Week 9 Mind Map
- Participation and empowerment are central to community organizing and health promotion.
- Community refers to a group who shares a characteristic, including but not limited to location.
- More specifically, Rothman's model of community organization has three "types" that can be applied individually or in combination with each other.
- Broadly, community organization can be thought of along two axes: strengths-needs based and consensus-conflict.
- Reflexivity is an important practice for individuals and teams who are trying to engage in community organizing or participatory health promotion.
To do properly, participation must be a foundation of the practice
Examples
Shared social cause/issue of interest
Neighbourhood
Occupation, workplace, school
Ecological systems perspective
Social systems perspective
Who populates the community?
How is it organized?
How does it operate?
What are the power dynamics?
Community capacity development
Social planning and policy
Social advocacy
Strengths-needs based
Conflict-Consensus
Strengths-based focuses on the existing assets of a community
Needs-based emphasizes meeting the unmet needs of a community
Conflict emphasizes more selective allyship and engaging in advocacy
Consensus uses collaboration
Risks
When poorly done, practices intended to be participatory can do harm
Tokenism
Heavy burdens
Mindset + process
Active reflection about one's work
Who is involved? Who is not?
What if we did things differently?
Continuous betterment
Of one's practice
Requires resources
Time
Space
Awareness
Of team dynamics and working relationships
e.g., regular writing/journaling
e.g., about what questions to ask
e.g., to ask challenging questions
Developing group identity in the community
Increasing capacity for problem-solving
High on consensus axis
Use of empirical evidence
Participatory approaches (sometimes)
Change
High on conflict axis
Power to communities