Selected Topics - Community Organisation/Development

• Jan Ritchie's Publications [Bio]

Events

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Upcoming Events

Global policies and related documents

• Millennium Development Goals Report 2006
  "...This report is based on a master set of data that has been compiled by an Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators led by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, in response to the wishes of the General Assembly for periodic assessment of progress towards the MDGs. The Group comprises representatives of the international organizations whose activities include the preparation of one or more of the series of statistical indicators that were identified as appropriate for monitoring progress towards the MDGs."

Reports, guidelines and projects

• A New Equity Agenda? Reflections on the 2006 World Development Report, the 2005 Human Development Report and the 2005 Report on the World Social Situation
  Inequality is a key issue in debates about achieving the MDGs. There are still important issues which need to be resolved before one can design sensible and effective policies for addressing inequality. These issues are highlighted by three main questions: which inequalities matter; what drives inequalities, and how can they be affected by policy; which specific policy instruments work best where? This Overseas Development Institute paper examines these questions in the light of the 2006 World Development Report, the 2005 Human Development Report and the 2005 Report on the World Social Situation.
• Civil society and health system in Cuba
  This 2007 paper by Francisco Rojas Ochoa and Leticia Artiles Visbal on behalf of the Health Systems Knowledge Network, the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, was translated from the Spanish. Its purpose was "to provide information on Cuba's experience in social participation in the construction of a national health system, its development and control."
• Disease Control in Developing Countries
  Written by more than 350 specialists in diverse fields from around the world Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (2nd Edition), provides the results of in-depth research, offers analyses, and proposes context-sensitive policy recommendations to significantly reduce the burden of disease in developing countries and to improve the quality of life for all people.
• Getting Community Needs into District Development Plans
  The documents available here were prepared and produced by the Governance, Equity and Health (GEH) team from Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (IHRDC). They include An Operational Manual for District Management Teams which was developed to incorporate peoples’ concerns and preferences into conventional planning processes. The Community Voice Initiative Photo Album - A slide-show illustrating and describing the approach taken to develop local plans that address community priorities in health and Success and Challenges during Project Implementation.
• Health and the Millennium Development Goals
  WHO's report, Health and the Millennium Development Goals, presents data on progress on the health goals and targets and looks beyond the numbers to analyse why improvements in health have been slow and to suggest what must be done to change this. The report points to weak and inequitable health systems as a key obstacle, including particularly a crisis in health personnel and the urgent need for sustainable health financing.
• How Environmental Health Risks Change With Development
  This report provides a "full empirical test of the environmental risk transition framework, which describes the shift in environmental risks during development from household, community, and global risk factors. It finds that the simplistic conclusions commonly drawn about the epidemiologic transition, in particular the increase in chronic diseases with development, are not supported by current data; in contrast, the conceptual framework of the environmental risk transition is broadly supported in a cross-sectional analysis. It also describe important kinds of environmental health risks and diseases that are not well estimated using current methods…..”
• Human Development Report 2005: International Cooperation at a Crossroads - aid, trade and security in an unequal world
  The 2005 Human Development Report takes stock of human development, including progress towards the MDGs. Looking beyond statistics, it highlights the human costs of missed targets and broken promises. Extreme inequality between countries and within countries is identified as one of the main barriers to human development—and as a powerful brake on accelerated progress towards the MDGs.
• National Human Development Reports and the Human Security Framework
  This report, published by the UNDP's Human Development Report Office "provides a comprehensive analysis of the major antecedents which have, both intentionally and unintentionally, contributed to the emergence of the human security framework. The paper then considers the 1994 HDR and subsequent documents and declarations which have helped to develop and refine the concept of human security, particularly in elaboration its connections with disarmament, peace and security, and development. This analysis is followed with a brief yet systematic overview of the major critiques and criticisms of the concept and methodology, and possible responses to these challenges. The final part in this first section engages with the risks of distorted narratives on human security, particularly those which seek to reframe human security in favour of the dominant interests of states and institutional agendas."
• Overview of Evidence Relating to Shifting the Balance of Care: A Contribution to the Knowledge Base
  "This report presents the findings of a short review of evidence. The aim was to provide an overview of evidence to contribute to the debate on, and inform the development of, the policy on shifting the balance of care a key theme within health and community care policy which is intended to bring about improvements in service delivery and health outcomes. 'Shifting the balance of care' is a term used to describe change at a number of levels, for example, shifting the location of care towards more community-based facilities, shifting the focus of care towards long term conditions and changing the roles and responsibilities of patients and professionals."
• Responses to Avian Influenza and State of Pandemic Readiness: Fourth Global Progress Report
  "The report: i) describes international financial assistance provided to date; ii) assesses national capacities to respond to HPAI [Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza] and prepared for the next influenza pandemic; iii) analyses implications of this progress for animal and human health; and iv) recommends some key next steps. It focuses on progress with responses to avian influenza and with pandemic preparedness between June 2007 and June 2008, but also looks back over the last three years. Information was provided by national authorities from 148 countries that responded to an UNSIC survey questionnaire supplemented by with case studies, interviews and reports from UN system bodies and other partners… A global analysis of the situation… in mid to late 2008 indicates fewer outbreaks in poultry, fewer newly infected countries, fewer human cases and fewer deaths compared to the same period in 2006 and 2007. Over 50 of the 61 countries that have experience an H5N1 outbreak, have successfully eliminated the disease. However, the virus remains entrenched in several countries and the threat of further outbreaks of HPAI in poultry (and sporadic cases in humans) persists. The threat of an influenza pandemic remains unchanged. While these findings suggest that HPAI strategies are successful when properly implemented, they also highlight that sustained vigilance and continued investment is needed in both surveillance and capacity to respond to HPAI Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza."
• World Development Report 2007
  "The theme of the World Development Report (WDR) 2007 is youth, aged 12 to 24. It focuses on decisions concerning the five phases with the biggest long-term impact on how human capital is kept safe, developed, and deployed. For each phase (continuing to learn, starting to work, developing a healthful lifestyle, beginning a family, and exercising citizenship) governments must increase investments directly and cultivate an environment for young people and their families to invest in themselves."
• World Health Report 2005
  The World Health Report for 2005 focuses on mothers and children. It indicates that this year more than 11 million children under five years of age will die from causes that are largely preventable. At the same time more than half a million women will die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after. It suggests that reducing this toll depends largely on every mother and every child having right to access to health care from pregnancy through childbirth, the neonatal period and childbirth.

Educational resources

• Communities Online
  A website for people interested in how to use new technologies to organize local political activities; the site is managed from the UK and covers mainly European countries.
• Community Health Centers Around the World
  "A partnership of Management Sciences for Health and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In conjunction with the Electronic Resource Center (ERC) of MSH's Family Planning Management Development (FPMD) project, this Web site provides you with resources for learning more about community health around the world. We strive to make the "Community Health Centers Around the World" Web site accessible to people with physical impairments; learning disabilities; and those who have low-bandwidth Internet access, use text-based browsers, or work with older computers. We minimize the use of graphics and photos, provide descriptions of them when they are included, and use a simple layout"
• Community Psychology Net
  A resource for educators, professionals, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and others who are interested in learning more about the fascinating field of community psychology, action research, intervention, and prevention. The Community Psychology Net site is full of information including links to discussion lists, professional membership groups, graduate schools, course materials, funding sources, position announcements, social policy information, and various other miscellaneous resources relevant to the field" - excellent web-site
• Community Tool Box
  Provided by the University of Kansas
• Grassroots.org
  Grassroots.org is looking to change the world slowly but surely via the Internet at local, national, and international levels. It is a non-profit organisation that serves other non-profit organisations and information consumers worldwide by providing free Internet and legal services to charities and content and links on the education, environmentalism, humanitarian relief, political freedom and other topics to web users throughout the world.
• Hesperian Foundation
  The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and educational materials that help people take the lead in their own health care and organise to improve health conditions in their communities.
• HIV, Health and Your Community
  Published by the Hesperian Foundation this guide provides comprehensive advise on fighting HIV at a community level. Designed for people confronting HIV in places with few medical resources, it is easily accessible to those without advanced technical knowledge and without prior training in the care of people with AIDS or in the prevention of HIV. Interventions and treatments emphasised are available to the majority of the people in the world who have HIV, and focus on community-based solutions that are possible in poor communities.
• Internet resources on community work (United Kingdom)
  A meta-site which links to excellent resources, highly recommended
• NGO-Cafe
  A rich resource of non-governmental organisations, discussion groups, etc.
• Non-governmental organizations and the UN
  This page links to information and analysis about NGOs at the UN and in global policy-making more broadly.
• Real Stories. Community Health in Action (Canada)
  Oral history of community health organisation in Canada
• SHARing point
  "A Health Information System across languages, across data structures, across continents! SHARing health information from around the globe! Find people and their activities like projects, journal articles, abstracts, realtime health news and mailing list postings from Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America."
• Tool for knowledge and learning: A guide for development and humanitarian organisations
  In recent years, a growing movement has emphasised the improved application of knowledge and learning as a means to improve development and humanitarian work. The movement has led to the widespread adoption of learning and knowledge-based strategies among the range of agencies involved in such work, including donor agencies, multilaterals, NGOs, research institutes, and the plethora of institutions based in the South, including national governments, regional organisations, and indigenous NGOs. This guide is aimed at staff working in all such organisations. The tools presented provide different frameworks which can be used to plan, monitor and evaluate knowledge and learning initiatives.
• Union of International Associations (UIA)
  This web-site provides connections to a wide variety of international and national non-governmental organisations
• UN-Department of Public Information: NGO site
  "The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Section of the Department of Public Information (DPI) at United Nations Headquarters serves as the liaison between the Department and NGO associated with DPI. These organizations disseminate information about the UN to their constituency, thereby building knowledge of and support for the Organization at the grassroots level. Currently, close to 1,600 NGOs from all regions of the world are associated with DPI"
• Web Networks Community
  Canada's online home for social change, rich resources
• Where the Poor Are - An Atlas of Poverty
  Where the Poor Are: An Atlas of Poverty brings together a diverse collection of maps from different continents and countries, depicting small area estimates of vital development indicators at unprecedented levels of spatial detail. The atlas is a product of the CIESIN Global Poverty Mapping Project, begun in 2004, which was made possible by support from the Japan Policy and Human Resource Development Fund, in collaboration with The World Bank. The atlas of 21 full-page poverty maps reveals possible causal patterns and provides practical examples of how the data and tools have been used, and may be used, in applied decisions and poverty interventions.

Organisations and Networks

UN and multinational

• Action Without Borders
  "A global network of individuals and organizations sharing ideas, information and resources to help build a world where all people can live free, dignified and productive lives"; claims to provide links to more than 8.000 organizations"
• AIDPEOPLE
  Aidpeople.org is an online community for people involved in humanitarian aid and development work, enabling them to keep in touch, network, find information and share knowledge.
• Catholic Relief Services
  "Since Catholic Relief Services began 60 years ago, our programs have blossomed in many directions. However, much of our work still occurs in places that are recovering from or are on the edge of violence and war. Over time we learned that the way we do our emergency and development programming helps prevent or transform conflicts. If we ignore conflicts and their underlying causes then our work prolongs the conflict by providing new resources to the warring parties (like food and supplies), or our programs are destroyed in the chaos and violence. If we help our partners address the injustices in their society that cause conflict and facilitate respectful relationships between conflicting parties then our work together builds sustainable peace."
• Community Development Society
  "Founded in 1969 this society is a professional association for community development practitioners and citizen leaders around the world. CDS members represent a variety of fields: education, health care, social services, government, utilities, economic development practitioners, citizen groups, and more. We are all united in our belief that community is the basic building block of society"
• International Council for Local Environment Initiatives (ICLEI)
  "Established in 1990 through a partnership of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), and the Center for Innovative Diplomacy"
• International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
  "IPPNW is a non-partisan, global federation of national medical organizations in 58 countries dedicated to research, education, and advocacy relevant to the prevention of nuclear war. To this end, IPPNW seeks to prevent all wars, to promote non-violent conflict resolution, and to minimize the effects of war and preparations for war on health, development, and the environment."
• International Student Association for Health and Human Rights
  "The International Student Association for Health and Human Rights (ISAHHR) is an association of student organizations interested in health and human rights dedicated to promoting involvement in local, national, and international health and human rights issues. In conjunction with faculties, staffs, and related organizations and institutions, the association seeks to act on issues of social justice and to create awareness through education and praxis."
• International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC)
  "Set up in 1991 to provide specially designed training, consultancy and research services to organisations involved in international development and relief. Our goal is to improve NGO performance by exploring NGO policy issues and by strengthening NGO management and organisational effectiveness"
• Mandat International
  "The Welcome Centre for Non-Governmental Organisations and Delegations aims at encouraging the participation of non-governmental delegates at international conferences held in Geneva and creating a place of meeting and exchange between delegates of different geographical regions and working in different fields"
• NGO Global Network
  Hosted for and maintained by The Executive Committee of Non-Governmental Organizations Associated with The United Nations Department of Public Information

Government

• Australian Government - Department of Health and Ageing

Non Government

• Advocacy Institute (USA)
  "Dedicated to strengthening the capacity of public interest / social and economic justice advocates to influence and change public policy The Advocacy Institute focuses on effective advocacy tools and lessons drawn from advocacy campaigns. AI is also an "advocate for advocacy," fighting to preserve the rights of organizations to engage in advocacy and to persuade foundations and others of the fundamental importance of supporting advocacy. Founded in 1985, AI has worked with more than 2500 non-profit and non-governmental organizations"
• Byrraju Foundation
  The Byrraju Foundation seeks to build progressive self-reliant rural communities, with a holistic approach, by providing services in the areas of healthcare, environment, sanitation, primary education, adult literacy and skills development. The Foundation currently works in 142 villages in 5 districts of Andhra Pradesh- East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Ranga Reddy, India.
• Centre for Civil Society
  Based at the London School of Economics, the centre "seeks to improve understanding of the set of organisations located between the market, the state and household institutions that are variously referred to as non-governmental, voluntary, non-profit, or third-sector organisations, foundations, and social enterprises. These institutions are part of a wider civil society and form a social economy of private organisations serving public purposes"
• Center for Global Development
  CGD is an independent, not-for-profit think tank that works to reduce global poverty and inequality by encouraging policy change in the U.S. and other rich countries through rigorous research and active engagement with the policy community. CGD conducts research and analysis on a wide range of topics related to how rich country policies impact people in the developing world. These include, for example, aid effectiveness, education, globalisation, health, migration, and trade. Research and analysis that is related to proposals for specific, practical improvements in rich country policies is organised into initiatives, such as an advance market commitment for vaccines or debt relief for Nigeria.
• CONGO
  Conference of Nongovernmental Organizations in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The basic mission of CONGO is to ensure that NGOs in consultative status enjoy the fullest opportunities and all appropriate facilities for performing their consultative functions.
• Center for Community Change
  "The Center for Community Change is committed to reducing poverty and rebuilding low income communities. To do this, we help people to develop the skills and resources they need to improve their communities as well as change policies and institutions that adversely affect their lives. We believe that poor people themselves – through organizations they control – need to lead efforts to eliminate poverty. The heart of our work is helping grassroots leaders build strong organizations that bring people together to become a force for change in their communities. We help organizations build their community's capacity for self-help, develop strong leaders, provide critical services, build homes, develop businesses, give residents a say in their community's future and, perhaps most important, give low income people a sense of hope"
• Civil Society Initiative
  The Civil Society Initiative (CSI) fosters relations between WHO and non-governmental and civil society organisations and is responsible for the administration of formal relations as set out in the Principles governing relations between WHO and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
• Civic Practices Network
  Civic Practices Network (CPN) is "a collaborative and non-partisan project bringing together a diverse array of organisations and perspectives within the new citizenship movement. We share a commitment to bring practical methods for public problem solving into every community and institutional setting in America"
• Comm-Org
  The online conference on community organisation and development - highly recommended site with lots of documents and links concerning community organisation including syllabi of university courses on the subject; an electronic listserv is also available.
• Dev-zone
  Dev-zone is part of a specialist information and education centre in Aotearoa New Zealand, providing information services on development and global issues to NGOs, consultants, universities, community groups, government departments, libraries, and businesses operating in the field of overseas aid and development. Dev-Zone has an extensive range of up-to-date electronic and hard copy resources and operates a public access library, manages a comprehensive web site on development issues.
• DoWire Democracies Online Network
  DoWire is a free, low volume, moderated e-mail announcement list, Promoting online civic participation and democracy efforts around the world through information exchange, experience sharing, outreach, and education
• FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN)
  "In a world of plenty, hunger and malnutrition indicate violations of human rights. FIAN-FoodFirst Information and Action Network is the first international human rights organization working in the field of economic human rights as codified in international law. With its International Secretariat in Heidelberg, Germany, and national sections in three continents, FIAN fights for the fundamental human right to feed oneself"
• InterAction
  American Council for Voluntary International Action is a coalition of more than 150 non-profit organisations working worldwide
• NGONet Africa
  Using the Internet as its main tool, NGONET Africa's aim is to support Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) and Community Based Organisations (CBO), to foster local, regional and international cooperation; foster information exchange; and foster communication between NGOs and the "North" organisations.
• People's Health Movement
  "The principle goal of the People's Health Movement is to promote Health for All through an equitable, participatory and inter-sectoral movement and ... to encourage government and other health agencies to ensure universal access to quality health care, education and social services according to people's needs and not people's ability to pay."
• Pratt Center for Community Development (USA)
  The Pratt Center for Community Development works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers, by empowering communities to plan for and realise their futures.
• Social Watch
  Social Watch is an international network informed by national citizens' groups aiming at following up the fulfilment of the internationally agreed commitments on poverty eradication and equality. These national groups report, through the national Social Watch report, on the progress - or regression- towards these commitments and goals.
• Society for Community Research and Action (USA)
  Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, "founded on the idea that social systems and environmental influences are important foci for enhancing wellness via preventive research and interventions"
• United for a Fair Economy (USA)
  "A national, independent, nonpartisan organization that puts a spotlight on the dangers of growing income, wage and wealth inequality in the United States and coordinates action to reduce the gap. We provide popular education resources, work with grassroots organizations, conduct research, and support creative and legislative action to reduce inequality"

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW
• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Research

Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports

Coming conferences

Conference reports

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

Bibliographies, Libraries

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop