Community development is a branch of social work that focuses on larger social systems and social change. It has often been referred to as Macro Practice and has been recognized for many years as one of the main methods of social work. Sampson (1999) has opined that community organization is “The ability of a community structure to realize the common values of its residents and maintain effective social controls." Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. These skills are often concentrated around building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. Harris (2001, pg. 1) has postulated that the key purpose of community development is “To work with communities experiencing disadvantage, enabling them to collectively, identify needs and rights, clarify objects and take action to meet them within a democratic framework, which represents the needs and rights of others.”
In order to comprehend where community development stands today, it is helpful to view its history. Community Development has often been an unequivocal and inherent goal of community people, aiming to achieve, through cooperative effort, a better life and has occurred throughout history. In the United States (US), the first organized attempt to coordinate and standardize social services was made in 1877 with the founding of the Buffalo Charity Organization Society. In 1887 the first federated financial drives originated in the US and in 1909 the first community welfare councils were established. In the 18th Century the work of the early socialist thinker Robert Owen (1771-1851), sought through Community Planning, to create the perfect community at New Lanark and at later utopian communities such as Oneida in the US.
In Australia, the New Australia Movement prompted groups of people to come together to create intentional...