Achieving Better Community Development: Ku'nsaka - Essay Example

Achieving Better Community Development: Ku'nsaka This report is about a community development project called Ku’nsaka. The primary objective of the project was to address some of the issues faced by the first generation of Black and Minority Ethnic community settlers sometimes called Migrants. The project also aimed to bring the elders and the youth together with the intention of bridging the generation gap that exist between the young and old generation. It was also intended to introduce the much needed Information Technology skills that are subject to view as essential in today’s life and are crucial to the modern world. Ku’nsaka was formed in January 1997 by a group of friend who felt that there was a gap in the community for facility provision for the African-Caribean community. A large proportion of the Ku’nsaka community is from the Southern part of Africa mostly from Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Ku’nsaka also welcomes a wide range of people who are in need of their services as it believes that they could benefit from its services. Ku’nsaka works towards ensuring the following: People have better chances in life, with better access to advice, training and development to improve their life skills. Stronger communities that seem to be having active citizens tend work together to find solutions to their problems. Healthier and more active people and communities Giving the Black and Ethnic Minority a sense of security and belonging Ku’nsaka works towards providing the Black, and Ethnic Minority community is served with necessities that some community members need but are not in a position to acquire. Within the office premises, Ku’nsaka has a project office telephone facility, this is to ensure that the service users who do not own a telephone can use the guidance of the office staff. The members who have basic knowledge of computers have the use of computers in the office. The office workers help users with benefits applications that require performing online. Service users also have the facility to borrow equipment such as lawn mowers or vacuum cleaners and other domestic equipment. Books and leaflets are available in different languages to facilitate those with language and communication problems. Ku’nsaka provides service users with advice relating to welfare benefits, housing and financial problems as well as issues relating to health and education. Since user do not use English as their first language, Ku’nsaka provides that confidential setting that some users need for someone they can trust to read and interpret their correspondence. There is a spirit of community involvement at Ku’nsaka as people feel confident enough to plan or organise activities with the help of staff and get involved in community group activities. At Ku’nsaka, offering support serves as a way of creating conditions conducive to the Black and Ethnic Minority community. It is also a way of enhancing their social functioning and self-esteem as participation helps them perceive themselves as active participants who can understand and use resources at their disposal. Ku’nsaka embarked on the idea of piloting a new project for elderly people living in Surrey, especially those with roots to the Black and Ethnic Minority. The overall aim of the project was to provide opportunities for the elderly people to record and celebrate their lives. The project was also meant to enable the elderly people to engage themselves in useful activities as well as being able to provide opportunities that will help the into getting out of their loneliness and isolation leading them to live a more active life in their later part of life. As Paul Henderson writes, “participation is a central theme and one that I consider crucial to the development of community work…Participation implies that people are treated positively as unique individuals with a contribution to make, rather than negatively as groups who may share a common debilitating characteristic” (Henderson, P.1988 p 59). With insight, Ku'nsaka consulted with its staff, volunteers, management committee members and service users. It was subject to identify that a reminiscence project was the most desired project and should be set up as a matter of priority. Out of forty service users, thirty-six, representing ninety percent, of them identified a reminiscence project as the most desired project that they wanted to see set up as a matter of priority. It is possible to state “the assumption that the proponents of community participation know what local people want and need pervades the literature” (Midgley, J. et al., 1986, p 158). The information in Ku’nsaka’s possession suggests that there has been very little planning by the government for the facilities of Black and Minority Ethnic community elders and this has resulted in the fact that there are very few entertainment and recreational facilities for them. Research from the Department of Health has shown that reminiscence work contributes to elders’ mental and overall well-being (Ethnic and Health, 2004). According to Mckee, “having the opportunity to talk about the past, and also being listened to, aided the sense of ‘personhood’ experienced by the older person” (Mckee, 2002). After identifying the project, funding emerged as the biggest challenge for Ku’nsaka. Ku’nsaka agreed upon applying for a grant as a means of funding the event. The grant would enable the purchase of essential and necessary project equipment, facilitate hiring of the venue, pay for speakers and tutors, develop a social website and pay for the planned open day event that was to showcase the achievements of the project over a twelve week period. The project was designed to work with thirty elders and fifteen young people. Three hundred people were expected to attend the open day while three thousand were anticipated visiting the online exhibition. Long term, the social network skills acquired would enable participants to search for friends and keep up to date on what's going on in the community and general world current affairs. Having decided on the project and grant funding was in place, the project was subject to publish in the local free paper. Leaflets using different languages were in use by the organisers for the target community and the languages used to publish the event were English, French and Swahili. Ku’nsaka also managed to produce and circulate information by e-mailing service users on the database and asked members to forward information to friends and family members. To be able to reach the majority of the Black and Ethnic Minority community, leaflets were put up in places frequented by the targeted community which was the Black and Ethic Minority such as restaurants, GP surgeries, event halls, places of worship and barbers. The word of mouth which is a very efficient means of communication with the Black and Ethnic Minority community and has worked very well in the past was also in use. Ku’nsaka was also in a position to use volunteers to make outreach visits to talk to people about the project and its benefits. The outreach workers were also used to reach the hard to reach members of the community. The method of personal approach has proved very effective for Ku’nsaka in the past, especially with the elderly who are often very apprehensive about leaflets and do not deal with postal correspondence well. To be able to facilitate the project, community members had to pinpoint issues and then develop an action plan. Community members’ partici­pation was essential in setting the agenda and choosing the course of action that would embrace everyone and give everyone an opportunity to attribute according to their ability. For the community, being given the opportunity to choose issues that needed addressing was very important to them as showed that the organisers felt that they had something to contribute. The organisers worked with the community to establish what the community felt like a priority. Being able to participate in deciding the on the project meant a lot to the community as it served the purpose of creating a sense of ownership. The organisers facilitated the community planning and action process by collaborating as well as building power, knowledge cycle. Participatory action played a major role by engaging both old and young to produce resources that needed to come from within the community, being the “owners” of the event. The community took responsibility in terms of identifying interviewees, organising meetings and storing information. Information stored would be used in future to evaluate the event and build on in future should there be an opportunity to put up another or similar event. The participatory action led to the community collectively solving their own problem by organising the community members to organise and mobilise themselves, choose the issues they needed solved, develop their own action plan and supporting the action until they achieved the desired goals. Good community relationship was essential in achieving the goals of the project and showed unity. Citizen participation has been defined as “a process in which individuals take part in decision-making in the institution, programs and environments that affect them” (Heller, Price, Reinharz, Riger, & Wandersman, 1984, P339). All stakeholders were able to participate. The reminiscence project was to meet twice a week at weekends over a period of twelve weeks. During that period, elders worked with young people from their community to create scrapbooks of old memories and to map out the elders’ life journey, which brought out memories, leading to lengthy discussions. The scrapbooks were then collated and developed into an online exhibition. During the twelve weeks, participants were trained by experienced volunteers on how to use and surf the internet to search for old pictures, search for objects and songs that triggered memories, good or bad, compare them to now and reminisce by sharing memories of the past and use social media to communicate with others who are on social media. Muhammud, A. R. writes, “from this (participation), they can develop their own systematic thinking, their own science from which they can be able to derive the strength for negotiation with other quarters of society” (Craig et al, 1995). Those activities managed to motivate interaction and allow Ku’nsaka to expand its database, as well as contact list. On a weekly basis, the project managed to invite a specialist speaker to give a talk on a topic that affects the Black and Ethnic Minority elders’ in terms of long-term conditions such as cancer, diabetes, stroke and dementia, money matters and environmental issues, in a relaxed environment. It is important to put into consideration some cases, the Black and Ethnic Minority community experience certain problems due to lack of knowledge and information. The weekly meetings also acted as a neutral platform for people to discuss common problems and share solutions. The meetings were also used to help people with form filling or signpost them to specialists that they had no knowledge of it. At The end of the twelve weeks, Ku’nsaka planned to hold an open day event to mark and showcase the project to the general public. The open day took place in January 2012 and went down in the history of Ku’nsaka as the most memorable and eventful day. While community development can be practised as top down, Ku’nsaa is based on the form of community development that brings in the practice of community organisation. It bases on the power, knowledge cycle. The objective is that at the end of the process, the community will be in a position to possess knowledge and engage in effective actions that will in one way or another impact on their lives. Foremost, one requires bearing in mind that communities, no matter how small, have their own power dynamics, factions and personalities. Community development is not just about building things. Things such as safe water, schools, houses and other physicals are also important. Building upon the capacity of the members of community to help in organizing themselves so that they can set and achieve their own community goals is even more important. Emerging stories among the Black and Ethnic Minority community suggest that the first generation of African-Caribbean settlers are now ageing, retiring to their countries of origin or simply dying with few strategies to capture and record their life journeys as a way of preserving their experiences in place. According to Social Science & Medicine Journal, despite great strides made by the Black and Minority Ethnic community since the 1950’s, available evidence suggests that they still experience higher levels of social exclusion than most groups (Social Science & Medicine, 2004). Most of the Black and Ethnic Minority elderly community do not have the extended family networks and, as a result, suffer isolation and loneliness. It is more pronounced after retirement and when their children move out of the family homes. The Fini report states that “trust is a major issue among the Black and Minority Ethnic groups who are more likely to trust someone giving them advice from their own community in their own language than someone from an outside body” (Fini Report). As a result, they are not able to request for help or share what are experiencing. According to medical research, loneliness and isolation over a length period of time lead to ill health and depression (Ethnic and Health, 2004). Ku’nsaka also learnt that “disadvantaged and the communities that were socially excluded often to deprive of the social resources that would be helpful in providing a solid basis for their participation in form of partnerships with state health services. Given the absence of efforts that would help in removing such obstacles and to generate the necessary resources for participation, partnerships may be “set up to fail” (Ethnic and Health, 2007). While exploring participation, the amount of people willing to participate in the project should be taken into consideration. The reasons why they are willing to participate should also be able to establish. People participate for various reasons such at the fact that the project is beneficial to themselves or their families, they see themselves as leaders or for financial reasons. Answering the question of who participates and how they respond to the project is crucial to the outcome of the project. A generation gap also exists between the old generation and the youth of today. Youths that frequent and attend Ku’nsaka forums have indicated that they have found it very difficult to relate to their elders as they do not know much about them and are not able to interact with them easily. Focus groups with the youth also reported that the youth wanted to learn more about the journey their elders have gone through since they came to the United Kingdom as far back as the 1950's. The youth also expressed the fact that they would welcome an opportunity to work with the elders, giving them the opportunity to pass on their social networking skills to them. This enabled reflecting the motivations and objectives of all the participants. Within each focus group, it was subject to identify that most of the elders in their community did not have the knowledge on the use of social media or the use of things such as Facebook, blogging and twitting, due to lack of skills and knowledge of technology. The project provided many opportunities for networking and information as well as skills sharing. The newly acquired skills for participants who attended the project, especially the Information Technology, the skills acquired will enable some of the elderly, especially those in their 50’s new to Information Technology to be able to progress into employment, further training and education. This is with the assumption that improved access to services leads to improved welfare. Migrants, while keeping in contact with their communities of origin, do have a different perception of the local context and needs. It is, therefore, in place projects like Ku’nsaka, whose role is crucial and should make sure that the project reflects real and achievable needs of the community. “Participation also encourages those people who may have limited contribution to make to share their talents with others. This gives benefit to both giver and receiver, and as such is an essential means of promoting human capabilities, as well as feeling of worth and dignity. It is also a means of countering the helplessness often deeply felt by individuals and communities in the face of circumstances that may appear out of their control. In this respect, participation acts as a mean of increasing power (Henderson, P.1988 p 59). One of Ku’nsaka’s beliefs has always been to promote stronger communities. This was evident in the project as the project was able to promote age exchanges between young people and older people. The project was also successful at giving people an opportunity to work with and assist older people with things like brushing up their Information Technology skills and was able to be used as a vehicle for young and older people to meet, talk and get to know each other in a safe and creative environment. It also worked on a platform that was able to contribute to reducing youth offending and building social cohesion in the community. Ku’nsaka has always associated itself with the community promotion of healthier and more active people in the communities. Through the project, the following were achieved collectively. The project was able to improve the quality of life for older people by emphasizing the value of their memories to old and young, through artistic, educational and welfare activities.Through the reminiscence work, elders became more explicitly valued for the wealth of their knowledge and life experiences. As transparency and good management are important throughout all the phases of the project, this is reflected in this project by the consultation that was carried out at all levels and the involvement of the members of Ku’nsaka. That was an example, emphasizing good leadership and communication across the entire organisation. By involving both old and young when deciding on the project, Ku’nsaka showed diversification and avoided a situation whereby one part would have emerged as dominant over the other since the project was to involve different groups of people. To be able to support the action necessary to achieve community goals, choosing an effective action strategy is very important as community development is about achieving outcomes comprising no discrimination, no violence and more justice. Community development is about finding the most effective way to achieve the goals of the community at large. As a result, possessing enough knowledge is crucial as it leads to power, knowledge and action cycle. Ku’nsaka understood the depth of the problem that was being experienced by the migrants and documented the strategies that were used to implement the project successfully. Conclusion The lack of information technology knowledge by the older generation should not be seen as a bottleneck and deterrent for the project organisers, as the older generation possesses a wealth of worldly wisdom, experience and do have a know-how that the organisers can use to channel towards meeting specific needs or building a long term sustainable project. Most of the elderly that were attracted to the project were suffering from isolation and stress due to lack of culturally appropriate leisure opportunities and familiar environment that they could relate to well. Some of them, in addition, suffered from a lack of knowledge and awareness of health and social care support benefits that were available to the elderly. The project worked as a base for knowledge sharing. The project organisers ran weekly presentations that gave them the much-needed information and that in return enabled individuals to live healthier and fuller lives. Even the young people showed their unique understanding of the issues of the community. The interaction provided opportunities for the young and old to learn from each other’s experiences, especially the young, recognising the richness of experiences that characterised the older generation. All stakeholders participated in the event, and the outcome reflected the motivations and the objectives of all the participants. Through participation and consultation, the participants were kept informed of all the planning and pending actions of the event. Ku’nsaka intends to keep building on the quality changes that have been subject to effect, making sure that they are satisfying and sustainable. Through the reminiscence work, the elders felt more explicitly valued for the wealth of their life experiences that they were able to share, while remembering that sharing experiences was important to both parties, in this case, the young and old. This project has exhibited how much community development seeks to enhance individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to bring about change in this minority community. These skills have been subject to create through the formation of these large groups comprising the young and the old generation. Furthermore, community development works on the premise of changing the relationships between ordinary people and people in positions of power. This project has brought to the fore the principle that in any given community, there is adequate wealth of knowledge and experience that could be useful in innovative ways, can be channelled into collective action to achieve the communities’ desired goals. This can also be subject to describe as community capacity building. 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