Capacity building

As an aid to self-help is defined as the principle on which measures to essentially that the people in need (eg, the destitute, the patient) enable them to help themselves or to organize themselves help.

Help for self-help in development cooperation

Unlike a few decades ago are donations are nowadays used to create jobs in developing countries, to make desert areas used to improve the infrastructure and to promote local industries. Thus, the people should be put in a position themselves to build a better quality of life.

A special form of help for self- help are loans (microloans ) to families who lease with the money a piece of land and edit or build a craft enterprise itself. When they have earned enough to pay them the money ( in installments) back. Small loans are often issued by non-governmental organizations in the form of natural products, eg of seeds, chickens or goats, both serving their products and coming to power to repay the loan. The best experience has been lacking with the allocation to groups of women who are worried about their families proved reliable than men. Kind also handle the big problem in many African countries totally inadequate infrastructure that minimizes the marketing opportunities for small farmers. Some development organizations give loans to development committee of five to ten villages that decide how the aid is to be used. Such self-managed projects relating to hygiene, latrine construction, well construction, care for orphans, education on HIV / AIDS, children's schooling, afforestation, etc. They are a means meaningful and sustainable to help themselves. Development cooperation consists on direct personal level between European aid workers and villagers in developing countries. The fact that projects are managed increasingly by the victims themselves and by local project managers, is an expression of the tendency for people to help themselves in development aid / development policy.

Help themselves in medicine

Here to help themselves mean that the physician gives the patient tips for the prophylaxis or treatment for further assistance. In addition, the patient may obtain information about his illness from brochures, books of medicine and self-help groups. However, this is only possible if he has an insight into his disease state.

Help for self-help in psychology

A psychologist or psychiatrist can help the patient to help themselves by giving him advice, brochures or guides him to hand over relaxation method.

Help themselves in social work

Helping people help themselves is an important guiding principle in many approaches to social work. The person is thus helping to be helped so that they can tackle by yourself again the problems in their lives ( " back can help themselves"). Among other things, builds the concept of family classes on it. This idea is, for example, already at Alice Salomon, nowadays, for example, in systemic and in lebensweltichen approaches. Help themselves but was also criticized in social work, for example, from gouvernementalitäts and perspective of system theory as a paradoxical ( and neoliberal ) invocation and expectation have been described.

Self-help groups

For many diseases and disorders nowadays there are self-help groups, such as for the overweight, bulimic, people with speech disorders and various disabilities. Also, for members, there are self-help groups.

Empowerment

A more advanced approach are empowerment strategies ( empowerment ) and psychoeducation.

Help themselves in the Social Code

The tasks are described in § 1 paragraph 1 of the Social Code First Book as:

"The right of the Social Code shall make to achieving social justice and social security benefits, including social and educational aids. It should help to ensure a decent existence, to create equal conditions for the free development of personality, especially for young people, to protect the family and promote, to facilitate the purchase of livelihood through freely chosen activity and the stresses of life, prevent or compensate by helping people help themselves. "

The principle of subsidiarity is observed: Social assistance is a subsidiary basis, that is, that all other social benefits and social assistance do you only as a " stopgap " occurs ( last resort, last resort ).