Vincent Ntema Sazita
The 21st century requires that regional and local authorities of the world brace up for the development of the communities they serve.
More so, they are entangled in a battlefield and inconspicuous slow development of these statute bodies that were apportioned to relevant authorities that need to wear them and propel development among these communities.
All communities regardless of how much effort or less effort are influenced by factors that are inconspicuous and that need a microscopic view and discernment. The factors that have a bearing on influencing the community in a tandem or in a parallelogram are therefore observed to be more pressing than they can be just left to flow unevenly.
Those factors as the case may be have a significant impact on the roadmap of regional and local authorities to develop the community.
The influence these factors have on the community can as well impact on the ability to succeed or fail in the development process of regional and local government.
Human elements, social factors, environment, geography and resources are crucial in community development. Each factor discussed here is only a factor that may possibly be present in a community that can contribute towards community development. Depending on the circumstances present in a community, some may have more of an influence than others and some may not even be present.
These factors are in four categories and the first ones are those known as human elements and these are significant in the process of community development because they are based on societal fabric as these factors make up their memberships.
Where there is no community memberships, communities will not exist and this is exacerbated by the diversities of these populations or societies.
Human factors include participation, which is mandatory in community development. Participation should not be forced on the community and its members.
The disadvantage of community forced participation will result into resentment and sabotage of efforts that are directed for their developmental processes. Interest is one of the key elements of human factors and this revolves around how many people will actually care about their community. When the community shows interest, there is a will to put more effort for envisioned improvements. Thirdly, there is leadership which can be viewed as a guiding principle that guides the community through actions to be undertaken. The actions of a community leader and what the community can do lead to community development. Where the leadership is frail and ineffective, especially with flaws in communication and decision-making, this will destroy trust and credibility of community members.
Positive leadership adheres to community being together and will lead to its success in community development and in efforts that will lead to their self-improvements. A community which is divided will not develop at the same wavelength. The fourth issue is the attitude, which entails that the fact that community members are willing to participate in collective actions does not mean that their attitudes will match in any given situation. It must be noted that people in a given situation may not like doing things that they are not willing to do. Importantly though, they will do it out of necessity, duty, morality or influence from other quotas. The negative part of attitudes is that they can influence the effectiveness of efforts and inputs especially if there are conflicting attitudes involved in people. On the fifth floor is the errors factor which reminds us that every human being is subjected to making error and no one is perfect. Even the most cautious person, will eventually be subjected to making errors. Making errors should be viewed as something that can eventually be experienced at any time. It is like an accident. No one expects an accident until it finds place. Human error should be expected and given the same treatment like any other issue that influences a situation. Failure should not be treated as a guarantee for error.
Social factors cannot only be seen as affecting the community, but can as well, affect business and decisions in a community. Discrimination and prejudice of people of the same country are engrained in the society and impels the actions of society without cause and effect. These result in creating and blocking the decision-making process. Discrimination can be habitual in a certain community and therefore hindering community development. There is need for strong leadership that ensures inclusivity of society in all the actions of government are equitably spread over an extended field of varieties of societal fabrics that exist in a given country.
Expectations of society are mainly pressing in the minds of those expecting actions to be physically seen. Expectations can force a society to perceive what is acceptable in terms of actions, appearance, beliefs, and behavior in the public eye. These actions when achieved and there is success; will result in the community to be full supportive of regional and local councils. The next floor leads us to culture present in the community that is influential. The people will come up with their own beliefs, expectations, moral issues, and attitudes of different levels. Culture implores how the community’s development process propels based on how these cultural norms are practised. The next floor in the social factors has religious beliefs developed over a time. Therefore, religious beliefs in a community should not be taken lightly. Political problems like corruption influence community development negatively. Wielding political power in a society can as much affect actions that are against the political will and may slow or halt community development.
Environment and geographical locations will influence the actions that the whole community may want to pursue and is very difficult to control the whole community unless reinforcements on resources and manpower to reach out to those communities are closely observed and enforced. Legal restrictions enforced for a particular reason, can also be regarded as problematic for community development. Legal restrictions on community development are enforced to prevent overstepping of boundaries and these may not in themselves ensure that social rules could be followed by society. Legal restrictions promote development leaders to be more aligned to changes and efforts that are possible and beneficial to the community. Not all community development will include government involvement. Local economic factors influence community development. Socioeconomic status prevalent, e.g. available resources, may influence the willingness of community members to participate in the community development process as this can be attached to the economy. Poverty is one of the most common issues that community development targets to improve poverty. Economies affected by poverty need community development the most and as such; their instability scuppers community development to be achieved.
A lack of needed resources for the community creates problems for a community that is to develop. Significant delays in a community’s efforts to develop and improve itself hinges on the absence of the needed resources perceived as valuable aspects when engaging community development. There is no way any project can be accomplished in the community without the availability of necessary resources such as social, financial, human, and material. Lack of resources may not necessarily be an issue, but also the abundance of resources can be an issue because it can also lead to wasting of these abundant resources if not managed with diligent care.
Sustainability of resource influences community development. When there is an aspect of unsustainable usage of resources, impoverished effects on the community’s environment wears out available necessary resources in the manner they are being handled or acquired. There are benefits in the sustainable usage and handling of needed resources available.