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The Positive Impacts Of Community Development In South Africa

Decent Essays

Community development around the world is being practised by various entities, addressing various socio-economic issues that are unique to different communities worldwide. According to Bhattacharyya (2004), community development initiatives are dominant in democratic countries. There are various initiatives that have led to significant shifts in the wellbeing of communities using different development tools to develop communities around the world. South African, which is a democratic country has one of the highest income gabs in the world. The country’s income difference is evident in many townships/rural areas around the country’s underdeveloped communities. The positive impact of community development may be seen in the fields of public health, micro-macro development, food and violence (Bhattacharyya, 2004).
Community development is multi-faceted. Bhattacharyya (2004) argues that community development is not a distinct field and that not everything that is being done by developers to improve communities should not be regarded as community development. Bhattacharyya (2004) states that it should only be regarded as community development if the improvement pursues solidarity and agency which can be achieved through adhering to the principles of self-help, felt needs and participation.
In previous community development research, Bhattacharyya (2004) finds that locality has been used as a proxy for community development. He argues that it is becoming analytically irrelevant

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