Community Social Work: Fostering Citizenship and Combating Exclusion

Community Social Work and Democratic Citizenship

The primary challenge for community social workers is to maintain democratic citizenship as a central focus in all actions. The ability to organize and collectively defend rights or achieve objectives is essential for survival and influence in democratic societies.

Key Stages in Community Social Work:

1. Analyze challenges and problems from the perspective of democracy, equality, and citizen opportunities within the life context.
2. Establish internal community empowerment objectives and external community goals for collective action.
3. Design community and collective actions, considering dynamics, interaction, communication, and evaluation methodologies.
4. Conduct a final evaluation of acquired training and the social worker's professional performance.

Addressing Inequality and Social Exclusion

Trends in social dislocation and exclusion in complex societies necessitate revitalizing community social work interventions. The theoretical link between community and social inclusion is rooted in human cooperation, a core element of personal and collective identity. Risks of exclusion and missed opportunities often stem from relational deficits and an inability to undertake collective action to overcome challenges.

Community social work techniques aim to create community and foster individual achievement, recognizing the importance of cooperation and interaction. They also facilitate collective decision-making and joint action towards predetermined goals.

Trends in Social Dislocation and Exclusion

Key issues, opportunities, and objectives for community social work, focusing on internal community life, personal achievement, and external collective action, can be summarized in three areas:

1. Globalization

• Challenges: Industrial dislocation, increased training demands, asymmetric power distribution, migration flows.
• Opportunities: Mobility in work, broader interaction possibilities.
• Internal Community Objectives: Strengthen education and professional training; educate for coexistence in diverse environments.
• Community Action Objectives: Improve educational system performance; enhance environmental and technological contexts.

2. Labor Market

• Challenges: Deregulation, increased flexibility, informal economy.
• Opportunities: Greater career versatility, new opportunities for women.
• Internal Community Objectives: Increase social capital and community bonds; establish mutual aid and solidarity mechanisms during unemployment.
• Community Action Objectives: Advocate for decent working conditions; create training and retraining activities utilizing community resources.

3. Residential Exclusion

• Challenges: Substandard housing, exclusion, poverty.
• Opportunities: Urban area redevelopment.
• Internal Community Objectives: Strengthen community ties.
• Community Action Objectives: Collaborate with administrations; organize existing community resources to address issues like access to water and electricity.