Community Development Journal - recent issues

Foreword

Miller, C. — 2009-06-24

Critical explorations of community organization in India

Andharia, J. — 2009-06-24

Democracy in India and the quest for equality

Alam, J. — 2009-06-24

During the course of the last two decades, there has been a pronounced expansion of democracy, seen as the enfranchisement of dalits, the empowerment of oppressed castes, and the assertion of women. This process has also witnessed the deepening of popular commitments for ideas and potentialities of democracy. However, at the same time, various infirmities have also crept into it, such as the denial of rights of individual persons who disregard community injunctions, retaliatory politics in relation to those lower in ritual status, the humiliation of dalits, and of women who defy community norms. Instead of looking at the evolution of Indian democracy, the paper would reveal more the manner in which the democratic universals are getting transcribed in their engagement with the Indian particularities. This paper argues a need to engage in a sustained democratic struggle within communities. While respecting the identity of the oppressed communities, one must remain suspect of the congealing of these identities. Deepening of democracy, apart from substantive content, requires that dalits and women have to become bearers of entrenched rights.

Community organization in split societies

Jha, M. — 2009-06-24

Contemporary discussion on inter-community relations in India can never be comprehensive without taking certain landmarks, seen through momentous ruptures in the forms and nature of dialogue between communities. While there is ample historical evidence that the barbaric episodes of violence are not new, the communal divides visible in contemporary Indian society have been able to fan the emotions of a large section of the people in specific moments, and the implications of the same travel down to the everyday life of people. The premeditated demarcation of borders and boundaries between communities that was coincidental with the rise of the right-wing forces in Indian politics received fresh allies and social constituencies, and they have all gone in unison to produce insulting boundaries for others. In the wave of hate-mongering and spitting of venom, this article locates the challenge for community organization practices in enhancing the tapestry of plural living and tolerance in a democratic society.

Unionization as a strategy in community organization in the context of privatization: the case of conservancy workers in Mumbai

Vyas, M. — 2009-06-24

With rapid privatization of solid waste management (SWM) across urban centers in India since the 1990s, the role of the state agencies is considerably diluted. The contract system in this sector is here to stay. This has implications for the large numbers of conservancy workers who are employees of the urban local bodies (ULBs) as well as those who perform the same functions as the ‘standard’ workers, but work on contractual basis. Through amendments in certain labour and environment related laws, SWM has been getting differently organized during the last seven to eight years in India. The labour question in the rapidly privatizing SWM sector in urban areas has several dimensions including that of job security, and conflicts between permanent and contractual workers and other groups who work with waste. All these categories of workers in urban India, whether within the formal or the informal sector, belong to socially and economically marginalized sections of society. Unionization of workers and struggles for their entitlements has been an important strategy. Several years of association with a trade union of conservancy workers in the city of Mumbai has enriched teaching of Community Organization (CO) through classroom-field interface with a focus on social action. This paper attempts to trace, through the lens of the interface between an academic institution (and its curriculum in CO) and a trade union, the struggles and success in assuring secure livelihood and entitlements for thousands of workers. Achievements of the union assume great significance as it gives others the confidence to continue with their own efforts at organizing the unorganized.

Subaltern strategies and autonomous community building: a critical analysis of the network organization of sustainable agriculture initiatives in Andhra Pradesh

Kumbamu, A. — 2009-06-24

This paper examines and analyses the organization and functioning of subaltern peasant sanghams (grassroot associations of the poor) and their place-based as well as network-based strategies in building autonomous local communities that challenge the consequences of neoliberal globalization in general and the commodification of agriculture and food in particular. The major objective of the counter-hegemonic organizational strategies is to build self-protective and subsistence communities, to mend the metabolic rift between nature and society, and to re-reconstruct social fabric within communities. The question remains is whether place-based autonomous communities can sustain in an increasingly globalizing world. To better understand these political dynamics, I use Karl Polanyi's concept of ‘double movement’ and examine the making of a double movement in Indian agriculture and its socio-political and ecological implications for the Indian peasantry. I use the organizational strategies and activities of the Deccan Development Society, a prominent non-governmental organization that has been working in Medak district for more than two decades, as an illustrative case study.

Food security in perspective: the significance of social action

Jha, M. K. — 2009-06-24

This article highlights the impact of food insecurity on the disadvantaged sections in India. While analysing the causes and consequences of food insecurity, this paper emphasizes distributional aspects and also examines the government schemes and provisions meant to secure food for the vulnerable sections of the society. Discussing the gross mismanagement and the serious loopholes in the implementation of these programmes, this paper highlights consequences which include growing number of malnourished children and recurring instances of hunger deaths. The government's initiatives of dealing with food insecurity reflect its failure to grasp the realities of exclusion faced by the marginalized communities. Paradoxically, while the food surplus statistics indicate an upward shift, so do starvation deaths in different parts of the country. The last section reiterates and illustrates the argument of this paper that the food security can be ensured through collective mobilization and sustained social action. The paper advocates the need to initiate public action through community mobilization. Some of the vibrant and robust civil society groups have taken the lead in enabling marginalized communities to assert their rights and entitlements in different parts of India. This has been substantiated through case illustration of grassroots mobilization and social action.

Shifting terrains of communities and community organization: reflections on organizing for housing rights in Mumbai

Bhide, A. — 2009-06-24

Mumbai has historically been a home to several struggles of urban underprivileged groups. The city assured spaces to slums in the past, albeit grudgingly. Cases of displacement were few and intensely contested. However, the last decade has witnessed a considerable expansion of the nature and scale of threats to the existence of slum-dwellers in the city. Attempts to organize slum communities began in the 1960s following a trajectory of locality development and then housing rights. The earlier vision of broad-based development and struggles of urban poor has given way to fragmented, issue-based and localized struggles. Intense politicization and competition for valuable resources and opportunities have fractured this potent constituency comprising about 60 percent of city dwellers. The paper traces the slippery and challenging terrain of organizing slum communities around their rights and raises questions about the location and nature of community practice.

Destroying the culture of secrecy: empowerment and dignity through right to information: a case study of MKSS in Rajasthan

Sihag, S., Sihag, S. — 2009-06-24

The article traces out the origins and analyses the movement that led to the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It holds a mirror to the culture of secrecy pervading the bureaucratic machinery and demonstrates the utility of the Act to usher in an era of accountability with the aid of practical examples. The conceptual framework built by Kant and Shue has been borrowed to argue that right to information is a potent tool for the marginalized communities to secure invaluable democratic space and consequently, move up the social ladder.

A re-reading of Gandhi's Satyagraha in South Africa for contemporary community organizing

Goswami, P. — 2009-06-24

Mahatma Gandhi – one of the most prolific writers amongst the figures of world history – has left us details of his growth as a thinker and activist. ‘The Story of Satyagraha in South Africa’ documents the struggle of Gandhi, still in his twenties, who confronts racism in a foreign country and is able to negotiate substantial gains for his community through a long-drawn political struggle involving the new methods of Satyagraha. This book while speaking of the development of the various aspects of Satyagraha as a political as well as spiritual weapon, also documents the complex scenario in three countries – England, South Africa and India. The context defines the lives of the Indians in South Africa, their struggle and Gandhi's strategies as an organizer. The individual sacrifices, the efforts for fundraising, the intricacies of keeping together a community with members from different religions, the day-to-day concerns of Ashram life, the tough decisions at critical junctures of the movement – Gandhi offers a fascinating picture of the community organizer. The paper re-visits this tale and culls out the lessons that are important not only for the modern-day community organizer in India but are also perhaps timeless in their relevance and appeal.

Raising citizenship rights for women through microcredit programmes: an analysis of MASUM, Maharashtra, India

Chari-Wagh, A. — 2009-06-24

The microcredit programme initiated in the 1980s is celebrated by the Indian state and international development institutions as an ‘ideal’ poverty alleviation programme for women. It is based on the principle of activating self-help among women and is considered as being empowering. The period 1980–1990 defined a minimalist neo-liberal role of the state that allowed for the free working of the market and a belief that it will solve problems of poverty. Many have argued that the microcredit programme was influenced by this philosophy (Joseph, 2007; Swaminathan, 2007). In addition, that microcredit does not always have a positive impact on poverty alleviation because the official programme does not have the capacity to displace patriarchal structures that bind women (Goetz and Sengupta, 1996). By focusing only on ‘economic’ issues it fails to address the way deprivation of nutrition and health, increasing violence and insecurity are affecting women as economic actors. Without addressing these questions it is not possible for women to get empowered. In this paper I examine the inter-linkages between citizenship, gender and development by evaluating the design of a microcredit programme for women presented by a feminist rural women's organization called Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM) in Maharashtra.

The Dragon and the Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India

Ramakumar, R. — 2009-06-24

State, Markets and Inequalities - Human Development in Rural India

Natraj, V.K. — 2009-06-24

Breaking the Monolith: Essays, Articles and Columns on Islam, India, Terrorism and Other Things that Annoy Me

Sivaramakrishnan, A. — 2009-06-24

Politics and Policies - A Marxist Perspective

Athreya, V. — 2009-06-24

Editorial

Miller, C. — 2009-03-18

Community development as health promotion: evaluating a complex locality-based project in New Zealand

Adams, J., Witten, K., Conway, K. — 2009-03-18

This article examines the evaluation of a complex public health intervention – the Ranui Action Project (RAP). The RAP utilized a community development approach to address the social determinants of health inequalities in a high need, ethnically diverse, urban locality. The rationale and impetus for the project was emerging evidence in the public health literature on the significance of working intersectorally with an emphasis on social capital and social cohesion as neighbourhood-level determinants of health. This article describes RAP and examines the strengths, limitations and challenges of the formative, process and impact evaluation model used to evaluate the programme's effectiveness. Responding to diverse evaluative expectations, while sustaining research integrity and rigour, requires a pragmatic multi-methods approach, responsiveness to local context, regular communication between funders, community stakeholders and evaluators, and flexible, reflective practice.

Exploring community connections: community cohesion and refugee integration at a local level

Daley, C. — 2009-03-18

This article reports on the findings of a case study that explored community relations between refugees and asylum seekers, other migrants and long-term residents within a local area of refugee settlement in the UK. A lack of meaningful relationships between people from different backgrounds, significant prejudice, underlying tension and few opportunities for inter-group contact were found. Shared aspects of identity helped bring people together but small differences in culture and faith were also linked to strong divisions. Community initiatives and social support for both newcomers and existing residents were needed to enable real dialogue across difference and the development of relationships based on shared goals and equality.

Building community capacity for locally managed ecotourism in Northern Thailand

Laverack, G., Thangphet, S. — 2009-03-18

This paper provides an approach for building community capacity and two case study examples of improving locally managed ecotourism in Northern Thailand. It provides an analysis of the practical application of the approach and the implications for community development. Nine ‘operational domains’ were used to build and measure community capacity at the community level. This allowed community-based organizations to scrutinize their achievements, to address their constraints and to measure their progress over time, enhanced by a simple means of visual representation. Experiences in Northern Thailand demonstrate that the key to this approach was in the use of strategic planning to initiate community actions towards sustained locally managed ecotourism. The knowledge, skills and competencies gained by the two communities led to an improvement in their ecotourism enterprises.

An integrated approach to assess the impacts of tourism on community development and sustainable livelihoods

Simpson, M. C. — 2009-03-18

A key challenge in sustainable tourism is to develop economically viable enterprises that provide livelihood benefits to local communities while protecting indigenous cultures and environments. Such ventures are difficult to assess due to a general lack of effective assessment and monitoring methods, a lack of consensus about methodology and the inability of some monitoring systems to incorporate all elements of tourism impacts. This article presents a structured integrated assessment approach to assess the impacts of initiatives that purport to deliver net livelihood benefits to communities living adjacent to or within the tourism destination. The approach has been developed to enable generic use in different geographical contexts taking into account a variety of aspects including ownership structure, levels of employment, infrastructure, governance, and sustainable livelihoods (SL). The article examines two pilot case studies conducted in Maputaland, South Africa, to reflect on the implementation and theoretical underpinnings of the protocol.

Contradictions in hinterland development: challenging the local development ideal in Northern British Columbia

Markey, S., Halseth, G., Manson, D. — 2009-03-18

Northern British Columbia, Canada, has undergone a considerable economic, social, and cultural transformation over recent decades. Specifically, economic and political restructuring processes have destabilized commitments to community infrastructure and exacerbated the variability of boom and bust patterns across the north. This paper, drawn from ongoing regional research, provides a critique of emerging arguments that advocate for greater levels of local control over northern development to address these development challenges. Our research reveals strong sentiments from northern people and agencies to construct ‘made in the north’ solutions. Findings illustrate, however, that the assumptions inherent within such calls for local and regional development require critical review.

Bottom-up community development: reality or rhetoric? the example of the Kingsmead Kabin in East London

Turner, A. — 2009-03-18

This paper summarizes the results of a case study, emerging from the author's ten years as community development worker at the Kabin, a project on the Kingsmead Estate in Hackney, East London. Using a reflective practitioner approach, informed by the author's own experience and referring to focus groups and semi-structured interviews, the research identifies the significance of relationship in nurturing a bottom-up approach to community development. Research findings support the need for community development processes to reconnect with community-defined purposes, engaging with how power is utilized to nurture participation and radical social change. The case study is grounded in practitioner knowledge, promoting a more nuanced understanding of how a vital but not easily assimilated area of research can lead to change in the community, while confronting pressures to change and conform.

Teaching community development to social work students: a critical reflection

Mendes, P. — 2009-03-18

Community development is generally considered to be a core component of social work practice and knowledge. Yet much professional social work education and discourse seems to relegate community development to the margins. This paper critically analyses the development of a community development subject within one particular Australian social work course. Particular attention is drawn to subject objectives, content, reading material, teaching methods and assessment. Some suggestions are made for new educational initiatives that could potentially enhance the contribution that community development skills and processes make to social work practice efficacy and wisdom.

Nomads under the Westway, Irish Travellers, Gypsies and Other Traders in West London

ni Shuinear, S. — 2009-03-18

Australia's Welfare Wars Revisited: The Players, the Politics and the Ideologies

Mowbray, M. — 2009-03-18

Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945: the Decline of the Loyal Family

O'Hearn, D. — 2009-03-18

Editorial

Miller, C. — 2008-12-10

Community change for diverse democracy

Checkoway, B. — 2008-12-10

This paper presents ideas about community change for diverse democracy. It provides perspectives on change, identifies three types of practice, and examines some of its elements. It draws upon secondary literature and empirical studies of practice in various communities and concludes with observations about future work in the field, with the general conclusion that democratic societies, especially ones whose populations are becoming more diverse, will depend in part on their ability to both recognize differences and also build bridges across cultural boundaries. The paper is based on the belief that strengthening the study of these phenomena can contribute to their practice.

Peace, reconciliation and a shared future: a policy shift or more of the same?

Hughes, J. — 2008-12-10

Developments in the late 1990s, including paramilitary cease-fires and the advent (albeit, short-lived) of devolved Government, offered a new dispensation from which to appraise the community relations problem in Northern Ireland and advocate policy action. This paper considers an emergent policy framework entitled A Shared Future. Drawing on the experience of delivering better relations through education in Northern Ireland, it argues that whilst A Shared Future reflects progress in how the problem of community relations is defined, many uncritical assumptions are made about the potential of suggested actions to address problems of intergroup fear, mistrust and hostility.

What's left in the community? Oppositional politics in contemporary practice

DeFilippis, J., Fisher, R., Shragge, E. — 2008-12-10

The growth of community-based not-for-profits in the Anglo-American world has been mirrored by weakened political demands and a diminished set of critical political perspectives. Nevertheless, significant efforts in Anglo-American communities still exist and provide examples of community-based organizing that have not lost sight of the goals of social and economic justice. This article explores practice examples that demonstrate the existence and possibilities of politically oppositional community organizing in the current difficult and complex political economy. These examples present effective, if imperfect, community initiatives. The three discussed – The Fifth Avenue Committee, ACORN, and Immigrant Worker Centres – offer alternatives to contemporary forms of community practice moderated by economic globalization and the policies of neo-liberalism. The article ends by drawing lessons from these experiences and their potential in the contemporary political economy.

Empowering communities through evaluation: some lessons from rural Spain

Diaz-Puente, J. M., Montero, A. C., de los Rios Carmenado, I. — 2008-12-10

The practice of evaluation has generated a culture that has become part of the implementation and management of public policies in Europe. Rural areas, with little tradition of evaluation, have been most challenged by its introduction. This paper analyses the influence of evaluation activities in three local programs and partnerships created in the rural areas of Madrid under the European LEADER initiative, whose aim is to encourage rural development at the local level. The results show the capacity of evaluation to foster community empowerment. The expansion of evaluation culture at the local level can translate into one of continuous improvement that supports empowerment and community development.

Working collectively in competitive times: case studies from New Zealand and Australia

Morrison, J., Branigan, E. — 2008-12-10

Collectives offer an alternative organisational structure to service delivery organisations that seek to embody critical social change. This model is challenging to implement as its assumptions and values are contrary to the dominant socio-political climate of economic rationalism. This paper explores experiences of two workers employed as coordinators in collective-based organisations in Australia and New Zealand. They share the joys and challenges of these experiences, and conclude with five key reflections about implementing this model: keeping reflective and honest about philosophical assumptions, keeping process central, having robust conflict resolution processes, reflect about the external factors influencing organisational structure, and finding ways to value workers.

The practice of principles: an examination of CED groups in Vancouver, BC

Lo, J., Halseth, G. — 2008-12-10

The community economic development (CED) framework has its roots at the margins of society but has gained a broader interest. This paper examines some key principles associated with the CED framework. Interviews with practitioners within three CED organizations in Vancouver resulted in themes that link CED as a strategy for sustaining a broader vision of the organizations. CED ventures provide opportunities that enhance the connection for marginalized peoples to participate in local community organizations. Yet, there are challenges around delivering services within an alternative framework operationalized within a market-based paradigm. Nevertheless, CED initiatives can have far reaching impacts beyond the individual and the organization. Indeed, CED is about networks of communities within communities.

Images for change: community development, community arts and photography

Purcell, R. — 2008-12-10

This article explores how community development objectives can be achieved through critical photographic practice. It summarizes the literature relating to community arts practice and its potential for social regeneration. Photography is then located within this context and explored as a critical practice, with particular attention being given to photo-elicitation, photo-novella and photovoice methods. The literature is discussed and analysed to explore how far critical photographic practice can meet the objectives of community development.

Classic Texts: no. 11

Meade, R. — 2008-12-10

Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics

Kohl, B., Farthing, L. — 2008-12-10

State Formation and Radical Democracy in India

Sklair, L. — 2008-12-10

Critical Community Practice

Mishra, A. K. — 2008-12-10