User:Kayleegmorgan/Community service

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Choosing the right strategy[edit]
Civilians have a desire and aptitude to organize themselves apart from government to address the needs in their communities. However, making sure an effort has a positive effect on society requires clear analysis and a strategy. Analysis identifies root causes of problems that project implementation must address. Individuals, like neighborhoods, enjoy permanent change only if it is an inner one—and the greatest form of community service is encouraging that inner change.

Abraham Kuyper advocates sphere sovereignty, which honors the independence and autonomy of the "intermediate bodies" in society, such as schools, press, business, and the arts. He champions the right of every community to operate its own organizations and manage its own groups, with the foundational belief that parents know what their child really needs, and that local people are more capable of helping fellow locals. Those who agree with his views perceive community service as a tool of empowerment that can help people achieve better employment and lifestyle, avoiding what they see as destructive decision making for mal-established goals by poorly developed community service efforts.

Amy L. Sherman, in her book Restorers of Hope, suggests that community service planning should be made with the valuable opinion of the local residents, since they have firsthand knowledge of the inside realities of their community's current state. Making them a part of the movement, change or project creates in the members of the community a sense of belonging and hope.

''A joint study by Duraiappah et al suggests that a more effective approach to community service focuses on increased participation of local people in decision making and collaborative partnerships. For Duraiappah et al, the goal is "a bottom up approach in which participants become agents of change and decision making." This is accomplished through several principles: inclusion, equal partnership, transparency, sharing power, sharing responsibility, empowerment, and cooperation. Being cognizant of who is given a voice in defining the need for community service, and the ways in which these issues are approached, is one of the first steps in recognizing spaces in which participation can be increased.''