Definition of Community

My definition of community is a group or society of persons with shared values and beliefs, but each member is unique due to their ethnic and religious background, gender, occupation, educational attainment, socioeconomic status, and occupation. The group or society of persons live together within the same region and attempt to adapt to their environmental surroundings. The group or society distributes resources that allow for their progress through democratic institutions and practices.
My interest is development both at the domestic and global level. When I say the term ‘development’ I am referring to political, economic, and social development of a community which will allow each member to develop toward their fullest potential. My interest originated from my upbringing in the inner city section of the Westside of San Antonio, Texas. There I witnessed the challenges that many low-income Mexican-American families experience. The challenges faced were limited access to: high quality public school education and health care, job-training, employment, proper infrastructure, or housing. Despite the challenges faced by the residents of the Westside progress has been made through community organizations, business investments, and educational programs. I say this because I benefitted from an educational program called the San Antonio Education Partnership (SAEP) that provided pre-college support and a scholarship for my undergraduate education. In addition, during my time as an undergraduate, I co-founded a tutoring program that would have university students tutor high school students in the Westside. Both the SAEP and the tutoring program provided me with a glimpse on how communities could be developed if the proper coordination occurs between various institutions which have mission statements and values.
I continued to pursue my interest by studying development in India and volunteering for two years at a non-governmental organization (NGO) named the Institute of Integrated Rural Development (IIRD) in Bangladesh. At IIRD I witnessed how a NGO attempted to aid the poor residents of rural Bangladesh by using a holistic development model that provided economic and social programs that allowed development partners (beneficiaries) to lift them-selves out of poverty. IIRD used a poverty rating model to categorize each family and measure their progress. I was able to work with social workers in the field to aid with project monitoring and implementation, conduct meetings with development partners, and distribute educational grants. Fortunately, I was also able to help establish a small Child Development Centre (CDC) that provides education for grades 1 and 2. The planning for the CDC was done through meeting with the local villagers to determine the location and the how long the CDC should remain in the village. My experiences with IIRD were not entirely easy. I was confronted by many challenges involving low capacity by staff workers and high turn-over rates of staff. My time in Bangladesh also allowed me to witness how a developing country struggles due to underdeveloped institutions in the public, private, and non-profit sector.
Based on my experiences I would like to research what methods should be used in order for organizations to continuously measure their progress and ensure that proper monitoring of the progress of populations they are attempting to help is occurring.