Unit 3
Primary Health Care and Community Development

Community development for development process and the implementation of the concept of primary health care (PHC) are the main focus of Unit 3. Part 1 surveys the notion of community organizing for development process, describing the concept of community organizing and the role of the organizer or CD worker from theoretical and adult education perspectives. Here, the course outlines the roles and skills required of the CD worker: competence, facilitation, education, representation, and technical competence. Part 1 finishes by surveying developmental practice issues related to CD, including values and ethics, professionalism, education and training, the use and abuse of power, passion, vision, and hope.

Part 2 examines the conceptual similarities between PHC and CD in terms of fundamental assumptions, program goals, and implementation techniques.

Part 3 is concerned with PHC programming in Canada, Pakistan (Karachi), and Nigeria. It addresses the PHC programming of Canada’s Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) and Canada’s Parental Nutrition Program (CPNC), Canada’s two largest community-based health programs; the process of implementing PHC in Karachi, Pakistan, and the relevancy of the World Health Organization’s definition of Primary Health Care; and Nigerian federal government policy that features its interactive PHC and rural development (RD) strategies.

Objectives

After completing Unit 3, you should be able to

  1. Describe the roles and skills required of a CD worker outlined by Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin, Paulo Freire, and Jim Ife and Frank Tesoriero.
  2. Discuss Freire’s concept of dialogue in relation to CD process.
  3. Explain the developmental idea of change from bottom up compared to change from top down.
  4. Determine the importance of process in community development.
  5. Outline a CD project developmental cycle that involves three major stages.
  6. Define the concept of PHC.
  7. Determine and discuss the conceptual similarities between PHC and CD.
  8. Discuss PHC programming in Canada, Pakistan (Karachi), and Nigeria.
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