Community Development Approaches in Addressing Change among Young People

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Community Development Approaches in Addressing Change among Young People

            Community development refers to a process by which community embers pursue corporate action to develop solutions for apparent problems. This type of collectivism births socio-economic, cultural and environmental welfare of a community. The evolution of community development promotes participative equality, democracy, stability, social justice, among other aspects of wellbeing through organization, education and empowerment of community members (Green, & Haines, 2015). Brennan and Barnett (2009) submitted that there is a remarkable growth in the global recognition of the need for theory and application research that enhance understanding of both youth and community development. Ledwith (2020), on the other hand, says that social justice policies and principles guiding community development work are increasingly threatened by the current insurgence of far-right political tendencies globally. He opines that the alarming rise of economic inequalities dictates for fresh paradigms on power and approaches to community development. Community development approaches are frameworks for working with stakeholders towards community development in the value-based process of correcting power imbalances and generating the desired change established on social justice, equality and inclusion. This discourse is an examination of the application of community development approaches in addressing the needful change among young people for communal good and advancement.

Young people are a highly virile yet untapped resourceful ore that can be mined to incline community change, engagement in coalitions of which would take much time, resources and deliberateness beyond anticipation but promises unimaginable rewards if the imperative is founded on well-instituted principles. The benefits of tapping the immense power of young people in regards to community development is expansive. The fickle but influential swing of the public often disinclines from the youth populace either as a problematic age group that needs to be solved or as passive clients in programs that are communal or in governance, yet youths can be posited as communal assets with essential contributions and insights that can be exploited in building healthy communities.  From a perspective, the young people’s miss in the community gong can be alluded to various reasons including feel of neglect, but the jig can enhance completeness in community development in tremendous frameworks. Therefore, there is an incessant need for extension policy developers to enhance understanding the role young people play in the community development process beyond the popular 4-H programs (Brennan, Barnett, & Baugh, 2007).

The core values of community development are collective action, equality and anti-discrimination, collective empowerment, social justice and human rights, togetherness in working and education. The process empowers people towards collective organization and work to realize their own needs and ambitions, take actionable course to influence decisions vital to their lives, improve quality and sustainability their livelihoods both individually and communally (Ife, 2013). Hart (2013) superimposes community development approach in early childhood education in his book, opining that children’s educational environment should be aligned to principles and practices of the community to influence their participation. This pedagogical supposition has been supported by researchers and sociologist alike in various domains to highlight paths of progress for holistic change through community development approaches. The community development approaches are supposed to be used differently in auctioning change to in specific communities as communities have their unique problems that require unique and irreproducible solution, this is the same for young people (Quimbo, Perez, & Tan, 2018).

Asset-based Approach and Young People

Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) is an authoritative framework of community development centered on discovery and mobilization of resources already at disposal in the community. The ABCD approach administers a means by which members can find and mobilize available assets in order to make a stronger community. The historical deficit-based approach of studying and intervening in problem populations by focusing on wrong as opposed to right has been argued to highly influence media and general society’s negative view of young people (Ngomane, 2011). As an alternative to the deficit model, ABCD approach has been a positive development as it builds on looking at the proverbial glass as half full rather than half empty. In the bid to action from the root, ABCD has aided professionals in reversing the prejudicial view of young people in the path of enhancing change. ABCD aligns with zeitgeist in regards to community development which has focused on positive developments (Rose, 2006).

Asset-based approach has been championed for by social workers in child and youth care work for its advantageous focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses, assets rather than deficits. Basically, the approach centers on positivity rather than negativity. ABCD has been empirically proven to be an inclining intervention in development of change among the community of young people (Rose, 2006).  Odom, McConnell, and Brown (2008) developed Anglin’s argument that child and youth care mostly orient towards social competence perspective, therefore, as opposed to focusing on what young people cannot accomplish, it is important to emphasize on what they can do and accomplish. Facilitation of strengths influences change in youth by championing for positive self-view and exploitation of abilities.

Empirical research has found that girls generally have higher internal assets than boys, based on study of over one million adolescents across more than two thousand communities in America (Rose, 2006). Conclusively, studies have shown that “the more developmental assets youth reported having, the more they were likely to report thriving outcomes, such as school success, good physical health, and overcoming adversity” (Rose, 2006, p.237). Apart from the internal assets, there are assets that exist outside the individual young person, especially in the microenvironment. The assets that can be categorized under empowerment, support, time use, boundaries and expectations. In general, asset-based approach can be used to enhance the healthy, positive, pro-social orientations in young people to catalyze a calculated change by making sure they feel good about their personalities and capabilities.

Participatory Approach

This approach is centered on securing community ownership and commitment. Active participation of community members and other stakeholders is calculated to augment quality and relevance of interventions by enhancing commitment and sustainability. In this approach, stakeholders are on a platform with members for sharing control over initiatives, decisions and resources for development with members in order to extend their influence and impact for change. The approach is a process applied at each stage of a community development project and is cardinal for far-reaching influence of interventions for lasting positive change.

The power of an empowered youth is undebatable from the fronts of difference-making. Checkoway (2012) argues that young people get empowered through participatory involvement in institutions and decisions regarding their lives, which ignite rippling effects of positive change in the general community. In this perspective, young people need to be empowered by involvement in organizations and community. The conventional view of young people is that of victimization as opposed to being potential positive change influencers in the society. Participation approach seeks to shift the mainstream viewpoint from young people as society’s problems to enactors of positive change through empowering. A shift from feeling as passive or human subjects to participation will enhance change in tremendous ways. When youths are involved in decisions regarding their lives through qualitative participation, overgrowing positive change is responsive. Stakeholders and social workers should use participation approach to permeate the proverbial labelling of youth as problems by birthing a fresh view of youth as resources by involving the youth in the process.

Rights-Based Approach

The rights-based approach (RBA) focuses on achieving positive change by empowering individuals and communities to know their rights, and encouraging them to claim and participate in formulation of policies and practices that pertain to their lives. The approach is highly promoted by development agencies to ensure right-holders are actors in their own developments by recognizing and exercising their own rights. Generally, the framework desegregates dignity and human rights into development process, with especial efforts on protecting rights of the poor and the marginalized.

Blanchet-Cohen and Bedeaux (2014) argue that RBA in enhances young people’s participation in community development from the feeling of respect, influencing change. Jonsson (2003) delves into this in his UNICEF report, stating that

“United Nations (UN) toward making human rights the fulcrum of its development goals and strategies. Unicef, a UN development agency charged with protecting the rights of children, views child development as the core of sustainable development, and thus has been in the forefront of efforts to bring development theories and human rights principles together in a strategy capable of realizing the rights of children” (p.6)

A rights-centric framework for development will ensure behavioral change among youth which would expand to the general community. With the high depletion of natural resources and the radical reassessment by nations in their use, nations have to align with the binding claims of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and “rethink the extent to which children have the right and responsibility to be involved in the shaping of their own futures and futures of their communities” (Hart, 2013, p.3). This places the power into the hands of children to define their own futures.

Welfare Approach

Welfare approach emphasizes on who gets what, where, and how. With the rising competition for resources, equitability in allocation is inevitable in ensuring inclusivity across the population grids. While young people’s vulnerability to being left out is highly psychological, a feeling of inclusion in resource distribution is seen by researches as a way of enhancing their change and hence development. Meeting the needs of children while also promoting family livelihood is a question that exceeds that of resources: it calls for change from normative in social services: a rediscovery and a modification of traditions and norms of social action and community development (Cannan, & Warren, 2002). There is need to coin environments that will promote welfares of young people in the bid to enhance self-cognition for overall change and development.

Psychosocial Approach

This approach examines individuals in the context of conjoined influence of psychological factors and micro social environment on their selves – underpinning the tight relationship between social and psychological effects on an individual facing difficult situations and life circumstances, like the young people facing segregation by society. On the onset, motivation is a behavior impetus. The invigorating influence underlying thoughts and deeds enhance psychosocial desires to interact with the environment. The right motivation, therefore, ensures individual youth’s psychological inclination to positivity. The same way, a recognition of interdependence among youth in a change of attitude enhances sense of belongingness, promoting the psychosocial aspect overall.

Conclusion

The community development approaches or principles presented can catalyze change of the mainstream proverbial ‘youth are a problem’ to ‘youth are resourceful’.