Escolar Documentos
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to speak for themselves, to learn the world and how to make it better. - Dave Beckwith and
Randy Stoeker
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
Just what organizers do can sound like any standard job description - "administration,
planning, policy decision-making, program and leadership development and action
implementation, public relations activities, and service activities." But CO work takes form
within the dynamics of community and struggle, requiring organizers to have an
extraordinary range of competencies.
The organizer must thoroughly understand the characteristics and the power patterns of the
community through extensive interviews and discussions with community members. The
organizer is a listener. The organizer identifies and trains potential leaders. These potential
leaders are not necessarily the titular heads of organizations. Through an extensive listening
process issues or problems of concern to the people are identified. People must be
• Community Organizers build organizations that maximize the power and participation of the
people.
• Community Organizers listen to the people
• Community Organizers are responsible for sharing information and raising questions,
options, alternatives and problems that affect the community.
• Community Organizers identify and develop diverse group of members who agree to serve as
the organization’s public voice in a variety of issues.
• Community Organizers are attuned to the power relationships and political agendas
surrounding an issue ,
• Community Organizers develop sound organizing strategies based on his power analysis.
• Community organizer’s role is to build public relationships,
• Community organizer is to work with people to define problems and issues, and help them
think through the strategies and tactics necessary to act with confidence and win.
• Community Organizers recruit members, assist with fundraising, and integrate fundraising
into every aspect of their organizing work.
• Community Organizers ensure that their members receive a consistently high standard of
appropriate and effective training.
• Community Organizers enable the members to hold meetings that are productive and
focused.
• Community Organizers facilitate training and strategy sessions when needed
• Community Organizers build evaluations into all aspects of their work.
• Community Organizers strive to be accountable and hold others accountable in every aspect
of their job .
• Community Organizers always make time for follow-up.
• Community Organizers strive to eflect on and improve their skills on an ongoing basis, and
develop an annual self-development plan
• Community Organizers challenge people to act on behalf of their common interests.
• Community Organizers develop new relationships out of old ones
• Community Organizers work through campaigns.
encouraged to talk about their views of the community and it is important that they realize
that the organizer does not come with a preconceived program. An organizer must also be
able to agitate people to act. "Until the people recognize that it is they who must do
something about their own problems, and that it is only THEY who can be trusted to do the
right thing - and until they realize that only if they organize enough power in their community
that something can be done about these things, nothing will get done."
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
Sarah Palin, Vice Presidential candidate of USA made some comments on the experiences of
Barack Obama, Presidential candidate as a community organizer in Chicago, during the election
campaign. She said her stint as a small-town mayor was "sort of like a 'community organizer,'
except that she had some actual responsibilities."Community organizers throughout USA united
together and torn Sarah Palin into bits and pieces. Their reactions were truly inspiring, revealing
the great role played by the community organizers.
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
It will be community organizers that make sure you have your needs met should you not be
financially able to. It will be community organizers that help you raise your voice high so that you are
not forgotten about in our society and
Social role posits the following about social behavior: government. It will be community
1. People spend much of their lives in groups. organizers that work to protect you should
2. Within these groups, people often take distinct you be violently targeted for your identity.
positions. It will be community organizers who
3. Each of these positions can be called a role, with a demand that your vote count. It will be
whole set of functions that are molded by the community organizers who fight for your
expectations of others. right to equal and adequate resources. It
4. Formalized expectations become norms when will be community organizers who demand
enough people feel comfortable in providing that you have healthcare regardless of
punishments and rewards for the expected behavior. whether you can pay or not. It will be
5. Individuals are generally conformists, and insofar as community organizers that insist on your
that is true, they conform to roles. right to age with dignity and proper
6. The anticipation of rewards and punishments inspire support. It will be community organizers
this conformity. who work to ensure that you always have a
Determinants and characteristics of social role choice. It will be community organizers who
Roles may be achieved or ascribed. An achieved role is a protect you from government corruption. It
position that a person assumes voluntarily which will be community organizers who will
reflects personal skills, abilities, and efforts. Roles are demand access to healthy and non-toxic
not forced upon the individual; a choice is involved. An foods and products for you. It will be
ascribed role is a position assigned to individuals or community organizers who will fight for you
groups without regard for merit but because of certain when you cannot. It will be community
traits beyond their control (Stark 2007). Roles are organizers who stand by you when others
forced upon the individual. walk away.
Roles can be semi-permanent ("doctor", "mother",
"child"), or they can be transitory. A well-known It would be easy for me to launch into a
example is the sick role as formulated by Talcott diatribe against the Republicans and
Parsons in the late 1940s. In the transitory "sick role", a promote the agenda of the Democratic
person is exempted from his usual roles, but expected party, but that's not what I want to do
to conform to transitory behavioral standards, such as today. I want to take a moment to reflect
following doctors' orders and trying to recover. on the deep saddness I felt when hearing
government leaders mock the hard work
and history of so many in this country. I think of all those people, both past and present, who never
had a convention in their honor or even heard so much as a thank you from these leaders for doing
the work that should have already been done by the
A community organizer should have:
an understanding of development
theories and concepts and processes of
community organizing
good social and community relation
skills to promote social integration in
the community
an ability to work with other teams of
professionals
the knowledge and skills to enable
communities to access specialized
technical assistance in instances when
this is needed
sensitivity to the local culture
gender-sensitivity.
government tasked with protecting us all. It frightens me that current leaders are so out of touch
with the people in this nation that they would revel in their privileged status on television while many
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
that night went to bed worrying about when they will get a job, where tomorrow's meals will come
from, what
to do if they get sick, or how to go on another day in a society that systematically denies them
protection and equal rights. The remarks that night prove to me that there is still so much work to be
done. No matter who wins the election in November, we must all continue to fight for what is
rightfully ours and hold our government to the standards of nothing but excellence. Although we
were mocked and disparaged that night, I know I am a small part of a great history of people who
cared enough to do something when injustice occurred.
I am proud to be a community organizer.
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
Skills
Skill implies not only knowledge but the ability to put knowledge to practical use; it connotes
competence, ease and precision of execution, dexterity, efficiency and effectiveness and
performance. Skill has been called the "ability to do the right thing at the right time". Skill,
which primarily involves doing rather
than with either knowing or feeling Organizers’ Goals in Assisting Communities.
There are three types of objectives for a community
includes:
organizer. These are
- Interpersonal Skills – skills that 1. Task Goals – goals concerned with the
have to do with relationships with identification of objectives and the development of
individuals and groups. This includes the means and resources to carry them out or
conflict management. implement them.
- Analytical skills – skills that have to 2. Process Goals – refer to the enhancement and
do with fact-finding or data-gathering strengthening of the community members,
competence for participation, self-direction and
and interpretation of data or
cooperation.
information for decision-making, 3. Relationship Goals – focus on changing certain
problem-solving and types of social relationships and decision making
conflict handling. patterns in the community.
- Organization Development Skills –
skills that have to do with setting up and sustaining organizations, planning and policy-
making, organizing or determining appropriate organizational structure design, political and
legislative skills, administrative skills, strategy design and implementation and
communication.
- Training Skills – skills that have to do with capability building of members of the
community organization, training needs and analysis, formulation of curriculum and training
design, instruction skills and the use of training methodologies and training monitoring and
evaluation.
Skill, when highly developed brings about automatic or nearly automatic responses to
situations.
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
Disaster
A disaster is the tragedy
of a natural or man- man
made hazard (a hazard
is a situation which
poses a level of threat to
life, health, property, or
environment) that
negatively affects
society or environment.
In contemporary
academ - ia, disasters
are seen as the
consequence of
inappropriately
managed risk. These
risks are the product of
hazards and
vulnerability. Hazards
that strike in areas with
low vulnerability are not
considered a disaster, as
is the case in
uninhabited regions.
Developing countries
suffer the greatest costs
when a disaster hits –
more than 95 percent of
all deaths caused by
disasters occur in
developing countries,
and losses due to
natural disasters are 20
times greater (as a
percentage of GDP) in
developing countries
than in industrialized
countries.
A disaster
disa can be
defined as any tragic
event that may involve
at least one victim of
circumstance, such as an
Disaster management has four phases; mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery/reconstruction.
recovery/reconstructi
Mitigation and preparedness are phases before disasters occur and response and recovery/reconstruction
are phase after disasters. Mitigation means not causing any damages. Preparedness means preparation
something for the time when people take damages. Response means evacuation or rescue soon after
disasters occur. And recovery/reconstruction means rebuilding or improving social and natural
environment than states before disasters.
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
Understanding Civil Conflicts to play the role of Community Organizers during Conflicts
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
The United Nations' World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete
physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Another major public health concern is diabetes. In 2006, according to the World Health
Organization, at least 171 million people worldwide suffered from diabetes. Its incidence is
increasing rapidly, and it is estimated that by the year 2030, this number will double.
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S.Rengasamy - Role of a Community Organizer
A controversial aspect of public health is the control of smoking. Many nations have
implemented major initiatives to cut smoking, such as increased taxation and bans on
smoking in some or all public places. Proponents argue by presenting evidence that smoking
is one of the major killers in all developed countries, and that therefore governments have a
duty to reduce the death rate, both through limiting passive
(second-hand) smoking and by providing fewer
opportunities for smokers to smoke. Opponents say that
this undermines individual freedom and personal
responsibility (often using the phrase nanny state in the
UK), and worry that the state may be emboldened to
remove more and more choice in the name of better
population health overall. However, proponents counter
that inflicting disease on other people via passive smoking
is not a human right, and in fact smokers are still free to smoke in their own homes.
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