What is Community

Community is a term difficult to define because it has a wide range of usage which includes the following:

A community can be defined geographically such as a cluster of households, a small village, or a large town;


Community can also be defined by shared experience. Particular-interest groups, ethnic groups, professional groups, language groups, age groupings, those exposed to a particular hazard are ways of defining different groupings of individuals based on commonalties other than location;

Community can be defined by sector such as the farmers, fisherfolk and the business sector;

It is also possible to define community in terms of all three elements above like farmers in Maharashtra, India in the age groups of 30 to 40 years;

"Community" can be used to refer to groupings that are both affected by and can assist in the mitigation of hazards and reduction of vulnerabilities.

A Common Concept
Community is reflected in the World Health Organization definition -- 'a group in face-to-face contact having a harmony of interest and aspirations, and bound by common values and objective'. This definition implies that a community is homogeneous.

In reality, a community can be socially differentiated and diverse. Gender, class, caste, wealth, age, origins, and other aspects divide and cross-cut the community. Beliefs, interests and values of community members may conflict.

In the Field of Natural Resource Management
where community-based approach has been applied extensively since the 1980s, one viewpoint taken is from ecology. Community is simply referred to as an interacting population of organisms (individuals) living in a common location. Competing interests are assumed to be a natural feature of human communities and one of the concerns in the development of community management systems is the strengthening of mechanisms for effective and equitable management of such conflict.

A community can be taken as a group that may share one or more things in common such as living in the same environment, or place of residence, disaster risk exposure, having been affected by a disaster. Common problems, concerns, hopes and ways of behavior may also be shared. Although the community is not a homogeneous unit but a dynamic mix of different groups, interests and attitudes, the sharing of common things gives a certain sense of belonging to each other.