Guide to community entry & Strategies in relating with communities Flashcards
What are the dimensions of a community as a client or the three features of a community
Location
•A population
•A social system
Name six location variables
Community boundaries •Location of health services •Geographic features(mountainous or rocky,desert,etc) •Climate •Flora and Fauna •Human made environment
Name some population variables(what the community is made up of or the people the community is made up of)
Size
•Density
•Composition(young children,adolescents,old people)
•Rate of growth or decline
•Cultural differences
•Mobility(if people walk a lot there and all)
•Social class and educational levels
Name some variables in social system
variables include: •health •family •economic •educational •religious •legal •communication •recreational and •the political systems.
What is community entry
What do the principles and techniques of community mobilisation and participation involve
Community entry is seen as a prerequisite to any participatory process.
•Such community spaces are created in varied ways for each community, according to its cultural values and practices. True or false and give an example
Community entry is the process of entering community spaces with the intention of meeting the community members where they are ‘most comfortable’ or where they can speak out their ideas, needs, and aspirations.
• Community entry refers to the process of initiating, nurturing and sustaining a desirable relationship with the purpose of securing and sustaining the community’s interest in all aspect of a programme.
•Community entry refers to the process, principles and techniques of community mobilisation and participation.
•
This involves recognizing the community its leadership and people and adopting the most appropriate process in meeting, interacting and working with them.
True
example, in rural settings, people tend to be more welcoming and hospitable, although this may change if their sense of security is threatened or if they have experienced violence
State and explain the six principles that guide community entry
Respectful dialogue.
•A famous quotation, “Remove your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground,” has been invoked by many dialogue facilitators to signify the need to remove one’s biases and prejudices when entering a dialogue with another person.
Sensitivity to needs.
•Being constantly on the lookout for what should be addressed in the process of working together especially at the entry phase of the cooperation is another crucial principle.
Principles that guide community entry
Historical perspective
•Events should be viewed from the perspective that everything has a historical origin, and that perceptions developed through time frame unique concepts, practices, and values
Openness to learning
•Being able to look at one’s own assumptions and challenge them in the face of realities happening on the ground is an important principle that will allow genuine community entry.
Principles that guide community entry
•Receptiveness in a dialogue and fluid communication to happen.
At the onset of any development cooperation, stakeholders are required to be open to, and willing to learn from, each other, to be self-reflective, and to allow for change in their own perspectives.
•Inclusivity.
With diverse interests at stake in any activity/programme, one cannot be selective with one’s dialogue partners. Efforts to mobilize participation should not be limited to those who are cooperative, but should also be extended to those who are unsupportive of the activity/programme.
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Four important goals of communi
State and explain the four goals of community entry
Contextual grounding
•Prior to engaging in any development cooperation, it is important for the key actors to gain better understanding of the conditions that influence the dynamics within the community.
2. Building trust and confidence
•In troubled areas, relationship building among stakeholders is an essential ingredient of the success of any development cooperation.
Four important goals of community entry
3. Generating support
•A sense of ownership of the program programme for government support, NGOs, or other partners can be built up during community entry through various means of engaging them in initial or ad hoc mechanisms that initiate them into the processes that the development cooperation aims to set in place.
- Obtaining genuine information.
•Through the flow of communication and information that can happen at the community entry phase, NGOs, line agencies, and development institutions are able to come up with the information they need to initially assess the situation.
What are the five approaches to community entry and explain them
Door-to-door neighbourhood walkabout
•This approach is usually taken by NGOs undertaking community organizing processes, where they go from house to house to introduce themselves and their purpose for going into the community.
Community events
•Attending community events is another way to introduce the project or development intervention to community members who are not yet being engaged. It might be helpful to be selective about which community events to attend.
•Events such as fundraisers and board meetings do not necessarily draw people who are not already participating. If the focus is meeting those who are not yet engaged, the team can try events such as faith community socials or cultural events.
- Third-party facilitated approach
•For communities with a history of failed relationships with development partners, it will help to engage a third party or a service provider, such as an NGO, to undertake the community entry processes.
•This approach is usually more effective when the NGOs being engaged have proven track records and had previous presence in the community.
•It is also important to gain the trust of the community partners and identify how this arrangement will be beneficial for the service - Outreach activity
•This is a more traditional approach to the community that places the service provider as “the expert” during activities such as seminars or trainings organized for skills needed by the community.
•It means offering available expertise within the team. Some examples would be literacy programmes, mothers’ classes (mainly used by community health units undertaking feeding programmes - Quick-impact measures
•Quick-impact measures (QIMs) can be used as entry points of the implementing institution if there is an urgent demand to address community needs or issues.
•QIMs can help open the communication line and establish communication channels between the implementing institution and the partner community, and can support the building of confidence between the community and the implementing institution.
•A QIM is a small-scale project or activity that can be achieved within a short time period (not beyond six months) and should directly benefit the partner community.
•The involvement of the stakeholders and communities during the identification, implementation, and monitoring of QIM activities is important to make sure that the measure will not create harm or undermine the existing initiatives
State the phases in community entry
And state what each phase entails
Phase 1: Pre-entry (implementing team)
Phase 2: Actual entry into the community (community level)
Pre-entry phase
•Forming the implementing team
•Initial contact building and data gathering
•Courtesy call on local leaders
•Building the capacity of the implementing team
•Joint formulation of key messages and the communication plan
•Context analysis and planning for entry
Phase 2: Actual entry into the community (community level)
•Meeting with Chiefs and elders and all stakeholders
•Formalizing and Strengthening Contact with the Community
•Delivering the Key Messages
•Initiating Collaborative Activities to Build Confidence
•Establishing/ Strengthening Existing Mechanisms for Collaboration
Explain how to form the implementation team and how initial contact building and data gathering
Forming the implementing team
- It is important to identify and form the implementing team that will anchor the entire community entry and social preparation process.
- This involves initial meetings to explore the possibilities for cooperation and its parameters, including the nature of the cooperation, and obligations of each member, strategies, resource requirements, and systems.
- Agreements and plans should be recorded by a designated person who can also be in charge of reading minutes of meetings for easy recall of decisions of the group in previous meetings.
- Each meeting should be a venue to look forward to actions members can do together rather than to plan for another meeting.
- This helps generate interest and enthusiasm among the members of the team on what they can do collectively.
Building initial contact with different influential actors and stakeholders in the target area is important to generate support during the community entry.
•If applicable, advice from the ground should be sought particularly on peace and security issues, interest groups, and community issues, which serve as inputs in the preliminary conflict assessment.
•To facilitate community entry processes effectively, it is necessary to gather information on relevant data
- Data gathering should focus not only on demographic profiles but, more importantly, on the people’s knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of development initiatives, particularly those related to the development project or programme being introduced.
- It has to be noted that interviews do not end after the pre-entry stage nor after trust has been
Explain how courtesy call on leaders is done and how to build the capacity of the implementation team
Making an initial visit to local leaders of established structures in the community .
•An official letter can be sent prior to the visit to request for an appointment and introduce the agencies involved as well as the purpose of the meeting being requested.
•During the actual visit, it helps to provide the leaders with documents and brochures that describe the agencies and the programme being introduced.
Building the capacity of the implementing team
- Building the capacity of the implementing team is necessary to prepare them for community entry.
- Capacity building strategies such as seminars, coaching, and multi-stakeholders’ dialogues conducted at this level are effective in developing trust between the community and the service provider.
- Stakeholders gain opportunities for social communication and interaction, which build their confidence in their capacity to think and work together.
Explain how context analysis is done and how to plan for the entry
- After the data have been collated and consolidated, the implementing team should be able to come up with an analysis of the context and problem that need to be considered in undertaking participatory planning and other mandated processes for the development cooperation to take off.
- The data generated can be used to re-evaluate perspectives and come up with assumptions on the grievances, fears, or perceptions of the local population against the state actors or projects. The data would also be used to prepare key messages addressing these same grievances, fears, or perceptions. T
- he objective of this is to show the local population at the first official contact that the concerns and position of the local communities are being considered and taken seriously.
Explain how joint formulation of key messages and communication plan is done
- Key messages should be formulated based on the analysis of the context.
- The team should be able to develop the key messages and the communication plan.
- Then appropriate formats for communication and for approaching the community can be designed in a way in which the process of reaching out to certain actors is done sequentially.
- One may need to start with key persons and individual meetings, then continue with group meetings, and gradually move to conducting community assemblies at a later time.
How is formalizing and strengthening contact w the community done,delivering key messages
Formalizing and strengthening contact with the community
- Having analyzed the perceptions, needs, interests, and power relations in a community, the team can now make decisions on which local stakeholder or leader can serve as an effective bridge between the community and the service provider, particularly engaging in meaningful dialogue with the community on their aspirations and vision related to the project or programme being introduced to them
- Contacts can be approached in various ways: letters of introduction can be sent on behalf of the TWG
- In areas where indigenous peoples are present, it is mandatory to engage them in efforts to establish contact with the council of elders.
- Obtaining the free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the indigenous peoples is important
Delivering the Key Messages
- After choosing appropriate and applicable approaches, the team may now proceed to the actual community entry and deliver the key messages.
- It is important for those assigned to deliver the key messages to adhere to and abide by the principles of community entry during their delivery of the key messages.
- It is important for the messages to be delivered clearly and in a language that the community can understand.
How are collaborative activities initiated to build trust and confidence
Explain how existing mechanisms for collaboration are strengthened
Initiating collaborative activities to build trust and confidence
- Collaborative activities are done at this phase to further build trust and create experiences for working together
- Showing the local population that their concerns are being taken seriously and that concrete action is happening.
Establishing/strengthening existing mechanisms for collaboration
- Some programmes, in the haste to get things done, immediately press for electing leaders and formalizing structures upon entry into the community.
- This practice is discouraged in community organizing, which proposes the formation of informal and ad hoc working mechanisms in which broader numbers of people can be encouraged to participate in informal collaborative activities rather than being limited to traditionally recognized leaders.
- Through such ad hoc mechanisms, people are also able to gauge leadership skills, attitudes, influence, and roles based on individual capacity, and avoid falling into the popularity trap of formalizing leaders.
