Spirituality as dimension of integrated community development

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Following the democratic elections in 1994, many South Africans are still suffering dueto the country's inability to meet the challenges of peace-making, reconciliation andnation building, and dealing with socio-economic realities such poverty and inequality.It is in this context where 'personal problems [are] becoming public issues (Sacco,1999:3) that the researcher posed the questions: What additional undisclosed/hiddenresources can be uncovered to be utilised in meeting the challenge? How can we aspractitioners in the field of community development contribute constructively to thisprocess? One such a resource is the untapped spiritual potential of people. A focus onpeople's spiritual potential will bring another dimension to people and communitydevelopment and could proof invaluable in helping communities to better utilise theirinner strengths and knowledge. Translated into practice, it would require an in-depthand research-based creative, non-prescriptive bottom-up approach to and knowledgeof community development to prompt practitioners to acknowledge and utilise thespiritual dimension of the community development practice (cf. Weyers, 1991:130–149; Ife, 1998:xiv).Inconceivably, notwithstanding the increased recognition of spirituality as animportant dimension of working with individuals and communities, the dimension ofspirituality has not been included or fully developed as an integral component ofcommunity development practices. A literature survey clearly indicated that, thoughtraditionally the key role-players in the field of social development have beencommunity and social work practitioners in faith-based organisations and churchesalike, little or no attention is paid to spirituality in current community developmentliterature and practice (Ver Beek, 2003:31). Confronted with this deficiency, in thisstudy the researcher argued for a convergence of the three disciplines of (1) socialwork community development, (2) the newly emerging discipline of spirituality and (3)practical theology. Since practical theology recognises both the fields of spiritualityand community development as basis for their praxis focusing on poverty andsuffering, justice and liberation, it was further asserted that the field of practicaltheology offers a home for the development of an integrated framework forcommunity development. Thus the goal of the study was threefold: - To theorise the inter-relationship between spirituality, theology and communitydevelopment, building a triangular theoretical construct between the disciplines ofsocial work, spirituality and practical theology.- To explore the practice of transforming people and communities throughincorporating a spiritual dimension into an integrated community developmentapproach.- To propose a praxis framework for the incorporation of spirituality in communitydevelopment.An inter-disciplinary action research design was utilised to follow a cyclical processconsisted or a preliminary literature search, and a field study which involved 'on site'visits (village walks) in the pilot and two sample communities, healing retreats andcapacity building worksessions. Subsequently, an in-depth literature study on the topicsof spirituality, community development and transformation as covered in the disciplinesof social work and practical theology, was undertaken. The findings indicatedspirituality as source of survival and hope; at the heart of community development(and therefore a legitimate focus of the action research project) and lastly as source ofrenewal for community development practitioners. Other key findings were thecentrality of relationships and transformation; and the importance of a radical shiftingof the focus from previous top-down problem-/project-/programme-centred models tounlocking the potential interconnectedness/relationship between God, people andcreation as the core substance of participative, transformational development. Thesefindings were utilised in the proposal for a relational praxis framework for communitytransformation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University