Crafting Effective Social Intervention Projects
1. Intervention Project: Reflection and Emergence
The process of social intervention should not be viewed as a linear sequence of operations, but rather as an interconnected structure where operations overlap and presuppose each other. Each operation is part of the whole, reflecting in all others.
Interpretations are deeply influenced by the interactions within each intervention. Understanding these interpretations and the data gathered (such as neighborhood insights) requires acknowledging the critical role of intervention methodologies in shaping our perspective on phenomena and the unique selection of data and information we produce.
Constructed knowledge, social intervention theories, and routine practices are closely linked within the intervention. During the initial immersion phase (approaching the neighborhood, establishing contacts, building a diagnosis, locating and defining problems), the community worker should simultaneously reflect on the nature of their professional intervention.
This involves making explicit their understanding of the intervention, studying relevant theories, consulting with experts in community work, learning from previous evaluations, and critically assessing prior statements to understand the problem. This process helps identify worthwhile activities or tasks, their objectives, and appropriate strategies, fostering realistic yet innovative approaches.
Furthermore, it allows for clarifying one’s own position and role within the neighborhood and institution.
2. Intervention Project: A Project of Influence
In community work, the structure of the procedure and its operations provide an opportunity for shared action. Community work encompasses all professionals who aim to establish and maintain a group focused on developing and implementing social development projects. Project development serves as a central organizing element for community action.
Throughout the process, various interconnected projects are implemented: the professional’s project, the projects of each involved party, and the common project that emerges from their confluence. Sometimes, projects predating the common project play a decisive role. For instance, an organization or driving group might prioritize appropriating existing projects over developing its own.
The professional intervention project implicitly exists and should be made explicit, not to impose it, but as a tool for the professional to clarify their role. It serves as a reference point in drafting agreements with their institution and, most importantly, as a guide for their relationships with current and future agents of community action and target groups of intervention.