Summary
Community development projects give individuals and groups the opportunity to act and address issues within their communities and work environments. By not addressing these problems, which range from economic to social, to environmental and cultural, communities
can rebuild inequitable systems that leave certain demographic populations isolated, marginalised, and without access to important resources vital to living efficiently and successfully. Community development is a continuous effort to find solutions that benefit the community and enact collective action to empower individuals and
agencies to support and improve the lives of disadvantaged communities. The purpose of this course is to familiarise students with the content and basic theories of community development projects at the basic and intermediate level.
What is covered in this course
By the end of this course you will have a complete understanding of Community Development Projects, including how to:
- Define the concept of community development and distinguish between community and economic development
- Examine the impact of available systems on community development policy and practice in South Africa
- Understand the role of participation in the development process
- Investigate a range of community development approaches and use examples to demonstrate the strengths and challenges of each approach for the purposes of comparison
- Discuss critical issues to community development, such as: conflict in development, the role of leadership behaviour, and the role of structures in community development
- Discuss the challenges associated with rural development, inner-city development, youth in community development, and health care
- Be familiar with the basic elements of the community development process in support of participation and decision-making informed by multiple perspectives and sources of information
Academic Tutor Support
Your dedicated Online Academic Tutor (OAT) will provide you with necessary guidance, offer advice and answer academic questions on course content, to help you achieve academic success.
Student Success Coordinator
The Student Success Coordinator (SSC) team will assist you with any query that you may have about the environment, systems, and general utilisation throughout your learning journey.
Subject Matter Expert
Modipadi Poincettia Thobejane graduated from the North-West University with a Bachelor of Social Science in Development Studies honour’s degree in 2018 and a bachelor’s degree of Social Science in Population and Development Studies. She has been a lecturer and a
research project supervisor at Damelin College for almost three years and is extremely passionate about the potential of communities once they are equipped with the relevant tools to address the problems that hold them back. Through her learning journey, she has seen the
importance of studying a course that gets to unfold the nature and development of communities and the development of people. The best is seen in the eyes of those who want to help develop and grow better communities and the well-being of people.
Technical Requirements
Course and Technical Requirements
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
To successfully access and complete this course, you will be required to have a registered email account, access to a computer/laptop/tablet and stable internet connection. You will be required to be familiar with using a computer as you may need to be able to read and download documents in Adobe PDF Reader, view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Our online short learning programmes may require additional software applications. These additional software applications requirements will be communicated to you in this information pack and/or on the website course page. Damelin Online does not provide any additional software applications required for online short learning programmes.
Please note: Google, YouTube and Vimeo may be used in our online course delivery. If any of these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing our course content.
How you will learn
Our online courses combine a variety of elements to create an interactive and engaging learning experience. Learning is self-paced with students interacting with the content, engaging in discussions, and completing assignments. Our courses make use of the following:
- Relevant case studies, articles and recommended readings
- Self-grading quizzes and assignment submissions to evaluate what you have learned
- Videos and live webinars
- Networking and discussion forums
Certification
Upon successful completion of your Damelin Online Course, you will receive a Certificate of Completion. Your certificate will be issued in your registered name and couriered to you.
You be certified you must achieve a minimum grade of 50%
