COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AND INTERNAL MOBILIZATION
Sustaining by Auto Mobilization
Training Handout
Your intervention as a mobilizer was as an external factor; for development to be sustained, the community itself must supply continued intervention
The key to sustaining the intervention of stimulating the community towards
increased self reliance, is in the community. Your agency may be
willing and able to replace you, but your ultimate goal is to have the
community continue mobilizing on its own.
The way you do this is to identify persons living in the community
who have the potentials to become mobilizers, and the appropriate
attitudes and values, and train them in your skills, train them to take
over from you.
You want to work yourself out of a job.
Community development is a process of social change. You do not develop a community; the community develops itself.
The most you can be is a catalyst and stimulant to that social
process. Here a famous quotation from Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is
appropriate, "People can not be developed; they can only develop
themselves."
Remember also that the tools and skills you have can act as very
powerful catalysts of social change. Like any tools, therefore, they
can be misused. When you identify community members to train to replace
you, it is vital that you examine their character to ensure that they
will use mobilization tools to benefit the community, not to benefit
themselves at the expense of the community.
Know that some people have political and career objectives. With
good participatory and facilitating skills, a person can misuse
mobilization for personal benefit. See again Know the Skills You
Need and the "locksmith" analogy. When you identify potential mobilizers
from within the community, carefully observe them over time. Do not be
in a hurry to find your replacement; take enough time to do it right.
When you tell a group they should take time and do something right,
you can tell this little story of two bulls from a cattle society in
West Africa.
Two bulls were coming over a hill and saw over a hundred cows down
in the valley before them. "Oh, uncle," said the young bull, "Let us
run down there and do a few." "No," said the older bull, "Let us walk
down there, and do them all."
Take enough time to find and train your replacement.
When you identify one or a few persons who appear to have potential
to become mobilizers, having qualities of honesty, leadership, genuine
concern for development of the people, you need to train them. If they
are interested, you can set them up as something like "apprentices,"
taking time to explain to them why you do what you do.
Cover all the topics in the first few chapters of this hand book.
Helping them learn the principles is as important as their learning the
skills. Let them try to lead a facilitation session from time to time.
More often as their skills grow. After they have gone through two or
more mobilization cycles, they should be ready to carry on in your
absence.
You are well on the way to make your mobilizing sustainable.
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Copyright: Phil Bartle
Last update: 2008/05/02
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