Community Work Mode And Challenge

No one can deny the fact that there are not a few poverty-stricken or fringe communities in both advanced and developing countries, where physical environment is poor, public facilities and amenities are scarce, with inadequate communal resources, needs of the residents are usually ignored. Worse, the interpersonal relationship among the community members is remote and indifference to common affairs prevails. Injustice in the society intensifies the feeling of inability of the citizens. A variety of social problems are not simply connected with individuals or families, which can be solved through individual efforts of social workers or their team intervention, rather, they are deeply rooted in the community, social environment even social system. Therefore, effective measures lie in community work undertaken by each and every one of the community members who knows what they themselves want. Community work is not only an important means of external intervention but also an indispensable service for the community. This thesis, based on the experiences of community work in Hongkong, illustrates the connotation of community work, the theoretical foundation, selection of modes and challenges in the contemporary work with an aim to give some reference to the rising community work in the mainland China.The major innovations of the thesis are as follows:First, it advances a concept of community work after a study on the relevant literature. It defines the term as an intervening approach in social work targeting community.Second, it makes an analysis on various modes of community work. It argues that not a single mode is perfect for the ever-changing situations of the community and the working plan. Thus, the top evaluating criterion for the modes is whether it can bring the utmost welfare to the most unprivileged of the community, and in thelong run, whether it tally with the overarching principle of equality and justice.Third, it reviews the challenges of Hongkong community work from the perspectives of its social politization and agent factors, specialization and nativization as well. It points out that the community workers should stick to the role they played in the democratization of Hongkong and local participation organizing and they have to fight against various difficulties due to multiple reasons.