Community Social Work Dynamics: A 5-Stage Model
ITEM 5. DYNAMICS OF COMMUNITY SOCIAL WORK
1. INTRODUCTION
We have three basic principles to consider when designing proper dynamics from the perspective of community social work:
- Diversity: This refers to the variety of application areas. Any strategy to facilitate the strengthening of community ties must start from a detailed analysis of the environment. We must also consider the differences at the institutional level: the model of the welfare state, or lack thereof.
- Community Participation: This involves participation in all processes, including diagnosis, implementation of intervention strategies, and evaluation. An organized community enables a better diagnosis for two reasons: first, formulating their own problems allows us to analyze and rank them according to their perception; second, conceptualizing their problems increases self-awareness and knowledge of the environment.
- Adaptation to Context: This involves building on existing community structures. The community social worker should utilize existing organizations, coordinating their work and empowering them before creating new ones. They must also start from existing social networks, forms of social interaction, and behavior patterns.
2. How Should Community Social Work Operate?
The starting point of our model of community dynamics is as follows:
Community action can solve structural problems that otherwise could not be settled. When people cohere, the generated links increase confidence in their collective effort, developing their capacity for self-understanding and self-diagnosis of their circumstances. This forms the basis for an ethical structure of society based on the principle of altruistic cooperation: the changing environment.
Community development is fundamental, as it is within the community interaction that the necessary attitudes for a dignified life develop: altruism, honesty, a sense of community, respect for others, and the ability to act collectively to address common challenges.
Community social work meets the main demands of our time, including self-diagnostic tools, a school of participation, and collective action as a strategy for structural challenges.
3. A 5-Stage Model of Community Social Work
In our model, we differentiate five stages, dialectically linked, since each affects the following and redefines both the dynamic (the evolving community) and the object (the challenge, problem, or opportunity to be addressed).
1. TOWARD A MODEL OF COMMUNITY SOCIAL WORK: PHASES AND METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS
1.1. Analysis of Community Issues
The general perspective that should guide social workers in this first phase has the following characteristics:
- Promote and Strengthen Community Dynamics: This involves seeking maximum participation, promoting collective decision-making, and involving as many people as possible. We must start from existing community organizations and build relationships to promote cohesion and integration in a common project. We must also analyze the role of public institutions and voluntary organizations operating in the area.
- Achieve Comprehensive Development: This addresses both current challenges and potential future problems or opportunities. This perspective is based on considering the person as a citizen and the community as a group of citizens working to create an environment where they can reach their potential and overcome risks that lead to exclusion.
- Detect Risks, Opportunities, and Issues Affecting Social Inclusion: The social worker analyzes the community environment, describes the identified risks, establishes the appropriate intervention model, and designs a protocol for community involvement, shared risk diagnosis, monitoring of the professional intervention, and evaluation of achievements.
After establishing a preliminary diagnosis, the caseworker must specify the available resources. We can distinguish three types of resources that must be defined beforehand: