The main challenge for community development efforts in post-conflict societies with large numbers of traumatized people is to create hope and reconciliation through community healing and participatory democratic community development. The community development efforts should aim at creating a set of values and practices conducive to peaceful co-existence through non-violent conflict resolution, thereby reducing the alarming levels of violence in post-conflict societies.This article describes a community development approach in Guatemala to supporting people affected by organized violence and torture. Through a description of the theoretical and practical work carried out in post-conflict Guatemala through the ODHAG-RCT programme, the article focuses on the relation between the three main pillars of the community development approach; healing, empowerment, and development. The community development approach uses health as the entry strategy to its aim of social and political transformation. Traditionally, health is not perceived as being linked with social and political transformation, but rather as the means to increase the health condition of community members. However, this article will show how community social psychology can be integrated in an understanding of political and economic community development. Hence itisarguedthattheoutcomeofthecommunitydevelopmentapproach ismeasuredthrough observationsof the group as well as the political and economic developments of the community, and not only through a decrease in health related symptoms.
Paamiut Youth Voice (PYV) er et deltagende aktionsforskningsprojekt (Participatory Action Research, PAR), gennemført med de unge i Paamiut, Kalaallit Nunaat (Grønland). Målet med projektet er at undersøge de unges visioner om og ønsker til, hvordan trivsel og deltagelse kan øges. Projektet blev udviklet og iværksat som en del af det overordnende community mobiliseringsprojekt, Paamiut Asasara, og blev baseret på et lokalt formuleret ønske om viden om – og inddragelse af – de unge. Der blev efterspurgt forskning i, hvordan man bedre kan integrere de unge i samfundet, øge deres generelle trivsel, mindske social eksklusion, samt øge deres oplevelse af samhørighed i samfundet. 61 unge i alderen 12-24 deltog i forskningsprojektet. De unges opfattelse og oplevelse af trivsel blev undersøgt, med særlig fokus på individuelle og community-styrker og ressourcer, samt deres ideer og drømme om, hvordan trivsel og deltagelse kan øges. De unge deltog i fokusgruppeinterviews, individuelle interviews, udfyldelse af et spørgeskema, arrangering af et borgermøde samt i overvejelser omkring undersøgelsens metode og design og analysen af data. Analysen af data pegede på en række vigtige betingelser for at øge de unges trivsel, og de unges ønsker om social samhørighed, social støtte og åben kommunikation, samt fritidsaktiviteter. Desuden udtrykte de unge ønsker om muligheder for rådgivning samt bedre muligheder for arbejde.
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