Issues of Scope and Scale

The Basic Issue

The task of Community Development is so large that it may be carried out at any level from which a person prefers to operate, or at which it might be most advantageous in a particular circumstance.

One of the problems with community development is that is it prone to discouragement because of such things as :

• it is so dependent on the consent and actions of others.
• other people often control the funds and resources needed to move ahead.
• other people can throw innumerable road-blocks in ones way as one tries to move forward with some initiative, even with a large community following.
• it is vulnerable to disruption by downturns in the larger economy.

Cornelia Lehn, in her book Peace be With You, has a story of an obscure monk named Telemachus, about AD400 in Asia minor who did his own bit of community development all in about twenty minutes. The effect of his action continues to this day. This locally well-known monk got swept up in the crowd going to the gladiator games and was appalled at watching captured enemy soldiers fight to the death for their freedom. He rushed down and hopped into the ring, separating the soldiers. they tried to brush him aside, but when he would not be dissuaded, they killed him. A hush fell over the crowd. Honorius got up and left, the games ended, and were never held again.

At the other end of the scale, there are international agencies which do marvelous community development projects on a national and international scale. The level at which people wish to work, and the institutional context through which they wish to operate if not wide enough for all, is certainly open for expansion.

"Come on in, the water's fine!"

Off-Line Resources

• Rothman, Jack. "Approaches to Community Intervention" Rothman, Jack, John l. Erlich, John E. Tropman, with Fred Cox.(eds) Strategies of Community Intervention, Macro Practice5th Ed. F.E Peacock Publishers.(p26-63) Reprinted in Ferrazzi, Gabe. Course Reader, Rural Community Development, Brandon University, 2001.
  Rothman's models were originally "three models " in 1968. Rothman is a social worker so his outlook on community development comes from that perspective, and he is therefore quite "interventionist" oriented (though of not as obnoxious as some of that persuasion). I find it helpful to remember that a social worker's job to a large extent is to bridge the gap between individuals and families and the larger society. As the larger society is not likely to change very quickly at any significant level, that means the individual has to find some way to do the adapting. When that notion is firmly fixed in one's mind, Rothman's typology and approach fall into perspective. For some people, this material would be "toxic" to their souls.

On-Line Resources