Community Mobilization PDF

# Community Mobilization - *Waqas A. Khan* - *Master Trainer* - *SYBAN* # What is a Community A Community is a set of people living together with common interest. We all live in a community. There are different things that bind us together. Let us try to identify them. - Territory - Sharing resour...

# Community Mobilization - *Waqas A. Khan* - *Master Trainer* - *SYBAN* # What is a Community A Community is a set of people living together with common interest. We all live in a community. There are different things that bind us together. Let us try to identify them. - Territory - Sharing resources - Administrative unit - Language - Religion - Culture - Occupation # Community Mobilization - Community mobilization refers to the process of building social relationship in pursuit of common community interests. - Community mobilization is seen as being the foundation of the community development process. - Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the skills they need to affect change in their own communities. # Steps in Community Mobilization - Identify the problem / issue - Select a strategy to solve the problem - Community mobilization - Implementation through people's participation - Assess the results and improve # Selecting Core Areas - Identify core areas of community development - Poverty - Health - Maternal and child mortality, HIV/AIDS, Malaria - Education - Pre-primary, primary, secondary - Women empowerment - Water and sanitation - Prohibition of HIV/AIDS - Agriculture and allied sector - Skill improvement # Prepare to mobilize - Identify a common issue that the whole community can get involved - Gather information about the issue and the community - Identify resources and constraints # Select a strategy - Depending on problem, plan for community dialogue and select a strategy. - Some problems: - Require sensitization on the issue. - Call for mobilization of community. - Need interaction with individual family members. # Community Mobilization - A process whereby a group of people become aware of a shared concern or common need and decide to take mobilization in order to create shared benefits. - A continual and cumulative process that involves communication, education, and organization, which together lead to community mobilization and development. # Key Task Involved in Community Mobilization - Developing an on-going dialogue between community members - Creating or strengthening community organizations (Committees etc.) - Creating an environment in which individuals can empower themselves to address their own and their community's needs - Promoting community members' participation # Implementation - Implementation and constant monitoring - Assess the results - Revise the strategy wherever necessary - Scale up # Role of SCM SCM is community mobilizer. A mobilizer is a person who mobilizes, i.e. gets things moving. Social animator. A catalyst. - Bringing people together - Building trust - Encouraging participation - Facilitating discussion and decision-making - Helping things to run smoothly - Facilitation in community mobilization process # Skills needed for SCM ## Attitudes include: - A willingness to examine and challenge their own assumptions, opinions and beliefs - A genuine respect for all community members. - A non-judgmental and accepting approach. - An understanding that different people have different views and perspectives. - A belief in community capacity to take effective mobilization. ## Skills include: - Good communication skills, especially listening. - Good facilitation skills to enable communities to conduct their own analysis of their lives and situations. - Techniques to help facilitation awareness of political, gender and cultural issues and relationships. - An ability to challenge assumptions sensitively (e.g. about the role of women). ## Knowledge includes: - The community mobilization process. - The principles of community mobilization. - Knowledge of related issues and problems, causes and effects. - Understanding of the ethical issues related to community mobilization. # Conflict Management Conflict is an inevitable result of social interaction and is not necessarily negative. A distinction must be made between positive and negative aspects of conflict. When constructively managed, conflict may lead to clearer ideas, innovative solutions and increased effectiveness and commitment. # Factors contributing to conflict: - Diverse groups - Strategic disagreement - Competition between groups - Unreasonable expectations - Lack of common understanding - Goal conflict - Poor communication skills - Unclear/unfair expectations - Power-plays and manipulation # Conclusion - Community mobilization needs continuous efforts. - Using its available resources for the community effectively. - Obtaining support from the community. - Explore cooperation with other agencies.