The accomplishment of effective community development : a case study of methods applied in the community of Zwelihle

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The goal of this study is to determine, which of two development approaches, i.e., thebottom-up approach or the top-down approach (or social development and socialengineering, respectively) have been successful in determining the felt needs of thecommunity of Zwelihle.For this purpose a needs assessment was executed in Zwelihle community, close toHermanus, in September 2001. The assessment procedure was done according to thePriority index and Community profile method (P+C-index), applying the Schutte scaleduring semi-structured focus group interviews. Qualiquantitative data (quantifies aqualitative response) was gathered from five different neighbourhoods in Zwelihle, eachwith different priority needs.Previously to this study, another community development project, the housing project,was conducted in 1998 in the community of Zwelihle and more specifically in ThamboSquare, presently named Airfield, fulfilling a housing need. The present study onlyconsidered the first three phases of the development process (needs assessment,problem identification and planning) to be relevant, of which all these phases have beenexecuted and completed by the housing project. However, no further follow-up phasesof the community development process have been executed since the completion of theP+C index needs assessment.Each of these two involvements in the Zwelihle community had a different approach todevelopment. The former, the P+C index needs assessment, had a social developmentapproach (bottom-up), and the latter, the housing project, had a social engineeringapproach (top-down). By applying a measuring tool, the principles and features ofeffective community development (Swanepoel, 1997:3) during the initial, needsassessment phase, an attempt was made to determine which of the two approacheshave been successful in determining the community's felt needs and in so doing havemanaged an effective community development process.The finding was that the P+C-index method, as far as the first phase of communitydevelopment was concerned, applied all the community development principles andreflected the features of effective community development. Although the outcome orcharacteristics of these applied principles and features may not be recognised ormeasured, this present study has realised these principles and features during theneeds assessment phase. The housing project has fallen short in applying any ofthese principles and did therefore fail to reflect any characteristics of an effectivedevelopment process.The differences between the two approaches essentially are that the P+C indexempowered the community, by allowing the members at grassroots level participationin order for them to personally express their felt needs during focus group interviews.The 'housing project' on the contrary has allowed the community at grassroots levelparticipation but only to a certain extent, by filling out questionnaires identifying a realneed (top down need identification). The community leaders, though, were allowed tospeak on their behalf.In conclusion, it may be possible to determine which of the two mentioned approacheshave been successful in determining the felt needs of the community of Zwelihle and indoing so have been effective, by socially developing the people.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University