In the mail today came another $35.00 in donations from a couple of generous donors- thanks!! I also appreciate receiving the notes that often come with the donations! I'm still waiting to hear the total from the bowling event, but my friend did mention to me that apparently there was some friendly betting going on that resulted in one individual agreeing to matching the amount raised that night- awesome! Which, brings up the subject of matching. For those of you that have already donated, you may want to check with your employers to see if they do any kind of matching for donations to charity. Or for those of you that are still planning to donate or are planning to attend fundraising event you may want to consider looking into employee matching to make your donation go even further!
Several of my friends and family members have heard me talk at length about why community driven development projects are so important (and I also wrote a little bit about it in an earlier post). Unfortunately, there are a lot of development projects that do not have the support or backing of a community both here in the US and across the globe. Take, for example, disagreements over proposed development in Madison, Wisconsin's downtown State Street area. A proposal to tear down several buildings along the 100 block of State Street was met with opposition voiced by local individuals and business owners over preservation of historic buildings on this block, and then led to some compromises being sought for preserving these landmarks (2-1-12 Channel 3000, Moisman, 10-2-2011). Or, check out one of the top stories from the local paper in Madison today, which talks about plans for redeveloping apartments near campus, and three different interest groups have plans that do not align. In communities the size of Madison (according to 2010 U.S. census data, Madison's population was 233,209), any development project will meet some opposition (though even small communities are not immune to these kinds of disputes, of course). But, it's the resulting discussions, and compromises, and communication between the "two sides" that can determine the "success" of the development. Pick any city or community and you'll find many similar examples.
The more disparate the perspectives of the groups involved in the development discussions, the more difficult it may be to reach a consensus. Or, if one group is largely at a political or economic advantage over the other group, this may result in a lack of participation in discussions, and these groups choosing, instead, to use political or economic will to determine what "should" happen. In these instances, resentment, or worse, "bad development" could result. So, how does "good development" occur? Or what constitutes "good development"? Very generally, "good development" results when interested parties work together and when communication and understanding are paramount. The outcome may include increased resilience and a resulting reduction in vulnerability and increased amount of security and adaptability. A synergy can result where there is the potential for individuals involved to see things from a different perspective. Information sharing and joint decision-making may also be key (DePaoli 2011).
As I've mentioned before, bottom-up development movements (i.e. community driven and directed), are likely to be much more successful than those being imposed by individuals with little direct experience in the community (Altieri & Masera, 1993). These types of bottom-up, or participatory development approaches, can include communities and/or individuals joining up with individuals that may be considered "outside" of the community and still be successful. The difference is, however, that these "outsiders" aren't really true "outsiders", as they act as facilitators of the process and active participants in a cooperative process of development. Examples of less successful top-down approaches to development projects are easier to find when individuals outside of the community are directing and implementing the project without consideration for, or with, the local community.
I feel very strongly that these types of bottom-up, participatory development models can be applied to an endless number of communities, though the recipe for success will vary. Of course, each community will have its own unique needs, interests, opinions, and expertise to go on, which needs to be incorporated.
Please feel free to post a comment or email me thoughts on this or any other topic you would like discussed or have questions about.
Showing posts with label community led development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community led development. Show all posts
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
End of Day 10: $2005.00
Yay! Thanks to a generous $20 donation, the total amount donated is now over $2000.00. That is awesome! Thanks for your continued support. Please continue to help however you can! Think $5 is too little? Think again! Every little bit helps get closer to the goal! Check out how you can donate too! Or, check out these upcoming fundraising events if you would like to help out by going to one (or more) of them. As always, please feel free to email me if you would like to help organize a fundraising event, have an idea, or just a question for me.
The Applebee's Dining to Donate flyer is now available online please remember to bring a copy of it when you come out to eat on 3/19!
The Zumbathon flyer is also available online and there is now a Facebook Event page so send it to anyone that might be interested!
Remember, 100% of the money being donated is going toward sustainable development in rural Ecuador, with the primary focus being construction of a community center that will also act as a sister neighborhood center to Madison, Wisconsin's Meadowood Neighborhood Center. I imagine that some of you that are stumbling upon this blog and fundraising initiative for the first time are still wondering why you should care, or why it is important to help. So, over the next few days I plan to provide more details on goals for the community center and beyond (including more details about why the connection to the Meadowood Neighborhood Center is important), and hope you will share in my enthusiasm and consider donating. I am also hoping you will feel compelled to ask questions for anything you might want to hear more about. Don't be shy!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been volunteering my time and money to help get this initiative going, as it has been something this community has been trying to do for a long time, but as with many worthwhile projects, financial resources were not readily available. I became intrigued by the enthusiasm the community first shared at a town meeting, but was cautioned by some that the request for assistance not simply be a hand me out, and also to be sure that this really was something community-led. So, I talked with the president and others in the community about how we could help out. I even met with the mayor and he seemed excited about this initiative.
But, the true test came with what happened after I returned to the US. Communication between the US (or the rest of the world) and this community is not easy. It is 45 minutes by truck (of which there are two truck owners in town who charge 50 cents one way to the nearest town) or 35 min walking to the road plus additional 30 minutes to the closest town where you can then pay a dollar an hour for internet (if it's working that day, and it is often spotty). In a region where people are fortunate if they have work, and, if they do, are likely earning about $8 a day for 10+ hours of work, the bus fare plus internet fees are nothing to ignore. So, when the president continued to make efforts to get to the internet to discuss ideas and plans over gmail text chat, or borrow a cell phone from someone, or use a cabina or pay phone to call me so I could call back, I knew that there was something unique here.
It became clear to me through these continued discussions that the community wanted this center not only for basic human services, but also as a way to continue with the community's ideas and momentum in order to provide for sustainable development in a grass-roots, community-driven way. Not as something another group or outside agency was telling them was how it should be. And, based on my varied educational background and connections to different individuals and resources, I have been volunteering my time and money to help get this initiative going. This will definitely be a lifetime commitment on my part, but I view myself as largely working in the shadows, gently nudging an already burgeoning community-led initiative for sustainable development.
This initiative can be viewed in part as an asset-based community development. This strategy for community-driven development has been used in both urban and rural communities in North America as a method counter to the typical "needs-based" approaches used by governmental and non-governmental agencies. This approach works by enabling or empowering already existing assets within the community in order to assist communities in driving the sustainable development process themselves. The theory is based on the idea that social assets and social capital can be extremely powerful in enabling community development where financial capital may be limited (for more information, check out Mathie & Cunningham, 2003).
While the community does not have money to put into this initiative, they do have several assets, including donated land. The center will be built on land that a family in the community donated for that purpose. The location of the land is ideal, as it is in the center of the community and not far from the primary school.
Another asset the community has is talented builders who will be able to help with all parts of the construction of the center. Additionally, the president of the community is friends with an architect, so he is assisting with design plans for free. And the list of non-financial assets goes on.
Using a "bottom-up" approach to development is likely to be much more sustainable than alternate approaches of many NGOs (Altieri & Masera, 1993). And, these community-based initiatives can lead to income generation for the community, that is done in a way that is sensitive to the culture and the environment of the area (see Ruiz-Ballesteros, 2011 for example).
More on this in later posts..... Please feel free to ask questions! And, thanks again for your support!!
The Applebee's Dining to Donate flyer is now available online please remember to bring a copy of it when you come out to eat on 3/19!
The Zumbathon flyer is also available online and there is now a Facebook Event page so send it to anyone that might be interested!
Remember, 100% of the money being donated is going toward sustainable development in rural Ecuador, with the primary focus being construction of a community center that will also act as a sister neighborhood center to Madison, Wisconsin's Meadowood Neighborhood Center. I imagine that some of you that are stumbling upon this blog and fundraising initiative for the first time are still wondering why you should care, or why it is important to help. So, over the next few days I plan to provide more details on goals for the community center and beyond (including more details about why the connection to the Meadowood Neighborhood Center is important), and hope you will share in my enthusiasm and consider donating. I am also hoping you will feel compelled to ask questions for anything you might want to hear more about. Don't be shy!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been volunteering my time and money to help get this initiative going, as it has been something this community has been trying to do for a long time, but as with many worthwhile projects, financial resources were not readily available. I became intrigued by the enthusiasm the community first shared at a town meeting, but was cautioned by some that the request for assistance not simply be a hand me out, and also to be sure that this really was something community-led. So, I talked with the president and others in the community about how we could help out. I even met with the mayor and he seemed excited about this initiative.
But, the true test came with what happened after I returned to the US. Communication between the US (or the rest of the world) and this community is not easy. It is 45 minutes by truck (of which there are two truck owners in town who charge 50 cents one way to the nearest town) or 35 min walking to the road plus additional 30 minutes to the closest town where you can then pay a dollar an hour for internet (if it's working that day, and it is often spotty). In a region where people are fortunate if they have work, and, if they do, are likely earning about $8 a day for 10+ hours of work, the bus fare plus internet fees are nothing to ignore. So, when the president continued to make efforts to get to the internet to discuss ideas and plans over gmail text chat, or borrow a cell phone from someone, or use a cabina or pay phone to call me so I could call back, I knew that there was something unique here.
It became clear to me through these continued discussions that the community wanted this center not only for basic human services, but also as a way to continue with the community's ideas and momentum in order to provide for sustainable development in a grass-roots, community-driven way. Not as something another group or outside agency was telling them was how it should be. And, based on my varied educational background and connections to different individuals and resources, I have been volunteering my time and money to help get this initiative going. This will definitely be a lifetime commitment on my part, but I view myself as largely working in the shadows, gently nudging an already burgeoning community-led initiative for sustainable development.
This initiative can be viewed in part as an asset-based community development. This strategy for community-driven development has been used in both urban and rural communities in North America as a method counter to the typical "needs-based" approaches used by governmental and non-governmental agencies. This approach works by enabling or empowering already existing assets within the community in order to assist communities in driving the sustainable development process themselves. The theory is based on the idea that social assets and social capital can be extremely powerful in enabling community development where financial capital may be limited (for more information, check out Mathie & Cunningham, 2003).
While the community does not have money to put into this initiative, they do have several assets, including donated land. The center will be built on land that a family in the community donated for that purpose. The location of the land is ideal, as it is in the center of the community and not far from the primary school.
View from slightly above the donated land, looking down toward the primary school
Using a "bottom-up" approach to development is likely to be much more sustainable than alternate approaches of many NGOs (Altieri & Masera, 1993). And, these community-based initiatives can lead to income generation for the community, that is done in a way that is sensitive to the culture and the environment of the area (see Ruiz-Ballesteros, 2011 for example).
More on this in later posts..... Please feel free to ask questions! And, thanks again for your support!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)