What Is Community Development?

Community development is one of the important concepts of community research. Refers to the process of community residents, under the guidance and support of government agencies, relying on the strength of the community to improve the economic, social, and cultural conditions of the community, solve common problems in the community, improve the living standards of residents, and promote coordinated social development. Community development belongs to the category of social work.

Community development

The United Nations and many governments have developed a system of community development indicators. The goals for community development are as follows:

Promote the spirit of mutual assistance and cooperation, and encourage community residents to self-reliance and solve community problems;

Cultivate the democratic consciousness of the residents in the community, and promote the residents to actively participate in the public affairs of the community during the development of the community;

strengthen

The principles of community development are divided into basic principles and working principles. The 10 basic principles proposed by the United Nations in the document "Promoting social progress through community development" in 1955 are:

All kinds of activities in the community must meet the basic needs of the community and formulate the primary work plan based on the wishes of the residents;

Activities in various aspects of the community can partially improve the community, and comprehensive community development requires the establishment of multi-objective action plans and coordinated actions in various aspects;

At the beginning of community development, changing the attitudes of residents is as important as improving the physical environment;

Community development should encourage residents to actively participate in community affairs and improve the effectiveness of local administration;

Selecting, encouraging and training local leadership talents is the main work in community development; Community development work should pay special attention to the participation of women and young people, expand the participation base, and seek long-term community development

The effective development of community self-help programs depends on the active and extensive assistance of the government;

The implementation of a nationwide community development plan requires a complete policy, the establishment of specialized administrative agencies, the selection and training of staff, the use of local and national resources, and the conduct of research, experiments and evaluations;

In community development plans, we must pay full attention to the resources of local, national, and international civil society organizations; Local socio-economic progress must be coordinated with comprehensive national progress. The basic principles of community development in practical applications often differ from country to country and from researcher to researcher. The working principles of community development are the technical and action principles to be followed during specific work. American sociologist Ross in the book "Community Organizations: Theory and Principles" argues that the working principles of community development should be:

Start by finding community issues;

channel dissatisfaction into action;

Community development work should be in accordance with the interests of the majority of the community;

The work organization should have representatives from all aspects of the community;

Use community feelings to promote community development;

Understand the cultural background of each group and class;

Strengthen communication within the community;

Pay attention to the formulation of long-term plans. The working principles of community development also vary from country to country and scholar to scholar.

The content mainly includes:

Community survey;

Formulation of community development plans;

Mobilization and coordination of internal forces in the community;

The raising of community development funds;

For a long time after the founding of the People's Republic of China, although the Chinese government did not participate in the community development plan formulated by the United Nations, it actually did similar community development work. There are successes and failures in this regard.

The government has planned and relied on the masses to carry out a series of tasks such as restoration and development of production in rural and urban areas, improvement of community environmental conditions, and improvement of people's living standards. It has established top-down rural and urban communities. Organization system of mass autonomy, social welfare system, health care system, cultural and entertainment facilities, etc.

In May 1985, the National Science and Technology Commission formulated a technological development plan to promote rural modernization, known as the Spark Plan. Require scientific and technical personnel with the support of governments at all levels to promote the application of technology for the development of enterprises, especially township and village enterprises, revitalize the rural economy, promote the development of rural productivity, and accelerate the pace of rural poverty reduction and prosperity.

The Spark Program was implemented until the end of 1987, and more than 2,800 projects of various types were completed, increasing the output value of 7.39 billion yuan, and promoting the economic and social development of rural communities. Relevant United Nations organizations have highly evaluated this plan and believe that it may be a successful model for some developing countries in the world to transform from a traditional community economy to a modern community economy.

Since 2010, some citizens with a strong sense of social responsibility have initiated community development work since their inception. For example, Aibo Community Development Center, Linquan County, Anhui Province, started on May 4, 2010. It is committed to the cultivation of new citizens, based on the hometown background and the county community to improve the living environment of the people. Based on the three methods of "education, sharing, and participation", and cultivating "awareness of trust, awareness of rules, and awareness of rights" as a strategy, it holds 13 semi-annual meetings and annual meetings every year through 13 free services; it releases the previous year at the beginning of each year Work and financial reports.

It originated from Chang Kun's visit to the United States, which was deeply influenced by American community building and elderly services, and his reflection on public welfare behaviors over the years, forming a concept of "civil rights education, starting from hometown". I hope to see results after a few years through persistent work. Scholars, experts and reporters from several countries came to visit.