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Community Development Participation, Collaboration & Partnership (Helen Killmier) |
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When
thinking about these concepts in relation to Community Psychology I
initially drew upon something that I had read in Jim Orford’s book
Community Psychology: Theory & practice (1992). Orford writes about
sharing psychological understanding and knowledge as widely as possible
within the community. Within Community Psychology there is a strongly held
belief that psychological expertise resides principally amongst the
residents of a community themselves and amongst the many human service
workers who undertake helping roles within the community. Community
Psychologists therefore seek to work in ways that are collaborative,
identifying and resourcing community strengths, embracing diversity and
developing partnerships in order to encourage collective action. Community
development is a skilled process and part of its approach is a commitment
to citizenship and human rights. In order for those who feel oppressed to
participate equally in decision making processes, there is a need for
equal access to and control of resources, knowledge and structures.
Community development has to look both ways: not only at how the community
is working at grass roots level, but also at how responsive key
institutions are to the needs of local communities. Participatory
democracy implies an open society where information is readily available
and where accessible forms of democracy allow participation at every level
of decision making. |