Scattered around the world are different ongoing community outreach programs that are impacting our societies. Community outreach programs have proven to be an effective means of addressing certain needs within small communities and helping provide solutions to them. Community outreach programs are usually misunderstood and so, not many people are aware of how effective they are.
What are community outreach programs?
Community outreach programs are a method for circles of people to identify existing problems or challenges in small communities and provide the means and resources to solve them.
The function of community outreach is to study a particular demographic and their needs, raise funds and then set up systems to enable them to tackle those needs while supporting learning and self-sufficiency.
A common misconception people have about community health programs is that they are designed for the needy or poor or to tackle problems that affect mainly women and children. No matter how believable it seems, misconceptions like the above are largely untrue.
There are community outreach programs that are purely educational or designed to test the effectiveness of new medical products, inventions, or methods. There are also community outreach programs that set up community health centers and offer community health services to the locals while organizing training and seminars to enlighten people about rampant diseases.
Depending on the objective of the community outreach program, there is usually a leader or coordinator who ensures that volunteers or staff work together to achieve the goals of the program.
Most community outreach programs depend on grants from government establishments or other religious or social organizations to fund their projects and are usually accountable to their donors. There are also private health organizations that fund and organize such programs.
Types of community outreach programs
There are no exact categories of community outreach programs. What makes the difference is the driving aim or purpose behind the program. The intention is what separates every single community outreach program from each other. Examples of community outreach programs are;
- A group volunteers with a mission to provide sensitization on the need for people to be aware of their HIV status and also provide avenues for participants to get access to free consultations and tests on HIV/AIDS.
- Another example is initiatives to provide menstrual pads for teenage females along with informative workshops, seminars, and training to better equip them on how to handle their evolution into functional women in society.
- Also projects to empower people and train people in specific demographics in the area of entrepreneurship and business are also classic examples of a community outreach project.
The top interest of a community outreach program is providing solutions to communal problems that might not be easily accessible by the people in that environment. If you read through the examples above, you will realize that there is consistency in a pattern.
- The existence of a problem/communal challenge.
- A specific demographic
- Attempts to provide solutions.
These are the three major qualities that make up a community outreach project. No matter the sector or area it falls under, it can be identified as a community health program if it bears the above characteristics.
Benefits of being involved in a community outreach program.
Community outreach programs come with benefits for all participants.
As a volunteer, it provides you with the opportunity to build experience and sharpen your skills needed for the program. It allows you to meet diverse classes of people and be part of something bigger than you.
As a coordinator, it grants you access to opportunities to see life from a different perspective. You build on your leadership skills while becoming more responsible and accountable. You also get to give back to society and play a vital role in the lives of the beneficiaries for the short period of the project.
As a beneficiary, you get to learn and have access to in-depth information about a specific field, improve your skills and also allow you to build quality relationships.
Community outreach programs are avenues to bring growth to society and the people around us, raise social awareness on sensitive matters, and become a means of providing new, innovative solutions to health, and socio-economic challenges that plague our world today.
The smiles of the beneficiaries of a community outreach program and the positive impact that is left behind are valid reasons why community outreach programs should become a regular part of society.
