What is Community Work
Community Work is “a developmental activity comprised of both a task and a process. The task is social change to achieve equality, social justice and human rights, and the process is the application of principles of participation, empowerment and collective decision making in a structured and co-ordinated way.” All Ireland Standards for Community Work
Community workers work in and with marginalised communities who experience, social exclusion, economic disadvantage and/or discrimination.
Community workers work with communities through the application of the following core values as laid out in All Ireland Standards for Community Work:
Collectivity
Community workers work collectively with communities and focus on the benefits for the community rather than for individuals.
Community Empowerment
Community workers focus on empowering communities, supporting them to become organised, inclusive, resilient, and influential.
Social Justice and Sustainable Development
Community workers are concerned with promoting a just society through the application of policies and practices that challenge inequality, exclusion, and discrimination.
Human Rights, Equality & Anti-Discrimination
Community workers work to secure a society which is concerned with human rights and equality for all through engagement with human rights mechanisms, framework, and processes.
Participation
A participatory approach promoting the rights of communities to be involved in self-identification or their needs and the formulation or responses to those needs is central to the way in which community workers engage.
