This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (March 2023).
Author: guanyinmiao
A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting. Carlos Castaneda.
The future of community work and community development
Throughout the past three episodes, we’ve talked about community work and community development in the present. Today, we’ve gathered three guests – Ng Bee Leng (Director, Community Development), Chuah Xing Jun (Research Assistant), and Emeritus Professor Satvinder Singh (Research Consultant) – in a more open-ended conversation about the future. In particular, we zoom into measurement. That is, how do we know if we’re making progress? And how do we measure the effectiveness of our community-building efforts? We hear specifically about the TCI or the Thriving Community Index, which we previewed in the last episode.
“Collecting stories, discovering places, and connecting people”: Participatory research, practice research, and Photovoice
There is broad consensus that research, evaluation, and evidence-based practice are important. However, to what extent are they compatible with community work and community development, especially when data and knowledge are extracted from participants? Today, we explore both participatory research and practice research with Ng Bee Leng (Director, Community Development) and Woo Pei Yi (Senior Assistant Director, Community Development), specifically through the use of Photovoice. We learn about the methodology, findings, and future plans.
February 2023 global news roundup: Chinese spy balloons and Russian geopolitical transgressions; UK political developments; Deadly Turkish and Syrian earthquakes; West Bank violence and simmering global discontent
This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (February 2023).
Community development in social work practice
What do community work and community development look like in practice? More specifically, what do they look like in social work practice? In this episode, I’ll first chat with Palvindran S/O Jayram (Manager, Community Hubs), who worked as a social worker before moving to community work. Next, Jermaine speaks with a resident, Lydia Susiyanti (Resident and Community Activator, 643 Community Hub), who first started as a community volunteer. A big theme you’ll hear from both conversations is that role demarcation and definitions, often framed through the lens of traditional social work practice, are not always clear or helpful. In fact, they could even stigmatise.
socialservice.sg 