QUESTION

1. Explain how different organisations, stakeholders and groups within society can work together to achieve shared

goals and visions.

2. Identify factors from local to global that influence the concepts and modalities of community

SOLUTION

The concept of community entails a group of number of people who want to achieve a common goal and share a common vision in life (Corbett, 2001). The Origin of community was considered as people living or sharing same locality or district, but now more accurate definition of community means organisations, stakeholders and groups who share common things at some or the other level or share their resources along with sharing sometime common with each other or staying together. This is how they form strong communities in society.

Aristotlefirst defined the word community as “Group established by men who shared common values and resources”.Due to globalisation, social, economic and political challenges the organisations, stakeholders and groups in particular society need to overcome these situations by acting together as in Malaysia the Prime Minister has introduced the concept of ‘1Malayiasia’.

The Principle on which the concept of ‘1Malayasia’ is based is ‘People First performance Now’.This concept helps in strengthening the relationship as well as enhancing the level of cooperation between the people in the multi-ethnic society. Thus the country, government and the people of all races should act beyond the limited boundaries of racism and ethnicity (1MALAYSIA PEOPLE FIRST PERFORMANCE NOW).

The Concept of Community

It has been shown that we can achieve long-term health improvements in the society if people, organisations and stakeholders get totally involved inthe community and work towards appositive change (Hanson, 1988-89). The most central concept of community is to know that who will get included and who will be excluded from the membership of the community, thus a person or organisation can become the part of one or many communities at same time. But the most important part is to create community engagement (Sciences, 1995).

Developing Community engagement

The process of working  in collaboration along with and the using the resources of the groups present in geographical proximity and the groups or organisations with special interest and the stakeholders who have similar issues to address like working towards the wellbeing of thepeople in particular community. Community engagement is a very powerful and effective tool which helps in bringing about behavioural and  environmental change in society to improve the health of not just a particular community but also all the members by developing partnerships and associations which helps in mobilising the resources and creating a great effectual impact on the system. Thus it works as a catalyst for changing the policies, practices and programs in the society (Fawcett, et al., 1995).

The Social Ecology theory indicates thathealth promotion needs community engagement efforts which should be focussed at various levels like:

• Individual
• Social network and support systems both private as well as public
• Several organizations which are serving in public healthcare and influence and serve the community people.
• The community consisting of networks of intertwined organisations, informal networks and institutions and stakeholders.
• Public policies, ordinances, laws and regulations at both state as well as national level (Goodman, Wandersman, Chinman, Imm, & Morrissey, 1996).

1.    Identify factors from local to global that influence the concepts and modalities of community

At the local or the global level in order to maintain global wellbeing has to be supported by several types of assets or capitals which are listed below (Roe, 2006):

• Human Capitalwhich includes ability to work, health, and skills.
• Financial capital ( cash or something equivalent)
• Natural Capital(biodiversity, natural resources, the environment).

In order to strengthen the community at the local level we need to identify the bodies of knowledge and practice which would be helpful in making stronger the governance, empowerment, economic development and service provisions. Thus the need is to develop a conceptual framework with a much more integrated approach towards local development and taking along the national as well as global factors along for the wholesome development at the same time (Helling, Serrano, & Warren, 2005).

There are several factors ranging from local to the global ones which contribute towards the successful development of the concepts andthe modalities of the community. Some of them are listed below:

• Environmental Factors: It includes the past history of cooperation or collaboration which exists in the community. The social as well the political climate should be favourable along with taking the collaborating group as the leader of the community.
• Structural or the Procedural factors:  the members of the community should have the strong sense or feeling of ownership means they should feel and should have stake in both the outcomes as well as the process. Every decision making process in the organisation should involve the collaborating groups at each and every level. There should be total clarity of the roles and the guidelinesand flexibility amongst the collaborating groups, organisations and thestakeholders too. The community should be able to sustain itself in thecontinuous changing environment.
• Functional Factors: Shared visions along with clarity in goals and realistic picture should be portrayed to the partners.
• Membership related Factors: There should be mutual trust, leadership skills development, mutual respect and understanding through the cross-section across all the organisational members. The members should be able to compromise at all thelevels and should take the engagement as their self-interests.
• Communication Factors: The local as well as the global level communication should be informational and should be open with frequent interactions and discussions amongst all the partners. The channels of communications which should be used should be both formal as well as informal.
• Resources: There should be sufficient monetary fundsas well as the skilled convener (Mattessich & Monsey, 1992).

The other factors which greatly influence the community concept and modalities are:

• Social ecology
• Cultural Influences
• Community Participation
• Community empowerment
• Capacity Building
• Coalitions:
• Benefits and Costs: The participants in the community will be ready to invest only if the benefits are more than the  costs incurred (Butterfoss, Goodman, & Wandersman, 1993)
• Community Organisations: It helps in activating the community in various ways to support and encourage the social and behavioural changes in the community (Bracht & Kingsbury, 1990).
• Stages of innovation: it helps in diffusing thepotential differences which might exist in the community as it undergoes changes over time (Rogers, 1962).

Bibliography

1MALAYSIA PEOPLE FIRST PERFORMANCE NOW. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2012, from Malaysian Government Website: http://www.ssig.gov.my/ssig/kcent/material/1malaysia_-_english_version%5B1%5D.pdf

Bracht, N., & Kingsbury, L. (1990). Community organization principles in health promotion: a five-stage model. Newbury Park (CA): Sage Publications.

Butterfoss, F., Goodman, R., & Wandersman, A. (1993). Community coalitions for prevention and health promotion. Health Education Research , 315-330.

Corbett, A. (2001). Living as a Community. Retrieved March 2, 2012, from The Origins of Community: http://www.legana.org/studies/community/001origins.htm

Fawcett, S., Paine-Andrews, A., Francisco, V., Schultz, J., Richter, K., Lewis, R., et al. (1995). Using empowerment theory in collaborative partnership for community health and development. American Journal of Community Psychology , 677-697.

Goodman, R., Wandersman, A., Chinman, M., Imm, P., & Morrissey, E. (1996). An ecological assessment of community-based interventions for prevention and health promotion: approaches to measuring community coalitions. American Journal of Community Psychology , 33-61.

Hanson, P. (1988-89). Citizen involvement in community health promotion: a role application of CDC’s PATCH model. International Quarterly of Community Health Education , 177-186.

Helling, L., Serrano, R., & Warren, D. (2005). Linking Community empowerment, decentralised Governance, and Public Service Provision Thorugh a Local Development Framework. Community Driven development, SP Discussion Paper No.0535. The World Bank.

Mattessich, P., & Monsey, B. (1992). Collaboration: what makes it work; a review of research literature on factors influencing successful collaboration. St. Paul (MN): Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

Roe, D. J. (2006). Local action, global aspirations: The role of community conservation in achieving international goals for environment and development. Natural Resource Issues Series No.4 .

Rogers, E. (1962). Diffusion of innovations. New york: Free Press.

Sciences, I. o. (1995). Assessing the social and behavioral science base for HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention: workshop summary and background papers. Washington (DC): National Academy Press.

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