Open access
SOCIAL ANIMATION AS A FORM OF PREVENTIVE WORK IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
Krystyna LEŚNIAK- MOCZUK1
Publication language: Polish
scientific paper
Transformations No. 3(126)2025, Publication date: 30 September 2025
Keywords: social animation; local community organisation; social prevention; social work; social policy; local environment; social capital; senior citizens; non-governmental organisations
Abstract The article addresses the issue of social animation as a form of preventive work carried out in the local community, set in the context of contemporary changes in social policy and social work. The starting point is the assumption that the intensifying phenomena of marginalisation, social disintegration and problematic behaviour require preventive measures that go beyond traditional, interventionist forms of social assistance. In this context, the organisation of local communities (OSL) and the role of the social animator as an entity mobilising community resources and strengthening resident participation take on particular importance. The aim of the article is to show the preventive potential of social animation and its importance in reducing the scale of social problems that are the subject of social work. The theoretical part, based on an analysis of the literature on the subject, covers issues related to the organisation of local communities, the competences of animators and the stages of implementing community work in Poland. The empirical part presents good practices of social animation implemented in local communities in the Podkarpackie Province.
Instytut Nauk Socjologicznych, Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, Polska
ORCID: 0000-0001-7032-9205
E-mail: klesniak@ur.edu.pl