Community informal care and welfare systems are those systems in which individuals, families and communities come together, without any formal requirements and without any professional intervention, to meet felt or expressed needs or/and to resolve issues in a self-reliant and sustainable manner. These systems appear to operate spontaneously, with a set pattern and with or without mutual expectations and support on an ongoing basis. The systems are mostly based on trust, human relationship, self-help group ideology and an element of selflessness. Community informal care and welfare systems emerge essentially within a communities' and culture.
This project has made a good beginning towards building a movement to identify, preserve and practice communities' informal care and welfare systems in several cultures and nations so that we all may live happily in harmony. The project is being implemented in three phases. The first phase had the following objectives and most of these objectives have been achieved.
CICAWS play an important role in supporting individuals, families and communities when they need such a support. Unlike many developed western countries, most of the developing countries do not have a well developed social security system. Although developing countries have some welfare services, such services have remained scarce and they do not reach the most needy. As a consequence, a large part of the deserving population survives without any formal support system. However, it is believed that most of this population was taken care of by its own CICWS, with whatever degree, though CICWS appear to be gradually disappearing.
CICWS are important because the western full-fledged social security system is impractical to replicate and belief in and support for such a system is gradually dwindling in the west itself as it appears to be not tenable. In the absence of or with very weak CICWS, western developed societies appear to be experiencing increasing isolation, loneliness and related problems. These societies also have been trying to invent modern equivalents of CICWS, which shows their significance.
CICWS are closely connected and relevant to current policy environment where community is recognised as one of the significant partners with business and government. Under the influence of ‘third way politics’, several governments are placing renewed emphasis on communities and there is a marked upswing of interest in communities' informal care and welfare systems. Developed and developing countries are trying to bring the best balance between global markets, national governments and local communities in shaping meaningful social and economic lives. Communities cannot become equal partners with the government and the market, if we do not strengthen them. The identification, preservation and practicing of communities' informal care and welfare systems may facilitate achieving that balance and meaningful social and economic life, at least to some degree.
Our transformation and development through the process of industrialisation, urbanisation, modernisation and westernisation show that in our day to day life many of us have become self-centred, individualistic, and have gradually lost touch with CICAWS. In other words, due to the impact of industrialisation, urbanisation, modernisation and westernisation, and now globalisation CICAWS have been weakening with different degrees in all societies. This trend is likely to continue as it is difficult to cease the modernisation process. In fact, this trend is further precipitated by the globalisation and liberalization process. Thus we need to make concerted efforts to identify, preserve and practise CICAWS so that we will not lose them and can enhance others and our own wellbeing.
No. We are of the view that we can pick the best elements of CICWS and use them for the benefit of individuals, families and communities. There may be culturally/ traditionally justified CICWS which we are aware are not good to practise or replicate them. We do not aim to identify, preserve and practise CICWS that are against UN instruments and laws of the land. We believe that there are some good CICWS which we should not lose. We have an important option to reflectively look back at the traces of traditional communities and pick some of their best elements. We need not throw the baby out with the bath water.
You can contribute to this movement by recognising CICWS in your own milieu and practising them in your communities.