A Case Study on the Community Organization's Activities in
Maeul-mandeulgi (community building)
Cho, Jaejun · Nam, JaeGeol
Community capacity can be strengthened through learning in Maeul-mandeulgi
because the community organization has a community of practice (CoP) characteristic.
This study focused on the fact that the community organization, which is a core
element for community building, belongs to CoP, so if the component theory of CoP is
applied, it will be possible to grasp more systematically how the communituy
organization contributes to community capacity building.
This study examined and analyzed the community activities expressed in two
Maeul-mandeulgi community cases divided into three categories: domain setting,
reciprocal involvement and collaboration. According to the theory of community of
practice(Cop), the domain setting is to establish and share common goals and interests
of community members, and reciprocal involvement is a mutual interaction to build
trust and bond between members, and collaboration means group works that community
members work together with mutual responsibility to accomplish the common goal.
As a result, the domain setting appeared a necessary activity at the beginning of
Maeul-mandeulgi, and if it is omitted, side effects such as conflict and corruption
occur. And, reciprocal involvement was identified as a relatively high-level activity that
appeared only after some degree of domain setting and collaboration had increased the
capacity of the community. Collaboration has emerged as core activity to maintain
Maeul-mandeulgi on a material and social basis, ensuring stable and continuous
residents participations.
This study suggests that Maeul-mandeulgi's community activities should be
conducted in the order of domain setting-collaboration-reciprocity involvement, and it is
necessary to put substantial efforts into domain setting activities in Maeul-mandeulgi
support policy and practice.
Key words : Maeul-mandeulgi, local community, community of practice(CoP), community
activities, community building