Communal work is a gathering for mutually accomplishing a task or for communal fundraising. Communal work provided manual labour to others, especially for major projects such as barn raising, "bees" of various kinds (see § Bee below), log rolling, and subbotniks. Different words have been used to describe such gatherings.

They are less common in today's more individualistic cultures, where there is less reliance on others than in preindustrial agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies. Major jobs such as clearing a field of timber or raising a barn needed many workers. It was often both a social and utilitarian event. Jobs like corn husking or sewing could be done as a group to allow socializing during an otherwise tedious chore. Such gatherings often included refreshments and entertainment.

In more modern societies, the word bee has also been used for some time already^[vague] for other social gatherings without communal work, for example for competitions such as a spelling bee.

Harambee (Swahili: [hɑrɑˈᵐbɛː]) is an East African (Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan) tradition of community self-help events, e.g. fundraising or development activities. Harambee literally means 'all pull together' in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms.

Umuganda is a national day of community service held on the last Saturday of each month in Rwanda. In 2009, umuganda, which means "coming together in common purpose" in Kinyarwanda, was institutionalized in the country. It is translated as 'coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome'.

A social event is held to build a house or a farm, especially for elderly and widows who do not have the physical strength to do it on their own.

Naffīr (نَفِّير) is an Arabic word used in parts of Sudan (including Kordofan, Darfur, parts of the Nuba mountains and Kassala) to describe particular types of communal work undertakings. Naffīr has been described as including a group recruited through family networks, in-laws and village neighbors for some particular purpose, which then disbands when that purpose is fulfilled. An alternative, more recent, definition describes naffīr as 'to bring someone together from the neighborhood or community to carry out a certain project, such as building a house or providing help during the harvest season'.

The word may be related to the standard Arabic word nafr (نَفْر) which describes a band, party, group or troop, typically mobilized for war. In standard Arabic, a naffīr ʽāmm (نَفِّير عَامّ) refers to a general call to arms.