Essay on Community Welfare Development

Community welfare and development is the deliberate action taken by inhabitants of a community to work hand in hand to guide the future of their communities, and the creation of a set of techniques for helping community people in the process. A significant portion of community welfare and enhancement efforts provide help to residents be conscious of what is happening and recognize some of the decisions they have to make to achieve the future they desire for the community. Community welfare centers are among the most ever-changing social institutions worldwide. Through their efforts to enhance locality based intervention, these centers keep people at the center of development. In doing so, they provide a link between people, governments, and various stakeholders that create the communities in which they are located. Throughout the globe, social workers act as the primary professional leaders of a very efficient community centers movement.

Community development focuses on self-help and voluntary fellowship among members of a disadvantaged communities or sectors of society. It is also a learning process to whose main aim is to increase social and political awareness of the causes of problems and make community leaders address those problems. Community welfare and development is a significant tool to the giant processes of social and economic change in a democratic society. In the DVD a place of their own we see community welfare development practices carried in Kampala Uganda. This community welfare plan was started by the government through the ministry of health. The program tackles issues in reproductive health among the youth in the country.

Kampala is the Largest city in Uganda; the city is the financial hub Uganda meaning it is densely populated. With the increasing rural-urban migration Kampala is a buzzing metropolis with people finding a way with life. Interaction of people is therefore vast, and with urbanization on the high, the spread of sexually transmitted disease is high. Uganda is also an unstable country because of its past political history of military coups and civil wars. The countrys economic situation is even in dire circumstances with a large number of the population striving for poverty. Rural, urban migration has led to an increase in people in the country which has led to the cropping up of informal settlements in the city. With a large chunk of the youth lacking sexual education and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases plaguing the population, the government formed Naguru teenage center.

Naguru teenage center is located in Kampala in Naguru health center. The centers role is to teach the youth about reproductive health and sensitize them about issues regarding their sexuality. Uganda is a country where HIV and AIDS is an epidemic, the rate of spread of the deadly disease hit dangerous figures with Kampala being mostly affected. The cause of the wide range of the disease is a large number of people lack the knowledge about their sexuality. In schools where sexual education is supposed to be taught, teachers find that the topic is not in their jurisdiction. Parents also expect the matter to be taught in schools, so they do not touch the case. Cultural values have decreased meaning lessons by the old to the young are a hard thing to come by. Their offspring find themselves growing up without any knowledge of sexual reproduction. When they reach puberty stage, it becomes a problem because it is a stage of curiosity and experiments. With zero knowledge about sexuality, they practice unprotected sex which results in STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Uganda has the most substantial number of teen pregnancies which is a testament to how dire the situation is.

Naguru teenage center was formed to create awareness to the youth by teaching them about their sexuality, about contraceptives and the technique on how to use them and on top of that it provides treatment and counseling youths. These services are conducted by the child which makes the interaction between them friendly and more open because youths understand themselves better. It has made the youth come out in large numbers to the center, and many of them have learned, and others have been treated. With the decentralization of most resources by the government youth friendly FM Radios have been founded and give the youth awareness about Naguru teenage center. It has caused a significant reduction in the spread of HIV and AIDS and any sexual reproduction issues, which is good news. There is also the formation of television programs that tackle the same matter which also makes people from different parts of the country have access to the service.

The government also provides contraceptives including female condoms which make the program more successful. There also other programs which have been created which allow the youths to connect with freedom. They include watching movies a pass time which the youths love and picnics which make the program more enticing to the youth. The program has able community workers and doctors who make the services top quality which plays a big role in making it a success. The workers have learned a way to adequately address the youths needs from those who find out they are HIV positive to those with unwanted pregnancies. The success of the program with the youths has led to a section of the middle-aged also taking part in the service. The success of this program has also led to other countries in Africa notice and sending observers to Uganda to learn how it operates and others taking part in it to have the exclusive experience. The youth also have contributed to the success of the program by having the willingness to learn and participating in the programs created. More importantly, they have taken the critical lessons learned and put them into practice and the results are there to be seen. Electronic media has also contributed a great deal in making the program a success with the programs enlightening the use and making them aware of the project.

The process has mainly been a success, but a lot of the basic principles need to be changed or approached differently. The project, for example, should enhance its counseling tools to enable the problem-stricken youth to open up more. A good example being girls with unwanted pregnancies who have been rejected by their families and are feeling lost or having cynical ideas on how to deal with the baby. It will give them more confidence and may even make them perform another test to know their status. The monitoring of the tutors by more experienced seniors should be done regularly to ensure the issues being discussed are essential and up to date. The interaction of the youth should be done in friendly ways with more freedom to enable the youth to open up on broad issues affecting them. The exchange programs from various countries also help by sharing ideas and sealing all loopholes that will hinder the success of the program. The relationship with stakeholders in the country and outside the country should be strengthened to enable adequate funding of the program. Advice should also be sought when necessary and must be given by appropriate people. The critical decision should be discussed in detail before they are solved, for example, abortion should be conducted when there is a need to and not when the person wants it to be done it will paint a bad picture, and it's going against the primary aim of the project. The government should also make funds or any other materials like drugs and contraception readily available to enable the smooth running of the program. The sessions should be made even friendlier to entice more youth to turn up and ask anything with freedom. Sexual reproduction should be taught in school to create awareness to the child at an early stage.

The success of this program will be a massive wake-up call to other countries with the same problem, and the will soon follow Ugandas steps. It also shows how vital community welfare development programs help better lives in the society. With a real action plan, any problem can be solved in a community through community development. It creates a win situation for both the state and its inhabitants and more importantly future generations.

CONCLUSION

This program has been highly successful due to the active participation of different groups to fulfill various goals. The youth though have played a large part by having the willingness to participate in the program. The program will help Uganda advance as a country and will also help future generations be on the safer side because awareness levels will be high. The youth will be able to build healthy relationships and avoid risk-taking because they know the repercussions and would not want to face them.

The future of Uganda looks promising. The creation of such structures creates a good environment for human relationship and enhances body health. The awareness created saves a lot of people from physical and mental suffering.

REFERENCES

Bolan, Richard. S. 1987. Social welfare, dependency, and social development, Social Development Issues11(1):3-20.

Estes, Richard J. 1993a. Group Work in International Perspective, in David Fike and Barbara Rittner (Eds.) Working From Strengths: The Essence of Group Work (Miami: Barry University Center for Group Work Studies).

Lewis, Elizabeth. 1983. Social Group Work in Community Life: Group Characteristics and Worker Role, Social Work with groups 6(2).