Category: Free Essays

Social Work is at an important stage in its development as a profession – not only in the United Kingdom but around the world. All professions must be responsive and proactive to changing social and economic climates and conditions if they are to meet the needs of the people they are serving.

It is essential for Social Workers to be able to practise in accordance with social work values and to retain a clear professional identity, and at the same time to be able to work effectively with other professional groups and agencies.

Although there are many terms used to describe working together with other professions such as joint working, inter-professional working, multi-disciplinary working and inter-agency working the term currently used by the Department of Health publications is collaborative practice (Whittington 2003b). New ways of working that crossed professional boundaries had to be created, in order to allow a more flexible approach to care delivery (Malin et al, 2002).

Collaboration in health and social care is a relatively new field of study, with the first major studies being undertaken in the 1980s (Roy, 2001). In health and social care collaborative working is often referred to as Inter-professional working, as it is not just about professionals working together. The patients, clients or service users are a central part of the team.

At its simplest the concept of collaboration infers that people from different professional and academic backgrounds form a working relationship for the purpose of enhanced service provision. However, the exact nature of the partnership is likely to be contested, whilst fully integrated ‘joined-up’ collaborative practice has so far proved elusive.

Effective communication is an essential component of the traditional social work roles and responsibilities. It is therefore equally necessary for social workers to also have effective communication skills if they are to promote self-help and empowerment to those whom they are providing a service for.

Lishman (1994) reminds us that care managers and providers ‘will have to use a range of communication and interpersonal skills if community care is really to mean care, choice and empowerment of others.’ Collaborative working implies: “conscious interaction between the parties to achieve a common goal” (Meads & Ashcroft, 2005). It recognises both difference & similarity.

Collaboration is a process by which members of different disciplines share their skills and expertise to provide a better quality service to patients, clients or service users (Hughes, Hemingway & Smith, 2005). The sharing of information means both getting information and giving it. The act of gaining information in Social Work is an essential task – the information gained can be used for numerous purposes such as:

Making an assessment of need or risk

Writing a report

Planning an intervention

To justify obtaining resource

The ‘something’ or benefit is sometimes called ‘collaborative advantage’, and it can be seen as the fuel of collaborative working – the greater the potential or actual advantage gained by all parties, the greater the levels of energy fuelling the collaboration.

According to Wilson (2008) and Hughes, Hemmingway & Smith (2005) inter-professional and collaborative working means considering the service user in a holistic way, and it benefits the service user when different organisations, such as Social Workers, District Nurses, Occupational Therapists and other health professionals come together to provide a better service. These definitions describe collaborative working as the act of people working together toward common goals. Integrated working involves putting the service user at the center of decision making to meet their needs and improve their lives (Dept. Health, 2009).

Effective collaboration and interaction will have positive outcomes within a working environment for both the teams working together and the service user. Agencies should be encouraged to share information to ensure that all needs of the service users are met but also to ensure the safety of the service user and the other teams involved.

Caring for People (Dept. Health, 1989) stated that “successful collaboration required a clear, mutual understanding by every agency of each other’s responsibilities and powers, in order to make plain how and with whom collaboration should be secured.”

The government has been promoting inter-agency and collaborative working since the late 80’s which also saw a change in the policies set forth by the governments and a legislative backdrop was created to promote self-collaboration between companies. The stated aim has been to ‘create high quality, needs-led, co-ordinated services that maximised choice for the service user.’ (Payne, 1995). Recent events and media outcries have focused collaborative working solely on Social Work as stated in Pollard, Sellman & Senior (2005) and when viewed as a “good thing”, it is worthwhile to critically examine its benefits and drawbacks. (Leathard, 2003).

The old government set forth plans to modernize the Social Services as well as update the NHS. A clear indication of this can be found in NHS Plan (Dept. Health, 2000) and Modernizing the Social Services (Dept. Health, 1998a). This was not in fact a new plan it was part of a growing emphasis stemming from the 1970s. The death of Maria Coldwell in 1974 meant there were questions asked why professionals were not able to protect children who they had identified as most at risk.

The Cleveland Inquiry 1988 resulted in the direct opposite of 1974 when the methods of the Social Services were deemed too strict and over powering, it was deemed that children were removed from their families when there was ‘little concrete evidence of harm or abuse’ (Butler-Sloss, 1988), with too much emphasis put on the medical opinion.

The old government set forth plans to modernize the Social Services as well as update the NHS. A clear indication of this can be found in NHS Plan (Dept. Health, 2000) and Modernizing the Social Services (Dept. Health, 1998a). This was not in fact a new plan it was part of a growing emphasis stemming from the 1970s. The death of Maria Coldwell in 1974 meant there were questions asked why professionals were not able to protect children who they had identified as most at risk.

The Cleveland Inquiry 1988 resulted in the direct opposite of 1974 when the methods of the Social Services were deemed too strict and over powering, it was deemed that children were removed from their families when there was ‘little concrete evidence of harm or abuse’ (Butler-Sloss, 1988), with too much emphasis put on the medical opinion.

The Munro Report (2010) stated that ‘other service agencies cannot and should not replace Social Worker’s, but there is a requirement for agencies to engage professionally about children, young people and families on their caseloads.

The Children’s Act 2004 was introduced after the public inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie in 2000; the same public inquiry also resulted in the Every Child Matters movement. The failure to collaborate effectively was highlighted as one of many missed opportunities by the inquiry into the tragic death of Victoria Climbie (Laming, 2003) and Baby Peter (Munro, 2010).

Expressing what you all want to achieve in clear, outcomes-oriented language, and being able to continually recheck those outcomes as your work together proceeds, is the single most important key to successful collaboration. However, it is actually quite difficult to express outcomes in ways that are unambiguous and clearly understood by all of the potential or actual collaborators.

The quality of communication is vital. Poor communication is often behind many of the disputes that threaten to stall collaborative working relationships. Clear lines of communication need to be established across the institutions that make up a consortium to ensure everyone is aware of and is able to carry out the accepted policies and procedures. Accountabilities, in particular, should be well defined.

Participation and involvement of service user is also critical in the Social Work field. This after all is the main beneficiary of the collaborative working scheme and your goal as a Social Worker is to meet their needs and goals. If you show the service user respect they too will give you a mutual respect which will allow the Social Workers and other elements of the collaborative team to achieve their common goals.

However beneficiaries do not have to be aware that an activity is being delivered in partnership for the partnership to be successful. Regular reviews and users’ feedback can help measure its impact.

“Collaborative advantage will be achieved when something unusually creative is produced – perhaps an objective is met – that no organisation could have produced on its own and when each organisation, through collaboration, is able to achieve its own objectives better than it could alone”. (Huxham, 1996).

Huxham was showing that collaboration will work when it is done properly, and when we as Social Workers put aside any prejudices that are under lying in our working mentality and also our personal mentality, we will work well with other fields and practices to form a more efficient and organised service.

By learning with, from and about one another practitioners can understand respective roles and responsibilities, generate mutual trust, strengthen relationships and improve collaborative practice (Barr et al 2005). To summarise and conclude the development of collaborative working will undoubtedly require a change in culture and values amongst health and social care professionals; however it is working and developing quickly and for the better of not just the collaborating agencies but also for the service users.

My research will be directed towards mothers of the society. I wish to perform a detailed study and contrast and compare the working mother’s verses the stay at home mothers. I wish to analyze the differences among children raised by a working mother and a stay at home mother and the difficulties and hardships faced by working mothers and stay at home mothers in performing their motherly duties.

Significance of the research project:

The children are the future of the world and mothers are the first institution that they come in contact with, that is why it is essential to study and analyze the difference if raised by a working mother rather than a stay at home mother. This study will help us to proceed in the right direction regarding the upbringing of our children.

Research already conducted (Literature review):

There have been many controversies as to whether working women are better mothers than stay at home mothers. With both mothers certain feelings are attached that has been reviewed by researchers to make assessments. Working mothers usually cannot spend much time with their children, this leads to their feeling guilty .This guilt is experienced most acutely when women attempt to mesh the responsibilities of motherhood with paid work. (Everingham, Stevenson & Warner-Smith, 2007). . On the other hand stay at home mothers have time for children but they often over shadow their children making them too dependent or needy. However, the usual belief of the good mother is one who nurtures and cares for her family and believes that this should be more fulfilling than work (Buzzanell, Meisenbach, Remke, Liu, Bowers & Conn, 2005).

Additional research required:

In addition to the researches already made a need arises to contrast and compare the role of working mother and stay at home mother in the raising of children. Does it really make any difference if the mother is working? What difficulties are faced by working mothers in raising their children? Is raising a child easier for stay at home mother? These are a number of questions that my research project would target.

Benefits of the research:

The organization would benefit from this research as children are a point of concern for all of us. We have to contribute our share so we may help in shaping their future. Research like this provides an insight and show facts that were not clear before. Therefore, my research project will help our organization and serve the society in the long run.

Conclusion:

I am a working mother and can relate to the issues that rise with being a parent as well as being the sole provider for my household. Hence, I believe this research will provide a better understanding of mothers and help children in the process.

I would like to discuss this proposal in more detail with you. If possible, I would like to meet with you in a couple of weeks. I am excited about the opportunity to conduct my research and present the necessary finding as a result of this research. I can be reached at 469-348-4391 or by email at [email protected]

Attachments: references used in literature review are attached.

References:

Buzzanell, P. M., Meisenbach, R., Remke, R., Liu, M., Bowers, V., & Conn, C. (2005). The good working mother: Managerial women’s sense making and feelings about work-family issues. Communication Studies. 56, 261-285.

Everingham, C., Stevenson, D., & Warner-Smith, P. (2007). Things are getting better all the time? Challenging the narrative of women’s progress from a generational perspective. Sociology, 41, 419-437.

Table of Contents

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Executive summaryaˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦ii

Single mothers versus stay at home mothers 1

Portia Jackson 1

Operations Manager 1

Freddie Mac 1

Ireon Robinson 1

Team Leader 1

Freddie Mac 1

Executive summary
Introduction

The main debate that is on today is on what type of mothers are the best. Will it be the home mothers who do spend their days while taking care of the home and the kids or working mothers who spend their entire day, earning a salary in order to take care of the children? Most people claim that the debate is irrelevant as both parents whether hired or not are working mothers. Children are an integral population in the community thus lenders the debate imperative. Also the debate poses a problem because it pits a set of mothers against others as there can be no logical distinct relationship between profession and parenting.

This report aims at contrasting both set of mothers and giving limelight to some of the problems they both go through. It also aims at giving patent differences between the children of these two sets of parents. As much as some women would want to make a choice of whether to work or not to, most mothers do not have a choice. In order for stay at home mothers and the working mothers to get completely along, they should come to a consensus on some things. Just because some have decided to work, it does not mean they are neglecting their children and choosing their career instead. There is nobody who actually knows the family’s financial status and their reason to choose their professions apart from them. In fact what is right for one person may not be right to others. The report focuses on the analysis of the interview conducted about the whole subject and proposes a literature review on women’s view on the topic, and the problems they undergo as working and staying at home mothers.

2.0. Background

During the past generations, women had only one major role as far as the society is concerned; to stay at home and care for their children. As mothers, they were required by the traditions to stay at home and ensure that all the domestic life did run smoothly for the families. Gone are those days. However, there have been numerous frustrations of actually trying to work continuously full time and at the same time raise a family. Therefore, most women consider the staying at home option. Economists allege that the stay at home parents who refute a career can lose approximately $ 1million over years (Dunleavey, 2010). By some women just choosing to stay at home they limit the future prospects as far as income is concerned and the children might be at risk of not being fully provided for.

Most stay at home mothers have been known to criticize the working mothers claiming that they have gone ahead to choose career over their kids. Working mothers also have retorted saying that just because they do work it does not necessarily mean they do not care about their children’s welfare. The working mothers also do criticize the stay at home mothers alleging that they have no dreams and ambitions. Since the year 1970, the gravest changes among the American families are the amplified employment of the mothers outside their homes. According to ‘the children of America- working parents and child care’ article, the range of children with one parent who worked full time in 2002, increased to 80 % from 70% in 1980. For the children who live with two parents, 89% of them had one parent who worked as compared to 1980 when it was 80%.

Despite the amplifying number of women in the labor force since the year 1994, the number of all the children who are from the two families who had a stay at home mothers and working fathers have grown. In the year 2002, almost eleven million kids who were under 15 years had full time staying at home mothers. Some of the problems faced by the working mothers are trying to balance their work as well as get effectual time to spend with their kids. They also have difficulties in getting adequate childcare for their kids and they are sometimes unable to stay home when their kids get sick. The stay at home mothers on the other hand have some problems like attending appointments issues where the mother is too preoccupied at home and has no helper thus cancels lots of meetings. Also, there are unexpected money issues that may arise with time and with nothing to fall back too, it can be hectic. There are numerous problems that they face and those are just few. The major difference between the two sets of mothers are that working mothers do bring home regular pay check and have very little spending time.

2.1 Assumptions and implications

Most people assume that the working mothers have neglected their families thus they criticize them. They usually think that the working mothers have chosen their professions over their children. On the other hand, mothers who decide to stay at home are always considered to have taken the easy way out and seen as people who have no dreams and ambitions to follow. The issue is that most of the mothers who always work wish they can stay at home and cater for their children and are usually guilty but circumstances force them to work. The stay at home mothers always wish they can have time to go for appointments as well as work.

Explanations of new system

Most of the women today are in the workforce. According to U.S Census Bureau, In the year 2008 according to United States Department of Labor, 68 million women who are employed and 75% of all the employed women worked full time and 25% worked part-time. Most of the women now are hiring caretakers to take care of their children as they go to job. The system according to most people is not appropriate as the caretakers are not effective and can introduce the children into some unfavorable behaviors. Still, the system leads the mothers to feel guilty as they hardly have time for their children thus they grow aloof and more comfortable with the caretakers than the mother.

General requirements

There is a need for the problem to be solved on a rational base. It should be understood that criticism is not the answer but support is. Whether it is working mothers or staying at home mothers, both are working and should be respected. It should also be understood that there is no mother who is better than the other as they are all striving to care for their families whether directly or indirectly. Children of both sets of mothers should be catered for to enable them to succeed irrespective of their mother’s financial and professional status. The gap between the two mothers should be narrowed down for effective communication to take place.

Statement of the need

Working mothers do seem to get more criticism for being neglectful. In real essence, working women suffer from stress, overload and other problems. Staying at home mothers also get criticized for apparent luxury and indolence. There is a need for empowerment of women. As most people would assume that working women do not make it in marriage, it is not so. In fact, divorce rates have been on the fall for the last decades, while the female labor force rate has been rising (Zvika et al, 2006). The organization needs to focus on the research as it has its bases on children who are the future leaders of tomorrow.

Project description

The project aims at contrasting and comparing working mothers versus staying at home mothers and the differences between their children. It also does examine whether or not working mothers are better than staying at home mothers and the differences that does arise in their children.

4.1 Explanation of the problem

Single mothers in the professions and managerial occupations face numerous problems. They have difficulties as far as child care is concerned, overload of work and role conflict (Susan & Marilyn, 2001). They face financial strain, minimal support, and more work load than the mothers who have partners (Susan & Marilyn, 2001). Women in the paid employment who basically appear vulnerable to stress based diseases acquire dual role in both workplace and the domestic work. Working women suffer from stress that is induced by both home and work interface (Susan & Marilyn, 2001). Most people also do assume that staying at home mothers are the best mothers as compared to working mothers thus creating controversy between the two. Staying at home mothers do face financial crisis though they give maximum attention to their children. There are also conflicts between families where women are working and men are not. Though use of organizational programs that are work life related are shown to minimize family conflicts and improve satisfaction and the well being, the availability of some extensive as well as generous policies do not result in utilization of the employees (Paula et al, 2005). Attention is highly needed to curb this problem as the children are integral people in the society. The mothers need counseling, consulting and coaching in order to cope with the stress that is prevailing (James et al, 1999).

4.2 Statement of the objectives

To examine whether working mothers are better mothers than staying at home mothers and also to find out the problems experienced by both mothers in the workplace and as far as society is concerned. There is also a need to explore on the differences of children raised by working mothers and stay at home mothers as far as attitudes and performance is concerned

4.3 Methodology

Research design

The research is a case study on working women versus staying at home women and studying how they differ as far as their children are concerned as well as the problems they face.

Population and sample

The population of this study is both men and women in Hawaii. The study used a systematic random method to choose the sample. Stratification was based on gender and status quo as far as workforce is concerned. 50 households were chosen as the sample.

Data collection

I used primary and secondary data. I used interviews and questionnaires as primary methods. The data collected included number of households, problems they faced and how their children differ. Data collection from peer reviewed articles and general research was also used.

4.4 Data analysis and findings

Data analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (S.P.S.S). Performance in school represented the independent variable while the parents represented dependent variables. Data collected regarding the problems of both sets of women were also independent variables. The analysis showed that both sets of women faced numerous problems including criticism and stress. Children from women staying at home were likely to become more independent on their parents than the working mother’s children. Both the children of the working and non working mothers had similar performance since most working mothers alleged that they had time with their children in the evening and helped them with their class work.

Budget

Given that all my resources are actually available, there isn’t much costs associated with performing this research. The major costs are photocopying articles, printing the report, and a laptop that will enable me do the research.

5.1 Conclusion and recommendation

It is evident that both women whether working or staying at home mothers have diverse problems. They both suffer from stress and other patent problems. There is a need to be aware on how these women should be empowered and exactly how their problems should be solved since they are the backbone of the children who need full support.

In general, society considers the elderly as persons above the ages of sixty or sixty-five. This is usually the beginning of old age as a person becomes less active in political, social and economic affairs. Though there are elderly persons who are in good health and active members of their communities, majority are the ones whose physical and mental functions are on the decline. Since they are not able to get along on their own, majority of the elderly persons require attention and care from their loved ones as well as friends. Consequently, psychologists use the term elderly care to refer to the personal as well as medical attention that this group of the population receives.

It is evident that elderly care takes a variety of forms, ranging from personal care such as feeding and dressing, to medical attention. In addition, the care that a family chooses for its elderly persons will depend on their needs. This is because some of the elderly persons may still be in good health while others may be frail. Consequently, some of them may require home-based care while others may need specialized attention in a nursing home or in a hospital. Whatever the case, the elderly do need some form of care.

In this study, I shall focus on the American culture and the Asian culture, and make comparisons between the two, in relation to the aspect of caring for the elderly. For the Asian culture, I shall examine the Japanese. In both United States of America and Japan, the number of elderly persons is on the increase. This means that both governments have to consider and put in place the best mechanisms to cater for this group of the population. Different communities accord the elderly different forms of care, depending on how their cultures dictate. The way a community perceives old age will therefore affect the manner in which it treats the elderly.

The responsibility of caring for the elderly in Caucasian and Japanese cultures lies mainly with the woman, because these societies consider her as an innate caregiver due to her maternal abilities and instincts. However, this is also due to the fact that, over the years, the woman has fewer opportunities in the economic scene, and as a result, she remains at home most of the time to take care of her children and the elderly. On the other hand, when the woman is able to access the labor market, she finds herself in positions where she has to provide care for others. Most nurses, school and hospital matrons are women. However, in the above cultures, children also participate in elderly care, as a form of compensation for the nurture their parents gave them when they were young.

The American society places a lot of emphasis on staying young. Consequently, as Samovar et. al. (2009) notes “we find a culture that prefers youth to old age.” (p.71). This negative perception of old age makes the young people avoid staying together with the elderly and caring for them. The older adult population rather than the young adults are the ones taking care of the elderly. This explains why some families in the United States give over their old relatives to nursing homes. This does not however mean that the young cut all their links with their elderly relatives. They do provide support and maintain contact with them. The nursing homes are an option for the elderly people who have no family or relatives to look after them at home. This is especially the case for those who are physically handicapped and require the help of another person to take care of them.

Though the nursing homes have become the choice for most families with elderly relatives, they do have their limitations. Some of these institutions for the elderly have become money-making ventures, therefore reducing their emphasis on the needs of the elderly. Poor hygiene and lack of trained medical personnel and quality treatment as well as poor feeding programs are some of the problems the elderly face in these nursing homes. Moreover, placing the elderly in nursing homes limits their freedoms as they have to follow the stipulated program. They cannot choose when to feed, sleep, interact with their fellow housemates and cannot keep their belongings. However, nursing homes for the elderly still remain the option for most American families, as there has not been much success with home-based care.

On a positive note, the elderly persons in American society have more groups of friends and neighbors whom they can go to for support, than the aged people in Japanese society. This means that the American elderly are likely to receive care from their friends and neighbors, apart from their immediate family members. However, the Americans usually tend to give special care to their elderly only after they learn that the latter are facing a medical problem.

However, since the family is still the main caregiver for the elderly, some of the American families employ professional nurses to take care of their old at home, instead of sending them away to nursing homes. Another reason for this is that, institutions for taking care of the elderly are expensive, and some of these families are not able to afford them. Moreover, some families opt to take their elderly to day nursing institutions, where they receive care throughout the day and then return home in the evening. This is suitable for those people who are working and cannot stay with the elderly relatives during the day as they have to report to work. It is also convenient for working adults who cannot afford specialized care for their elderly ones, either at home or in a nursing institution.

In some instances, the elderly person may be able to live in his or her own house, and may be strong enough not to require specialized attention and care. In such cases, the family members of such an elderly person find a house near other aged people, in areas where the amenities they need on a day-to-day basis are readily available. This form of elderly care appeals to the community and involves them in taking responsibility for this group of the population.

On the economic front, some of the big corporate organizations have introduced benefit schemes for their employees, in order to help them in caring for their elderly relatives. This is because most companies want to avoid losses in production, due to having employees who have to work while at the same time take care of their elderly relatives. Some companies also provide home-based care services for the elderly, but as a profit-making venture. This however, has a negative side to it as these privatized services are costly and not many families are able to afford them.

On the other hand, Asian culture of the Japanese has a positive perception of the elderly. It teaches the children to respect and care for the elderly. The Japanese consider the family as the prime caregiver for their elderly, and in this case, it is usually a female member of the family who carries out this duty. This is because the Japanese believe that it is not in order to take the elderly to a nursing home as this is equivalent to neglecting one’s responsibility of taking care of one’s parents. This also makes the Japanese families give the required care to their elderly relatives throughout their old age, rather than only when they are facing a health problem.

In the case of aged people who are not related to the family, Japanese wives or their daughters are the ones who tend to give their elderly friends the care they need. Sometimes, the daughters-in-law also give care to the elderly, especially if the patient is female. However, if other friends and non relatives are living under the same roof with the elderly persons, they may provide the necessary care to the latter. This is in contrast to the case of the American elderly who receive care from their family as well as friends and neighbors.

In Japan, the activity of giving care to the elderly is mainly as an act of duty, rather than voluntary will. The caregiver considers this act as one that he or she has to give, and in most cases, the Japanese wife will provide the elderly attention at her husband’s request. The dependence of the Japanese elderly on their immediate family is also evident in the fact that most of them rely on their spouses and their children for financial support. Since the Japanese believe that giving the elderly care is a woman’s job, the men usually leave this task to their wives. However, though the Japanese men are away from home most of the time, they also contribute to elderly care by giving their spouses financial as well as emotional assistance. Again, by participating in looking after their children, they allow their wives to find time to take care of the elderly members of the family.

Elderly care in Japan still remains largely in the hands of the family, especially for those who are not sickly and in need of specialized medical attention. However, caring for the elderly at home is no longer the only option, and families have begun taking the old to nursing homes. This is due to a number of reasons such as the aging of the family members providing the care as well as the increasing involvement of the Japanese women in formal training and employment. Moreover, Japanese families are not living in large numbers as they did in the past.

However, the number of nursing homes for the elderly and professional caregivers is on the decrease because of the Japanese belief that it is the immediate family which bears the responsibility of taking care of their elderly relatives. The elderly who are in need of very little personal and health care remain at home, but get visits from personnel who attend to them. This happens either a few times a week or every day depending on the needs of the elderly person. Due to the rising demand for health caregivers for the elderly, Japan has sought the help of care personnel from the Philippines. These caregivers are more experienced and are willing to work at a low pay.

Due to the increase in the elderly population, financial resources have not been enough to allow families to put their relatives under specialized care at home and in nursing institutions. It is due to this situation that hospitals in Japan have offered to accommodate the elderly who are in need of both personal as well as medical attention. This way, the elderly in Japan can access long-term care. Though on a small-scale, the Japanese elderly engage in volunteering programs where they offer services to the community and in turn, they receive personal as well as medical care.

There are however some similarities in the aspects of elderly care in American and Japanese cultures. Care for the elderly is still one of the concerns of both the United States and Japanese governments, though they differ in their policies. America gives priority to provision of medical attention, pension for retirees and shelter, while the Japanese government came up with policies to put in place insurance for every citizen including the elderly, for a long-term period. In both countries, the increase in aging members of the population has put a lot of pressure on the medical as well as retirement schemes. However, technological advances in medicine have increased and they are being used to improve the life-expectancy levels of the American and Japanese aging populations. Again, since women are increasingly going into formal employment, the men in both countries are also becoming more and more involved in elderly care.

In conclusion, due to lifestyle changes, many people have started living in smaller groups and families, and are also located far from each other. Consequently, caring for the elderly can no longer be the responsibility of the immediate family alone, but has to be a prerogative of governments, non governmental organizations as well as private institutions.

Case management is the process of helping patients with lives that are not productive or satisfactory as a result of a number of problems among them drug and substance abuse.

Case management in social work is whereby a social worker professionally assesses the needs of the client and their respective families (Ballew & Mink 1997). The social worker then coordinates, monitors, evaluates, arranges and advocates an effective service package to meet the client’s or patient’s needs. Case management differs from managed care whereby the former is designed to obtain the most appropriate and perhaps best treatment for patients while the latter is designed to avoid hospitalization or initiate shorter hospital stays thereby reducing costs incurred.

Case managers’ professional credentials will comprise broadly of the following:

A masters graduate accredited by the council on social work education

Have a current state or national social work certificate or license

At least two years work experience at the masters level relating to bio-psych – social needs

Practicing in line with federal and state regulations and laws

An adherent to the social work code of ethics (National Association of Social Workers – NASW)

Case management constitutes psychological and clinical components. As a pre- requisite therefore, a case manager should be able to address a variety of matters some of which may include:

Crisis intervention: where the patient’s state or situation signifies a crisis needing urgent attention

Resource brokerage: This involves marshalling of the necessary resources to commence treatment.

Teamwork collaboration: The bringing together of all the stakeholders involved in the treatment plan

Client / family education: Provision of all the necessary information and education related to the condition and treatment procedure.

Client / family advocacy: Advocate for patient or client where society or family puts forth a set of demands (Halley, Kopp & Austin 1997)

Psychological assessment and diagnostic procedures

Results and evaluation: Interpretation of patient assessment results.

Client / family counseling: Initiate patient / family counseling sessions.

Most importantly the case manager initiates a team oriented approach to case management. Generally case management procedures offered by organizations are effected based on a screening procedure outcome. This screening criteria will pinpoint all collaborative services through coordination of high quality care services. The coordination is meant to reduce any service fragmentation. The ultimate goal of this process would be to identify patients:

With costly illness or injury

With terminal condition

With chronic illness or illness in an acute stage

The coordination of the case services during screening is aimed at enhancing the quality of life and appropriate usage of health care resources. Client screening should cover the following aspects:

Financial

Environmental

Physical

Psychological

Cultural / spiritual

Vocational

Client psychological screening is achieved through an assessment process which may include among other components:

Patient’s personal data

Patient’s health status and age

Patient’s emotional and financial status

Patient’s vocational and functional status including spirituality

Cognitive functioning focusing on the client

The case management process exploits a number of intervention options. The case manager assists clients / patients and family members to establish a suitable treatment plan. The plan pinpoints the patient’s strengths and supportive systems. These are employed during the implementation.

Alternatively the case manager may monitor a patient from community to an inpatient facility and back to the community setting. The manager then adapts a treatment plan suited to the patient’s needs in each of the set ups. Collaboration as an option can also be used where the case manager collaboratively and collectively involves the patient’s family and others concerning the implementation of the treatment plan. The parties are continuously updated about the progress, goals, obstacles and any variations to the initial treatment plan. The Patrician movement most likely adopts this kind of approach or practice based on the fact that this movement considers the family as a basic societal unit that can be directly involved in the treatment and prevention of substance and drug abuse (The Patrician Movement 2010).

An important aspect concerning any process is the documentation process. In the case management process the manager develops suitable case management plans which are documented in the patient’s record. These documentation should be accessible by all relevant and authorized team involved in the treatment plan of the patient in question. The documentation contains vital information based on the current or proposed treatment plan. Accordingly all medical documentation should be kept confidential and treated as so. The case management process must have an established measurement of outcomes. The plan’s outcome indicators should include observed and measured goals for every problem, the progress being periodically measured by the case manager along with the supportive team. The measurement indicators will include:

Resolution of the problem: This will include the patient care plans connoting the percentages met, partially met or not yet met. The patient’s level of dedication to treatment estimated by measuring the attendance frequencies for the assigned treatment sessions. A decrease in procedures and treatments that was unplanned for.

Service costs, reconciled service levels and utilization of resources

The patient’s or client’s satisfaction which can be derived by the use of tools such as questionnaires the likes of DUKE, Darmouth Co-op or SF- 36. Levels of patient satisfaction can also be demonstrated through contract renewal by the client usually an indicator of insurance company satisfaction.

The patrician movement was founded at St Patrick Parish on the Eastern side of San Antonio in Texas in the late 1950’s as a church based drug and substance abuse prevention and treatment facility. Initially founded as a haven from multi racial violence within the neighborhood, patrician movement founders realized the need to address the substance abuse that was clearly evident among the various gang members who came to seek shelter at the parish. The movement has largely evolved into a fully fledged facility today offering prevention and treatment services from a holistic point of view (The Patrician Movement 2010). The treatment program is largely inclined on a self assessment journey making every case unique in its own sense. The core concept embraced by the patrician movement points to the fact that each individual is unique and has a right to develop maximum potential. The family is emphasized as the basic unit of society and education as paramount for human development and treatment. The prevention and treatment services at the patrician movement are somewhat unique. This is due to the fact that prevention and treatment process are family oriented and managed. Case managers are basically from within the community and a conservative approach to rehabilitation process is followed. Among the case managers are those with special skills, others are former clients of the patrician movement whereas some are family members (Ballew & Mink 1997)

The patrician movement is concerned with the whole person and serves the San Antonio population basically. However the entire Texas state also benefits from the services of this movement. This movement having started at community level and as a community initiative is thus strongly San Antonio based. While involving the family in case management; patrician movement is helping to build stronger rehabilitation programs with effective accountability and follow up. The age bracket covered by the services offered at Patrician movement ranging from 18 to 65 years ensures a wider population is catered for. Patrician movement runs a brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) to cater for youngsters exhibiting early substance abuse and delinquency. By focusing on the family as a base of contact and rehabilitation Patrician movement ensures full community involvement in the programs thereby making them quite effective. Established in a mixed race society, Patrician movement cross racial approach to treatment and prevention continues to elicit community support from people of mixed race. Posted statistics are indicative of the fact that as at 2003 over 2500 families had been served with over 2200 adults as well. Proportionally this implies almost one adult per family. This means drug and substance abuse rate in San Antonio is high. A perusal of the testimonials from the Patrician movement website indicates a community full of gratitude to the services offered at the movement. The GED diploma program is among the unique service offered at Patrician movement meant to empower the population intellectually.

By focusing on the whole person the Patrician movement boasts a higher level of success in rehabilitation unlike the common approaches that will mainly focus on the resolution of the problem. In developing and involving the family and therefore the community as a fundamental part of the rehabilitation process, Patrician movement is ensuring lower chances of relapse due to the fact that all other underlying factors are looked at and addressed.

Due to the fact that the San Antonio population is mixed race, the Patrician movement believes in intellectually empowering the community as part of its prevention and treatment strategy. The administration of GED program ensures that those without the basic intellectual skills are equipped and in so doing the general public is able to receive and act on general public information without misinterpretation or misunderstanding.

Promporn Dokphutsa

Task 1

Explanation of Te Tiriti O Waitangi and its application in the social services

Te Triti O Waitangi was signed on 6th February 1840 at Waitangi. It significant to maintain the benefits of Maori people who living in New Zealand. It is concluded 4 important principles which are partnership, protection, participation and permission. These 4 principles are the basic necessary needs for Maori in term of living and culture. Therefore, while Maori people get engage into any social services, it is responsible for social workers to be aware and make sure that Maori clients have been treated with appropriate services.

Firstly, partnership refers to working together for agreed outcomes. A a social service organisations must ensure providing policies that the needs of Maori are taken into description when cooperating with Maori client and their family/ whanau. By building trust and rapport with Maori clients and their family/ whanau is the first thing to consider introducing yourself and getting to know more detail of clients by making friendship. As well as involve clients in every processes of care plan such as let them sign the contract to ensure health & safety support and fully inform need to be used.

Secondly, protection focuses on client’s privacy and safety. The social workers may following the Code of Rights and Code of Conducts to maintain client’s confidentiality while attending social service. As well as respect the right of Maori to enjoy their taonga in social service settings. To be able to make important decisions those are in their best interests.

Thirdly, participation is focused on service accessibility for Maori to make sure that their needs are met by asking or allowing them to participate in their care plan until discharge from residential care. Also family/ whanau engagement at all levels of service is another way to practice participation principle.

Lastly, permission is important for social workers to be considered while engaging to social service. Maori clients must be free to speak Te Reo Maori and participate in any Maori spiritual or culture practices.

To sum up, 4 principles of Te Tiriti O Waitangi are using to maintain and promote Maori’s physical and mental well-being and safety. Therefore, social workers have to provide as much as possible resources for Maori clients to make sure they needs are met and bi-cultural perspective by following Te Tiriti.

Task 2

Manage the intake process of a person discharged from residential care.

Context setting

Residential support to Adult(18-65yrs) with an intellectual disability

Individual

Group

Summary of reason residential care was required

SH

Adult (23)

A Maori lady is being discharged from a residential care after she has completed to 6 months stay. SH had diagnosed with Perthes Syndrome (Childhood disease of hip joint) since she was born. But when she is growing up she started showing challenging behaviour included physical and verbal aggression such as throwing, hitting, kicking, spitting, swearing and pinching. Therefore, her family/ whanau suggested transferring her to stay in the residential care facility to develop social skills and to be independent in her environment.

Contribution to managing intake process

Date

Notes/ key of information provided to the person

01/03/14

Receiving and collecting information of SH.

Receiving and recording referrals for a meeting.

Contacted SH family/ whanau and other key people and gave them access to the information for the meeting.

02/03/14

Service co-ordinator, house leader, CSW, Mother, GP, caregiver and healthcare professional have a meeting regarding to the improvement of SH.

03/03/14

All parties were agreeable that SH is ready to go back to the community.

Summary of information provided to the person regarding the role, function, services and legal responsibilities of the social worker and social service provider.

The intake process helps to identify and assess a client’s current situation, issues and needs as well as to determine the most appropriate and effective means of helping the client. Social workers and social service provider have to concern about client’s safety and wellbeing first before making any decisions during the process of discharged. Therefore, gathering data (qualitative e.g. interview/ quantitative e.g. number) to get personal information of client is necessary. It could come from the client, family’ whanau, friends, health care professional or other keys people who relevant to the care plan. Also physical and mental wellness of client is important to make sure the client is ready to go back to the community independently. Intake and Assessment is a reverential, organized process of gathering personal information of either clients or clients’ caregivers in order to facilitate service providers as well as clients to make informed decisions about the provision of the programme and/ or services. Social service organisation should make sure that they have progress their own timeline for intake and assessment that suits their programmes which lead in safe environment and suitable for the client/client’s caregiver.

Notes/ key points of how you completed intake procedures according to the discharge plan, legislation, ethical practice and in accordance with your workplace standards/ requirements.
Roles and responsibilities
As a social worker will need to create suitable and focused on working together with clients, taking into account individual differences and the cultural and social context of the client’s situation such as understands the concepts of culture, class, race, ethnicity, spirituality, sex, age and disability.
Allow client to participate in the processes by motivates and encourages participation.
Assists clients to gain their self-determination over their own environments. Provides choices for the client, gives accurate information by which the client can best decide.
In working with clients, the social worker uses her/his personal characteristics appropriately. May attends supervision to develop best practice.
Written policy and procedure
Admission criteria.
Intake and Assessment procedures.
Documents to be completed and retained.
Procedures to follow when a client cannot be assisted /referring on.
Information to be provided to clients.
Legislation relevant to the organisation.
Others notes/ reflections on the intake process.

Client’s safety and wellbeing must be the first consideration of the social service provider before completed intake procedures according to the discharge plan.

Task 3

Contributions to assisting the person to manage the transition from residence to the community

Date

Notes/ key points of any meeting or other communication details of actions related to assisting the person.

05/03/14

SH’s family/ whanau was consulted about the discharge from residential care facility.

06/03/14

Discuss with SH about her interests and goals.

08/03/14

Support SH in term of decision-making in her interests and being independence.

How did the assistance you provided encourage self-determination and discourage dependency on the social service worker or social service provider?

Respect the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals. As well as giving an opportunity for clients to request and ask for their interests or needs, but always have to be considered about safety and wellbeing of client and people around. Social workers should use clear and fully inform clients of the purpose of the services, risks, limits to services, relevant costs, reasonable alternatives, clients’ right to refuse or withdraw consent, and the time frame covered by the agreement. Then, social service worker or social service provider has to be responsible to follow and review of client’s self-improvement after discharge from the residential care.

What people did liaise with in the community and how did this assist parties to the plan to contribute to the person’s resettlement?

Disability service agency is responsible to provide resources that suitable to the clients by following client’s needs and requests. Also assisting connects the client with plans and resources in order to help them cope. However, relevant factors may include client’s abilities, her resources, her needs, client’s goals, and identify what is important to the client, also any risk factors.

What resources did you manage, and what arrangements needed to be made for the transition from residence to community?

-Safety is the most important and first consideration for the social service provider to be aware and ensure client’s physical and mental is safe.

-As a social service provider has to be aware of “client’s cultural needs” to practice as a Maori. As well as promoting spiritual practice to maintain client’s customs and beliefs. Additional, cultural assistance should be provided to avoid of cultural conflicts.

-Disability needs of client is another factor to be considered. To ensure client is living in safety and friendly environment with her disability. And maintain physical comfort in her daily routine.

-Health needs for client may assist by regular visited of health care professionals and assist her with medication needs.

-Language and communication should be clear and understandable to client and her family/ whanau. Additional, interpreter may provide if needed.

Other notes/ reflections on the transition to community

As a social service provider makes sure the client is living in safe environment and surrounding with positive people and activities. Therefore, it may help client to improve her social skills and being independence in community.

Task 4

Assist the person to resettle in the community following residential care

Date

Notes/ key points of any meetings or other communication details of actions related to the person

09/03/14

Provide choices and opportunities for SH in term of her interests.

10/03/14

Allow SH to make her decisions by ensure respectful and confidentiality.

11/03/14

Fully inform to SH family/ whanau regarding to her decisions. Then discuss how to provide service and make her needs to be met.

How did you encourage self-determination and discourage dependency on the social service worker or social service provider?

Encouraging self-determination:

-Outlined agency’s objectives and appropriate legislations, backing up agency orders/kaupapa.

Provided information and fully informed SH of the limitations and possibility of the meeting, and allowed her to define the best options and which issues I could help her with.

Discouraging dependency on social services:

-Allow SH to express her possible solutions and choose her own best options.

-Where possible the agency would step away, so that SH could step up.

-Allowed SH to figure out so called “emergencies”.

How did you assist the person to identify requirements for life in the community, i.e. set aims and objectives?

Organised first meeting to provide intake assessment and referral accepted.

Then second meeting had set up to interview with SH to discuss her particular needs at this point in time. Ensure effective communication is being used and document her needs and prioritise what need to be done first into an action plan.

Lastly, arrange the key persons who would be responsible to action each of the itemised needs.

How did you assist the person to evaluate their participation in the community against their aims and objectives?

Identify progress against plan and review. Then asked scaling questions as to where SH felt she was in agreement to her hopes and her interests.

How did you assist the person to establish a community lifestyle that focused on both their safety and the safety of others?

-We established community supports before her transition such as 24/7 emergencies call if need any help.

-Educate basic skills to her family/whanau how to deal with her aggressive behaviour while she is living in the community.

-We discussed goals that will motivate her to gain her social skills and make more friends.

What progress against the discharge plan was achieved?

Her mental health status was unstable, according to the Epilepsy. Therefore, her seizures are managed by medications and need to be observed by health care professionals at all time if possible.

What further options (if any) were identified?

It is important to note that staffs have to be familiar and consistent with client when giving her social services to avoid of challenging behaviour and accident that may happen.

Other notes/ reflections on the re-setting of the person

Avoid confrontations with client and do not say “NO” to her. Do not say “Don’t do that” try to say “First you do… (Something she may not like to do), Then you can do… (Something she like to do)”.

Task 5

Application of social service theory

Maori Model of Practice

-Maori model of practice within utilised social work practise research and validated to provide best practise.

-Maori models of practise have holistic approach

-Wellness of whakapapa focus opposed to individual focus.

For example -Te whare Tapa Wha (four cornerstones of Maori health) including:

i.)Taha tinana (physical health): healthy eating, sleep, physical activities, safety awareness and proper hygine.

ii.)Taha wairua (spiritual health): beliefs, culture religion.

iii.)Taha hinengaro (mental health): positive thinking, positive behaviour and healthy lifestyle.

iv.)Taha whanau (family health): emotional support, financial and responsibilities.

Social work knowledge, skills and values (Te Kaiawhina Ahumahi 2000) was a useful resource for the social workers to be used as a guideline to work in appropriate way and proper practice while giving services to the clients.
Social policy theory involves the study of the social relations necessary to promote human wellbeing and things that affect the kinds of life. It can be love and safety, a job and money.

References:

http://www.polity.co.uk/shortintroductions/samples/dean-sample.pdf
http://workplacewellbeing.org.nz/mana-mahi-resource/workplace-wellbeing-guide-6-working-with-te-tiriti-o-waitangi/
http://www.hdc.org.nz/education/presentations/the-health-and-disability-commissioner-act-and-the-code-of-rights-and-methadone-treatment

Early motherhood has been an issue in the U.K. for a while now and data from the Social Exclusion Unit (1999a) explained by Chase et al.(2009) shows that the UK has one of the highest numbers of young mums in Europe.

A group of students including myself carried out a research to find out whether the needs of young mothers in one of the boroughs in London are being met and whether their needs fit into the different approaches surrounding the concept of need.

In this essay I will be describing the rationale and the nature of the research carried out by our group. I will evaluate the strengths and limitations of our research including methodological and ethical issues.

I will be discussing different approaches in literature to defining the concept of need and then relating our findings to the concept. Finally I will consider the implications of our research for social work policy or practice then I will conclude.

The rationale behind the decision to explore this question was that the issue of young parenthood is relevant to the field of social work. This is because the young mums sometimes encounter difficulties which make them fall back on the social services for support. According to Chase et al(2009) the young mothers seem to have the notion that instead of receiving the necessary support that they require, the Social Services rather intrude upon, regulate and scrutinise their lives.

We therefore wanted to find out what the professionals in the field and the young mums identified as their needs, what kind of support was available to them and if there were any gaps in the services provided for young mothers. We also wanted to know what enables or prevents them from getting the kind of support they need.

Furthermore tackling teenage pregnancy has also been on the government’s agenda for a long time and we wanted to know whether the strategies put in place to tackle it were working.

We wanted to broaden our awareness and knowledge base because most of us had limited personal and professional knowledge in this area.

We wanted to explore issues surrounding social exclusion, discrimination and oppression issues and see if we could come up with any recommendations for practice.

We chose the southeastern area because it made it easy to for us to access resources like the service provider, service user group and previous research material.

Our group brainstormed and came up with young mothers as a topic. We developed this into a question as to whether their needs were being met then we worked out a plan with various deadlines to accomplish different tasks.

We asked for ethical approval from the Goldsmiths ethics committee, in which with reference to the ESRC Research Ethics Framework and the NASW code of ethics we stated our independence and impartiality.

We addressed non malevolence by assuring them of their safety and asking them to bring someone along with them if they felt they needed support. We also addressed how we were going to tackle issues regarding voluntary participation, informed consent and the integrity and quality of the research. We also addressed ethical data management and confidentiality of research participants. We also wrote out a consent form which addressed our objectives and consequences of participation.

We chose a qualitative approach explained by Whittaker (2009) as a method which seeks to explore ways in which individuals understand their worlds. This was because we needed a deeper understanding of the issues affecting the young mothers and the reasons behind why and how they felt disadvantaged.

We also used a quantitative approach when comparing previous statistics on young mothers. This is what Whittaker (2009) explains as a method which tends to emphasise quantification and measurement to establish relationship between variables.

Our research was a Participatory action research which Alston and Bowles (1998) explain in Whittaker (2009) as a form of research that is committed to the involvement of those affected most. We also undertook a literature review where we looked at journals, books, official and legal publications which were relevant to young mothers.

To recruit the professionals, we used purposeful sampling which Whittaker (2009) explains as a method where one chooses participants who are likely to yield useful information based on their knowledge, experience or role.

To select our young mums we used snowball sampling which Whittaker (2009) explains as a situation where a small number of participants (which in our case were the professionals) are asked to recommend other suitable people who would be willing to participate.

We used semi structured interviews where we had an interview schedule with flexibility during the interview. The main components of the interview with the professionals were job roles, services offered to young mothers, views about funding due to change in government, needs of young mums, hindrances and gaps in service.

The main components of the interview with the young mothers were access to services, education and employment, community and service user involvement.

In analysing our data we used thematic analysis which Whittaker (2009) explains as a method for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within a set of data.

In all we interviewed 14 women who became young mothers at ages ranging from 14 to 21 years and 4 professionals.

The strength of our Participatory action research method as Whittaker (2009) explains, shows that the method challenged the traditional power imbalance which would have made us look like experts and the young mothers passive subjects. This method was helpful because it was highly compatible with anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice.

Due to the limited time that we had, this method was the most suitable way of gaining a lot of information in a short period of time as compared to observational methods.

The qualitative approach also allowed us to bring our backgrounds and our identities into our research. This is explained by Maxwell (1996) in Whittaker (2009) through the concept of reflexivity, which acknowledges that we bring our thoughts, values and beliefs to our research. This was helpful because being a mother myself I could identify with what some of the young mothers were saying.

The interviews were helpful because as Whitaker (2009) explains, interviews are good at examining complex issues and enable participants to discuss sensitive issues in the open without committing themselves in writing. This brought out complex and rich data which drew upon the feelings of the teenage mums.

We recorded the interviews and this helped us to give the young mothers our full attention rather than dividing it between writing and listening.

We had some limitations in the form of the transcripts of the interviews which were time consuming and the data very complex to analyse. Due to the number of young mums we interviewed the findings could not be generalised.

The presence of some of the professionals during our interview was a limitation because the young mums could not really express their honest opinions.

Our sample was chosen for us therefore we could only speak to participants thought to be suitable by the service provider. Opinions from the focus group could also be limited to those with the strongest opinions or the loudest voices. Our research also lacked the opinions of young mothers who did not use the service providers we used.

To fit the answers we got from our findings in to the concept of need is complex because one cannot come up with universal definitions that would fit different notions on need.

A number of key theorists have come up with different approaches on the concept of need. Abraham Maslow pointed out in Hartley (2010) a hierarchy of needs with the ultimate goal being the need for self actualisation. According to Maslow the first stage was to satisfy what he called physiological needs which included food, shelter, clothing and sleep.

The next stage was to satisfy safety needs which included security, stability, dependency, protection, freedom from fear, anger and chaos.

Maslow identified the next stage which is to satisfy belonging needs. These include giving and receiving affection and love, contact, intimacy and belongingness. After this stage comes esteem needs which include a stable and high evaluation of self which can be achieved through strength, achievement, mastery, competence, confidence, independence and freedom. Under esteem needs Maslow still put prestige (esteem from others), status, fame, attention, recognition, importance and appreciation.

The final stage on his hierarchy is what Maslow called the self actualisation stage where. Maslow emphasises the essential goodness, wholeness and potentials of humans.

Sheppard (2006) criticises Maslow by pointing out that his theories do not consider that people can consciously take decisions without following the hierarchy.

Midgely (1984) in Sheppard (2006) also criticises Maslow’s theory by saying that the theory hardly covers situations where choice is unavoidable. The pursuit of one goal leads to the abandonment of another. For instance a single mum would love to nurture her baby but has to work and pay bills instead. She fulfils esteem needs which include independence and freedom but forgoes the previous stage of satisfying belonging needs which include giving and receiving affection.

Another approach from Doyal and Gough (1991) also explain that all human beings have needs which are objective and universal. These needs can be said to be goals which humans need to achieve to avoid serious harm. Serious harm is being fundamentally handicapped in the pursuit of one’s vision of the good.

Doyal and Gough (1991) grouped these needs into basic needs and intermediate needs where basic needs are a necessity for successful social participation in a society in which a person lives.

Under basic needs they emphasised physical health and autonomy because physical health is central to the capacity for people to direct their lives and carry out decisions.

Doyal and Gough (1991) explain that autonomy is necessary in order for people to be self directing because one aspect of autonomy is freedom from hindrance or constraints. Therefore one is unable to act under ones own direction if there are constraints. Hence autonomy is not possible when mental health, cognitive skills and opportunities to engage in social participation are missing.

Having explained basic needs, Doyal and Gough (1991) went on to explain that intermediate needs defined how the basic needs can be fulfilled. These included adequate nutritional food and water, adequate protective housing, a safe environment for working, a safe physical environment and appropriate health care. Further included were the need for security in childhood, significant primary relationship with others, physical and economic security, safe birth control and child bearing, appropriate basic and cross cultural education. Therefore to be able to satisfy basic needs one needs a range of satisfiers (intermediate needs) which will be culturally specific.

Robinson and Elkan (1996) explain that the theory underpins theories which emphasise the importance of citizenship and ability to participate within the community.

In the limitations, Doyal and Gough point out in Robinson and Elkan (1996) that the theory does not account for what standard of need satisfaction should be set in order to be able to calculate shortfalls in the actual level of need achieved.

According to them a solution to this, is to set a basic minimum standards such as a poverty line of need, below which people are prevented from participating within the society.

Another limitation which Robinson and Elkan (1996) point out is the problem of who to decide whether or not a given policy is meeting basic or intermediate need.

Another approach from Bradshaw in Hardy (1981) identified four separate definitions. There is normative need which is explained by Hartley (2010) as needs which are determined by expert judgement of policy makers or professionals. The limitation to this approach, as explained by Hothersall and Maas-Lowit (2010) is that there may be different conflicting standards which could contradict how need is identified.

Bradshaw also identified felt need which Hartley (2010) explained as need which is subjectively experienced by an individual or inter subjectively experienced by a group; it is what people feel they want.

Hothersall and Maas-Lowit (2010) point out that there is a danger that peoples’ answers are influenced by what they already know about a service.

Bradshaw went on further to identify expressed need which Hartley (2010) explained as felt need turned into action for instance demanding a service. Hothersall and Maas-Lowit (2010) explains that the theory does not take into account the fact that people may be ignorant or unwilling to ask for a service.

Bradshaw identified comparative need in which people compare what they have to what other people have which is measured by studying the characteristics of those receiving the service or service evaluation.

Hothersall and Maas-Lowit (2010) point out that the theory fails to take account of the variety of ways in which needs might be different, since it makes no attempt to compare different areas.

From the perspectives of the young mothers we interviewed, they identified housing as a need because some of them had been granted temporary accommodation because they were unemployed. Comparatively it was better for them to stay unemployed since wages from unskilled labour was not enough to cover their rent so they are stuck.

Maslow identified housing as a need which needed to be satisfied before other needs can follow. Housing and economic security are also explained by Doyal and Gough (1991) as intermediate needs which have to be fulfilled for basic needs to be met. This is also hindering them from attaining their goals. Doyal and Gough may call this serious harm.

Going by Bradshaw’s concept, the normative judgment of the professionals we interviewed explained that housing was a need but they could only account for housing needs which have been expressed. Many of these young mums lack life skills to be able to express this need to the appropriate agency.

Lack of appropriate childcare was another expressed need according to the young mothers because most of the child minders were not willing to make the hours more flexible. This was preventing them from going back to college or seeking employment.

This according to Doyal and Gough produces serious harm because they are fundamentally disabled in the pursuit of their goals.

There was one service user’s perspective I found intriguing. She got employment which fits into the esteem needs on Maslow’s hierarchy (independence from welfare and freedom from poverty). According to the normative judgment of the professionals because she is working now, she has no need for benefits. She has rent arrears for six weeks, her wages are way below minimum wage and child care hours are not flexible preventing her from working more to fill the gap. She wants to quit because from her perspective she used to earn more on benefits therefore she is better off unemployed. Then again economic security is an intermediate need which Doyal and Gough explain as necessary to be able to satisfy basic needs. Further more she is fundamentally disabled in achieving her goal. This according to Doyal and Gough would produce serious harm.

I do not think that all the recent policies and programmes provide simple and straightforward solutions to all the circumstances which the young mothers face.

In 1999 The National Teenage Pregnancy Strategy was launched in England. The strategy aimed to improve the health of the nation, increase education, employment opportunities and to tackle social exclusion by preventing unwanted pregnancies. It also aimed at assisting and supporting young parents back into education employment or training.

Chase et. al (2009) explains that this goal was to be achieved through a national campaign with clear and improved messages about sex and pregnancy. There was to be greater assistance for young parents through the provision of support services like housing, child care supervision and housing.

Furthermore some of the key elements of Every Child Matters agenda included young people to enjoy make a positive contribution and enjoy economic well being.

The strategy does not seem to be achieving its full potential because most of the young mothers and professionals I interviewed have expressed accommodation, housing and childcare as a need which is preventing them to make a positive contribution and enjoy economic well being.

Therefore policy recommendations will be related to those family friendly policies that are specific to the individual housing and childcare needs of teenagers, in order to enable them to maximise their full potential and parent successfully.

In pointing out issues surrounding stigma, some service users recounted how they are looked down upon and treated unfairly because they are young mums.

As to whether young motherhood should be viewed negatively, depends on the comparison between the life of a young mother prior to childbirth and whether her opportunities in life became limited after that. For some it helped them to settle down and become more focused than was possible owing to their previously chaotic lifestyle.

There is provision in Government strategies like Youth Matters, Young people and maternity services, which addresses sex and relationship education, access to contraceptives and guidance on benefits.

This addresses part of the issue but does not address issues like experiences of abuse and neglect, feeling unloved and rejected and a sense of belonging to a family which make the prospects of being a young mum more inviting.

My recommendations would be for policies that would tackle emotional difficulties of teenagers on an individual basis and encourage acceptance of teenage mums in the community.

With recommendations to practice, Parton 1994a and Walker 2001 point out in Sherpard( 2006) that there has been a shift from an emphasis in response to need to a response to risk. Therefore for social workers to be able to identify need they must be able to recognise it and use their statutory powers creatively.

In my experience with service users I realise that I have overlooked some needs based on assumptions or simply because I did not get the message.

Therefore Walker (2007) urges social workers to listen actively, engage appropriately and understand accurately the view points of service users. We must also overcome personal prejudices to be able to respond appropriately to a range of complex personal and interpersonal situations.

In my opinion if inter agency work is encouraged, there are new opportunities for professionals to listen and learn from the young mothers. This will steer working with the mothers into a direction which is likely to keep them engaged and able to benefit from available services. Social workers can in this way build on their own strengths and develop further the good work currently going on.

At the end of this essay, I have written about at the rationale to explore the needs of young mothers as a topic due to its relevance to Social work. I have also written about what motivated us and our reasons for our choices.

I have also written of our ethical considerations and our methodology. I have explained why the qualitative research method was suitable for our research.

I have evaluated the strengths explaining that the Participatory action method was highly compatible with anti-discriminatory and anti oppressive practice. Furthermore the concept of reflexivity which is a component of qualitative research made it possible for us to locate ourselves in our research.

I have looked at the limitations of our research which included inability to express honest views due to the presence of professionals during the interview and our inability to generalize findings.

I have looked at different approaches from Maslow, Bradshaw, Doyal and Gough in defining the concept of need and their limitations.

I have also looked at the service users need for housing, child care, finance and other needs and related it to the different concepts of need.

I have also written about some recommendations for policy and practice which if properly resourced would emphasize the good work currently going on.

In society, some groups are more vulnerable than others – the poor, the disabled, battered women, etc. NGOs working at the grassroots levels are best suited to deal with the vulnerable groups. However, NGOs and the Government can join hands to find the most suitable strategies to use, to empower those who are potentially weak in the social structure. The Government of Mauritius has put in place an NGO Trust fund to help these people to lead a decent life.

Community empowerment can genuinely benefit the community. However, along the way community organisations encounter several obstacles which hamper the empowerment process. This called for a review of the community empowerment strategies.

Most of the limitations of empowerment strategies occurred due to the lack of training in leadership development and lack of capacity building skills. On the other hand, NGOs were found to be limited in their actions due to the lack of resources and dependence on the Government. Moreover, the Government sometimes attributes more importance to the needs of stakeholders, rather than the needs of the community – thus failing the whole purpose of community empowerment.

So, to increase community involvement, organisations have altered their way of doing things. Some examples are : strengthening relationships with the community by developing a deep understanding of community issues, undergoing training, implementing creative strategies to encourage participation, among others.

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What is community empowerment?

‘Community empowerment is the local government’s core business’ (cdz & changes, 2008).

Community empowerment enables people to play an active role in the decisions that affect their environment (cdx & changes, 2008). According to Rappaport (1987), empowerment is meant to enhance the possibilities for people to control their own lives. Cochran (1986) believes that people understand their own needs far better than anyone else and as a result should have the power both to define and act upon them (John at al, 1993).

Community empowerment refers to the process of aiding communities to gain control over their lives. Communities consist of groups of people sharing common interests, concerns or identities. Through empowerment, people are able to control the factors and decisions that define their lives. By increasing their assets and building their capacities, they can therefore broaden their networks. People cannot be empowered by others as such, but by themselves (WHO, 2012)

Community empowerment encompasses involvement, participation and commitment to the society. It is only possible when people feel a sense of belonging to the community and it aims mostly at social and political changes. In another words, community empowerment is a way of re-negotiating power to achieve more self-control (WHO, 2012).

Community empowerment covers the social, cultural, political and economic aspects of society. With the advent of globalisation, actions at the local level heavily impacts actions at the global level. This is why partnerships are required to finding collective solutions (WHO, 2012).

Communication is the key to successful community empowerment. It helps to raise awareness and increase knowledge of the people to encourage discussions and debates, so that people gain insight on the controlling forces acting upon their lives and initiate their own decision making process (WHO, 2012).

Empowering communities also includes empowering the individual. Empowerment at the individual level starts with defined needs and aspirations and focuses on available resources.

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It is the process of taking control, which eventually leads to fulfilling one’s potential. It comprises of certain factors; self-reliance, participation in decision making, dignity and respect, belonging and contributing to the community. The empowerment of communities involves a higher degree of individual empowerment, a strong sense of belonging to the community, participation in political activities, leadership in decision making and access to resources (WHO, 2010).

The community empowerment process is very complex and requires understanding and commitment from the part of all stakeholders. Community empowerment progresses gradually. Therefore it requires constant learning and consistent building of a community’s capacity (Donnelley, 2009)

2.1 How to empower a community?

In order to empower a community, that is to involve groups of people in engagement activities, it may be necessary to develop a campaign. However, we should bear in mind that a campaign based on other motivational grounds besides community welfare, fails the whole purpose of community empowerment. Community engagement involves the active participation of individuals and community representatives in all aspects of the campaign. It is very important for the community to be active participants, instead of passive ones (Kirklees Partnership Involving Communities Framework, n.d).

Empowering people is not an easy task. Individuals often do not have the time, energy, resources, expertise to develop and implement such campaigns. Community engagement demands certain criteria, namely resources to enable empowerment – such as political and legal rights, funding and the social capacity to create mobilisation networks, opportunities – such as those provided by institutional arrangements and finally motivations for people to exert their rights (Paul, 2010).

Social workers, both voluntary and professional, are assets to the success of these campaigns. Since human nature is complex, the staff leading the campaigns should let go of aspects that

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may threaten the purpose of the campaign. Instead volunteers, community organisations and partner agencies should participate in the design and implementation process. Here empowering social workers might be another important aspect of community empowerment (Kirklees Partnership Involving Communities Framework, n.d).

The Government should include the community at all stages of development projects to increase community engagement and community participation. Capacity building – strengthening skills, potential and abilities of people in developing societies so that they can step out of their misery, and community participation – actively engaged in designing, implementing and evaluating strategies to address a particular problem are essential to community empowerment (Debra, 2002).

Both NGOs and the Government understand the need for community empowerment in Mauritius. Here are some examples of how the community is empowered:

The Government has proposed to introduce a Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) with the objective of facilitating the community to make use of ICT to fully participate in the socio-economic development of the country.

The CEP in line with the Government encourages the development of local content and creativity.

The purpose of this initiative is to democratize access to information, provide comprehensive information about the country, namely its economic and social structure and stimulate the development and production of local content on the internet.

This will enable Mauritians to use the internet more effectively and find solutions to the challenges in the community. It will provide a common platform for sharing local knowledge, a marketplace for project proposals, and discussion forums. People will also formulate and implement their own development projects by collaborating with other stakeholders (NCB, n.d).

Another example would be the Work done by the Bel Ombre Foundation for Empowerment, which was founded in 2008. Their vision is to create an enabling

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environment where each individual can realize his potential. This organisation aims at empowering the inhabitants of Bel Ombre to catch the development pace by investing in training, entrepreneurship and social integration. Ongoing projects include adult literacy programmes, supporting the local artisans and the fight against poverty (Bel Ombre Foundation for Empowerment, n.d).

People should feel free to act upon their own ideas for the benefit of the community, so that they can be more creative and productive in their endeavours. For instance educating people

is one initiative of community empowerment, which can be understood as aiding the individual to better understand his/her needs as well as society’s needs, and find proactive measures to the challenges that society faces, without controlling the latter. At the same time, they feel a sense of belonging to the community.

2.2 Whom to empower?

It is true that we are all part of society, and that we have needs, but there are other people who are in precarious situations and need a boost. However, it does not mean that they deserve better treatment than the common man. They should just be given a hand. For example; poor people, battered women, minority groups, the disabled and so on.

Empowerment is also about sensitizing people who are in vulnerable positions or who are potentially weak in the social structure. As mentioned earlier, community empowerment sometimes necessitates campaigns to reach the target audience. However, there are sensitive issues that touch a large group of people and are not often discussed openly. E.g. Battered women.

Hence, both the Government and NGOs focus on preventive measures. Due to the division of labour and stereotypes, women often occupy an inferior position in society and are victims of injustices by man. So, one initiative of the Government was to empower women.

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Empower women

According to reports from all over the world, women constitute a majority among activists in the community and a minority in leadership in the community (Sadan, 1997).

The Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare insists on the reinforcement of capacity building of women, which can be achieved through education and training. The Government also provides the necessary support for women to launch businesses (Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, 2010).

The Ministry has organised workshops for women under the National Women Entrepreneur Council to enable them to develop their managerial skills and provide support to potential women entrepreneurs wishing to launch their own enterprise (Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, 2010).

The Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme has been launched in several regions of Mauritius, namely in Quartier Militaire, Triolet, Le Morne, Terre Rouge, Camp Thorel, Lallmatie, Ernest Florent and Pont Lardier and some 1800 women have benefitted from the programme (Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, 2010).

Empower the poor

Since NGOs work at the grassroots level with the poor, they have been able to establish reciprocity, mutual understanding and build trust. The Government of Mauritius works in hand with NGOs to combat poverty. All stakeholders have come to realize that actions at the local level can be a first step to a national solution (Hurbungs, n.d).

One of the first conditions for getting people out of the poverty trap is to make them take full responsibility for their lives. They should also be included in all stages of community projects, so that they feel valued and gain confidence. Another initiative adopted by the Government of Mauritius is developing actions based on the aspirations of the poor. For instance the poor prefer receiving aid to send their children to school with all the necessities

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instead of receiving financial support to feed their hungry stomachs (Hurbungs, n.d).

NGOs should help the poor become aware of their current realities and empower them to make their own choices about the future, initiate actions for their development and adopt a healthy lifestyle (Hurbungs, n.d).

2.3 Benefits of empowering a community

When a community is empowered, people feel free to act within the society and at the same time associate a sense of belonging to it. Through community participation and capacity-building, they rediscover their own potential and gain confidence. They also feel worthy of the community, for the help they are providing – to make a change.

Community empowerment can initiate actions at individual level, which can reach community or even national levels. For example, someone victim of an accident, can gather a group of people – it can be close friends, family, or even strangers who have joined for a good cause – and help to sensitise others on road safety measures (Dr. Glenn, 2009).

Development of small groups can initiate collective actions. It is also a means for practitioners to gain community service skills, leadership skills for some, management skills, develop empathy, broaden networks, form partnerships and bring about social cohesion (Dr Glenn, 2009).

Community organisations offer the means to resolve societal problems. They include young groups, faith groups, community councils and associations. They have the power to mobilise resources. They development of community organisations requires some form of leadership and those who serve the community have better chances of developing community capacity – and can become future leaders (Dr Glenn, 2009).

Empowered individuals are able to influence the direction and implementation of a programme through their participation. They progress from a personal action to the point that

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they are collectively involved. This can lead to gaining the power to influence economic, political and social action. They can therefore help others to empower themselves and gear them towards capacity building (Dr Glenn, 2009).

2.4 The role of the Government and NGOs in community empowerment

The Government of Mauritius has the responsibility of catering for the people and has formulated laws to protect them and safeguard their rights. The Government acts as an authority figure. The political and administrative environment of a community directly affects the empowerment process (Phil, 2007)

The environment includes a series of factors such as the laws, rules and regulations and practices of the civil society. The environment also covers the policies and practices of relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (Phil, 2007)

In this regard, their task is to encourage community activities that enable the community to develop itself – to be empowered. They should also help the community to initiate actions towards self-reliance, community empowerment and eradication of poverty (Phil, 2007).

The Government should be able to modify Ministry regulations, modify legislative policies, support legislative committees responsible for legislative reform, provide guidelines and empower NGOs active in the related sectors, raise awareness through conferences, workshops, competitions and so on and pass relevant information through public media – posters, radio, local TV, newspapers, and advertisements (Phil, 2007).

NGOs are increasingly involved in capacity development. They lean towards developing skills and tools to strengthen the society. NGOs can have a significant impact on community development. However not all NGOs are in good terms with the Government and very often they lack resources and face many obstacles and unless they become partners with the Government, capacity building initiatives will continue to fail (Inger, 2009).

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The Government should also offer training to practitioners so that they are well equipped at all phases of the process. More importantly the Government should provide support to NGOs which can lead to consistency and integration with each other. Support could be of financial and technical assistance for meetings, working committees and campaigns.

According to the Mrs Sheila Bappoo ( Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Senior Citizens Welfare & Reform Institutions), the Mauritian Government fully acknowledges the role of NGOs in community development. The Government has put in place an NGO Trust Fund which has the objective of helping vulnerable groups of the society so that they can lead a decent life.

The Government provides support to numerous organisations who are actively involved in community empowerment. One such example is the the Youth Empowerment Programme which was implemented by a group of students from the University of Mauritius and the Force Vive des Quartier Reunies.

The project had the objectives of developing leadership skills among children and at the same time encouraging community service by University students (MEF, 2011).

The Government is actively involved in many such initiatives, and as we can see community empowerment begins with the common man. All we need is an idea and the will to bring about change.

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3.0 Community empowerment strategies

Community empowerment strategies include community development, community engagement, community participation and capacity building (Peter, 1996).

Community development helps people to recognise and develop their abilities and potential and organise themselves to respond to problems and needs which they commonly share. It supports communities that control and use assets to promote social justice and help to improve the quality of community life (SCDC, n.d).

In Maritius, the Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project has been implemented by the Government and its budget extends to approximately 4 million Rupees. Community development requires the knowledge of people, their values and culture. People should be empowered to generate their own knowledge and use it to improve the quality of life. Therefore participation is necessary for community empowerment. Community development walks in hand with management. Community Services Management is a relatively new approach and it aims at empowering community workers and stakeholders to better assess and implement community based projects efficiently and cost effectively. Community Development also requires General Organisational Skills – including financial skills. The emergence of professional management in such organisations denotes power. Community practitioners should be aware of the structure of the organisation to develop the required skills to effectively achieve its objectives. Finally, we cannot ignore the concept of Sustainable Development when speaking about development in Mauritius. The Government, NGOs, and the private sector recognise recognize that the environment, the economy and equity are irrevocably linked (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005).

Community engagement is the process of involving people in decisions that affect them. This can mean involving communities in the planning, development and management of services. Moreover it consists of empowering the community to make decisions and to implement and manage change (DSE, 2011).

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The Government envisioned the creation of a sustainable society with the implementation of the project Maurice Ile Durable (MID). In this regard, the Government encourages community members to initiate partnerships with multiple stakeholders and facilitates community engagement that supports people to express their vision for the community and initiate shared responsibility (Anneleos at al, n.d).

Community participation refers to active engagement in designing, implementing and evaluating strategies to address a particular problem (Debra, 2002).

The Government stresses upon the integration and participation of the youth in many aspects of the society. The Government also provides the opportunity for youngsters to engage in voluntary activities. One such programme is the National Youth Award which was launched in Mauritius in 1996. It is a sort of training programme which encourages personal delivery and growth, self-reliance, perseverance, responsibility to themselves and the community (Ministry of youth and sports, 2012).

This programme under the Ministry of youth and sports supervised numerous activities which involved the participation of many national projects, namely ”Jeux de L’avenir”, Jeux de L’espoir”, Environmental Projects, Community Services and special vacances (Ministry of youth and sports, 2012).

Capacity building involves strengthening the skills, potential and abilities of people in developing societies so that they can get out of their misery.

Capacity-building programmes were established in Mauritius in view of poverty reduction. Since 2000, the IFAD (Funded Rural Diversification Programme) has been reaching out to more the 15 000 poor people. The programme has helped the poor to diversify their incomes and improve their standard of living. Under the Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, the Government adopts an approach to help the poor to get out of their own misery, by providing them with opportunities to generate their own income – by empowering them (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005).

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3.1 Limitations of community empowerment strategies

Community empowerment strategies encompass several areas and require the participation, involvement, and commitment of various stakeholders. Implementing empowerment strategies also demands much time and effort. However they are good initiatives to empower the community, as explained previously. Community empowerment strategies have brought about numerous improvements in sectors such as poverty, health, environment, and society in general.

The major obstacle to successful community empowerment is the lack of training in leadership development and organisational capacity building (Peter, 1996).

NGOs

NGOs have the possibilities to pass on information either by directly providing them to the public or helping the community to acquire access to information sources. NGOs can improve organisational assets by establishing new community organisations or improve on existing ones. They can also help people to get financial aid and material assets based on their needs and rights. Moreover, they do a great job in sensitizing and gathering people through health and education activities – community engagement. Finally, since NGOs work at the grassroots level, they are more experienced and have genuine knowledge of the difficulties people find themselves in (Selibu, 2006).

However, very often many obstacles hamper the empowerment process. Limitations to empowerment activities of NGOs arise from many sources. To start with, NGOs are constrained by the fact that they have little access to resources and less influence on policies and the law. Another factor would be that most NGOs are dependent on the developments made by the Government. NGOs are in most cases not in good terms with the Government, and this directly impacts their actions. Moreover, NGOs are limited by local factors such as inefficient institutional frameworks, weak relationships with the community and organisational problems within themselves. Consequently, in trying to respond to donors, the Government often lose sight of genuine empowerment needs of the community and cater for other demands from stakeholders (Selibu, 2006).

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Risks factors

When implementing empowerment strategies, risk factors should be anticipated and well-managed. The risk factors include time and planning limitations, possible lack of cooperation from stakeholders, incompatibility among methods used, diminished interest from community leaders, lack of additional funding and possible lack of resources for community leaders to impart their knowledge and skills (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005).

Community organizations face enormous obstacles to repairing the social fabric of their communities, especially if society faces serious issues (e.g. high crime rate). This limitation is due in part to organizations’ inability to develop strategies and due to lack of resources (Peter, 1996).

Moreover it is quite difficult to foster community participation and engagement, because people are not always free to participate in activities even if they can benefit from them. The community is also reluctant to form partnerships with stakeholders due to lack of trust. The community sometimes expects too much from the Government, and therefore is left with only aspirations and dreams. People have responsibilities and other concerns and they view community engagement and participation as an added burden. It can also be that information and whereabouts of campaigns and workshops are not evenly spread, considering low-budget organisations. Sometimes community leaders themselves are not committed to the project. Very often community activities are merged with politics, and are a means to monetary gain and enhanced image. As a matter of fact, community empowerment strategies fail their very own purpose due to lack of community involvement/participation/engagement.

3.2 Alternatives to increase community engagement and participation

If an organisation wants to be truly accountable, it needs a strong system of organisational governance. Without a clear focus, it is impossible for community organisations to achieve significant impact. Hence, community organisations should be able to develop the element

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of trust with the community (ICD, 2005).

They should implement creative strategies so that the community is motivated to work with them. Both NGOs and Government organisations should address the different strategies including – capacity building, physical projects, research and information and networking (ICD, 2005). Organisations should also display reliability, leadership and transparency. Empowerment programmes are not always easy to achieve. This is why organisations should review their own strategies.

Participation and continuity

It is necessary to work with the community in bringing awareness of the proposed activities and their benefits. It is also of significant importance to maximise community participation in planning, design, and implementation stages so that people develop sustained interest and ensure continuity of the particular project (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005).

Management, supervision and monitoring

The success of the projects will depend on proper management, supervision and monitoring. Practitioners should be given appropriate training in the field of project management. Progress should be monitored, to ensure that objectives are being fully achieved (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005).

Engagement

Community engagement is achieved if projects bear better outcomes. It is also very important to strengthen the relationship with the community. Community organisations should project the reputation of the organisation through their actions. Moreover they should develop increased understanding of community issues to form partnerships and broaden their networks (DSE, 2011).

Leadership training

Social workers and staff should possess the right skills to be able to reach the audience. Some practitioners often feel a lack of motivation and discontinue their service. Dealing with

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people can be exhausting and frustrating. Therefore the Government should provide access to training sessions, information and networks. More than 20 training centres have been successful in teaching community organizations the skills needed to develop leaders and build strong community organizations in the US (Peter, 1996).

Target vulnerable groups

The Government should display involvement in the community. It should tackle issues that are of concern to the community – education, emancipation of women, poverty, etc, and provide support by empowering them. E.g. Implementing poverty alleviation strategies. The Community organisations should also work with those who are potentially weak in the social structure. For example by educating the illiterates, providing economic support to vulnerable women, reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDs and other health issues, and by collaborating with other organisations (SEM, 2012).

Community organisations should themselves be empowered to adopt the best suitable approach to deal with people. The Government should promote community access to technology and information and also allocate a budget for community organisations to implement community empowerment programmes, for sensitization campaigns, workshops and working committees. Moreover, since media plays an important role in conveying information, media coverage of community initiatives should be improved. The common man should also be empowered to initiate action on a small basis and eventually be monitored for potential innovative ideas. It is also primordial to promote laws and regulations that give communities a voice (Peter, 1996).

The Government of Mauritius has implemented the National Empowerment Foundation in this regard and has extended support and empowered numerous people. Some examples include; The Integrated Social Development programme setting up housing units at La Valette Bambous accounting to a total cost of Rs. 205 million and benefitted 200 families ;

around Rs 1.1 billion allocated for programmes which include facilities for unemployed women, Integrated Social Development, circular migration, technical assistance to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (NEF, 2009).

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4.0 Critical Analysis

Community empowerment strategies are effective measures to empower a community. Through community engagement, community participation, community development and capacity building, people are able to identify their potential and discover their abilities, participate in group discussion and activities, engage in implementation of important projects and can empower themselves so that they can overcome difficult social situations.

As mentioned in the previous sections, community empowerment can benefit the community on a small basis as well as nationally. Community empowerment enables people to initiate actions based on their day-to-day experiences. It also creates a chain where the empowered individual in turn helps others to empower themselves by sharing experiences and forming partnerships. Community empowerment is a means for the community to broaden their networks and meet new and influential people. An empowered community can influence the social and economic aspects of a country to seek their rights. Moreover, when working with others for a collective cause, individuals acquire a sense of worthiness. Those actively involved in community work and community service can eventually become tomorrow’s leaders.

Since community empowerment strategies deal with people, unforeseen events may arise. It is true that community empowerment is beneficial to the individual and the community, however people are not always free to engage in community activities. Moreover people are reluctant to indulge in community activities due to lack of trust, because very often activities are based on selfish grounds. For example; political parties showing interest in social activities for the sole purpose of enhancing the image of the Government. Other limitations of empowerment strategies include lack of cooperation from stakeholders, lack of funding and diminished interest from community leaders themselves. Finally, NGOs are limited in their actions due to lack of resources and dependence on the Gover

Design or evaluate any practice within the field of Community Development aimed at managing race and diversity.

Introduction: According to the International Federation of Social workers, the definition of social work is given as follows:

“The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work” (from IFSW General meeting, Canada, 2000 in ifsw.org).

Social work can be theoretically represented as an interrelated system of values that uses a mix of theory and practice to address the communication and transaction of people with their society and environment. Social work and social policies aim to fulfill people’s goals and wishes by helping them to develop their full potential and to either overcome or prevent any kind of dysfunction. Ethics are important as social workers promote equality and work for the oppressed to facilitate their social inclusion (Mullender, 2003). Social work research and practice have provided knowledge and means of evaluation of social work practices, which are specific to situations. Individuals are affected by multiple bio-psycho-social factors in the society, family and environment (Donald et al, 1992). Theories of human development and behaviour help in the analysis of the influences of social and cultural changes on behavior highlighting the injustice and inequality in society. Social workers thus help in affecting changes in societies, families and in people’s lives. Social work and policy is based on the universal humanitarian and democratic ideals promoting Human rights and Social justice. Social workers also respond to crises and emergency situations and also provide counseling and advise to help people overcome their personal, social and long term problems. Thus a social worker is expected to be skilled and should focus on the holistic development of the individual or society. Social work and policies can affect individual psychological processes or can involve planning and development for society at large. Some of the common activities that social worker engage in are counseling, group social work, clinical work, family therapy and treatment, education and advise, and emergency relief work. Social workers are also involved in administration and policy making along with political involvement for economic and social development of the community. Although promoting human rights, justice and equality are universal aims of all social policies, the way social workers engage in community development tend to vary from one place to another depending on cultural, historical and social factors (Arredondo, 1996).

In this essay we will discuss community development considering the perspective of racial diversity and focus on the cooperation between mainstream groups and minority ethnic groups that should be necessary aspect of social work. We discuss inter-racial interaction and community participation as important in social development and promoting more interracial interaction seems to be a crucial practice in social work that can help change attitudes of people towards other ethnic groups.

Race and Community Development

White (2002) challenges the intentional ‘colour-blind’ attitude towards community development, which he says is impractical and masks and at the same time highlights the centrality of race in any community development agenda. White identifies three dimensions of development namely, the material outcomes, the techniques of transformation and the modes of knowing. He emphasizes on an analysis of racial diversity and fluidity between racial groups and citing Omi and Winant’s work suggests that development comprises of racial formation which is made up of a vast range of diverse and contradictory racial projects linking the meaning of ethnic, racial and national identities.

Akdere (2005) suggests that the meaning of race, social class, culture and ethnicity have changed considerably in the last few years and continues to evolve considering the rapid changes in social structure. There has been tremendous growth of diverse populations in neighborhoods and administrative policy changes have forced community leaders to approach organizational engagement with great diversity. Akdere used appreciative inquiry method to achieve a satisfactory participation level among community people to encourage dialogue between participants and promote systematic thinking and practice. The paper supports the use of Appreciative Inquiry method as an appropriate method of systematic practice.

Problems associated with the current empirical measurement of ethnic diversity within economic development have been examined by Okediji (2005). Ethnic diversity variables include race, religion, and the measures on these aspects are compared with other variables on ethnicity. The study cites related results to suggest that disparities and differences in ethnic diversity among countries are not as great as assumed generally. Okediji suggests that a comprehensive and accurate measure of ethnic diversity is not just related only to a linguistic measurement that defines ethnicity butt there are other factors as well.

Diversity and race differences are closely related as a proper understanding of racial variations sometimes serve as the basis of both racial classifications and also ethnic diversity. Barbujani (2005) suggests that all humans belong to a few biological types or races and evolved in isolation although modern genetics have not been able to find any significant differences in the genetic structures of humans belonging to different racial types. Thus racial labels have not been associated with clear genetic structures. Most scientists however still insist that racial classifications have a genetic and scientific basis and this fact may be even indispensable in epidemiology. However all classifications of race based on the smallest genetic evidence have been useless or controversial and there is still no proper consensus on the number or definitions of different human races. The author highlights that there is a geographic structure in human genome diversity and it is also possible to infer the continent of origin of a particular race from an individual’s genotype although any clear genetic boundaries necessary to recognize relatively isolated mating units or races have not yet been identified. Barbujani points out that allele frequencies and synthetic descriptors of genetic variation are distributed over different gradients across the planets suggesting a sort of gene flow rather than isolation of different mating groups. Interracial mixing seems to shape human genome diversity although the paper clearly states that a better understanding of the patterns of human diversity can be understood by examining the evolutionary processes that is absolutely important for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools of individual genotypes rather than race specific genotypes which is not yet clearly defined or identified.

Shaw and Barrett-Power (2005) emphasize that diversity is a crucial factor in organizational life as all organizations, whether professional or social are becoming increasingly diversified in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age, nationality, origin and personality patterns of members of the group. There have been very few studies giving the exact impact of diversity on group or organizational culture or on small group processes or performances. Some influences of diversity on organizational culture are definitely positive although effects may be negative while in certain situations, there may be no effects at all. The developments and influences of diversity in a group may be explained by using the group-development model that helps in examining the impact of diversity on group processes and performance. This model is based on concepts of Jackson et al (1995) and Milliken and Martin (1996) (in Shaw et al, 2005), and shows that diversity does have considerable influence on group development and performance. The aspects and concepts considered in the model are personal attributes of group members which are detectable and underlying as well as cognitive paradigm dissimilarities, costs and rewards, diversity management skills, cognitive performance resources and integration of group behaviour. The components of the model are discussed and the specific hypothesis is that social group performance may be positively or negatively affected by diversity.

Several research studies have tried to understand the exact equation between racial characteristics, neighbourhood contexts and development. Marschall and Stolle (2004) argue that socioeconomic and racial characteristics of an individual’s environment not only influences group consciousness and solidarity but also views of the society towards minority and majority ethnic groups. The paper points out that context, social interaction and inter-racial experiences combine to shape general psychological orientations. The authors conduct a neighbourhood level analysis examining race, racial attitudes, social interactions and residential patterns to study the attitudes towards ethnicity and race issues. Marschall and Stolle emphasize that the neighbourhood context plays an important role in shaping civic orientations although diversity and interracial interaction and settings o promote such interaction seems to be crucial to develop a generalised inter-racial trust for the development of the community.

Increased sensitivity towards diversity and interracial interaction is important to promote social and community development. This is also true in college campuses and in a study by Chang et al (2004) national longitudinal data from a set of college students was used to examine the educational relevance of cross racial interaction and the way the campuses can best utilise such opportunities. The results of most similar studies suggest that cross racial interaction has positive effects on students intellectual, social psychological and civic development. Chang and colleagues suggested that a large proportion of students of colour should be enrolled in institutions and students should be offered more opportunities to live and work on campus. The paper suggests that white students definitely gain in psychological and social experiences when they interact with students from the ethnic minority although cross racial interaction may not be completely advantageous for students of colour. However, despite these differences, cross racial interaction remains an important component for development of attitudes of tolerance and this is an essential aspect of social development of the community in general.

More on the relationship of adult learning, especially in universities with ethnic and cultural diversity has been studied by Osler and Starkey (2000). This study focused on distance learning students of French language and culture highlighting the political importance of language learning within the European context. All foreign language learning policies are meant to have an impact on the development of democratic participation and citizenship rights. Few students are asked to give opinions on questions of identity and treatment of racism or different races suggesting the links between racism and discourses on modernity and identity. Language learning has been considered as a reflexive process and through learning, students gain their own perspectives on their own culture as well as other foreign cultures. Students are encouraged to present their own views and actively participate in understanding foreign cultures to promote diversity in study situations. However the authors argue that ‘positive representations of multiculturalism within language learning courses are likely to prove inadequate in enabling students to identify the barriers to democratic participation’. The different themes that are considered here are immigration, integration and identity although the structural barriers of participation are also identified. The paper stressed on the need to encourage students to deepen their understanding of race, modernity and identities in their own society.

In another relevant and similar study, Shields (2000) argue how curriculum development in school is closely related to the portrayal of the school as communities. Shields suggests that in the modern complex and heterogeneous public schools, where all types of students with different ethnic and racial backgrounds interact, the notion of schools as complete homogeneous communities with shared beliefs, norms and values seem inadequate. Ethnic and racial differences must be used as a resource, according to the author and ideas of feminism, multiculturalism and inclusive education have to be used to develop the concept of school communities. The advantages of multicultural and racial diversity are highlighted here and the major advantages are that increased interaction between racial groups whereas the disadvantage is that there are possibilities of increased fragmentation and polarisation as well. However on a positive note as pointed out in the paper the differences can be used as basis or foundation for community development so that marginalisation of others can lead to barriers. Shields points out that, ‘Explicitly embracing the need to identify and respect difference, being open to new ideas without taking an exclusionary position, and committing to ongoing participation in dialogical processes may help schools to develop as more authentic communities of difference’(Shields, 2000, p.275). Thus communities of difference can still be communities that can live and work together learning from and respecting each other and this co-existing culture should be promoted in climates of turbulent educational culture and new reforms based on tolerance and co-existence can help restructure schools to ensure that all students regardless of race have the same opportunities and quality of instruction.

Some of the proposals of improving interaction in student community and improving the status of schools as communities involve modifying leadership in the community and government structures, as well as overcoming existing power bases, developing mechanisms of accountability, enhancing professionalism and coordinating for adequate distribution of community resources. Citing Barth 1990, Fuller 1993, Shields suggest that the focus on schools as organizations should change to recognize schools as communities by themselves, given the diversity of students enrolled. However as argued there is very little understanding of the concept of community and what it looks and how the concept of community can be implemented in a school setting and what has to be done about it. Theories of schools as communities have been drawn from Tonnies’ concept of gemeinschaft which however is based more on a romanticised view of the past than on improving education in modern dynamic, complex and heterogeneous schools which can be seen as communities (Shields cites Beck and Kratzer, 1994). Several other writers cited by Shields are Fine (1997) and Furman (1998) and they have also advanced notions of communities, of racial coexistence as well a cultures of differences of otherness among different ethnic groups. Many authors have suggested that rather than considering schools as communities because of its affiliation to established norms, values or traditions, schools should be considered as communities by virtue of its racial and ethnic diversity. A school community in which differences are highlighted can add to community development and mutual sharing of values and ideals only when there is a common core principle established to negotiate and iron out differences and disparities in beliefs and values as participants would learn to respect and listen to each other. Bonds and boundaries among school students of different racial backgrounds are constructed, not forcefully but via respect and open communication.

Shields, as other many researchers have worked with many schools to address the needs of diverse student bodies and have become increasingly aware of the limitations of the concept of community which is described with an emphasis on shared values, norms, beliefs and highlight a question by Barth (1990): ‘How can we make conscious, deliberate use of differences in social class, gender, age, ability, race, and interest as resources for learning?’ (p. 514). Shields points out that gender, race and ability are the three elements of differences that can define or help understand an educational community. As the author points out , both theory and practice should be used to suggest how the implications of reflections on theory and practice can help to reconceptualise and improve social policy making, community development and social work practice. Shields paper aims to give an analysis of schools as communities of difference as well as communities of diversity. Differences and diversity are both dealt with from the perspective of changes in society although there may be many problems inherent in such inter-racial coexistence. The use of diversity as a means of thinking about or defining community makes differences an essential part of an interactive society and social workers seem to have an important role in promoting unity and interaction in diversity and difference.

Evidence of Racial Diversity

Racial diversity and cultural differences are issues not just in schools and smaller communities but also in many workplaces, hospitals and clinical settings. Racial diversity is part of women’s social issues, in technical work groups, in developing leadership qualities and management programs. Several practices to manage racial diversity within the community aims at improving intercultural relations, along with promoting improved communication and interaction among different ethnic groups (Rutherford, 1990). This in turn improves leadership and management skills of people and serves the greater goal of community development.

Feminist theories and perspectives are in focus when we discuss workplace differences and many scholars realize that to increase potentialities and opportunities for women in the workplace gender awareness has to be replaced by multicultural awareness. Betters-Reed and Moore (1995) emphasize the need to explain the current management development paradigm that does not recognize diversity among women. They suggest a new all-inclusive paradigm for establishing a successful multicultural organization where opinions of all women as well as members of ethnic communities could be brought to light. The initial stages of individual and organizational awareness of understanding yet reconciling with differences is followed by the recognition that women also need to be treated equally in the field of management. There is a growing need to shift new approaches, attitudes and paradigms that recognizes women’s roles to replace older values in existing management development practices.

Case Study: For our case study we conducted interviews on 150 social members, all British citizens from the northern part of Yorkshire in the UK. Among the 150 community members 50, were from the Muslim faith of Arabic origin, 50 from Christian community within Europe, and the remaining 50 from Asian Hindu faith. The attitudes of all community towards members of other communities were studied using a questionnaire and a five-point scale. The questionnaire consisted of 100 questions and the answers ranged from strongly agree to agree, to neutral to disagree and strongly disagree. The questions were targeted to find out about the attitudes, whether positive or negative towards other different racial, ethnic or religious groups. All the responses were taken on a five-point scale and scores were then put through statistical analysis to get the results. Questions ranged from ‘you feel comfortable in the presence of members of other religious groups’ to ‘you are completely against inter-racial or inter-religious marriage or relationships of any kind’. Following statistical analysis of the results we aim to promote inter-racial interaction by designing community programs that would necessitate or encourage participation of all ethnic, racial and religious groups.

Our inter-cultural and inter-racial interaction program is thus aimed at promoting social harmony and friendship and positive relations among different ethnic and religious groups within the particular region of northern Yorkshire in Britain. As we have seen from all the research evidence discussed, greater and more central role of women, developing leadership and management perspectives as well as an open racial policy in schools and hospitals can actually help in leading a community towards improved community development and evolved inter-racial relations. Our social work practice community program was based on the following features:

Promoting inter-racial group activities
Promoting and encouraging inter-racial and inter-cultural programs
Encouraging women to take initiative in community development
Developing active leadership programs
Inter-racial culture and interactive associations to be promoted ion community centers, clubs, hospitals, libraries, workplaces, schools and religious institutions.

Considering these features and results from our initial study which suggested that there are huge cultural differences in how other communities are perceived by ethnic or racial groups, we suggest that promotion of a ‘dialogue culture’ and greater interaction among community members in all walks of life is essential for promotion of diversity and cultural unity.

Conclusion

In this essay we highlighted several studies that have emphasized on the need for promoting an interracial culture to encourage diversity in all aspects of life. A case study discussed here shows the differences in opinions of different cultural and racial groups in their perception of other ethnic groups. Following the initial study, we mentioned the importance of women’s role, leadership, management goals, and focus on group discussion and interracial participation in cultural and social programs as important in promoting diversity and racial sensitivity. We stressed on the need for ‘interaction’ and suggested that a practice of group discussions, organized community work, and regular meetings of different community members promoted by social workers can go a long way in changing a society of differences and diversity, into a society of unity, sharing and intercultural dialogue.

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A Project Intervention Plan Hung Hom
Li Ka Tik

The following paper is going to suggest an intervention plan on the Hung Hom community of Hong Kong’s Kowloon District. It briefly introduces the situation of Hung Hom and identifies the issues about inequality between rich and poor residents. Also, an intervention strategies and empowerment plans are propose based on the social action approach. The roles of CD worker in those plan and the foreseen challenges are mentioned in the last part.

About Hung Hom

Hung Hom is belonged to Kowloon City Districtand bordered by Hung Hom Bay in the east, No. 12 Hill, Hok Yuen and the valley Lo Lung Hang in the north, King’s Park in the west,Victoria Harbour in the south. It is a well-resourced community with over 17 social service agencies (Social Welfare Department), 28 educational facilities, 52 health clinics (www.lifein.hk), communal facilities, recreational facilities and business activities. The location of the community is near the cross harbor tunnel and is well connected by minibuses, buses and MTR, including the link from Shatin to Central which will be constructed soon.

Identifying Key Social Problems in Hung Hom

The problem of inequality between upper/middle class and grassroots is one of obvious social problem in Hung Hom. According to Rawls (1971), social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity. Moreover, for the second principle of justice, all social goods including opportunity, income, wealth and the bases of self-respect should be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any or all of thesegoods is to the advantages of the lease favored. Marshall (1963) indicated that equality not only mean the equality of income, but it also is a general enrichment of the concrete substance of civilized life, a general reduction of insecurity and risk as well as an equalization between the more and less fortunate at all levels so the equality of status is more important.

Hung Hom includes both of public estates and wealthier neighborhoods, which imply there is a large poverty gap. The 2011 Population Census Statistics for Hung Hom indicated the level of income inequality or socioeconomic gap between the upper class and the middle and lower classes which was probably a potential source of inequality.Despite its wide range of resources in Hung Hom, the resources are unevenly distributed in various parts of estates. Therefore, there is a potential inequality between those without and with access to the enough resources and the most obvious examples arethe health clinics and the kindergartens which concentrated in the wealthier neighborhoods such as Whampoa estate. Moreover, the majority of them is privately operated and targets the middle and upper class residents. Eventually, lower income residents in KaWai and Hung Hom estate need to seek the affordable services in other nearby districts because those services charge very high fees which are beyond the means of them. The equality of opportunity is also referring to ‘social mobility’. If there is an oppression of the education resources from the higher income residents, it is hard for the children from a grassroots family to elevate to a higher social status.

Therefore, an intervention planshould be created for victims of inequality in Hung Hom, the residents with lower income, to fight for reasonable resources distribution.

Rationales and objectives of using social action

According to Rothman (1984), there are there models of community practice and social action is one of the intervention approaches. It is the practice of taking action and usually as part of an organized group or community. The objective is to shift the power relationships and resources, in order to create positive change and generally in the direction of greater equity of economic and social justice.Social action relies on forcing the government to change aiming at benefiting the poor, such as the lower income residents in Hung Hom, and disadvantaged the oppressed.Social action gets people moving and makes them feel strong that they less submit meekly those who oppressed them. It gives them responsibility for their own lives and actions as well as their leadership potential so it leads a long-term positive social change.

Specific intervention strategies and empowerment plans

In order to have an effective and impactful intervention, a confrontational organizing approach is used that a campaign is going to be organized for the social action().

The vision of the campaign is that everyone in Hung Hom can enjoy an equality community, and the goal is creating an appropriate distribution of resources, especially on the educational and medical resources. The objective is to empower the grassroots in Hung Hom to fight for resources for themselves; to make a dramatic statement that will focus public attention on the situation of them; to request the government taking action on the issue of inequality in Hung Hom. Moreover, a slogan of the campaign is “Growing in Hung Hom, studying in Hung Hom!! Living in Hung Hom, Medical consultation in Hung Hom”.

Empowerment helps the populations that have traditionally been powerless or haven’t understood their potential to exercise their power. For example, grassroots residents in Hung Hom did not aware that they are oppressed to accept the limited medical and education resources and just thought that they are not rich enough to enjoy services so they should go to other nearby districts. In fact, they have the right to request the government to provide an enough public resources for them. Thus, the community education is very important, especially the Liberating education which is the most suitable method for social action, including a process of conscientization, a development of a critical thinking and an awareness of the hidden assumption of the policy. Moreover, empowerment motivates people to take other kinds of positive action, such as voicing out their collective opinions on other unequal resources allocation in their community.

Therefore, at the beginning of the campaign, the focus is to gather grassroots residents in Hung Hom and promote the right which they originally have and aware them they have the choices. For instance, they and their children can enjoy affordable public medical and educational services in their own community. The second step is to encourage them to attend, as a group, a public meeting at which an issue of interest to their community is being discussed, in order to let them understand the policy related to their needs more, so that they can think more and propose the idea to the policy marker. A well communication channel and platform is very important to express the needs and requests. Thus, once they have built in the concept, communications, such as letters, phone calls, email, etc, with policy makers and others in authority (such as the Chief Executive, Secretary of Education) are organized. It is not enough to affect the policy marker if the voice is limited in the grassroots residents in Hung Hom. Therefore, encouraging media reporting is the next step, which helps to find a support from the public for this social action, by persuading the media to cover events or to publish stories that highlight particular issues or embarrass politicians and others in power who refuse accept the reasonable suggestion advised by the grassroots residents in Hung Hom. In order to make a larger impact on public’s mind for the issues, a street theater will be held at the last part of the campaign, which is meant to ridicule the opposition and to convey profound message in a way that is easily understood and entertaining. Finally, if the social action gains an initial success, there will be aevaluation section including the effective of the empowerment, the assessment of the modified resources allocation and the situation of inequality in Hung Hom as well as the coming planning on the prospect of equality community in Hung Hom.

Roles of CD worker in those intervention strategies

As a CD worker, there are four roles including enhancing the social interactions and functions of individual and their groups and communities; educating public on economic and social injustice that may hinder community functioning; initiating an advocacy for policy changes in response to needs identified by the community and the society and help them to articulate their common concerns and needs to the public, the government; and formulating and implement social policies, services, and programs that support the development of human capacities.

Foreseen challenges and difficulties

The redistribution of resources in Hung Hom is obviously beneficial to the grassroots residents. On the contrary, the interest of residents with higher income is affected, so they will oppose the policy proposed by grassroot. Moreover, Hong Kong is a free-market society with a lower tax system that government is unwilling to spend too much money on education and medical services in Hung Hom avoiding the affecting of free-market system.

In conclusion, there are lot of difficulties, created by upper class and government, on reaching an equality community. Therefore, based on confrontational organizing approach, the campaign with social action is the most suitable method and it help to empower the grassroots resident in Hung Hom and make an advocacy to ask for resources for them.

References

Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong. 2011 Population Census – Fact Sheet for Kowloon City District Council Hung Hom (G14-G20). Accessed online from http://www.census2011.gov.hk/en/district-profiles/ca/kowloon-city/g19.html on 24 Feb 2014.

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Marshall, T. H. (1963) ‘Citizenship and social class’, in T. H. Marshall (ed.), Sociology at the Crossroads (London: Heinemann), pp. 67–127.

Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

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It is widely documented that Indigenous Australians have poorer health outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians (Dempsey & Zhao 2006; Germov 2002; Zhao, Guthridge, Magnus & Vos 2004). According to the Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet website (2009), Indigenous Australians have the poorest health status of all populations living in Australia with contributing factors, including but not limited to, education, employment status and socio economic status. There are also a number of social determinants which contribute to poor health outcomes such as dispossession, social supports and gender (Germov 2002). Community development and public health play significant roles in the promotion of health and in the reduction in the health disparities which exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Community development, has been found to be a successful method to improve public health and health outcomes in places of poverty where populations have extreme health disparity (Baum 2008). Conversely, there have been many examples where community development has been aversive to improving public health (Ife & Tesoriero 2006 p 234). In answering the question: ‘what is the meaning of community development and public health?’, this essay will explain the various existing definitions of community development and related terms such as community building, capacity building and social capital; provide examples of how community development approaches to public health have been implemented in Indigenous communities; and how Government and non-Government Organisations utilise these methods in practice.

As evidenced in this essay, community development as an approach to improving public health is an effective method where it is implemented accurately. One must question how often community development approaches to public health are effectively implemented due to the disheartening life expectancy of Indigenous Australians, which is up to 20 years lower than that of non-Indigenous Australians (Oxfam Australia 2007). We need to stop and listen to the Traditional Owners of this land; this country we call Australia. They will guide us, show us and teach us the way to improve their health and wellbeing.

Defining Community Development and Public Health

Community development within public health seeks to empower individuals and groups within communities to take control over and improve health outcomes through working with community members from the ground up, referred to as a “grassroots approach” (Ife & Tesoriero 2006, p. 121; Ife 1995, p. 96-97). It is a contemporary practice used by practitioners to promote wellbeing and enhance lifestyle and has been shown to play an important role in developing public health across Indigenous populations of Australia (Campbell, Pyett & McCarthy 2007).

Community development is a strategy which can be used in public health to improve health outcomes through the implementation of programs and projects within communities. Baum (2008) views community development as the ability to improve health among populations by working directly with communities to empower them to take control over circumstances that play a role in effecting health outcomes. Successful community development involves identifying needs then working with members of the community to promote empowerment to make long term sustainable development changes. In support of this statement, Campbell, Pyett & McCarthy (2007) promote the idea that developing healthier Indigenous communities involves enhancing existing community capacity through empowerment. Laverack (2006) reinforces this notion through his use of the ‘domains’ approach, with one domain focussing on encouraging local leadership through enhancing existing community capacity. Ife (2005) supports this idea with the application of a number of principles which must be applied in practice including empowerment, sustainability, ownership and participation. Community changes must take place from the very local level and can therefore be a very long and intricate process.

In defining community development, social capital is a term often used in a positive sense to enhance community development practice. It is believed to bring about change by bringing community members together, creating engagement and social support which can promote public health and enhance community development (Baum 2008). In promoting community development it can therefore be said that the utility of social capital can improve health status among communities. Carson et al (eds. 2007 p. 110) discusses the potential of social capital to provide insight into improving health standards of indigenous populations despite varying contentions surrounding the notion. Creating positive social engagement of community members assists in the development of relationships between people and the ability to work together to achieve a common goal, an important aspect of defining community development.

In following from this, Bryson & Mowbray (2005) associate social capital with the term community capacity building, another concept related to community development in public health. The term is used by individuals as a strategy to improve community development and or as a similar alternative to community development initiatives and interventions. The Australian International Health Institute promotes community capacity as increasing health by ‘strengthening the ability of a community through increasing social cohesion and building social capital’ (Arole, Fuller & Deutschman n.d) Community capacity building enhances the capacity of community members to take control in bringing about change. The use of these strategies and its approach can pave the way for health improvements in Indigenous communities.

Community Development and Public Health in Indigenous communities

Community building is used by individuals and organisations to enhance the process of community development. Ife & Tesoreiro (2006) explain that community building is an important factor in influencing successful community development which involves bringing community members together through small projects. The idea that community members are joining together to work towards a common goal contributes to ‘group process, inclusiveness, building trust and developing a common sense of purpose…critically important in community building’ (Ife & Tesoreiro 2006, p. 185). Community building is often used to promote public health within Indigenous communities through bringing individuals together to identify a problems or needs. Community members therefore share a common goal and work together to address the issue.

Senior & Chenall (2007) demonstrate the way community building can enhance community development in ‘Stopping Sniffing is Our Responsibility’. The Aboriginal community members identified petrol sniffing as a health and social problem so a common goal was identified and the people developed a program to help combat the problem, contributing to development of the community. Although success of the intervention was not long lived, due numerous factors, including lack of resources it demonstrated to the community members that they were able to work together to make positive changes. Community development in relation to Indigenous communities requires specific, intricate approaches. Approaches must be conducted in a culturally sensitive manner which ‘enables indigenous people to have genuine control over their own community and their own destiny’ (Ife & Tesoreiro 2006, p. 2350). If community development approaches in indigenous communities must therefore incorporate cultural understanding.

The definitions and approaches evident in Many Ways Forwards: report of enquiry into capacity building and service delivery in Indigenous Communities, House of Representatives standing committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, June 2004

The government report Many Ways Forward, the Report of the Inquiry into Capacity Building and Service Delivery in Indigenous Communities (2004) provides a political view of community development in relation to Indigenous health. The report looks at the effectiveness of and ways to enhance and increase in the participation of services delivered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within their communities through building community capacities.

Throughout the report a number of organisations express their own views on the meaning of community capacity. The Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) define community capacity as incorporating four elements including commitment, resources, knowledge and skills. Whilst Aboriginal Affairs Victoria define community capacity as ‘strategies/programs/initiatives which seek to empower, motivate and enable individuals, families and communities…to pursue their own development goals’ (House of Representatives Standing Committee On Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, 2004 pg 15). This is just a small example of a number of definitions, which emphasises that the practice of community development can mean different things to individuals.

The utilisation of community development in practice by Governments & non-Government Organisations (NGOs)

The political report ‘Many Ways Forward Report of the Inquiry into Capacity Building and Service Delivery in Indigenous Communities’ identifies a number of government approaches to community development and the need to enhance government capacities including the ‘COAG Trial,’ Indigenous Whole of Government Initiative. The program is aimed at improving the delivery of programmes and services to Indigenous communities, based on a concept of ‘shared responsibility’ where ‘condition and wellbeing of Indigenous communities is one shared by the community, its families and individuals with Governments’ (Department of Education, Employment and Work Place Relations website, 2010). The commencement of this trial took place in 2002. Another whole of government approach is The Waterloo/Redfern Partnership Program which has a number of smaller programs including community strengthening activities designed to develop communities of Redfern and Waterloo (NSW) which advocate the implementation of social capital (Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety Plan, 2004). Along with these programs there are a number of state and territory government programs including ***

Along with the small example of government programs, The Northern Territory Government’s Emergency Response (NTER) has had a big impact on Indigenous public health within communities and should not go without mention. The NTER was established in 2007 by the Howard government which has implemented a number of measures with a target of five years to improve future prospects of Indigenous Australians living in the NT and promote community safety and the protection of children (Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs website, 2009). As part of the program the government implemented eleven measures in order to reach goals with the addition of another measure involving the NT only, abolition of the community development employment program (CDEP) (Altman, 2007). Whilst the intervention has been put in place to develop Indigenous communities many individuals and organisations have either supported or strongly criticised this approach.

Oxfam Australia is one of the organisations which made a critical response to the intervention, in particular relation to proposed amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Oxfam Australia argues the effectiveness of implementing two of the measures, (measures 5 and 10) reporting that they will hinder development in the form of empowerment among communities (Altman, 2007). Oxfam Australia is a non government organisation which promotes development through implementation of programs providing community members with knowledge and the resources to assist community members to identify problems and encourage them to find their own solutions through sustainable development (Oxfam Australia website, 2009). Oxfam have a number of community development projects focused on developing the capacities of Indigenous communities within Australia. An example of this is through working alongside Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and supporting Aboriginal Health Workers with a focus on promoting community ownership of health issues (Oxfam Australia website, 2009).

World Vision Australia adopts similar approaches to community development in practice. The organisation is focused on improving living conditions of people living third world circumstances. The organisation advocates core principles of community development including working with communities to promote self-sufficient, sustainable development. World vision conducts work in Australia to assist in community development in Indigenous communities with a primary focus on developing long-term community development programs and enhancing future prospects of young Indigenous Australians through training and education programs (How World Vision works, 2007).

Problems associated with the various definitions, such as difficulties concerning feasibility or inconsistencies between the terms of the definitions and actual practice

As can be seen there a various definitions to concepts surrounding community development in public health. A number of authors illustrate the problems which can exist in the theoretical idea of community development and putting the process into practice. The term ‘community’ alone proves to offer differing meanings to individuals and organisations, often conflicting (Baum 2008; Bryson & Mowbray 1981; Ife & Tesoreiro 2006). Makuwira (n.d) discusses how the term community capacity building can have many discourses and often contradiction in meaning and practice and how this can negatively impact on capacity development of Indigenous communities. The Community development Resource Association (Makuwira n.d, p. 3) poses the question that perhaps a lack of written meaning on the term community capacity building contributes to the poor ability to effectively implement the processes. The House of Representatives Many Ways forward report emphasises that a number of different definitions of community building and community capacity building exists and is recognised to have cause implications in moving forward with community development within Australia.

It should also be noted that difficulties concerning the feasibility of implementing the principles of community development can be observed through the way organisations, both Government and non-Government, work in the NT. It can be noted anecdotally that attempts at community development occur through a centralised support system. Most organisations operate from central locations, such as Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Gove and Darwin, with staff ‘visiting’ communities to provide support. Yes, this system can work effectively, but it is not implementing principles of community development in their raw intentions. These intentions are to work alongside people to enable them to take control over their lives and to and promote sustainable changes. The support is often temporary providing a bandaid approach which is inconsistent and therefore limits the effectiveness of long term sustainable changes occurring.

Conclusion

Community development is a term which possesses a variety of different definitions with associated concepts and practices. The discourse highlights the conflict which results from the confusion associated with a variety of definitions and practices. Too often, community development practitioners become too engaged in the rhetoric and lose sight of the meaning behind the principles and way of working. As evidenced in this essay, there is a lot of theory on community development practice, however limited evidence of success in developing Indigenous communities. Community development practice needs to focus on consistent methods that do work and how these can be implemented across the board if we are to see improvements in public health and the health outcomes of Indigenous Australians. Ultimately, where community people (who are involved in the community development process) are starting to take control over factors affecting their health, community development in practice is working.