COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Definition and scope of community organizing
2.1 Organization
2.2 Community Organizing
Role of Organizing
Role of Community Organizers (Groups)
Principles of Community Organizing
5.1. A participative Culture
5.2. Inclusiveness
5.3 Breadth of Mission and Vision
5.4. Critical perspective
6. Significance of Community Organizing
7. Values of Community Organizing
8. Conclusion
9. Reference








1. INTRODUCTION

This journal paper will attempt to examine Community organizing as strategy for community development. To achieve this, the paper will be divided into various subheadings.
The first subheadings will examine the definition and scope of community organizing. Under this sub-heading, the paper will define organization and community organizing. The targeted groups of people and the effectiveness of tool will be taken into consideration.
The second sub-heading will try to examine the role of organizing as an instrument for transforming social, environmental, economic, individuals and communities such that they may be acceptable to the eyes of the public.
The seventh sub heading will be the significance of community organizing. This will be in accordance with the Neighborhood Finders Groups (NFG), working in America. Will shall therefore examine how the NFG consider CO as important strategy for change.
Finally, we shall draw conclusion from the foregoing discussion on community organizing. Under this sub heading, the paper will attempt to examine the relevance of CO in developing countries.

2. DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
2.1 Organizing
Organization means hope for people. It means making their institutions relevant. But most of all, organization means power. It means being able to do something about things they have been frustrated about all their lives.4 (Ernesto Cortes, Industrial Area Foundation)
2.2 Community organization
Community Organization is that process by which the people organize themselves to “take Change” of their situation and thus develop a sense of being a community together. It is a particularly effective tool for the poor and powerless as they determine for themselves the actions they will take to deal with the essential forces that are destroying their community and consequently causing them to be powerless. 3 (Reverend Robert Linthicum, World Vision International)
Community organizing explicitly seeks to build the power base of the poor so they can affect and change the public policies and private market forces that create and sustain social and economic inequality. (Henry Allen, Hyams Foundation)
Community organizing (CO) is one of the few strategies working to build grassroots leaderships, community initiative and constituent influence in neighborhoods and communities that are often forgotten or ignored by those in power.

3. ROLE OF ORGANIZATING
Organizing does two central things to seek to rectify the problem of power imbalance (1) it builds a permanent base of people power so that dominant financial and institutional power can be challenged and held accountable to values of greater social, environmental
and economic justice.
(2) it transforms individuals and communities, making them mutually respectful co-
creators of public life rather than passive objects of decisions made by others” (Mike Miller,
Organize Training center)

4. THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS (GROUPS)
Community organizers identity and attract, the people to be involved in the organizations and develop the leadership forum and relationships among the people that make the organizations effective.
Typically, the actions taken by CO Groups are preceded by careful data gathering, research and participatory strategic planning. The actions are often in the form of negotiations- with targeted institutions holding power – around issues determined by and important to the organizations.
The CO groups seeks policy, and other significant changes determined by and responsive to the people (that is, their “constituencies”). Where good-faith negotiations fail, these constituencies – led organizations seek to pressure the decision-maker through a variety of means –so that the decision will return to the negotiations and move to desired outcomes.
The authors, Seth Borgos and Scott Douglas, stressed that “the fundamental source of cohesion of every strong CO group is the conviction that it offers its members a unique vehicle for exercising and developing their capacities as citizens” The author also noted that the most common usage of the term CO “refers to organizations that are democratic in governance, open and accessible to community members, and concerned with the general health of the community rather than a specific interest or service function.”

5. PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
According to Borgos and Douglas, the key principles of contemporary CO are:
5.1 A participative culture
CO organizations view participation as end in itself. Under the rubric of leadership development, they devote considerable time and resources to enlarging the skills, knowledge and responsibilities of their members. “Never do for others what they can do for themselves” is known as the iron rule of organization.
5.2 Inclusiveness
CO groups are generally committed to developing membership and leadership from abroad spectrum of the community, with many expressly dedicated to fostering participation among groups that have been “absent from the table” including communities of colour, low income constituencies, immigrants, sexual minorities and youth. Working with marginalized groups demands a high level of skill, a frank acknowledgement of power disparities, and a major investment of time and effort.
5.3 Breadth of mission and vision
In principle, every issue that affects the welfare of the community is within CO`s purview, where other civic institutions tend to get stuck on certain functions while losing sight of the community’s larger problems. In practice, strong (but by no means all) CO organizations have proven adept at integrating adverse set of issues and linking them to a larger vision of the common good. This is a holistic function that has been largely abandoned by political parties, churches, schools and other civic institutions.
5.4 Critical Perspectives
CO organizations seek o change policies and institutions that are not working. In many communities, they are the only force promoting institutional accountability and responsiveness. Because community organizations take critical positions, they can be viewed as partisan or even polarizing in some contexts, and an obstacle to social collaboration. However, research suggests that effective governance depends on “civicness” – not consensus. A critical stance may generate conflict, but it can also stimulate participation and sharpen political discourse in ways that lead to deeper forms of social collaboration.

SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
The Neighborhood Finders Group (NFG), working in America, considers CO as an important strategy for change.
Naturally, CO groups have:
· Leveraged billions of dollars in public and private sector investment;
· Expanded and improved city services;
· Prevented industrial plant closings;
· Secured fair-share hiring agreements from public and private sector employees;
· Cleared up toxic waste dumps in low income communities;
· Organized public and private housing tenants;
· Improved the climate, operation and performance of neighborhood schools; and
· Build or rehabilitated thousands of affordable housing units.
· CO has also nourished and supported local leadership by teaching people how to convene meetings, conduct research, analyze public policy positions, negotiate with public and private officials, register people for vote, develop a common vision for struggling or distressed communities, and implement a work plan to address and resolve important issues or problems.
· CO`s growth, increased sophistication and impact have momentum. CO groups are now paying for greater attention to educating opinion-makers and to pursuing more thoughtful communication strategies. An increasing number of foundations with more traditional service-oriented grant making programs are now exploring and investing in CO. This underscores CO`s increased visibility and importance, and helps to spread the knowledge of CO`s value previously uninformed sectors of society, including grant makers.

VALUES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
CO is a value based process by which people most often low and moderate income people previously absent from decision-making tables are brought together in organizations to jointly act in the interest of their “communities” and the common good.
The term “value-based” refers to values that form the basis of CO theory and practice. For most community organizers and CO groups, the values includes: community, solidarity, equality, freedom, justice, the dignity of individual, respect for differences, civility, and political democracy.

8. CONCLUSION
The community organizing movement is a largely American phenomenon. It is therefore based deeply in their democratic values. On the basis of this, the CO groups change laws and policies and generate billions of dollars for low-income communities and their residents. The democratic values exercised in America may not necessary be equivalent to one of the developing countries, such as Tanzania. It will therefore require a CO practitioner to carefully incorporate the democratic values of the third World Countries when working among the poor in developing countries.
Besides that, the disadvantaged or marginalized people in America are not similar to poor people in the developing countries. As far as income is concerned, the poor people in America may be very rich in relation to poor people in most of developing countries. With regards to this, the CO practitioners in developing countries also need a proper knowledge in order to adopt the strategy.

9. REFERENCE
9.1. Seth Borgos and Scott Douglas “community organizing and civic renewal: A view from the south”, social policy, winter, 1996.
9.2. Mike Miller, organize training center, as quoted in Sally Covington and Larry Parachini, Foundations in the New Era, Washington DC: The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, 1995.
9.3. Robert C. Linthicum, Empowering the poor: Community organizing among the City’s “rag, tag and bob tail,” Monrovia, CA: MARC, 1991, Pg.31.
9.4. Ernesto Cortes, Industrial Areas Foundation, as quoted in: Harry C. Boyte, The Backyard Revolution: Understanding the New Citizen movement, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1980, Pg 44.
9.5. Neighborhood Finders Group, Plan 2000, Three-year Strategic Plan, 1997.
9.6. File: // D: \UNDP\ Introduction COMMUNITY ORGANIZING – files\ Introduction Community…