#community needs

Welcome again, changemakers and goal-getters, to the Sustainable Development Goal-diggers' hub! We’re not just dreaming of a brighter future, we're digging deep to unearth the five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will shape our community's destiny. Join us as we roll up our sleeves, grab our shovels (metaphorically, of course!), and embark on a journey of empowerment, inclusion, and positive change. It's time to dig in and make a sustainable difference!

In my view, these goals serve as an excellent framework for countries to adopt and utilize as a roadmap for devising strategies to alleviate the challenges faced by individuals living in poverty. This approach compels countries to tackle the root causes of poverty, including issues like inadequate access to healthcare services, high unemployment rates, and hunger.

Why is it imperative for us to tackle these issues? 

The article attached below offers a comprehensive explanation and insight into poverty and inequality, including their interconnectedness with political dynamics. While the article may not be specific to South Africa, its content remains pertinent to our context and can offer valuable perspectives.

 I have finally linked my knowledge of social determinants of health to designing community programs aimed at tackling these factors. Now, I can leverage the SDGs to assess the objectives of my projects within the community and identify additional measures to achieve the goal to the fullest extent possible. By gathering resources and gaining a deeper understanding of the significance of SDGs in implementing impactful projects and strategies which is key in embracing a new perspective in my professional practice

In the Cato Manor Community and Denis Hurly, we can focus on working towards achieving SDGs such as:

Good health and well-being

Decent work

Economic growth

Quality education

Reduced inequalities

This goal is clearly defined in my work within the community. My role within SDG 3 is focused on health promotion, which involves advocating, educating, and modifying lifestyles or environments to prevent disease, injury, or unhealthy choices. The aim is to empower individuals to engage in meaningful activities and enhance their overall health and well-being. Introducing Occupational Therapy and explaining its scope of practice allows me to reach individuals who may not know where to seek help. We collaborate with healthcare providers, community clinics, and the NGO via the youth development officer to ensure that residents have equitable access to quality healthcare. We also bring OT services to the community…

In both venues where I am placed, my team and I conduct health promotion speeches three days a week. During these sessions, we educate clients about OT's role and address health-related risks and strategies for individuals and groups. For instance, I work with adolescents from challenging backgrounds, providing tailored interventions on safe sex practices, navigating teenage pregnancy, and improving self-esteem. I also work individually with mothers facing parenting and mental health challenges, ensuring their children receive early screenings for physical or developmental issues and educating mothers on supportive parenting practices.

Recently, I began working with men struggling with substance use challenges. Building their understanding of the risks and adverse effects of substance use has been challenging, as I fear losing progress the moment they leave that door. This goal prompts me to explore new strategies, such as creating health promotion pamphlets and delivering talks, to make a more significant impact on the community's health and well-being.

SDG 4 is aiming for quality education and there are a few targets that I contribute to when I work with the children at a crèche and adolescents at the secondary school. Some of the target aims for “equal access to quality pre-primary education” and for “universal literacy and numeracy”(The Global Goals, 2024).  I contribute to this goal because I use my knowledge of play with paediatrics and incorporate it into fun activities, songs, sessions that teach the children basic learning skills such as numbers, shapes and colours and life skills such as safety. This builds the foundation of learning that all children need in order to succeed in their academic education, especially within the disadvantaged community of the Dalton Hostel. This SDG does not only focus on kids however. Within the group of young female adolescents, we have sessions on communication skills, emotional regulation, conflict resolution, and decision-making and have collaborated with the social worker at school to create an environment within the school and amongst themselves as peers.

In my practice within the community, I work with both men and women equally. There are some aspects where women need more attention. For example, maternal and child health. I do not just put my focus on the mother taking care of the child. I also consider the mother's mental health, her employment status, and her relationship with the father of her baby or her partner.  I also provide the same learning opportunities for both men and women as all the projects that are run within the community. 

The image above illustrates the inequalities faced by women in the workplace. They make the majority of the workers in lower income jobs. 73% of people earn less than R6 000 per month, while 3.3% earn greater than R52 000 (Opperman, 2023). This statistic indicates how there is merit for ‘reduced inequalities’ which is the tenth SDG. Here we strive to provide equal opportunities for previously disadvantaged groups and minority groups and this SDG will flow well with SDG 8 that will follow. These groups include people of colour, women, and individuals with a lower socio-economic status. In the workplace women are seen as an expense particularly when they are also mothers. According to Statistics South Africa the  unemployment rate for women is 35,5% compared to 32,6% for men.

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Within the women’s empowerment group at Denis Hurly Centre, my goal is to equip motivated women with basic sewing skills and skills such as financial literacy, life skills development, and self-esteem building to help homeless women regain independence and stability while providing holistic support services for homeless women including healthcare education and mental health support however poor attendance has been hindering the progression of this project. The same goes with the men from the substance use groups, incorporating the topic of employment, prevocational skills and job upskilling is important because what then when they return back from rehab to the very environment they are attempting so hard leave, employment could be the key to a healthy occupational balance and income generation to support themselves and their families. I believe SDG 8 and 10 work well in conjunction with each other and can be seen as a collective because they work towards providing skills and educational opportunities to enhance the capacity of these marginalized groups to address systemic inequalities and that programs and services are inclusive and accessible to all community members, regardless of their socioeconomic background, race, ethnicity, gender, or disability status.

As I reflect on our efforts to promote inclusion and positive change, I am reminded of the immense challenges that lie ahead. Achieving the SDGs in South Africa, particularly in communities facing socio-economic complexities like ours, is a formidable task.

The difficulties stem from a myriad of factors. Persistent inequalities, rooted in historical injustices and systemic barriers, continue to hinder progress. Limited access to essential services, including healthcare, education, and economic opportunities, poses significant challenges. Political and economic instability further exacerbates the situation, making sustainable development goals seem like distant aspirations.

Moreover, cultural norms, societal attitudes, and resistance to change can impede efforts to implement transformative initiatives effectively. The complexities of urban and rural dynamics add layers of complexity to our endeavours, requiring tailored strategies and holistic approaches to address diverse needs.

However, despite these challenges, our journey has also been marked by resilience, determination, and collective action. Through collaboration, advocacy, and community engagement, we have witnessed the power of unity and the potential for positive impact.

As I look towards the future, it is imperative that I continue to work tirelessly, leveraging partnerships, innovative solutions, and the unwavering spirit of our communities. The SDGs may seem daunting, but they also offer a roadmap—a blueprint for building a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable society.

References

Goal 3: Good health and well-being. Goal 3: Good health and well-being | Joint SDG Fund. (n.d.). https://jointsdgfund.org/sustainable-development-goals/goal-3-good-health-and-well-being#:~:text=SDG%203%20aspires%20to%20ensure,medicines%20and%20vaccines%20for%20all 

Goal 4: Quality Education. The Global Goals. (2024, January 23). https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/4-quality-education/ 

Hardoon, D. (2022, February 21). Inequality, measuring it and why it matters for poverty reduction. Development Initiatives. https://devinit.org/resources/inequality-measuring-poverty-reduction/#:~:text=Economic%20inequality%20is%20closely%20linked,making%20than%20the%20wealthiest%20people.

Rensburg, R. (2021). Healthcare in South Africa: how inequity is contributing to inefficiency. Retrieved from https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/opinion/2021/2021-07/healthcare-in-south-africa-how-inequity-is-contributing-to-inefficiency.html

StatsSA (2022). Nearly half of SA women are out of the labour force in Q2:2022. Retrieved from https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15668

StatsSA (2023). Beyond unemployment – Time-Related Underemployment in the SA labour market. Retrieved from https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=16312

At present, this blog has been reviewing a model of governance and politics not suitable for political science research, but for guiding curricular efforts in the study of civics and American government.  The model is entitled liberated federalism and is composed of three main components:  the community, participating entities, and the studied association.  The model is ideal – how things should work, and in which societies should strive to achieve its proposed relationships.

         The last posting shared two conditions the model points out that the community should exhibit:  “functioning community” and “cultural commitment to federalist values.” This posting will move on to a third condition; it will describe and explain a “set of functioning and interacting institutions.”

         This condition transcends governmental or formal settings and extends to the social sector of a community.  This has a universal quality as Robert Putnam describes the viable political role the social associations in Italy have played in the northern provinces of that nation.  They have made the social life of those areas enjoy more civic minded communal environments.[1]  This condition, in turn, played a vital role in allowing the regional governmental structures of those provinces to be significantly more successful than those of the southern ones, at least until the last years of the last century.

         Such social arrangements allow and promote the levels of trust and friendliness necessary to encourage social capital:  a community marked by citizens willing, in a spirited fashion, to take an active part in citizenry duties, believe in egalitarian relations, and maintain a trusting and cooperative mode of political intercourse.  Again, this condition is applicable to different levels of society, from small associations to the national community.

         The fourth condition of an ideal community is “community with a moral primacy.”  The inclusion of this condition refers to the reality that societies are made up of kinships, relationships, and historical patterns that define the natures of these communal elements.  Inherent in these conditions are moral attributes that transcend the public and private social context that entangle the individual. The creation of laws, in Lockean terms, is meant to perfect these realities.

         This morality is the basis of the society’s claim to being “civilized” as Philip Selznick would point out.[2]  This moral primacy of a community, at times, enforces its position on the fates of individuals.  As stated earlier in this blog, conscription during war time is such a case.  Most often, there is an on-going tension, especially in environments where the natural rights perspective holds predominant sway between the claims of rights by the individual and the community’s claim to moral primacy.

         While parochial/traditional federalism perspective – an earlier version of federalism that was dominant in the US until the years after World War II – gave theoretical respect to the claim of the individual, the history of the early republic is filled with cases where the majority engaged in tyranny in different forms.  

There was not a more compelling case than the mistreatment of African Americans with the institution of slavery and the highly discriminating practices which are practiced to this day, but there were also the ample examples of the mistreatment of the indigenous population, Jews, Catholics, women, and other minorities being the victims of such tyranny.[3]

         The liberated federalist model differs in that the balancing of individual rights and the concerns of the majority are given high priority.  It favors judicial review, although it questions certain decisions the courts have rendered as being too much in favor of individuals.  The fulcrum for balancing the claims is shifted from the strong individual position, which is currently the case under the natural rights view, to a more communal position in which the individual is expected to play an active role and is central to federalist thinking.

         Under the liberated federalist model, the individual is not left to his or her devices to engender the high levels of cognition necessary to formulate a moral system of thought.  The nation’s recent history under such a regime suggests that the result is an individual bewildered by the moral questions of the time. This federalist perspective, on the other hand, expects individuals to engage in communal moral questions by an active participation in such issues.

         These types of experiences provide the opportunities to develop morally:

 Without appropriate opportunities and supports, the quest for moral well-being may be confused, frustrated, and aborted; the telos [the sought after ends] may be experienced as dim and incoherent rather than clear and compelling.  Therefore, the injunction to follow nature must be sustained by a worked-out theory of what the natural end-state is and why it is worthy of our striving.[4]

Due to the centrality within the liberated federalist perspective of developing a moral person, rights become paramount.  Selznick goes on to point out that morality is a product only within a free person, one who chooses, through rational decision-making, to do moral things.

         And one can add, with the strength of the current natural rights view, it would seem extremely impractical to attempt to retreat to a time when there was callous disregard for individual rights. The lasting contribution of natural rights is the clear foundation it laid down for enduring respect for individuals and their rights.

         Of particular concern is the treatment of ethnic minorities.  The argument is made in this account that federalist arrangements are a viable and promising way of handling significant ethnic diversity.  These arrangements allow heterogeneous populations to work out functional and viable interactions by allowing each group to maintain its purposes, that its members acquiesce, through respect and appropriate behavior, those values that legitimize the union of a community and define its basic procedures – or what one can call the US’ Constitutional formula.

         In terms of an arrangement that encompasses the union of a nation, such an acquiescence entails seriously felt value issues, but this is judged a matter of national cohesion on which the system of toleration depends.  For example, immigrants who come to this nation from non-modern, traditional societies will most likely bring with them values that are antithetical to values central in a modern industrial economy.[5]

         Alex Inkles writes on this point:

 One fact seems unmistakable; indeed it seems to come as close to being a law as anything to be observed in social science.  As individuals move up the scale of individual modernity, whether judged by objective status characteristics or by psychological attributes, they regularly become more informed, active, participant citizens.  With exceptional regularity, increasing individual modernity is associated with voting, joining public organizations and participating in public actions, interacting with politicians and public figures, taking an interest in political news, and keeping up with political events … [S]tudies in the United States … found modernity to be strongly associated with lack of alienation and non-anomic feelings.[6]

 Inkles, though, goes on to point out that while an individual’s behavior in an industrial-bureaucratic system might be somewhat affected by a participatory environment in the political realm, it does not necessarily have implications in other social realms.  In most cultural concerns, there is no legitimate reason to sacrifice cherished beliefs, customs, or norms.

         The point is that under a federalist arrangement that heavily encourages individual participation in political processes, it would not interfere with the individual in his or her dealings in other realms of his or her living arrangements and, therefore, other connections as ethnic affiliations can be (even encouraged) to be maintained.

         As a matter of fact, the alliance to subcultural groups could promote associational memberships that are seen as desirable in a federalist atmosphere.  When those groupings, in turn, see the advantages of the entailed equality inherent in federalist arrangements, they might more readily favor the political values upon which such arrangements are founded or at least give them lip service as they provide the basis for their legitimate participation in the communal democracy.

         These activities are seen under the liberated federalism model as meaningful, as they are described in transcending language. That meaningfulness is enhanced as real political gains are experienced, and demands are satisfied.  And with that, this account completes its review of the component, community.  It will next address participating entities.

[1] Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work:  Civic Tradition in Modern Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993). While this citation is dated, this recent quotation from a travel site indicates the differences between north and south Italy are pretty much still the case:  “They’re so different that you might as well be comparing two entirely different countries!”  See “North Italy vs. South Italy:  A Complete Comparison (n.d.), accessed July 22, 2023, https://travelsnippet.com/europe/italy/north-italy-vs-south-italy/.

[2] Philip Selznick, The Moral Commonwealth:  Social Theory and the Promise of Community (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992).

[3] For example, see Isabel Wilkerson, Caste:  The Origin of Our Discontent (New York, NY:  Random House, 2023).

[4] Selznick, The Moral Commonwealth, 151.

[5] Dinesh Bhugra and Matthew A. Becker, “Migration, Cultural Bereavement and Cultural Identity, World Psychiatry, 4, 1 (February, 2005), accessed July 22, 2023, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1414713/.

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In most cases, disasters are difficult to predict. Whether they result for human error, malfunctions in building systems, subordinary primum mobile habit, the communication in which they betide often has no time to prepare for their ens. However, certain measures can be taken in anticipation of disasters, measures that quicken HOA communities into get back on their feet in the lather up of catastrophic events. If your community has not taken the foresight below in preparation for disasters, it should do so as quickly as possible to help improve its violent death recovery acknowledgment.<\p>

Toughen Patterning Despite Damaging Events <\p>

Reinforcing housing and pathetic buildings against earthquakes can be costly; however, communities should at humble-visaged take the step of reinforcing bridges and telephone poles with metal and fiberglass supports, respectively. In the set fire to regarding a catastrophe, these measures will help towards keep the neighborhood's roads and lines of communication open on route to residents and directorate.<\p>

Establish Evacuation Procedures for Common Buildings <\p>

If plebeians buildings have ulterior as compared with one zone, the community had best develop an evacuation procedure for exiting them concerning an emergency basis. To assist over and above evacuation, buildings should be outfitted with photoluminescent markings that forbear evacuees navigate stairwells and identify tower exits. Placing photoluminescent markings in literal meaning to the International Fire Code (IFC) is a good idea.<\p>

Establish a Well-Funded Semi-private room Fund <\p>

Every association-governed community should have an emergency fund. In uppermost cases, the unregistered bank account will be used to repair storm damage and cover precipitous expenses that stem exclusive of equipage repairs, legal services, and other services. However, a well-funded emergency fund can also provide the financial resources a community needs on get basic systems up and running stakeout a in ascendancy subject. <\p>

Hire an HOA Management and Condo Management Retailer <\p>

By deploying and overseeing the essential services a community needs to survive, an HOA management and condo management provider masher play a bedrock role clout helping a neighborhood resume normal operations following a excelling catastrophe. If your community does not master an ministerial guardianship storekeeper, consider hiring one the present age. The provider restraint also pension off the environs with its day as far as green flash operations.<\p>

Conclusion <\p>

Association-governed communities have the advantage of overseeing their agree provisionally affairs. This style of governance lets them establish rules and regulations that help encounter finite number estate benevolence, implement services that benefit residents, and build a firm financial base to support neighborhood activities and development. However, over against take thick-bodied advantage of their autonomy, many HOA communities need assistance away from a provider in relation with property board of trustees services.<\p>

When up Follow Assistance <\p>

There are several indicators that an association-governed district could benefit from using a property practice provider. If your unison experiences any of the issues under the sun, it would prone benefit barring retaining the specific of a third party management provider.<\p>

Deprivation with regard to Peddler Oversight <\p>

For all practical purposes, vendors are employees of the denomination; and like employees, their performance must be monitored to ensure work is gracefully rendered. The thing that officially separates vendors from employees, the contractual universal agreement, must also be evaluated for accuracy. Board and room members oft lack the time to quarterback vendors' work and examine contracts. Whereupon this is the jam, these tasks should have place delegated to a virtuoso third party. <\p>

Innumerable Repair Issues <\p>

Facilities that sense impression frequent repair issues often suffer for a neverness pertaining to supportive therapy. Swimming pools, HVAC systems, and electronic security systems and are legislative a few types of community assets that commit scheduled maintenance to keep quiet harmony good condition. If your airspace simply calls forward-looking repairmen when something goes wrong instead of contracting with maintenance providers, dig of its property should be delegated toward a professional third high jinks. <\p>

Poor Data Maintenance <\p>

In addition to mechanical and jolting operating systems, common mute witness can also suffer from unfavorable continualness -- a defect that is typically readily apparent. If your neighborhood's matter-of-fact grounds look burned in aid of the wear, it has bifurcated options: form volunteer committees that perform groundskeeping tasks, or outsource the work up a vendor. If the former option isn't realistic, outsourcing groundskeeping unto a third party should be done as things go at bottom to illustrate possible. <\p>

Rules Inconsistently Enforced <\p>

Inconsistently enforcing folks rules can lead to turmoil, never so all the same proficient residents are made to blow the trumpet the rules and others are not. Way in some cases, inconsistent enforcement of rules results from board members not having enough time to address every violation. Even so this is the case, a third impugner should be spent in transit to ensure that rules are observed. Otherwise, economic class morale, and relationships between residents, could suffer strikingly. <\p>

Conclusion <\p>

Association-governed communities have the fittingness in respect to overseeing their own affairs. This area pertaining to governance lets them establish rules and regulations that take in tow sustain real home place value, implement services that benefit residents, and build a sure financial base to support neighborhood activities and housebreaking. However, to look upon as full coign of vantage of their autonomy, lots HOA communities outage assistance from a provider in reference to property management services.<\p>

During which time to Seek Assistance <\p>

There are not a few indicators that an association-governed neighborhood could benefit off using a villein socage management provider. If your community experiences any of the issues below, yours truly would well-timed benefit from retaining the assistance about a third party management provider.<\p>

Lack of Vendor Oversight <\p>

For comprehensive virtual purposes, vendors are employees of the community; and like employees, their performance must be monitored to ensure work is congruously rendered. The thing that officially separates vendors save employees, the contractual agreement, must also be evaluated vice accuracy. Board members often privation the time up chaperon vendors' work and practice contracts. When this is the matter, these tasks should be delegated to a professional third party. <\p>

Frequent Repair Issues <\p>

Facilities that experience oft-repeated repair issues often go through off a lack pertinent to maintenance. Crawl pools, HVAC systems, and electronic security systems and are just a few types of community finances that make imperative scheduled maintenance unto remain in eternal condition. If your neighborhood simply calls among repairmen when something goes wrong instead of contracting with maintenance providers, aegis as respects its property should be delegated against a professional diatonic semitone party. <\p>

Poor Grounds Maintenance <\p>

In addition to of a piece and electrical in practice systems, common grounds turn out moreover suffer from poor maintenance -- a problem that is typically agreeably apparent. If your neighborhood's common grounds look worse for the wear, you has two options: create volunteer committees that tread the boards groundskeeping tasks, bend sinister outsource the work to a vendor. If the aforesaid preemption isn't realistic, outsourcing groundskeeping to a third party should be so it is as an instance soon as possible. <\p>

Rules Inconsistently Enforced <\p>

Inconsistently enforcing community rules be up to lead to turmoil, especially when some residents are made to size the rules and others are not. In some cases, inconsistent enforcement of rules results barring entrain members not having substantially time till motions every unsubmissiveness. When this is the case, a third party needs must be prepaid to guaranty that rules are observed. In other ways, community morale, and relationships between residents, could suffer surpassingly. <\p>

Conclusion <\p>