Rules and Strategies for Building a Community - Essay Example

339752 - Principles and Strategies for Building a Community from the Inside Skill for Life Program Sri Lanka is an island nation of 8 million people tucked away in the Indian Ocean. The country’s main source of income is tourism and export of spices, tea and garments. However being surrounded by the ocean on all sides, fisheries too is an important industry. The chief occupation amongst the coastal communities in the country is fishing and being employed by the garment factories as semi-skilled workers. The 2004 Tsunami not only destroyed the basic infrastructure of these towns but also took away the most important resource of any community, its people. The waves did not discriminate the young from the old and hence the communities suffered their biggest loss – that of human lives. The gravest consequence of this tragedy has been the loss of earning members of most families. Further the destruction of basic social infrastructure has crippled all social and economic development. Another dimension to spur change within several communities in Sri Lanka has been the onset of business outsourcing opportunities that have been initiated in the country. With all these developments it had become imperative for communities to re-build themselves in order to equip themselves to face the challenges of the emerging new world. In this paper we shall look into how four adjacent villages* in rural Sri Lanka (under the same municipal jurisdiction) plan to come together to re-build their communities applying the principles of community development. These communities comprise chiefly of fisher folks, garment workers and people with tourism related businesses. Located in the southern coast of Sri Lanka the villages are Walumgela, Rattala, Hamugama and Hoskotta. The total population across all of these villages is of 13,000 people, spread over 20 square miles. Each village has an average of 500 homes with Rattala being the main district headquarter town. These towns provide the maximum number of unskilled and semi-skilled workers to the export garment factories and tourism industry. Along with these, fishing has been the traditional occupation of families here for generations. In fishing too, the local people use the traditional techniques and not modern boats or any electronic instruments to make their task easy. Within the geographical borders of these villages are two hospitals, several primary schools and various hotels and resorts. As World aid poured in and the state government along with various international aide agencies came to the rescue of the affected village communities, the above villages too benefited from this. Houses were re-build and several make-shift hospitals and schools were put-up to give the villages a semblance of what they used to be. However several communities realised that these changes were short-lived and that they needed to apply more permanent and sustainable ways to help themselves. Therefore long-term community building strategies were needed. However for any of these to be a success, the foremost requirement was to understand in detail what the chief deterrents to their growth and development were. As mentioned earlier we will now draw up the strategy based on the principles of community building. Although each of the twenty five principles provides direction and guidance to community building activity, we shall select only those that will help us plan our program more efficiently along with being applicable to resolve the issues we have at hand. ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES Holism and Organic Development These two principles are the backbone of any well-planned community development. Holism as the name suggests, means that the community must look at the re-building activity in its totality and not is parts. By this we mean that all the issues that they are facing must not be looked in isolation but as a part of the whole community overall developmental process. In our case, not only should the issues of employment, better job avenues and livelihood be looked into but also education, economic imbalances, policies and infrastructural facilities are delved on. It is only then that the community will be able to come up with a more long- term solution, which will not only solve the immediate problems at hand but also improve the overall condition of the society. The principle of Organic development too plays an important role as it acknowledges the important aspect of allowing a community to nurture itself from within, by utilizing its own resources. In this way the unique values of the concerned community are too respected. Rather than take a mechanical approach, by that we mean, based only on the functional and logical aspects of the problem, we are encouraged to look at the environmental and social aspects too. In our context, we should not only focus on developing resources such as academic and vocational institutions but also tap into the existing internal resources of skills and expertise to help develop the true potential of the society. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES Empowerment Stemming from the above two is the principle of empowerment. This rule of community development gives the control of the community building exercise to its rightful custodians, which are the common people. It gives the people the opportunities in terms of resources, knowledge, skills and then allows them to be the architects of their own future. The extent to which empowerment is to be extended to the people in our project is wide. The entire community needs to feel a sense of belongingness to the cause or else it will not succeed. Unless all work and contribute in their own capacity, the issues of employment and economic independency shall restrict themselves to a select few. VALUING THE LOCAL PRINCIPLES Valuing Local Culture, Knowledge, Resources and Skills These set of principles perhaps form the framework of our project. Since the nature of our community building exercise is to resolve topical problems, there is no better weapon than to tackle the issue from within the periphery of the local community. Valuing local culture, knowledge, resources and skills would be our best bet to provide a solution and will help build the community that is ready to not only resolve the immediate issues at hand but to face any new challenge that may be thrown its way. Although globalisation is the order of the day, a total disrespect for local cultural values will result in the alienation of most of the community people to the re-building task. Along with local culture the local resources and knowledge of the people will too help develop a better approach. Finally as in our case, the existing skill sets of the people namely that of fishing, garment manufacturing and tourism/hospitality need to be retained and further built upon along with adding new skills to be learnt. As these professions have been existent in these communities for generations, they already enjoy a pre-approved stamp of acceptability within the society. Hence new skill sets built around these will gain a favourable reception, than introducing entirely new skill sets to them. PARTICIPATION PROCESS PRINCIPLES Process, Outcome and Vision Any community development activity is a process and not a final consequence. To ensure its victory both the means and ends need to be equally valued and emphasized. The principle of Process, Outcome and Vision is what is needed to be applied here. An integrated approach, where one does not lose sight of the eventual outcome of the community re-building activity is needed. Therefore it is important to articulate a vision for program. This will ensure we do not lose focus in just the process, or just the outcome. The vision or this program has been discussed later on in the paper. Community Building This is an all encompassing principle. It embodies the true spirit of community development. It encourages an atmosphere of ‘interdependence’ to be developed and not ‘independence.’ If all the members of the community are encouraged to contribute and participate towards making the program a success, irrespective of their social, racial and economic differences, then they will all feel a sense of ownership with the program, expediting its success. The biggest and most fundamental community assets that can be utilized to help build the community in its livelihood skills are schools. Schools are central to a community's learning and development, and therefore are poised to provide a learning community that has the potential to build the capacity of the whole community to address collaboratively any educational disadvantage. What the community realised was that if they really wanted to change the destinies of their people, then schools had to change as well. There was no point in the community people having power to make decisions unless they made sure they had the knowledge, skills and capacity to make those decisions. Equipped with the knowledge of these principles the “Skill for Life,”** program can be designed. The implementation of this program would be done in 5 stages: 1) Clearly stating the Vision of the program 2) Formulate the Needs of the program 3) Identifying the skill sets needed by the community to help them make this program a success 4) The strategies to be used in the program 5) Outcome and benefits of the program Vision of the program To provide the necessary educational and vocational skills to both the young and old people of the community, so that the community is able to self-sustain its livelihood requirements for today and for the future. Needs of the program It is relevant to identify the educational and vocational needs of the community for today and for the future, so that the strategy drawn is relevant. Secondly all the current available educational facilities should be put under the scanner to see where the gaps are. Then a detailed action plan can be devised in order to bridge the gap. Skill set requirements As mentioned earlier in the introduction these communities comprise of mainly fishermen, garment workers and people with tourism related businesses. Hence the skills of these existing workers need to be made more professional along with identifying related new skills that can be introduced to widen the spectrum of employment opportunities in the community. Over and above their existing vocational skills all the community workers need to have team-building skills. Strategy for the program Role and impact of education in these communities The literacy rate *** in Sri Lanka by sex and sector in the first quarter of 2006 was as follows: Sector Urban 94 Rural 91 Overall 91.4 Sex Male 93.1 Female 89.8 However in spite of the high overall literacy rate the number of people studying beyond ‘A’ levels in the country are very low, especially in the rural areas. Hence the number of skilled workers from the rural belt of the country is few and far between. Education plays a dual role in the development of any society. Firstly, through its processes and procedures (examinations, subject choices and the organization of schooling) it distributes career opportunities and life chances. Although the education system claims that its outcomes are based on natural factors such as intellectual ability, and objective criteria like examinations, the reality is that the system is structured to benefit those with the greatest wealth and other forms of social capital. This is witnessed in the fact that the total number of secondary schools and university level schools across all of these four villages is none. In addition to this there are no special vocational schools either. The end results is that those from settled communities and financially better off homes succeed, while those with a disability and students from disadvantaged families are more likely to fail. These village communities continue to generate only unskilled and semi-skilled workers for generations. Formation of an Education Committee The need to form an education committee is of foremost importance as this will give a definitive form and structure to the program. The members of this committee should hold the cause of providing an overall system of education to these villages very dearly. The members should comprise of active workers along with an advisory board that should guide the former towards achieving the goal of this program. An important role that this committee should play would be to draw up a concrete action plan that should articulate how the ‘Skill for Life,’ program can be made into a reality. Hence project teams should be formed and their tasks be made as concrete and specific. Another task that would be a part of this committee’s agenda would be that of constant monitoring of the progress of the program. This is a crucial task, as this will help all the stakeholders to understand their mistakes and also build on what is working for the program. Stakeholders of the program As we have based our program on the principles of Organic development and Empowerment, amongst other principles, the need to identify the main stakeholders of this program is imperative. Parent participation needs to be promoted by allowing their adequate representation and contribution in Local Education Boards and School Management Boards and planning. The other aspects that need to be examined closely are the curriculum, training of staff and financial requirements of this program. Outcome of the program The livelihood issues of these villages would be tackled not only for the present but also for posterity. These villages would be able to generate skilled workers along with the semi-skilled so that the overall incomes of the families too would go up. References * Name of the villages is fictional ** ‘Skill for Life,’ – Hypothetical name ****Source: Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka Read More