Public health in community settings: An introduction

3 Reflecting on skills for community work

This unit has introduced you to some principles and practises of working with communities. It has given you the opportunity to consider the types of research and analysis you would need to do to get to know your community and understand its health needs. The final activity encourages you to reflect on what skills are needed for planning and negotiating entry into a community, what expertise you already have and what skills you would like to develop further.

Activity 4 Skills for taking a community development approach

This activity is based on your reading of planning and negotiating entry into a community.

Make a copy of Table 2 and complete as follows:

• In column 1, make a list of the core skills that you feel the community development workers need
• In column 2, describe briefly your own experience of each skill
• In column 3, list the skills that you would like to develop further.

Below the table write a few words on how you intend to follow this up.

Table 2

On a separate piece of paper, put the skills you have identified into three categories:

• I feel confident that I have these skills
• I feel that I lack these skills
• I feel neither confident nor lacking in these skills.

It would be useful to record this in your learning journal.

Answer

As you completed this exercise you may have been surprised at the level of transferable skills which you already have. In fact many of the skills identified are used in everyday life, such as networking, building relationships, planning, liaising, managing and budgeting. Many of you may also have been involved in partnership working, facilitating or enabling, or you may feel you need to develop these skills. Fundraising or leadership may be something that not everyone feels confident about. Good communication skills are of course central.