Why Do We Need Community Based Organization?

Given the extreme demands and constraints of this context, how can we ensure that non-government organizations thrive; how do we ensure our sustainability and capacity to provide quality services in the coming decades? Is it important?

Perhaps it will help you to understand my passion for the development of strong, robust, flexible, imaginative and sustainable community organizations if I share a story; my story

I completed my social work degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1976. My final student placement was in Soweto. You may recall that this was the year of the Soweto riots; 1977 was the year Steve Biko died in police custody – turbulent times indeed. Later that year, I moved to Cape Town and worked there until 1983 in the townships of Athlone, Langa, Nyanga and Guguletu, confronting the oppressive realities of detention without trial, demolition of squatter camps in which the most impoverished people struggled for existence, the banning of organizations deemed in opposition to the regime and the almost total absence of services for Black people who suffered every day the inequities of Apartheid. These were dark days when the triumph of a liberated country hosting the successful football World Cup was unimaginable.

As a young worker confronted with such profound injustice, it was an enormous challenge to find a way to play any meaningful role. Working for the government in that context was not contemplated and it was to the community not-for-profit sector that I turned. Many community organizations of course, simply toed the official line working within the suffocating confines of racial discrimination. But there were others that were up to the challenge of working for meaningful change and the creation of services, even in the most unpromising circumstances – organizations that found a way to be relevant and sustainable. They were capable of remaining true to their values in even the most adverse environment and despite government policy. These organizations made a difference.

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Related posts:

1. What principles drive community based social service organizations in Australia?
2. Sustainable Community Organisations in this Time of Challenge
3. Sustainable Organizations