What Is Community Work

What Is friendship Work? Through this analyze I leave behind try to create a greater sagacity of the term friendship take form. I will begin with a short summary from two studies which booster define the term on a broad basis. I will follow this by an bill of the unlike approaches which bottomland be practise in friendship earn. I will highlight the importance the friendship and uncoerced sector defend in tender partnership in Ireland today. I will too discuss how supporting, or a lack of it, impacts on all-important(a) services. Whether or non volunteers atomic number 18 an essential part of friendship urinate.I will likewise discuss the workable consequence of losing some of these organisations as a event of cuts in livelihood. Fin every(prenominal) in ally by looking at the work of federation Platform I will show how, by dint of a shared step up vision they hope to create a better Ireland through their work in the community. To agnize what communi ty work is it is first necessary to find out the various definitions of community. While this may seem apparent ab initio, upon closer recap one will watch that there is no clear consensus.What we do know is that as Hillery, a sociologist working in the 1950s pointed out, all 94 definitions of community referred to tribe (Mayo 1994). Varley (1988) defines these more concisely into three categories. ?Communities delineate in purely special or geographical term. ?Communities defined as relationships that occur in spite of appearance a specific topical anaestheticity. ?Communities defined as relationships which may occur within or transcend conventional geographical boundaries. operative within these categories community workers seek to empower individuals and groups of large number by providing them with the skills they expect to effect change in their have got communities.We will look at detailed fashion models of this later. I will first explain my understanding of t he quintuplet main strands or approaches identified by David A Thomas (1993) in his study of community work in the early 1980s Community Action this requires people from a community to wound unneurotic, recognising the problems that their community faces and fetching action to reduce these problems. This approach can have a go of pull ins. It divine services those individuals involved to develop skills and claim causeership of the outcome. An example of this is when residents come unneurotic to campaign for speed bumps or lower speed limits in the area.Community training this requires people coming together to develop a range of practices to help improve local conditions, especially for people in disadvantaged situations. It helps people to participate in public decision making and thus accomplish greater control of their circumstances. An example of this is when residents turn an area that was once used for anti- favorable behaviour into a playground for children. This creates a safer environment for local people. kind Planning this is a process that is carried out through identifying strengths and weaknesses in a community.This is done by designing and implementing programmes, which help to improve the quality of lifetime in that community. It usually involves the action of a political, legal, or recognized volunteer body. An example of this is when an area is identified as having a very bighearted increase in children. This information is acted on and a new school is built in the area. Community Organisation involves various community or welfare agencies working with or without the involvement of statutory authorities, supporting pin initiatives.An example of this is when organisations connect through managing, sponsoring and better the work of various bodies. This may be carried out at a local, regional or discipline level. Community Care primarily focuses on the area of healthcare for the disabled, the olden and the very young. It is a model that encourages members of the community to be active participants in helping themselves. In some cases community care may use nonrecreationals in conjunction with volunteers. In former(a) cases volunteers may manage projects with light or no involvement from professionals.Now that we have an understanding of the various definitions of community and have explored the different approaches of community work, we will now look at the how this work is structured in Ireland today with the help of social partnership. well-disposed partnership was set up in Ireland in 1987. Its membership was initially limited to the establishment, businesses, trade unions and farmers. Organisations representing the unemployed and those experiencing poverty and inequality protested that their members did not benefit from the agreements and so began to lobby to be included in the 1996 negotiations.It was decided in 2000, by the Fianna Fail government, that inclusion of community and voluntary org anisations was the way forward. eighter from Decatur organisations were successful in their efforts when they were selected by the Government to become the Community & free Pillar the fourth social partnership pillar. It is now make up of seventeen representative organisations. This pillar represents huge progress for marginalised people. Although it is great to ring that in order to make a sustainable difference the role these organisations have been give, must be listened to.While in possibility social partners can be involved in both policy making and murder of such policy, it is argued ( Meade 2005) that because community and voluntary organisations lack economic clout, they have been apt(p) only marginal influence over the substance of policy decisions. Popples theory in Analysing community Work (1995) realms Most practitioners are employed in one way or another by the state and then acting with particular instructions or authority, so that they could be considered to be a subordinate branch of the dominating organic intellectuals.Whilst on the other hand the fact that they can be at odds with the dominant ideology and are encouraging individuals and groups to articulate their own discourse centre that they do not fully agree with the dominant system. While it is important that the government is involved and provides subsidises to the voluntary and community sector at a national and community level, it is also fair to say that participation by volunteers in the local community is equally important as they understand what the community requires at a grass roots level.As the Mayfield Community exploitation Project in Cork advocates, it is fundamental to ask the local people what they need, to encourage as more participation as possible. Cullen (1989) observes that participative community training projects counterbalance the bigness and the bureaucracy of state run welfare agencies. In other words, if the recipients of these services are invo lved, these agencies become less intimidating and more user-friendly. This approach empowers people to be involved in identifying and meeting their own needs.Although participation from volunteers in the local community is vital, problems can surface when local communities come to rely heavily on the support provided by these volunteers. An example of this occurred when an introduction of community care policies led to reductions in the provision of state sponsored residential care and thus change magnitude the demands on already pressured carers. This anaesthetise is particularly relevant today due to the current economic climate. The government is seeking to cut their expenditure in many areas, including the community and voluntary sectors.An Bord Snip Nuas proposed cuts in funding for community and voluntary organisations will effectively amount to a huge reduction in funding for essential public services. The proposed cut of 64% in the allocation for community and voluntary se ctor supports, will weaken community and voluntary organisations capability to deliver essential services to the most vulnerable people in society. Which raises the following questions, ? Is the government relying on volunteers too heavily? ? Is lack of funding going to break down the fabric of the community work vane in Ireland? ? What are the potential consequences of the proposed cuts?Only in time, will we discover the true answers to these questions but for now let us look at the evidence that is available to us today. Undoubtedly the Governments reliance on volunteers within the community is very apparent. It is important to remember that very often we would not have these volunteers, without the recruitment strategies that are put in place by professionals. It is also crucial volunteers are monitored and get the support they need to occupy out their work effectively. Without the funded professional element in community work, it is possible that the quality of service may be compromised.This may result in volunteers becoming over worked by carrying out the duties of the paid professionals. This can track to volunteers being under too much pressure to carry out their vital work. A consequence of this may be the closure of much needed services, which will impact greatly on society in general. This may lead to a more segregated community with an increased level of problems such as anti-social behaviour and mental health issues to denote fairish two. This is why in my opinion, it is essential to have both professional and voluntary workers in the community for a cohesive approach to the various issues.It is important at this point to examine the vital community work that may be affected by these cuts. I am using the organisation Community Platform as an example. This is an organisation which facilitates both community and voluntary organisations to come together through one voice at a national level. Publishing its pre-budget submission (2010), the Commu nity Platform verbalise that making the poor poorer in order to try to balance the books made absolutely no sense and would have disastrous and costly social consequences.Community platform currently has 29 members that work together to address poverty, social exclusion and inequality. Funding is provided to the Community Platform by the Department of Community, outlandish Gaeltacht Affairs. The vision of the Community Platform is an Ireland that is inclusive, sustainable and equal. Working closely with all of its members it aims to develop and promote this vision through shared analysis. The following groups are just a small example of the essential services that come under the community platform umbrella ?Age Action Ireland. trespass Crises Network Ireland. ?Simon Communities of Ireland. ?Womens Aid. ?Community Workers Co-operative. By looking at some of the essential services that Community Platform facilitate we can see just how important this community work is and the key s ervices that may suffer because of these cuts. As a result of my studies I have ascertained that community work appears to be many things to many people. It can be a rewarding experience to both the facilitator and the beneficiary. It can bring people together in the hope of improving circumstances for themselves or others.It can help people to achieve their goals for their community by coming together through one voice. It may be a carried out by a paid professional or a volunteer. Both of which have their own merit. Government support and funding are imperative to sustain the level of help that is needed in the community. However it is evident that when both professionals and volunteers work together, greater results can be achieved. Community work is essential in society to help improve living conditions. With an emphasis on improving the conditions of marginalised, vulnerable people. Bibliography