MUTUAL
AID
MUTUAL-AID
MUTUAL
AID
SOCIETY
MUTUAL AID
MUTUAL AID ORGANIZATION THEORY
WHAT IS A MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT?
GUIDELINES FOR MUTUAL-AID AGREEMENTS
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING AGREEMENTS
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
BENEFIT SOCIETY/MUTUAL AID SOCIETY
BENEFIT SOCIETY RELATED TOPICS
MUTUAL AID LINKS
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SECTION 1
MUTUAL
AID
Mutual aid may refer to:
Mutual aid (organization theory), a tenet of organization theories.
Mutual aid (organization theory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_(organization_theory)
Mutual aid (emergency services), an agreement between emergency responders.
Mutual aid (emergency services)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_(emergency_services)
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, a biology book by anarchist Peter Kropotkin.
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Aid:_A_Factor_of_Evolution
Mutual aid, in social work with groups.
Mutual aid, in social work with groups
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_work_with_groups
Mutual aid society, various organizations formed for the benefit of members.
Mutual aid society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_society
Mutualism (biology), a concept of biological interaction.
Mutualism (biology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(biology)
Mutualism (economic theory), an anarchist economic theory.
Mutualism (economic theory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(economic_theory)
Mutual aid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid
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SECTION 2
MUTUAL
AID
ORGANIZATION
THEORY
Mutual aid is a term in organization theory used to signify a voluntary reciprocal
exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit.
Mutual aid is arguably as ancient as human culture; an intrinsic part of the small,
communal societies universal to humanity's ancient past. From the dawn of humanity,
until far beyond the invention of agriculture, humans were foragers, exchanging labor
and resources for the benefit of groups and individuals alike.
As an intellectual abstraction, mutual aid was developed and advanced by mutualism or
labor insurance systems and thus trade unions, and has been also used in cooperatives
and other civil society movements.
Practice
Typically, mutual-aid groups will be free to join and participate in, and all activities
will be voluntary. They are often structured as non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic
non-profit organizations, with members controlling all resources and no external financial
or professional support. They are member-led and member-organized. They are egalitarian in
nature, and designed to support participatory democracy, equality of member status and power,
and shared leadership and cooperative decision-making. Members' external societal status is
considered irrelevant inside the group: status in the group is conferred by participation.
Examples
Examples of mutual-aid organizations include unions, the Friendly Societies that were common
throughout Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, medieval craft guilds, the
American "fraternity societies" that existed during the Great Depression providing their
members with health and life insurance and funeral benefits, and the English "workers clubs"
of the 1930s that also provided health insurance.
Mutual aid is also a cornerstone of the self-help movement, in which the helper/helpee principle
is important: the idea is that the more a person helps, the more he or she is helped, and that
those who help most are helped most. Mutual aid practices and principles are used in alcoholism
and drug rehabilitation, HIV/AIDS support, among adult survivors of sexual abuse, parents of
developmentally disabled children, and mentally ill older adult.
Mutual aid (organization theory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_(organization)
Mutual
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual
Mutualism (movement)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(movement)
Gift economy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy
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SECTION 3
WHAT
IS
A
MUTUAL
AID
AGREEMENT?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a mutual aid agreement is a
written agreement between agencies or jurisdictions in which they agree to assist each
other on request by furnishing personnel and equipment.
Purpose
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state, tribal and local
governments and private nonprofit organizations often establish mutual aid agreements
to provide emergency assistance to each other when disasters or emergencies occur.
Preparing an Agreement
To prepare a mutual aid agreement, the Ohio EPA recommends anticipating the types of
aid needed in an emergency, preparing and agreeing to a written mutual aid strategy
and practicing the strategy by conducting drills with the participants in the agreement.
Goals
According to the Ohio EPA, goals of a mutual aid agreement might include increased access
to and fast delivery of critical resources during an emergency, professional solidarity
in providing resources to affected communities and increased reassurance to the public that
essential services will return quickly.
Components
Mutual aid agreements are generally voluntary, have uniform procedures specified, include
a release of liability and have a method to account for costs and reimbursements. Other
clauses can be inserted to clarify the arrangement.
Considerations
Mutual aid agreements vary depending on community needs, logistics and local legalities.
What Is a Mutual Aid Agreement?
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5865353_mutual-aid-agreement_.html
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SECTION 4
GUIDELINES
FOR
MUTUAL-AID
AGREEMENTS
State, tribal and local governments and private for-profit or non-profit
organizations enter into verbal or written agreements to provide emergency
assistance to each other in the event of disasters.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides public assistance
to recover costs incurred through mutual-aid agreements during disaster-
relief efforts. FEMA encourages pre-event written mutual aid agreements
and encourages parties, working intrastate and interstate, to have these
in place prior to a disaster and that these agreements encompass all
jurisdictions.
Guidelines for Mutual-Aid Agreements
http://www.ehow.com/way_5689418_guidelines-mutual_aid-agreements.html
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SECTION 5
GUIDELINES
FOR
PREPARING
AGREEMENTS
An agreement is an arrangement between two parties that is legally binding
and dictates a specific course of action. Handshake agreements are much more
difficult to enforce than written agreements.
That's why it's important to codify any agreements reached verbally through
written form. Fortunately, preparing an agreement is not a difficult task.
Guidelines for Preparing Agreements
http://www.ehow.com/info_8534866_guidelines-preparing-agreements.html
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SECTION 6
SOCIAL
WORK
WITH
GROUPS
The group process contains the secret of collective life, it is the key to democracy,
it is the master lesson for every individual to learn, it is our chief hope for the
political, the social, the international life of the future.
Social work with groups represents a broad domain of direct social work practice.
Social workers work with a variety of groups in all settings in which social work
is practiced. While some have proposed that social work practice with groups reflects
any and all groups within which social workers participate, other definitional
parameters have been established. Middleman and Wood (1990) have proposed that for
practice to qualify as social work with groups four conditions must be met: the worker
should focus attention on helping the group members become a system of mutual aid; the
group worker must understand the role of the group process itself as the primary force
responsible for individual and collective change; the group worker seeks to enhance
group autonomy; the group worker helps the group members experience their groupness
upon termination.
Middleman and Wood (1990) observe that social group work meets their criteria of social
work with groups. They also point out that "given our definition of work with groups,
therapy can be the content and can be included also, contingent upon the way in which
the group as a whole and groupness are used" in accord with the identified criteria.
As long as the criteria is met, structured group work "where the worker is the expert
until her knowledge has been imparted to the group" could be regarded as social work
with groups as well.
The group as the unit of social work practice
A common conceptualization of the small group drawn from the social work literature is as
“a social system consisting of two or more persons who stand in status and role relationships
with one another and possessing a set of norms or values which regulate the attitudes and
behaviors of the individual members in matters of consequence to the group. A group is a
statement of relationship among person. Therefore, social systems have structure and some
degree of stability, interaction, reciprocity, interdependence and group bond. Open social
systems do not exist in a vacuum; they are part of and transact with… their surroundings.
Mutual aid
Mutual aid as group work technology can be understood as an exchange of help wherein the
group member is both the provider as well as the recipient of help in service of achieving
common group and individual go.
Social work with groups
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_work_with_groups
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SECTION 7
BENEFIT
SOCIETY
MUTUAL
AID
SOCIETY
A benefit society or mutual aid society is an organization or voluntary association
formed to provide mutual aid, benefit or insurance for relief from sundry difficulties.
Such organizations may be formally organized with charters and established customs, or
may arise ad hoc to meet unique needs of a particular time and place.
Benefit societies can be organized around a shared ethnic background, religion, occupation,
geographical region or other basis. Benefits may include money or assistance for sickness,
retirement, education, birth of a baby, funeral and medical expenses, unemployment. Often
benefit societies provide a social or educational framework for members and their families
to support each other and contribute to the wider community.
Examples of benefit societies include trade unions, friendly societies, credit unions,
self-help groups, landsmanshaftn, immigrant hometown societies, Fraternal organizations
such as Freemasons and Oddfellows, coworking communities, and many others. Peter
Kropotkin posited early in the 20th century that mutual aid affiliations predate human
culture and are as much a factor in evolution as is survival of the fittest.
A benefit society can be characterized by
members having equivalent opportunity for a say in the organization
members having potentially equivalent benefits.
aid would go to those in need (strong helping the weak)
collection fund for payment of benefits
educating others about a group's interest
preserving cultural traditions
mutual defence
Benefit society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_society
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SECTION 8
BENEFIT
SOCIETY
RELATED
TOPICS
Knights of Columbus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus
Woodmen of the World
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodmen_of_the_World
Modern Woodmen of America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Woodmen_of_America
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrivent_Financial_for_Lutherans
Knights of Peter Claver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Peter_Claver
Canadian Fraternal Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Fraternal_Association
Independent Order of Foresters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Order_of_Foresters
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SECTION 9
MUTUAL
AID
MUTUAL-AID
LINKS
African American Mutual Aid Societies
http://www.ourweekly.com/tags/african-american-mutual-aid-societies
Army and Air Force Mutual Aid Association AAFMAA
http://www.aafmaa.com/
The Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups
http://www.aaswg.org
Coast Guard Mutual Assistance
http://www.cgmahq.org
Groupwork Journal
http://www.whitingbirch.net/cgi-bin/scribe?showinfo=ip001
How to Bootstrap a Resilient Mutual Aid Society
http://georgedonnelly.com/libertarian/how-to-bootstrap-mutual-aid-society
The Institute for Anarchist Studies
http://www.anarchist-studies.org/
Mutual Aid Based Group Work.com
http://www.mutualaidbasedgroupwork.com
Mutual Aid Societies
http://p2pfoundation.net/Mutual_Aid_Societies
Mutual Aid Society of America
http://masallp.wetpaint.com/
A Mutual Aid Society for Young Entrepreneurs
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/business/smallbusiness/09bisnow.html?_r=0
Navy Mutual Aid Association
http://navymutual.org/
Tradition of Gifting, from Mutual Aid Societies to Cash Gifting Clubs
http://www.cash-gifting-report.com/tradition_of_gifting.html
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