Community Engagement

Engaging in the community as well as engaging ourselves with the issues of our society makes us aware and open to the different theories regarding the roles and relationship that contributes to it. Awareness and being concerned to the society are some of the characteristic that we all should have to be able to understand what the things that most of the times are affects our engagement to the society that we have now. This essay mainly gives knowledge and understanding about community engagement and critically discusses the role as well as the relationship of community engagement to the society. In addition, there are some relevant theories to be used in discussion on the roles and relationship of community engagement to the society that may help better understand the nature of community engagement such as ethical theory, communicative theory and citizenship theory.

There are several definitions of community engagement and these definitions represent or symbolize the culture, beliefs and tradition of every group that provided the meaning of it. Even though community engagement is defined differently or characterized in many different ways by various groups, still these definitions have only one common meaning.

Generally, community engagement is defined as the process wherein community groups or institutions work mutually to address circumstances and situations that impact or greatly influence the well-being of those groups. In practice, community engagement is a combination of social science and art. The science comes from sociology, political science, cultural anthropology, organizational development, psychology, social work, and other disciplines with organizing concepts drawn from the literature on community participation, community mobilization, constituency building, community psychology, cultural influences, and other sources. On the other hand, the vital artistic element needed for the community engagement includes the utilization of understanding, skill,