200 calories if it is not so, the person lives below poverty line.
Money value is calculated as per the present prices of goods and commodities, which
are required to produce so many calories per day.

4. COMMUNITY POWER STRUCTURE
Community power structure refers to the distribution of power at the local
community level. There are numerous empirical studies to discover the nature of the
distribution of power at community level.
Among these community studies two categories can be clearly identified one
supporting the major contention of the elite thesis and the other refuting the elitist
argument and replacing it by what is known as the Pluralist Thesis.
Lloyd Hunter's Community Power Structure based on the study of distribution
of power in Atlantic is a prominent study in the elitist tradition. Hunter's study was
based on reputational approach. He made a preliminary list of 175 leaders who held
formal important positions in politics, business and civic organizations and have
reputation for leadership. Then he selected the panel of 14 judges representing
religious, business and professional interest and asked them to select those who in
their eyes are the top leaders. The result showed that half of these leaders were upper-
class businessmen. The empirical study confirms the elitist thesis that a clear defined
group of decision makers can be identified who are highly organized and who
decisively dominate the public life of the organized and who decisively dominate the
public life of the city.
Pluralists led by Robert Dahl have challenged the main elitist contention that a
society is marked by the existence of a single centre of political power. They argued
that in a society there are multiple centers of political power none of which are
completely sovereign. The decision making maybe done by few but then this decision
making cannot be understood except within the context of a continuous bargaining
process among the elites and also of a general consensus established only through the
mass approval which is hard to secure.
Further continuing his criticism of the elite model he argued that the elite
theory confuses potential control with actual control. He agrees that it is quite possible
that a group in the society has a very high potential for control. But that does not
automatically make this group very powerful since the actual power of a group is
established not only by a high potential for control but also by a high potential for
nuclearity.Next according to Dahl the elite theories disregarded the fact that there may
be different scopes of power and that a group having a high degree of influence over
one scope may not necessarily have the same degree of influence over another scope
within the same system.
Dahl selected three distinct decisions -areas covering urban development,
public schools and political nominations. Within each area he studied a number of
decisions thus he picks up three categories of political leaders which are political
notables ,social notables and economic notables and enquires whether each of these
groups participate in decision-making only in one or in all of the three issue areas. He
takes as the sign of power the ability to successfully initiate or veto the proposals for

5. policies. After examining all the available data Dahl admits that the in The New
Haven a tiny group the leaders exert great influence on individuals who are influential
in one sector of public activity are found not to be influential in another sector and
further leaders exerting influence in different issue areas do not come to be drawn
from a single homogenous stratum of the community.
Dahl's pluralist model has been subjected to severe criticisms. Firstly the model
wrongly locates power in concrete decisions or in activities having direct bearing on
decision making. He ignores the fact that power is also exercised in creating and
reinforcing social and political values and institutional practices that limit the scope of
the political process to public consideration of only those issues that are comparatively
harmless to the interest of the powerful. Thus the powerful groups may never let these
issues which affect their vital interests come to the stage of public decision making.
Thus Dahl's model fails to differentiate the unimportant issues arising in the political
arena.
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Community leader is a designation, often by secondary sources (particularly
in the media), for a person who is perceived to represent a community. A simple way
to understand community leadership is to see it as leadership in, for and by the
community. Community ‘is frequently based in place and so is local, although it can
also represent a community of common interest, purpose or practice’
Community leadership is a specific form of the general concept of leadership.
It is frequently based in place and so is local, although it can also represent a
community of common interest, purpose or practice. It can be individual or group
leadership, voluntary or paid. In many localities it is provided by a combination of
local volunteers, business and government and is best served by what is called "place
management", ie. a combination within a region of Government resources,
professional and business skills and the energies of the local community
Community leaders are not necessarily elected to their positions, and usually
have no legal powers, but they are often used by the media and the police as a way of
determining the general feeling within a particular community, or acting as a point of
liaison between that community and authorities
Community leadership together with knowledge and skills, volunteering, networks
and partnerships have been identified as among the five key indicators for stronger
communities and civil society
Effective community leadership is increasingly recognised, as an important
contributor to local social development. The leadership approach is based on a
premise that individual development enhances community capacity. This is
accomplished through training that equips people with the tools and understanding of
the decision making process and allows their views to be expressed and incorporated
into future development and planning. The acquisition of new skills also enhances

6. effectiveness in addressing issues affecting their communities. It should also
strengthen the community's capacity to identify opportunities and address crises in
innovative ways.
COMMUNITY DYNAMICS – Integrative and Disintegrative Process
Community Dynamism is the interaction and the interpersonal relationship
among the members of the community. Community dynamism has to be observed
when we start to work in a community. The following are the important processes of
dynamism in the community.
Co-operation
Opposing
Accommodation
Assimilation
Competition
Interaction
Interdependence
Conflict
Neutral people of the community
They are the people who co-operate with the community, which could be called
as the co-operative community because they tend to work together. The co-operation
among the members could be direct where the members come and share and do by
themselves. In the indirect co-operation the people are given specific task of a
common task. Each group or member is expected to carry out what is assigned to him
or her and when everyone completes the task then only the work is complete. In other
words, it could be a kind of division of labour, which takes place in the indirect co-
operation. The co-operation can be observed in the family as primary co-operation in
the government sector as the secondary co-operation and in the national building as
the tertiary co-operation.
There is also another group which takes very safe role by keeping themselves
in a neutral position. Such group of people is impersonal and looks for competition
for personal gain. Such community is called the competitive community.
Competition could be between and among individuals or group or individuals. The
competition could be a healthy one, which would foster the community life. The
unhealthy competition would bring in disharmony within the community.
Competition is usually an impersonal unconscious struggle or activity for the survival
of the fittest. Healthy competition should be encouraged and unhealthy competition
should be checked.
When the competition is not taking place in the correct way it would lead to a
conscious and deliberate attempt to oppose because of differences of personal, class,
political, ideology that ultimately result in conflict. There are also people who always
oppose which are called the conflict community. The members either consciously or

7. deliberately attempts to oppose may be due to the differences among the individuals,
groups and class, social and political factors.
As a result of conflict many things are likely to happen. In the community
when ever there is an issue there are people who are affected by the issue and another
group, which may be the case for the issue.. But the interaction and the inter
relationship within the community prompts to observe the community whether there is
accommodation, compromise, arbitration, conciliation, toleration, conversion,
rationalization, super ordination and subordination.
When the issue involves two groups that have unequal power and strength in
many ways such groups accept the defeat and accommodate each other and work
towards solving the problem. The group which has the lesser power is in a
disadvantageous position and hence they are in a way forced to accommodate the
views of the powerful group. The other possibility is that the powerful group either
exploits the situation or accommodates the less powerful group.
When the two groups have equal power and strength in many ways then such
groups come for a compromise, understanding the strength and weakness of
themselves. But at times it is not that easy for the groups to come forward for a
compromise. In such a situation arbitration or conciliation takes place through a third
person. Usually the third person is an acceptable person by both the groups.
Toleration is another dynamism which could be observed in the community.
This is something which is found in most of the communities. People live with
different ideology, values accepting the ideology and the values of the other people.
The toleration among the people has to be properly identified and accepted and works
towards initiating the process of community organisation.
At times in extreme situations the members of the community are influenced
and the members convinced of the culture and practice of the other community and
hence may acquire and adopt the culture. In other words there could be a process of
cultural diffusion, which is known as acculturation. The dynamism of such sort could
be called assimilation.

8. UNIT – II
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
MEANING OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
Community organization as a social work process distinct from case work and
group work, which are concerned with the welfare of individuals through inter-
personal and intra-group relationships, is interested in inter-group relationships. It is
directed to provide services for people with special needs. Community organization is
a process in which efforts are directed towards meeting the community needs and
developing integration within the community.
The term community organization became an important concept in the social
work profession due to the publication of the Lane Committee Report in 1939 which
identified community organization as a method of social work.
DEFINITION
Community organization is that phase of social organization which constitutes
a conscious effort on the part of a community to control its affairs democratically and
to secure the highest services from its specialists, organizations, agencies and
institutions by means of recognized inter-relations. – Lindeman (1921)
Community organization is a process by which a community identifies its
needs or objectives, orders or ranks these needs or objectives, develops the confidence
and will to work at those needs or objectives, finds the resources (internal and
external) to deal with these needs or objectives, takes action in respect of them and in
so doing extends and develops co-operative and collaborative attitudes and practices
in the community.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
1. It is a process by which the capacity of the community to function more positively
and progressively grows. The social workermakes this process conscious, deliberative
and understandable.
2. It makes possible for the community to identify its needs when community
involves itself in solving methods of its problems.
3. After the identification of the needs, community is helped by a worker to establish
some order of priority among these needs so that efforts may be taken accordingly
to fulfil these needs.
4. Community organizer helps the community to locate the resources in the society
through which the needs may be fulfilled. There are certain agencies in the
community which work for the betterment of the life of people but people are ignorant
about these agencies. Worker helps the community in such a situation and makes
community able to use those agency resources for its development.
5. Community organization process identifies a problem about which some action is
required and helps the community to take some action so that the problems are solved
or needs are fulfilled.

9. 6. As the process evolves and progresses, people in the community will come to
understand, accept and work with one another, that in the process of identifying
and dealing with a common problem, subgroups and their leaders will become
disposed to cooperate with other subgroups in common endeavours and will
develop skills in overcoming the inevitable conflicts and difficulties which emerge in
such collective tasks.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
1. Analysing resource-services available to meet needs
2. Gaining facts about human needs
3. Synthesis, correlation and testing of facts
4. Relating facts about needs and the available resources
5. Bringing into participation in all phases of the process, individuals and
representatives of group concerned
6. Fostering interaction of attitudes and representative viewpoints with the objective
of reaching agreement through mutual understanding
7. Stimulating citizen interest in social problems and creating motivation for action
through participation and education
8. Determining priorities
9. Developing and improving standards of service
10. Identification of gaps or duplication of services
11. Adjusting or eliminating existing services or developing new services to meet
needs
12. Enhancing community understanding through education
13. Mobilizing support – moral and financial.
PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
To help people to make use of their own capacities and of environmental
resources this will result in personal satisfaction and social adjustment
To help in the modification of the environment so that people will have fewer
personal and social problems.
To reduce the gap between the needs and the resources of the community.
The basic philosophy of community organization gives thrust on the social
problems and the change in the environment so that the individuals or the groups will
have fewer problems and they may attain personal satisfaction. In the process of
community organization the gap between the needs and the resources has to be
reduced. The capacity of the people is given importance and any effort to be
consolidated depends on the capacity of the people.
In the professional social work, community organization is a process of
planning and developing social services, organizing people and mobilizing human and
material resources in order to meet the welfare needs of a community and to ensure
community’s integral development. Basically the philosophy of social work is the

10. philosophy of community organization (ie) to help people to make such use of their
own capacities and of environmental resources as well result in personal satisfaction
and social adjustment, to help in the modifications of the environment so that people
will have fewer personal and social problems.
PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
1. Relationship Building: The community organizer has to first of all get to know the
community and the members of the community. The community should also be
enabled to know about the community organizer. There should be a mutual
relationship and acceptance to do any community work and should be friendly,
companionship and play a role of a guide and enabler.
2. Involvement of the leaders: In the community identify, accept and involve the
formal and informal leaders of the community. The leaders play a vital role in any
activity of the community. The leaders may act as a catalyst or stumbling blocks in
the community work. The community organizer has to identify and accept the leaders
who are accepted by the community and also those leaders for the community work.
3. No promises to be made: At times in order to attract the community as well as to
get the participation and co-operation the community organizer is tempted to give
promises and sometimes even false promises which should be avoided. The
community organizers presence will enable the community to come together, think
together and analyze their situation and find out the ways and means to get what is the
need of the community.
4. The existence of discontent in the community: In any community there are always
dissatisfaction and discomforts with regard to various facilities. But the community
may be living with these discomforts without any difficulty due to their ignorance,
helplessness or they do not want to do anything in this regard.
5. Discontent is widely felt: The discontent which exists within the community should
be widely felt and the members of the community are able to understand about their
situation. Further the community is assisted to discuss and decide the symptoms and
causes and the severity of the discontent and give priority based on its severity. In
order to address any such discontent the community members accept responsibility
and make a plan of action.
6. Initiative and stimulating force within the community: If any community work has
to be successful and sustainable it could be possible only if the work is initiated and
stimulated by the community spontaneously. The community organizer has to use his
ability and skills in stimulating the community towards responding to the community
needs and problems.
7. Communication within and between the community and the community organizer
In order to get a need to be fulfilled and a problem to be solved in a community
the members of the community as well as the community organizer, there should be
an open and transparent system of communication so that all the members are aware

11. of the problem and the action plan and the justification for the action plan and the after
effects of the action
8. Definite objectives and goals
The community and the community organizer have to formulate objectives and
goals based on the needs and the problems so that they have a direction towards which
they can move forward for which the community understands the problems and
generates the different alternatives towards solving the problem and accordingly the
objectives and goals are fixed.
9. Psychological preparation and emotional appeal: The preparedness of the
community in understanding the community problems and an emotional appeal
accelerates the response towards solving the problem. The members of the
community have to acquire the critical level of consciousness so that they are prepared
to respond.
10. Mobilization of resources: Community organization is to bridge the gap between
the needs and the resources. Therefore resources are needed for any problem to be
solved. The resources include time, money, personnel and materials which could be
preferably from internal sources and if needed from external sources.
11. Winning the good will or the confidence of the people: Whenever any work is
initiated with the community the confidence level and the goodwill of the community
have to be gained.
12. No enforcement from outside: The community organiser should not try to enforce
his or her ideas on the community. The community organizer may enable the
community to generate their own ideas and alternatives so that they own the solutions.
13. No rigidity in procedure: In the process of community organization there are
various procedures which are followed in a sequence, but at the same time the
procedures should not restrict in any way to hinder the community to co-operate and
participate.
14. Pace of the community: In the community work the people have their own style
of functioning. The response of the people may not be as per the expectation of the
organizer due to various reasons which would discourage the community organizer.
15. Help the community to help itself: The help and assistance to the community
should not create any dependency syndrome rather it should lead to self-reliance.
Therefore, the community organizer from the beginning itself should be clear that he
or she would only enable the community so that they could do what is needed for
them on their own and of course the people may get the guidance from the community
organizer.
16.Use of Mass Media: Awareness and education about any issue or problem have to
be given to all the people of the community. This may enable the community to
respond which at times may not bring the desired results. At the same time the issue
has to be highlighted so that the people belonging to other areas of organizations could

12. bring some force to respond to the problem by the responsible person. In order to
create such a pressure the mass media has to be used to the maximum extent possible.
17. Make the presence felt by the community: In the process of community
organization the external agent or the community organizer has to be present in most
of the situations. The community organizer’s presence in the community has to be felt
by the community. This will enable community to understand the role and functions
of the community organiser that could be used in the community organization.
Community Organization as a method of social work
Methods of community organization are determined by the Objectives, Values,
Assumptions and Diagnosis of problems
Social Work & Community Organization- Objectives: Removal of blocks to
growth (in individuals, groups as well as in communities) Release of full potentialities
(in individuals, groups as well as in communities) Full use of inner resources (in
individuals, groups as well as in communities) Development of capacity to manage
one’s own (individual, group & community) life Increasing the ability to function as
an integrated unit
Social Work & Community Organization –
Assumptions: Inherent dignity and worth of the individual -community pace
Everyone /community possess resources to deal with his problems The inherent
capacity for growth The ability to manage one’s own affairs
Values that are needed to work with the people
Values of community organization Social work values • The essential dignity and
ethical worth of the individuals, his potentialities and resources for managing ones
own life • The importance of freedom to express ones individuality • The great
capacity for growth within all social beings • The right of the individual to those basic
physical necessities without which fulfillment of life is often blocked • The need for
the individual to struggle and strive to improve one’s own life and environment • The
right of the individual to receive help in time of need and crisis • The importance of
social organization for which the individual feels responsible and which is responsive
to individual feeling • The need of a social climate which encourages individual
growth and development • The right and responsibility of the individual to participate
in the affairs of one’s own community • The practicability of discussion, conference
and consultation as methods for the solution of individual and social problems • Self
help as the essential base of any program Acceptance Professional relationship To
start where the ………. To help to overcome the problem Interpret the nature of the
process Help to achieve independence
Assumptions regarding the community problem Diagnosing the problem is also based
on certain values. 1. The rise of the organized industry has reduced the importance of
other institutions as integrators of society without shouldering these functions itself. 2.
Urbanization destroyed the man’s feeling of belongingness. 3. Industrialization and

13. urbanization made tit difficult in maintaining the common values. Diversity gone
wild. Differences carries value only in the light of probable unity; when there is no
prospect for functional unity, diversity becomes a liability not an asset. 4. The
tendency for the larger subgroups to develop cohesion as separate entities in the
community produces social tension, potentially dangerous in any community. 5.
Democracy will weaken, if not perish, if supporting institutions are supported and new
institutions are developed. Sense of participation and belongingness is necessary to
strengthen the democratic values. 6. The barriers that prevent active participation in
the direction of social change inhibit personal development. Even though new
institutions sprung up, participation is poor.
These are the central problems – Man is overwhelmed by forces of which he is
dimly aware, which subjugate him to a role of decreasing importance and present him
with problems over that he has no means to cope.
C.O as a method of development started in the 18th century. There are wide
varieties of strategies and approaches are used to achieve development. These
strategies and approaches again guided by wide variety of ideological orientations.
Multiple strategies and multiple ideologies naturally confuse the understanding of
social reality and the fieldwork. Community organization seeks to provide a
conceptual and theoretical umbrella to understand community problem. It provides
multiple models, which often share several common processes to work with the
people. Community organization models have different emphasis in ideology,
knowledge base, methods and skills and thereby in outcomes also. The need for
community work came about through ‘a rising dissatisfaction with purely
individualized methods to deal with problems. Some social workers thus, moved on to
study the community surroundings of their “clients” and ways to influence these
surroundings more
Assumptions of Community Organization 1. Communities of people can
develop the capacity to deal with their own problems. 2. People want to change and
can change. 3. People should participate in making, adjusting, or controlling the major
changes taking place in their communities. 4. Changes in community living, which are
self-imposed or self-developed have a meaning and permanence that imposed changes
do not have. 5. A ‘holistic approach’ can deal successfully with problems with which
a ‘fragmented approach’ cannot cope. 6. Democracy requires cooperative participation
& action in the affairs of the community, & people must learn the skills which make
this possible. 7. Frequently, communities of people need help in organizing to deal
with their needs, just as many individuals require help with individual problems.
Three bases of Community Organization
Practice Methods & Current knowledge base of Guide Lines relevant social sciences
value base grounded in social justice & Democratic participation

14. directly. The process was therefore then placed firmly in the context of social welfare.
In this background, community organization was considered as a process to bring
about a progressively more effective adjustment between social welfare needs and
social welfare resources.
Value base of community organization People are capable of self-
determination People are capable of articulating and Defining their own needs Self-
determination People can reach agreement and consensus (But they may need skilled
help to do so efficiently)
The choice they make will generally lead to the common good of themselves
and those with whom they are interdependent. A sense of apathy and isolation is a
handicap, while a feeling of involvement and belonging is an advantage. People are
capable of rational and independent choices. People can achieve by their own efforts
some measure of improvement in their own material conditions.
Community Organization values are optimistic affirmations. It believes in the
human progress and improvement provided certain conditions are present in the
situation and certain definable skills are applied
APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
Neighborhood organizing is one form of community organizing. This nothing but an
effort by the community to solve the day to day problems and help those in need.
There are three type approaches to neighborhood organizing.
The Social Work Approach
Political Activists Approach
Neighbourhood Maintenance/Community Development Approach
1. The Social Work Approach: In this approach, the society is viewed as a social
organism and therefore the efforts are oriented towards building a sense of
community. The community organizer whose role is of an "enabler or an advocate”
helps the community identify a problem in the neighbourhood and strives to achieve
the needed social resources by gathering the existing the social services and by
lobbying with some in power to meet the needs of the neighbourhood. This method is
more consensual and the neighbourhood is seen as a collective client.
2. The political Activists Approach: Saul Alinsky, the Godfather of community
organizing is the founder of this approach. The basic philosophy of this approach is
based on his thinking that " more representative the organization the stronger the
organization." In this approach the community is seen as a political entity and not as a
social organism. Here, the neighbourhood is viewed as a potential power base capable
of getting power. The role of the community organizer is to help the community
understand the problem in terms of power and necessary steps are taken to mobilize
the community. The problem of the neighbourhood is always identified as absence of
power and in the interest of gaining power for the neighbourhood the organizers are
faced with conflicts with groups, interests and elites. Since most of the community

15. organizers come from outside the community, it has faced the problems of equality of
power relations and leadership in the community.
3. Neighbourhood Maintenance/Community development Approach: This
approach has emerged out of both the previous approaches namely within the same
neighbourhood movements. It is seen in the form of civic associations. This
association uses peer group pressure to provide services in the community. They use
this strategy to pressurize the officials to deliver services to the community but
sometimes this approach takes the form of political activists approach as they realize
that their goals can be only achieved only through confrontations. In this approach we
see the characteristics of de-emphasis on dissent and confrontation and these
organizations view themselves as more proactive and development minded.
COMMUNITY WELFARE COUNCILS AND COMMUNITY CHESTS
Community councils and chests are generally considered to be major
specialized and primary community organization bodies in cities and metropolitan
areas of America.
In general, Community welfare councils may be defined as intergroup bodies
composed of delegates or representatives, of member organizations and of the public.
Three types of councils may be distinguished
1. Traditional councils of social agencies
2. Community welfare councils and
3. Specialized councils.
The first type of councils are concerned with the department of social welfare
Community welfare councils are concerned with social welfare in a comprehensive
sense and frequently engaged in social action as well as in efforts to co-ordinate social
agencies and improve health and welfare programme.
Specialized councils are functional divisions of either of the two and are found
in such fields as family and child welfare, health, mental hygiene, rehabilitation, youth
services and correctional programmes.
Councils are the voluntary bodies whose functions include
Fact finding,
Planning,
Stimulation of discussion
Co-ordination and the improvement of team work and agency efficiency,
Consultation to neighbourhood councils and to agencies
Interpretation and the improvement of public relations
And promotion and social action
In addition, they may administer certain common services such as research
information and referral, volunteer bureaus and the social service exchange

16. Community chest is the modern counterpart of financial federations, which has been
established largely as a result of the desire to eliminate multiple solicitations. The
main job of the chest is to raise adequate funds to finance the agencies. Community
chests have two major functions: campaigning annually for the support of member
agencies, and distributing the funds raised through joint budgeting.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT –
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
Community development designates the utilization under one single
programme of approaches and techniques which rely upon local communities as units
of action and which attempts to combine outside assistance with organized local self-
determination and effort and which correspondingly seek to stimulate local initiative
and leadership as the primary instrument of change.
In agricultural countries in the economically underdeveloped areas, major
emphasis is placed upon those activities which aim at promoting the improvement of
the basic living conditions of the community, including the satisfaction of some of its
non-material needs.
Community development can be tentatively defined as a process designed to
create conditions of economic and social progress for the whole community with its
active participation and the fullest possible reliance upon the community’s initiative.
Community development implies the integration of two sets of forces making
for human welfare, neither of which can do the job alone
1. the opportunity and capacity for co-operation, self-help, ability to assimilate and
adopt new ways of living, that is, at least latent in every human groups and
2. the fund of techniques and tools in every social and economic field, drawn from
world wide experience and now in use or available to national governments and
agencies.
Community development may be defined as “the process by which the efforts
of people themselves are united with government authorities to improve the economic,
social and cultural conditions of communities to integrate these communities into the
life of nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progress.
Elements of Community Development
1. Activities must correspond to the basic needs of the community
2. Full and balanced community development requires concerted action and the
establishment of multipurpose programme
3. Changed attitudes in people are as important as the material achievements of
community project
4. Community development aims at increased and better participation of the people in
community affairs, revitalization of existing forms of local government and transition
toward effective local administration where it is not yet functioning.

17. 5. The identification, encouragement and training of local leadership should be a
basic objective in any programme
6. Greater reliance on the participation of women and youths in community project
enhances development programmes, establishes them on a wide basis and secures long
range expansion.
7. To be fully effective, communities self-help projects require both intensive and
extensive assistance from the government.
8. Implementation of a community development programme on a national scale
requires adoption of consistent policies, specific administrative arrangements,
recruitment and training of personnel, mobilization of local and national resources and
organization of research, experimentation and evaluation.
9. The resources of voluntary non-governmental organizations should be fully utilized
in community development programme at the local, national and international levels.
10. Economic and social progress at the local level necessitates parallel development
on a wider national scale.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Community development programmes are made available by the government
to the people basically for the economic development. Here the emphasis is on
improvement of conditions of people through the expert services of the government
Where as community organization is a process through which attempts are made to
make adjustment between community’s felt needs and community resources. It also
directs its resources for the promotion of community integration and collaboration
among the people.
Thus in community development it is the government having interest in the
economic development of community which organizes a network of extension and
other services necessary for the fulfilment of felt needs for improving the conditions
of people living in it by encouraging people’s participation in organization of such
services whereas in community organization, in addition to improvement in
conditions, mainly economic sought to be achieved in planned manner it is the
development of co-operative and collaborative attitudes and practices which are
primarily stressed by the community organizer who is not an extension worker but a
social worker.
Community development is a government sponsored programme while for
community organization, government sponsorship is not necessary.
Community development aims to provide services to the people mainly
economic for improvement. In community organization, community services are
organized and planned by the people themselves under the guidance of a community
organizer.

18. Community development programmes are practised mainly in underdeveloped
or developing communities for the economic development. The basic aim of
community organization is to develop co-operative and collaborative attitude among
people in the community.
Community organization worker is not necessarily a government functionary.
He is skilled in community planning but the functionaries of community development
are expert in removing economic backwardness.

19. UNIT – III
METHODS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
AWARENESS CREATION
The term awareness refers to knowing, understanding and responding to the
situation.
By creating awareness the individuals, the group and the community is enabled
to come to know about the situation of the community, understand the situation by its
causes and effects and finally the members respond to the situation to modify or to
fulfil the needs and problems of the community. This process would make the
community to come together to understand their own situation and the need to respond
and the ways and means to respond. In this method the levels of consciousness have
to be kept in mind and the community should be assisted to reach the critical level of
consciousness from the magic levels of consciousness. Only when the people attain
the critical level of consciousness they would be in a position to respond for a change
in their situation.
PLANNING
Planning is one of the core functions of management. It is a blue print prepared
to address the unmet needs or the problems of the community.
Community organization as a process aims at bridging the gap between the
needs and resources. It requires a technical job to decide about what to do and how to
do in order to reduce the gap between the needs and problems. Sometimes the term
planning is referred as a technical term where only the well educated or the technically
qualified people would be in a position to participate. The community should not be
mislead by such kind of ideas and therefore the community is made to understand
their situation and in order to respond, they have to prepare an action plan, where the
planning method is very much useful. Moreover, the community should be made to
realize that they can do the planning and they are capable to make decisions about
their own destiny.
EDUCATION
Educating the community which should enable them not merely learning the
skills of reading, writing and arithmetic but it should be more than that.
The community education is a method of learning the art of learning. There are
different types of education which could be used in the process of communication as a
method. Educational programmes are organized to attract the people to equip
themselves in information and knowledge in basic and different aspects of the
community.
General or basic education: It is imparting of knowledge and information to the
members of the selected group with all the possible and required information so that
the members attain a basic understanding about the community in general

20. Family improvement education: A specific area is selected to provide the knowledge
and information to the people. The education on health, nutrition, child care, home
making and family planning are the different areas which are considered to educate
the people so that they would be able to manage their own personal needs and the
community needs
Community improvement education: In order to strengthen local and national
institution, local and national government, co-operation, participation and community
projects and educational programmes are organized which would enable the
community to improve their standard of living and increase the infra structure and
solve various problems of the community through self-help.
Occupational Education: It is essential to design the educational programmes to
provide particular knowledge and skills which are useful in making a living.
Methods of Education: Informal education is a life long process and day-to-day
activity for anyone to learn. Formal education is provided through institutionalized
and structured activities which are being carried out by the government or with the aid
of the government.
Non-formal education is organized ina systematic way which being carried out outside
the formal system
COMMUNICATION:
Communication is the flow of information between and among the members of
the community as well as between the community and the community organizer.
Communication plays a vital role in community organization. In the process of
community organization the information have to be shared and by sharing the
community is brought together to avail and utilise the information. Information is
power and hence the possessing of information makes the community more powerful
and sharing the same involves sharing of power. The communication has to be mutual
and two-way. Proper communication will enable the community to get united for
further action. Communication enables the whole community being prepared for any
eventuality and attained preparedness.
PARTICIPATION
It is a process in which the people come together, think together, plan together,
act together and share together. The participation is in terms of sharing information,
power and resources.
Participation is not merely listening and receiving on the other hand
communicating and sharing what one has and what one want. While doing so the
decision-making component the sharing of information, power and resources take
place. By encouraging participation in the community whatever may be the type of
participation it would enable the community to come united to think about themselves
and act if necessary.

21. LEADERSHIP
Leadership has the ability in an individual to influence others in getting things
done. The influencing ability depends on the qualities of integrity of the leaders. By
increasing the ability of the people enables them empowered.
The community organiser may depends on the formal and informal leaders. At
times in order to carry out the community activity the community has to assign duties
and responsibilities to the suitable persons. By providing opportunities to individuals
or by organizing activities to enable the people to acquire leadership qualities, the
community could be made to undergo the community organization process
RESOURCES
For the execution of any plan there is a need for resources. The resources are
manpower, money, material and time. When the community plan the community
activity, it also decides about the resources needed and the ways and means to
mobilize the resources.
Resource mobilization is used as a method of community organization. It is
also a technique one should learn while working with a community. In the process of
community organization where the people identify their problems, prioritize them,
work out the alternatives, select the best alternatives, assess the resources needed and
design the methodology in mobilizing the required resources. Resource mobilization
method makes the community to self-reliant by tapping the local and inter-resources
and if needed by mobilize resources from outside.
COMMUNITY ACTION
Community organization is used as a means to achieve. The actions to address
any problem are planned and executed with active participation of the people. The
planning of actions and execution of plans involve the members of the community.
Community action here refers to the action taken by the community in order to
address a problem, which could be within the community or against an oppressive
force. The whole community has to be made aware of the whole process of the
actions and the possible outcome of the positive and negative effects of the actions.
CO-ORDINATION
To avoid duplication and overlapping of plans and activities either the
community organizer or the members of the community co-ordinate the activities.
The process of co-ordination will enable the community to practice community
organization.
In the community organization process there are different stages and phases
wherein the members of the community are able to contribute their ability and skills.
Therefore, by co-ordinating the activities the community would be able to practice the
process of community organization on one hand and on the other achieves the desired
goals.

22. LEGISLATIVE AND NON-LEGISLATIVE ACTION
The actions of the community can be for promoting certain new legislation or
modifying legislation or using of legislation in addressing the problem. A non-
legislative action can also be initiated.
Some of the problems of the community may require a legal intervention. If
there are legal provisions to deal with such a problem it is approached through the
existing legal measures. Otherwise the community makes an effort in urging the
authority to introduce legal procedures to take care of such problems. Such a method
is known as the legislative action. Sometimes the existing legal measure has to be
modified for which too legislative actions are promoted. Some of the problems can be
approached without any legal procedures, which could be known as the non-
legislative action by the community.
SKILLS IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
1. Conference: Since the community organization involves the needs and problems of
the community, the community organizer should be able to consult the people by way
of initiating a dialogue and discussion, so that the people are made to realize their own
situation and the reasons for the existing situations. The conference would enable the
community to equip themselves with more analysed information. While having the
conference the democratic principles have to be kept in mind, the individual dignity
and the freedom of expression and decision making need to be ensured.
2. Committee: The right person for the right job would be more appropriate in
achieving the stated objectives of the community. The members of the community
have to be divided into smaller groups with specific tasks and responsibility. The
respective committees would concentrate on the tasks assigned to them.
3. Communication: It is a basic skill required in the community organization process.
The community should be made to understand the whole process and the plan of
action for which the sharing of information is absolutely necessary. While sharing the
information there should not be any distortion or any misinterpretation.
4. Training: In community organization, the preparedness of the community is
essential for which the members have to be trained. The training need not be only for
addressing a problem. The training could be in different fields where in the members
of the community and equipped with various skills. The training could be in skill
training or the capacity building activity. The training would also enable the
community to be self-reliant especially in decision making.
5. Consultation: Consultation is not sharing of information about the final decision on
the other hand it is the process wherein the community is enabled to arrive at the best
solutions and decision for which consultation skill is being utilized.
6. Negotiation: It is an art of dealing with different individual while tackling any
problem or a need. Negotiation is to arrive at a conclusion by discussing with the

23. parties who are involved in the issues. The community organizer plays a major role in
bringing the conflicting groups to a common platform to discuss and to find a solution
7. Conflict resolution: Community organization attempts to bridge the gap between
the needs and the resources. In the process there is every possibility of encountering
conflicts. The conflict could be within the community or it could be between the
affected members and the oppressive force like land owners, authorities, government
etc. Therefore, the organizer should be an expert in dealing with a conflict by
assessing the conflict, understanding the conflict, finding the symptoms and causes,
finding out the possible solutions, selecting an appropriate solution, working a plan of
action, mobilizing funds, executing the action plan and so on.
8. Public relations: Establishing rapport is the basic skill required while working with
any community. Public relation involves not only the relationship within the
community, it includes the relationship outside the community also. Public relations
would fetch concern and pressure over the oppressive force which would further
hasten the problem solving effort.
9. Problem analyzis: One of the major tasks of the community organizer is to assist the
people in arriving at a solution to the problem. The organizer is capable of identifying
the problem and making the people to identify, analyse, give priorities, select an
appropriate priority, mobilize resources, make a plan of action, implement, monitor,
evaluate, modify and continue.
10. Resource mobilization: Any problem of the community while working out the
solution requires resources. The resources may be in terms of man power, money,
material and time. On one hand the organizer is aware of the availability of the
resources within the community or outside the community and on the other makes the
people to identify the sources of resources and the way to tap such resources.
11. Organizing meeting: Communication within the community and between the
community and the organizer is inevitable. There need to be transparency in the
dealings for which formal and informal meetings have to be organized and
information have to be shared. The sharing of information enables sharing of
responsibility and decision making.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AS AN APPROACH TO COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
Having discussed the meaning and definition of Community organisation lets now
try to situate it in the context of community work and social work profession. In social
work the term “community work” is often used with different meanings. In social
work literature we find that the term “community work”, “community development”,
“Community Organisation” and “Community empowerment” are at times
interchangeably used for the work with communities. Some authors have used these
terms for the same type of work whereas others use them to refer to different type of
work with communities.

24. Community work has a long history as an aspect of social work. It has passed
through various phases. All over the world it has been recognized as an integral part of
social work practice. History shows that community work even preceded social work
education. In UK and USA community work in social work began in the 1800 with
the charity organisation movement and the settlement house movement. During the
initial phase in UKcommunity work was primarily seen as a method of social work,
trying to help individuals to enhance their social adjustment. The main thrust was to
act as a means to coordinate the work of voluntary agencies.
In India the experience of working with slum community in the city
of Mumbai lead to the establishment of the first institution of social work education in
1937. Community work as a method of social work in India is largely seen as a
process of developing local initiatives, particularly in the areas of education, health
and agriculture development. The focus of the work is, to encourage people to express
their needs, and enable them to avail the existing resources.
There are several ways in which social work practitioners and others work in
the community. In social work we find three main approaches namely, Community
Development, Community Organisation and Community relations/services. While
these approaches represent different situations or areas of community work there are
fundamental similarities in what is being attempted. Their components are often
interlinked and at times overlapping.
What is important for us here to understand is that the community work is one
of the basic social work processes. It is being used to attain the same basic objectives,
as casework and groupwork. As you may be aware that all the social work methods
are concerned with removal of the blocks to growth of individual, group, or
community, release of their potentialities, full use of inner resources, development of
capacity to manage one’s own life and their ability to function as an integrated unit. In
community organisation particularly, social work is concerned with the initiation of
that process which enable a community to overcome those blocks (apathy, vested
interests, discrimination) which prevent the community from working together;
release of potentialities and use of indigenous resources and growth of those
cooperative attitude and skills which make possible achievement of increasingly
difficult ends.
Thus, Community organisation is more of a product of the maturation process
than of the beginnings of the profession. The increasingly complex and interdependent
nature of modern society makes community organisation almost a pre-requisite for
reasonably smooth functioning.
1.5. The Value orientation of Community Organisation
From the discussion above we understand that community organisation is an
integral part of social work practice. In order to practice community organisation
some obvious questions arise that how should it be done? Are there any value

25. orientations and general principles that may guide us in deciding what is sound or
good or socially desirable community organisation? What is desirable or accepted in
community organisation practice? How to improve the chances of success in
achieving the objectives of community organisation? We deal with these and such
other questions in this section.
Community organisation derives from a unique frame of reference, the nature
of which is based on a particular value orientation. In social work, the focus of
community organisation practice is influenced by a system of personal and
professional values. These values affects workers style of intervention and the skills
they use in working with community members. Values are beliefs that delineate
preferences about how one ought or ought not to behave. Such formulations of values
obviously have a large subjective element. Values differ between groups and between
individuals within the same group. Moreover, there has been no explicit,
comprehensive, or generally accepted formulation of basic ethical and social values by
any representative group of community organisation practitioners.
The value orientation of community organisation as of all social work derives
from acceptance of certain concepts and facts as a foundation for work with people.
Among these are the essential dignity and ethical worth of the individual, the
possession by each individual of potentialities and resources for managing his own
life, the importance of freedom to express one’s individuality, the great capacity or
growth within all social beings, the right of the individual to those basic physical
necessities (food shelter and clothing) without which fulfillment of life is often
blocked, the need for the individual to struggle and strive to improve his own life and
environment, the right of the individual to help in time of need and crisis, the
importance of a social organisation for which the individual feels responsible and
which is responsive to individual feeling, the need of a social climate which
encourages individual growth and development, the right and responsibility of the
individual to participate in the affairs of his community, the practicability of
discussion, conference, and consultation as methods for the solution of individual and
social problems, “self help” as the essential base of any programme of aid, etc. These
and other similar value orientations constitute the basis of community organisation.
Community Organization and community Development are interrelated. To
achieve the goals of community development the Community Organization method is
used. According to United Nations, community development deals with total
development of a developing country that is economic, physical, and social aspects.
For achieving total development community organization is used. In community
development the following aspects are considered as important. The same aspects are
also considered as important by community organization. They are,
a. Democratic procedures
b. Voluntary Cooperation

26. c. Self help
d. Development of leadership
e. Educational aspects.
All the above aspects are related with community organization.
[a]Democratic procedures deal with allowing all the community members to
participate in decision-making. It is possible to achieve this by community
organization. The selected or elected members or representatives are helped to take
decisions. Democratic procedures help people to take part in achieving community
development goals. Community organization method permits the democratic
procedures for people’s participation
[b] Voluntary cooperation means the people are suppose to volunteer for their
participation. For this they are convinced. They should feel that they should involve in
the process of development without hesitation. This is supported by community
organization method. People’s emotional involvement is necessary according to
community organization method. If discontentment is created properly then people
will volunteer for participation. Community organization emphasizes the
discontentment and people’s participation.
[c] Self-help is the basis for community development. Self-help deals with the
capacity of mobilizing internal resources. Self-help is the basis for self-sufficiency and
sustainable development. In community organization self-help is emphasized.
Community organization is relevant to community development because both
emphasizes the self-help concepts.
[d] Development of leadership is an important aspect in community development.
Leadership deals with influencing people to achieve the goals. Community
organization also emphasizes leadership. With the help of leaders the people are
motivated to participate in action. Community organization is a relevant method to
develop and use leadership. So it is applicable for community development.
[e] Educational aspects in community development means helping people to know,
learn, many of the aspects like, democracy, cooperation, unity, skill development,
effective functioning etc. In community organization the above mentioned aspects are
considered as important. The process of community organization emphasizes
education of the community. Thus both are emphasizing educational aspects of the
community. Thus community organization and community development are
interrelated and relevant. There are no opposing aspects in between community
organization and community development and both emphasize the same aspects. Thus
they are relevant. So in all community development programmes community
organization method is used as implementing method.

27. UNIT – IV
ROLE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZER IN VARIOUS SETTINGS
Community organizer having the required characteristics and skills and the
knowledge about the process and steps of community organization will be able to
apply the same in different settings by appropriate roles. The different roles of a
community organizer are discussed here. These roles are neither exhaustive nor
mutually exclusive.
1. Communicator – the community organizer transfers or transmits
information, thought, knowledge etc. to the members of the
community. Sharing of information enables the community to be better
prepared and empowered with information. The communication between
the organizer and the community and within the community is
essential. The people have to be prepared and known about the various
effects of consequences of the community organization process. The
communication takes place by individual contact, group meetings, group
discussions, public meetings etc.
At times the community organizer takes an upper hand and considers that
the people are illiterate and ignorant and hence the dealings with the people
become a master slave relationship. In order to avoid any such undesired
relationship the community organizer has transparency and communicates
with the people. The communication enables better interaction which leads
to a healthy relationship and cooperation for further action and response.
The community organizer in order to disseminate the information to the
people can use different techniques like skit, role plays, street plays and
audio and vides shows. The organizer can train the people in all these
communicative techniques. This will be more effective if he is able to
organize the small children and train them in this regard. The children are
an effective communicative channel and a fast reaching channel.
The local groups like women’s group, youth groups are other channels for
communication. By giving the responsibility to such groups to
communicate to all other members in the community will also be helpful in
reaching out the whole community. There should not be any secrecy or
suppression of information which would only create undesired results.
2. Enabler – the community organizer facilitates the process in the community
for a change. He does not carry out any work by himself but he enables the
community to do the work. The organizer gives importance to the process
than the product. Therefore the people learn the process rather than worried
about the results and consequences of the process. By the role of enabler the

28. organizer would create independency among the people by which avoid the
dependency syndrome.
The community organizer is present with the people and encourages and
gives different directions so that the people are able to decide what they
would like to do and how they would like to do. The community organizer
only initiates the process and people have to follow and at the time of
difficulties they refer back to the community organizer. There fore the role
of the community organizer is to make the people to understand the process
and to stand on their own.
3. Animator – in any process of community organization the organizer
encourages, provides direction and guide lines to proceed in carrying out
the different activities. The people because of their culture always depend
on others and do not want to decide anything on their own. In such situation
the organizer as an animator makes the people to come forward and take
active participation. Any further corrections or modifications in the works
of the community are being done by the animator. The animator plays a
vital role in eliciting the active participation of the people from planning till
evaluation especially ensuring life in all the dealings of the issues and
problems.
The people in general do not want to take any risk and at tines they do not
even want to do anything for common good. One of the reasons could be
that the people have the attitude of culture of poverty or culture of
silence. This could be changed by the community organizer by pricking or
tickling the conscience of the people through raising questions. This would
further enable them increase their level of consciousness.
4. Guide – the community organizer instead of doing anything on his own
guides the members of the community in the process of community
organization. The community organizer is not a person to shoulder the
responsibility or solving problems of the people.Instead he has to make the
people to respond for which the organizer provides the various avenues and
shows different roots while dealing with the community problems. As a
guide the organizer provides the needed information. He has to be a person
with lots of information and ideas. For example in a community there are
many educated unemployed youth and their presence in the community is
considered to be more of nuisance than as a human resource. In such a
situation the community organizer should be able to provide information
about the various employment opportunities, and different ways to become
self employed, the terms and conditions for availing credit from the credit
institutions etc. have to be told to the youth. Once the community organizer
is able to provide information which is useful to the people the youth from

29. the neighbouring youth may also approach in getting some guidance from
the community organizer. This would surely fetch credit to the community
organizer as well as gains the good will of the people.
5. Counselor – the community organizer understands the community and
enables the community to understand itself. At the time of difficulty the
individuals or the groups are given the required counseling to proceed in the
correct direction. One of the very basic dimensions of counseling is to be a
patient listener. Usually every one likes others to listen to them and hesitate
to listen to others.Moreover as a counselor he has to step into the shoes of
others, understand and respond. People when they are in need there should
be some one to listen to them. When people approach there should be some
one to attend to. In all such situations the community organizer can easily
step in as a counselor in helping the people.
6. Collaborator – the community organizer joins hands in performing his task
with his colleagues with other like minded people and organizations. The
organizer has to have interpersonal relationship and public relation
skills. Nowadays organizations approach a problem not with their personal
capacity they also depend on the neighbouring organization. Similarly other
organizations may also look for the cooperation and collaboration of
different organization. There are also organization working towards a
similar problem where in a collaborative effort will strengthen both the
organization. Therefore the role of collaborator is very much needed for net
working of similar and like minded organizations and efforts for a common
cause.
7. Consultant – the community organizer enjoys the confidence of the people
and advises them in matters of vital interest. The community organizer
becomes a person with lots of knowledge and information which is being
shared with the people. As a consultant the community organizer makes
himself available to the people who are in need because the community
organizer has lots of information and expertise which could be availed by
those who are in need of it. The community organizer instead of working in
the filed in one area will be able to contribute his expertise with many
individuals and groups by performing the role of a consultant.
8. Innovator – the community organizer innovates, performs, and improves the
techniques, content in the process of community organization. This gives a
lead to the people of the community and enables them to try out new ways
and means to find solutions to the needs and problems. The community
organization should not be merely for solving problem alone. On the other
hand it has to be in the areas of capacity building of the individuals and
community where the organizer can be an innovator by introducing new

30. things to improve the capacity of the people. Community organizer is not a
person to maintain the system that exists but he should be a person to
introduced new ways and means to climb up the development ladder.
9. Model – the community organizer commands perfection as a community
organizer and serves as a source of inspiration. The role of the organizer is
to become an example while working with the people. This should further
become as a model which could be applied in other areas with similar
problems. By proper planning in approaching a problem and execution of
the plan and documenting the whole process will be of greater help to
others. The problem solving process becomes a model to others.
10. Motivator – the community organizer stimulates and sustains active
interest among the people for reaching a solution to the needs and problems.
The community organizer encourages the community to take up a minor
task and complete it successfully which would enable the people to take up
difficult task. In such a process the people at times may not take up any
initiative or content to live with the existing situation. Therefore the
organizer motivates the people by making them to observe, analyse,
understand and respond to the situation. When people are discouraged
because they were not able to achieve what they wanted or there is
resistance and opposition in such situations the organizer plays the role of a
motivator.
11. Catalyst – in the process of community organization the community
organizer retains his identity at the same time enables the people to be
empowered. The people gain accessibility and control over resources and
acquire skills in decision making. The community organizer accelerates the
actions and reactions so that people are able to achieve the desired
results. As a catalyst the organizer is able to increase the response level of
the people. The catalyst role further enables the people to become
independent and become expert in responding to their own needs.
12. Advocate – the role of the advocate is to be a representative or persuade the
members of the community and prepare them to be a representative as well
as represent the issues to the concerned body to bring a solution to the
unmet needs. The advocacy role is an important role to the present
context. The needs and problems of the people have to be represented and
the required support and networking is essential to increase the pressure on
the oppressive forces. In the role of advocate the community organizer
champions the rights of others. The community organizer speaks on behalf
of the community when community is unable to do so, or when community
speaks and no one listens. The advocate represents the interests of the
community to gain access or services or improve the quality of services

31. which may be hampered by other forces. An advocate argues, debates,
bargains, negotiates, and confronts the environment on behalf of the
community.
13. Facilitator – the community organizer helps the community to articulate
their needs, clarify and identify their problems, explore resolution
strategies, select and apply intervention strategies, and develop their
capacities to deal with their own problems more effectively. A facilitator
provides support, encouragement, and suggestions to the community so that
they may proceed more easily and successfully in completing tasks or
problem solving. A facilitator assists the community to find coping
strategies, strengths and resources to produce changes necessary for
accomplishing goals and objectives. A facilitator helps client systems alter
their environment.
14. Mediator – the community organizer intervenes in disputes between
parties to help them find compromises, reconcile differences, or reach
mutually satisfying agreements. The mediator takes a neutral stance
between the involved parties. A mediator is involved in resolving disputes
between members of the between the community and other persons or the
broader environment.
15. Educator – the community organizer as educator conveys information to
the community and the broader environment. Organizer provides
information necessary for coping with problem situations, assists the
community in practicing new behaviors or skills, and teaches through
modeling. The community organizer provides information necessary for
decision making.
Community organization is a macro method in social work. The community
organizer with the required qualities and skills will be able to work with the
people. While working with the people of different background or from different
geographical set up the different roles can be applied.All the roles need not be or
cannot be applied in all the settings to all the problems. Moreover there is no one role
which is superior or inferior and while dealing with any problem the organizer has to
use more than one role. Therefore depending upon the situation and the needs and
problems of the community appropriate role has to be applied.