Key Words A of Community Development, Empowerment, Participation
 
 Acculturation:

 The word "acculturation" means the process of learning a new 
 culture, in contrast to enculturation. Often this means moving to a 
 new society where culture is different, but it is also part of the 
 adaptation that we need for coping while our own community changes 
 (ie develops) around us. Your work as a mobilizer results in social 
 change (development) in the community. Members of that community 
 must "acculturate" (get used) to the newly changed community. 
 (Français: acculturation, Español: aculturación).

 Action:

 Action takes place when the group, your target group, does 
 something, in contrast to merely learning about it. The most 
 effective training is action training where the participants learn 
 by doing. Your job as mobilizer is to both stimulate and guide 
 community action. You have not mobilized a community if you have 
 brought them together for a meeting or if you have formed a 
 committee that has done nothing yet. You have mobilized them only 
 after they have engaged in action, ie moved. (Français: action, 
 Español: acción).
 Activist:
 
 (English: mobilizer, animator, Français: mobilisateur, Español: 
 activista).

 Actors:

 The actors are all the persons or groups of people who have 
 identifiable
 tasks, activities or responsibilities in implementing a project.
 (Français: acteurs, Español: actores). See: role.

 Aesthetic-Values Dimension of Community:

 The aesthetic-value dimension of community is the structure of 
 ideas, sometimes paradoxical, inconsistent, or contradictory, that 
 people have about good and bad, about beautiful and ugly, and about 
 right and wrong, which are the justifications that people may cite 
 to explain their actions. A dimension of culture. Basic unit = 
 symbol. See "Culture." Learned; not transmitted genetically. 
 Ideology. Values. (Français: dimension d'esthétique, Español: 
 dimensión ideológica).

 Altruism:
 
 Altruism is one of the sixteen elements of strength, power or 
 capacity of a community or organization. See: Elements of Community 
 Strength. Altruism is defined as the degree to which a unit of an 
 organism (or group) is willing and able to make sacrifices for the 
 good of the organism (or group) as a whole. In sociology it is the 
 proportion of, and degree to which, individuals are ready to 
 sacrifice benefits to themselves for the benefit of the community as 
 a whole (reflected in degrees of generosity, individual humility, 
 communal pride, mutual supportiveness, loyalty, concern, 
 camaraderie, sister/brotherhood). In human society, perhaps the 
 ultimate act of altruism is to die for one's country. In 
 mobilization, it means willingness to donate resources (including 
 one's own time, labour, energy) to the community without expecting 
 payment. As a community develops more altruism, it develops more 
 capacity. (Where individuals, families or factions are allowed to 
 be greedy and selfish at the expense of the community, this weakens 
 the community). When simulating a community to organize and act, the 
 mobilizer needs to be aware of the role of altruism in empowering 
 that community or organization. (Français: altruism, Español: 
 altruismo).

 Anger:

 Potentially, the most dangerous emotion in our work is anger -- 
 how we deal with it. As human beings, we have emotions, and anger is 
 only one of the emotions. It is OK to be angry; that is part of 
 being human. We should not feel guilty or become embarrassed when we 
 feel the emotion of anger. Anger itself is a normal human emotion. 
 We need to accept it when we become angry.. How we act when we are 
 angry, however, can affect our work, whether we are mobilizing 
 communities, co-ordinating volunteers or managing staff. When a 
 client, volunteer, staff or community member makes a mistake, 
 especially one that affects our objectives, for example, we are 
 tempted to show our anger, when that is precisely the time we should 
 be calm and cool.

 When we see someone make a mistake that affects our desired 
 output, we need to recognize that seeing it makes us angry and that 
 it is our responsibility to deal with that anger. The best immediate 
 action to take is to go for a walk. If there is not enough time, 
 then we should at least go into another room without displaying our 
 anger, and let it die down there, outside the view of those who 
 angered us. Then, when we have our anger under control, we can more 
 effectively deal with the thing or event that sparked our anger. If 
 it was a mistake by a client, volunteer, staff or community member, 
 we can take action as described in the key word, Mistake. That 
 action can only be effective if we undertake to do it while being 
 cool, calm and collected. (ire, choler: Français: colère, Español: 
 Ira).

 Animation:

 Sometimes called social animation, From the Greek word anima 
 (life, soul, fire, auto-movement). To stimulate or mobilize a 
 community so that it moves itself, so that it lives, so that it 
 develops. Sometimes used as a substitute for mobilization. Animation 
 means uniting and mobilizing the community to do what it (as a 
 unity) wants to do.

 Community Management Training takes social animation a step 
 further, using management training methods to further increase the 
 capacity of the community, or its community based organizations, to 
 decide, plan and manage its own development. It trains community 
 members and leaders in management techniques needed to ensure the 
 community takes control of its own development. It also encourages 
 and trains government officials, local authorities and community 
 leaders to abandon the patronistic role of providing facilities and 
 services. They learn to facilitate communities to identify resources 
 and undertake actions to provide and maintain human settlement 
 facilities and services. (Français: animation sociale, Español: 
 animación social).
 Animator:
 
 See: animation. (English: mobilizer, activist, Français: 
 mobilisateur, animateur, Español: activista).

 Anthropomorphise:

 To "anthropomorphise" is to consider any non-human thing, as if 
 it has human characteristics. This is a problem in biology, for 
 example, where some people talk about a duck or a bear as having a 
 "family" (a human social organism), when they do not. In sociology 
 and in mobilization, the problem is applied to the incorrect 
 thinking of a social organism, such as a community, as if it had 
 human characteristics. A community is not a human being. (Français: 
 ~, Español: ~).

 Apathy:

 Apathy is one of the five main factors of poverty and dependency. 
 It is sometimes related to a fatalistic philosophy. "Pray to God, 
 but also row to shore," a Russian proverb, demonstrates that we are 
 in God's hands, but we also have a responsibility to help 
 ourselves. We were created with many abilities: to choose, to 
 cooperate, to organize in improving the quality of our lives; we 
 should not let God or Allah be used as an excuse to do nothing. 
 (Français: apathie, Español: apatía).
 Applied Sociology:
 
 In contrast to pure sociology, applied sociology seeks to make 
 changes in society or its institutions. Community empowerment is a 
 branch of applied sociology. Español: La sociología aplicada. 
 Français: la sociologie appliquée.

 Authority:
 
 Authority is power that people think of as legitimate. The job of 
 the mobiliser is to identify authority in a community, see if it is 
 changing, and try to predict what it will look like in the 
 future. When organising and mobilising a community, the activist 
 must not ignore authority. Español: autoridad. Français: l'autorité. 
 Pycck.

 Auto Management:

 "Auto Management" is a term borrowed from Spanish mobilizers in 
 Central and South America, "auto gestion." It means that a community 
 manages itself. See Self Management. It means that the community has 
 taken control over the management and other decision making that 
 affects its development. (Français: auto gestion, Español: 
 autogestión).

 Awareness Raising:

 One of your most important responsibilities is to convey 
 information simply and accurately, you want to convey that, yes, 
 there is a problem, but the solution lies with them in the 
 community. See Awareness Raising. Sensitizing. They may assume you 
 bring resources or will solve their problems (thus they get raised 
 expectations), but you must counteract those assumptions. (Français: 
 , Español: sensibilización). (English: awareness raising, Français: 
 augmenter de conscience)

 
 by Phil Bartle, PhD
 translated by 
 
??» «??

Updated: 2003 September 7