,,
...
| The
term, "paper trail," is slang meaning a set of reports and records that
allows us to see what has gone on before. It is important in a mobilization
programme to ensure that reports and records are kept. |
.... |
This
is so that when mobilizers rotate there is continuity and consistency in
the programme, and to avoid duplication and avoid missing lessons learned
(making the same mistakes again). The term is derived from the method
of a hunter in the woods, following footsteps and spoor of hunted animals. |
..
.
...
| "Participation"
is used in several contexts on this web site. "Community
Participation" means that all members of a community participate in
decision making that affects the community (not merely consultation or
contribution). See PAR. See also
Civic
Engagement. |
,,, |
"Participatory
Training" means that the trainees learn by doing,
ie participating as an effective method for learning skills. Participants
do not learn as effectively when they are listening to a lecture or to
a presentation. "Participatory Management" means that
management is not left only to the managers, but is everybody's business.
"Participatory Appraisal" (PRA) means
that the affected community or organization is stimulated to participate
in assessing the situation and determining priority needs. |
.
.
| Participatory
Appraisal or Assessment: |
...
| Before
a project is planned, the situation must be assessed. PAR
or PRA |
. |
For
a project to be "community-based,”
the
whole community must participate in observing and analysing, looking for
problems, potentials, resources and constraints. |
...
| A
community and its members do not participate in its own assessment automatically.
A decree, law, project design phrase or statement of intent will not ensure
that the whole community participates. |
. |
Community
members need encouragement, skills, stimulation and guidance in order to
participate in appraisal or assessment. Among the various tasks of the
community worker, mobilizer or facilitator, providing those are among the
most important. |
...
|
Providing
that stimulation and training is variously called by the acronyms,
PRA or PAR.
|
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| Participatory
Evaluation: |
...
| While
a project is being implemented, and after it is completed, the situation
must be re-assessed and evaluated. In a “community-based”
project,
the whole community asks if the objectives were realistic. |
. |
Were
they reached (or to what extent)? Who benefited? What lessons
were learned? Where do we go from here? |
.
.
| Participatory
Management: |
...
| The
word “management” was described above.
Participatory
management in a department or agency means that staff participate (to
varying degrees) in management decision making. |
. |
In
a community based project, the whole community participates in the major
decisions of the executive. (A slogan we often use is, "Management is far
too important to be left only to the managers.") |
...
.
...
| A
"partnership"
is
a relationship in which there is some equality between the parties in the
agreement. In the key word, "independent,"
above, it was
noted that we are all, to some extent, interdependent. While your work
leads to a community breaking out of dependency, it cannot become totally
independent. |
. |
The
realistic aim, then, is for communities to get into partnerships with municipal
or district authorities, and work towards more equal relationships. |
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.
.
..
.
...
...
.
...
| Planning
means thinking about and working out what to do in the future. A good plan
has a series of steps leading from the current situation up to the desired
end. See Work Plan. |
. |
One
effective method is "reverse time thinking," where you start with what
you want to achieve in the end, and look at the immediately prior step
to that, then the one before that, and so on until you get to the present
situation. |
...
. .
| Political
Dimension of Community: |
...
| The
political dimension of community is its various ways and means of allocating
power and decision making. It is not the same as ideology, which belongs
to the values dimension. |
. |
It
includes, but is not limited to, types of governments and management systems.
It also includes how people in small bands make decisions when they do
not have a recognized leader. See "Culture." |
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...
...
| Political
power is one of the sixteen elements of strength, power or capacity of
a community or organization. The degree to which the community can participate
in national and district decision making. Just as individuals have varying
power within a community, so communities have varying power and influence
within the district and nation. |
. |
The
more political power and influence that a community or organization can
exercise, the higher level of capacity it has. When simulating a community
to organize and act, the mobilizer needs to be aware of the role of political
power in empowering that community or organization. See: Elements
of Community Strength. |
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.
...
| There
is political corruption all over the world. It may not be appropriate,
therefore, to use a local slang expression from the USA to describe one
common form of it, but we do. |
.... |
The
city of Chicago, Illinois, is well known as the home of the prohibition
era's most famous and fearsome form of organized crime, the mob (mafia). |
...
| It
is also an important place for the slaughtering and butchering of animals.
Both stink. |
. |
Many
settlers stopped in Chicago on the way west to pick up barrels of salted
pork which could last through the winter because the salt preserved the
meat. |
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| Chicago
also had an infamously corrupt city government, not to mention corrupt
unions. |
. |
Politicians
were expected to pay off their supporters, or at least the leaders of groups
who voted for them: union leaders, leaders of ethic organization,
even church leaders. |
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| When
they won an election, they dispensed favours, a contract here, a piece
of legislation there, a job here, a "fixed" (castrated) arrest or fine
there, and on and on. |
. |
This
dispensing of favours was referred to as if the politician were dipping
into a barrel of salted pork and handing out this and that to various supporters. |
...
|
Since
then, "to pork barrel" has become used as a verb, and "pork barrelling"
became a recognized methodology. It is all slang.
|
...
..
...
| The
word "positivism" in social science and philosophy means the application
of the scientific method to social phenomena. |
. |
As
a mobiliser, you are not necessarily using the scientific method to discover
new knowledge, but you are an applied scientist using existing knowledge
to stimulate and guide social change in a community. |
...
..
...
| In
the social sciences, "Postmodernism" is a framework which emphasises the
complex patterns of culture and society in contemporary societies. |
. |
Your
job, as a community mobiliser, is to observe and understand social patterns
of a community in a practical way, rather than to test sophisticated theories. |
...
...
| Poverty
is more than a lack of money and income, more than lack of access to facilities
and services such as water, roads, education or clinics. It is the result
of “poverty of spirit” ie an attitude of hopelessness, an ignorance
of available resources, a dependence upon others, lack of confidence, discouragement,
lack of skills, lack of trust, lack of integrity and lack of effective
sustainable organization; in short, lack of good management. See
Factors
of Poverty. |
... |
Poverty
is a social problem, and calls for a social solution; poverty is not merely
the lack of income among a collection of individuals. Poverty can be reduced
by organizing and guiding poor people towards helping themselves, and by
getting stronger (empowerment) as a result
of engaging in struggles and meeting challenges. The eradication of poverty,
therefore, calls upon a sustainable improvement in management. |
.
.
...
| The
word “alleviation,” means to temporarily take away pain
and discomfort. Giving money to poor people does not end poverty. |
. |
As
mobilizers dedicated to fighting the causes not the symptoms of
poverty, we avoid this approach (mere alleviation by transferring money). |
...
.
...
| As
mobilizers, we work towards the elimination of the social problem of poverty
by analysing its causes, and taking steps to oppose and remove those causes.
Since poverty is a social problem, the solution to that problem is
social. |
. |
Two
complementary approaches to poverty elimination (communal and private)
are found in two complementary modules here: Community
Mobilization Cycle, and Income Generation
Scheme. |
.
.
...
| The
word "reduction" means to make something smaller. See
Principles
of Community Empowerment. |
. |
In
contrast to “alleviation” which temporarily treats the
symptoms of poverty, reduction is
seen as on the right pathway towards eradication. |
...
. .
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| Power
is the ability to move or do things. Amount of strength. |
. |
In
the political dimension of culture,
power means political power, the ability to control,
influence or change things in society. |
...
..
..
..
| (Deutsch:
Lob,
Español: ~, Français: ~, Português: elogio). |
.
...
| The
concept of primary health care, promoted and supported by WHO, is a package
of policies and practices that are of particular interest to poor people
and to people in low income nations. |
. |
The
principles in that package include putting an emphasis onto spending on
low cost health care for the common diseases, which affect the majority
of the population, rather than putting scarce resources into high-cost,
sophisticated (eg high tech) curative practices that benefit only the rich. |
...
| It
also recognizes that prevention is much cheaper than cure, that it results
in lower mortality (death rate) and morbidity (illness rate) which put
strains on the economy, and is more humane. |
. |
It
includes the notion that many persons can be trained to low levels of medical
skills who can reach more remote areas of the country, and who can refer
difficult cases to more highly trained professional in urban areas. |
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| The
notion of PHC is important to mobilizers in poor countries, as it needs
to be understood by all people, and it is a more efficient way of allocating
limited resources. |
... |
The
principles lying behind PHC are also applicable to other community based
activities, such as community based social work. See the acronym PHC. |
...
.
...
| A
progress report reports progress. What are the results of your
activities? How far have you gone to reach your objectives? Donors want
to know what was achieved with their donated money. |
. |
Donors
are less interested in your activities; they are more interested in the
results of your activities; have you reached, or partially reached, the
objectives you stated when you asked for the donation? Resource acquisition
(eg fund raising) and report writing are not independent activities. see
Report
Writing. |
...
.
...
| A
project
is a logical series of related activities (investments) aimed at
solving specific problems with a specific time and in a specific location.
Project stages include assessing, planning, implementing (doing), monitoring
(observing),and evaluating. |
. |
A
community-based project is one in which the whole community chooses, plans
implements and monitors it, and owns and controls the project. |
...
.
...
|
Executive,
Development Committee or CIC (Community Implementing
Committee) of the community, chosen by the community as a whole, responsible
for carrying out the wishes of the whole community.
|
...
.
...
| Karl
Marx used the word, "Proletariat" to identify the exploited class –
workers in factories who did not own capital, and who depended upon their
labour for their survival. Français: le prolétariat. |
. |
In
your work in communities, you may find that the equivalent groups are peasants
who do not work for factory owners, or tenants who do not own the land
or property on which they live or make a living. |
...
.
...
| A
"proposal"
is
a suggestion or invitation. In our work, a "proposal"
is
a document that requests money and/or seeks approval for a project. The
most effective format for a proposal is a project
design. |
. |
It
defines a problem, a solution, and a strategy for using potential resources,
overcoming constraints, to reach finite and measurable objectives. See
Proposals. |
.
.
...
| A
"provider"
takes
the "provision" approach, and provides resources in return
for votes, popularity or career advance. Provision is not sustainable
and does not lead to self reliance as the "enablement"
approach
can. The old patronistic (or "pork barrelling")
system, where politicians and officials handed out contracts and community
services to those who supported them in staying in power, is promoted by
the "provision" approach to facilities and services. |
. |
Those
leaders must change or be replaced by genuinely democratic public servants
who engage in facilitating community self help. |
..
..
...
| Pure
sociology is contrasted with applied sociology (in which community mobilisation
is categorised). Same as Basic Sociology. |
. |
Pure
sociology seeks to make discoveries through observation and analysis of
social groups, without attempting to make changes in those groups. |
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