NAME: TAFADZWA

SURNAME: DHENYA
REG NUMBER: R158915C
PROGRAMME: HSW
COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY WORK
LECTURER: DR MUNDAU
DUE DATE: 23 SEPTEMBER 2016
QUESTION: OUTLINE ANY TWO STRATEGIES OF COMMUNITY WORK
AND EXAMINE HOW THESE STRATEGIES CAN BE USED TO
ADDRESS VIOLENT CONFLICTS IN THE COMMUNITY BY SOCIAL
WORKERS IN ANY URBAN SETTING OF YOUR CHOICE.

According to Popple (1995), there is no universally agreed meaning of the term community
work. This means that one can define community work according to the context in which he or
she is applying it.Hartl, (1993) defines community work from a global viewpoint as a process

which facilitates social change. Some scholars argue that community work is essentially about
the interrelations between people and social change , how to help people and the providers of
services to bring about a more comfortable fit between themselves and constant change ,how to
survive and grow as persons in relation with others. This definition suggest that change is
somehow something which happens independently of persons, something which produces
problems that require a professional solution and something which is constant and which could
inhibit personal growth and social relations .Community workers in dealing with calamities that
befall communities or individuals employ strategies like social action and community
development to curtail such problems or to bring about soluutions.Community development
according to Darryl ,V.M (1995) , is a process which involves people learning and taking
responsibility for their own lives and involves people working toward their own transformation.
Singh ,R.R () ,defines social action as a process of individual ,institutional and or group effort
,spontaneous ,self-initiated or directed ,which is designed at the grass roots or macro levels to
consciously and collectively deal with a situation considered unsatisfactory, through marshalling
of appropriate resources and timely use of various participators action strategies within the legal
framework or outside it. Social action through demonstrations can be used to address violent
conflicts in communities and community development through the use of community based
programs like sexual or domestic violence education can be used to address the prevalence of
violent conflicts in Zimbabwe especially in areas like Epworth.

Community development emphasizes self-help, mutual support, the building up of neighborhood

integration, the development of neighborhood capacities for problem solving and selfrepresentation, and the promotion of collective action to bring a communitys preferences to the
attention of decision makers. The main approach to community development is the belief that
people acting together have a great capacity to improve their own circumstances as they have
firsthand knowledge of the situation and what needs to happen to change things for the better.
Community development involves understanding the power dynamics and social relations that
govern the relationships between various structures and diverse communities and working to
achieve social justice through structural change .For example the issue of violence prevalence
in Epworth where women are physically abused by their husbands , a social community worker

must focus on the social issues that create these conditions. Through community development a
social worker may try to address the policies that perpetuate violence, and address the cultural
norms that does not empower women but rather make them vulnerable to their husbands since
they are expected to be submissive wives or organize groups to fight against violent conflicts
through campaigns. This therefore shows that community development strategy can be used to
address violent conflicts through campaigns against violence and demonstrations.
Domestic violence is prevalent in Zimbabwe specially gender based violent. Violent at micro and
macro levels presents huge social problems to humanity. Some parts of Zimbabwe like Epworth
have high rate of violence, every day women are abused by their husbands and these cases are
not reported usually. For example a woman in Epworth was continuously beaten by her husband
and the husband threatened to kill her if she reported the issue to the police, being beaten was
now like something which is normal .The neighbors are the ones who noticed the bruises and
reported the issue thats when she admitted that her husband was abusing her .In cases like these
social workers employ social action as a way to deal with these case. Campaigns against violence
are put in place and slogans are used. Thus social action is a strategy that can be used to address
violent conflicts.
Social action is a strategy that can be used by social workers inorder to address the prevalence of
violence.The main objective of social action is to enhance the welfare of society through
modifying social policy and the functioning of social structure ,working to obtain greater
progress and better services.Social actions main goal is to improvethe masses conditions and to
prevent changes that are considered negative. The strategy aims to promote collective action to
challenge existing socio-political and economic structures and processes, to explore and explain
the power realities of people's situations and, through this twin approach, develop both critical
perspectives of the status quo and alternative bases of power and action. Advocacy role is one of
the most fundamental functions of a social worker and a social worker whilst advocating for
victims of violent must proposepoliicy solutions to the issue of violence .There are different
types of advocacy, there is mass advocacy where any type of action is taken by large groups
through petitions or demonstrations. Social action becomes more effective through mass
mobilization which is a change achieved through mobilization of a mass of people who advocate
a specific change, assuming that the mass creates power .A social worker in order to address

violence may employ one of the social actions principle of dramatizing and through this
principle catchy songs can be used to stimulate the enthusiasm of the people so that they can
stand up against the perpetrators together. Thus social action is a strategy used by social workers
to address the prevalence of violent conflicts.
In conclusion one can conclude that community work employs different strategies like
community development and social action in order to address problems that are being faced by
the communities. In order to deal with violent conflicts a social worker using the community
development approach can develop community based programs to provide sexual or domestic
violence education, and using social action dramatizing can be employed as a method to tackle
violent conflicts in communities whereby a social worker and the community can make use of
catchy songs and make powerful speeches in order to discourage people from engaging in violent
crimes.

Reference

Darryl, V.M (1995) .Journal of community development society .Vol 24, No 2 .Publications
Archive

Hartl.

(1993)

Popple .K (1995) Analyzing Community Work, its Theory and Practice .Buckingham: Open
University Press
Singh, R.R (1984) Social Action: Some Reflections Reorienting Social Work Education .New
Delhi: Harnam Publications