Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 10

Fundamentals of Social Work
community organisations and leaders. Understanding the nature and
boundaries of these networks is critical to planning engagement efforts.
For example, tracing individuals’ social ties may help us when initiating
a community engagement effort to identify leaders within a community,
understand community patterns, identify high risk groups within the
community, and strengthen networks within the community (Minkler, 1997)7.
An individual also has his or her own sense of community membership. The
presence or absence of a sense of membership in a community may vary
over time and is likely to influence participation in community activities.
This variation is affected by a number of factors. Take the example of a
Mayor township. Persons at one time may feel an emotional, cultural, or
experiential tie to one Community Development Council; but they too may
feel that they belong to more than that CDC at the same time. Someone
may be registered with a constituency but spends most of the time in yet
another place. Before beginning an engagement effort, it is important to
understand that all these potential variations and perspectives may exist
and influence the work within a given community.

Concepts of Community Engagement
There are as many definitions of community engagement as the number of
people who use it. Loosely defined, community engagement is the process
of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by
geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues
affecting the well-being of those people. It is sometimes used to refer to
one-off contact which should not be the case. Planned with some purpose,
community engagement can be a powerful vehicle for bringing about social
and behavioural changes that will improve the well being of the community
and its members. It often involves partnerships and collaborations that help
to mobilise resources and influence systems, to change relationships among
partners, and to serve as catalysts for changing policies, programmes, and
practices. (Fawcett et al., 1995)8.
Community engagement draws its theory of change from sociology, political
science, cultural anthropology, organisational development, psychology,
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Minkler M, Pies C. Ethical Issues in community organization and community participation. In:
Minkler M (editor). Community organizing and community building for health (1st ed., pp.
116-133). Piscataway (NJ): Rutgers University; 1997.
Fawcett SB, Paine-Andrews A, Francisco VT, Schultz JA, Richter KP, Lewis RK, Williams EL,
Harris KJ, Berkley JY, Fisher JL, Lopez CM. Using empowerment theory in collaborative
partnership for community health and development. American Journal of Community
Psychology 1995;23(5):677-697.
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