V. PROCESS ON ORGANITATIONAL
AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
It
is the socio-demographic and violent condition´s that make more
and more people move to the mountains around the city in very unfortunate
living conditions. In addition to this, the lack of work and resources,
the limited access to public services, the insecurity and the unhealthiness
in these communities, plus other types of problems such as the drug
addiction, home abandonment, the school drop outs, among others, affect
dramatically most of the population having an especially terrible
impact, on the children and youth.
In
spite of the cruel reality in those communities, it is also real
hope about the possibilities people have to advance depending on
their participation and level of involvement in issues that affect
them. Therefore it is necessary for them to have access to the resources
and information related to policies and local development plans
and the resources available so that they can get involved in the
processes led by governmental entities.
It
is precisely in these topics where most limitations are found, and
where the necessity to come up with processes to stimulate their
participation and eliminate the apathy and indifference they assume
when living in such conditions.
If
we see this reality from a positive perspective, we will find great
possibilities for change with in the communities, along with opportunities
to build strong barriers that prevents children and young adults
from living on the streets and the generation of collateral problems
such as: juvenile delinquency, minors working on the streets in
humane conditions, drug addiction and intra-family violence, sexual
abuse and schools drop outs.
Taking
into account that YMCA actions in the promotion and community development
is done in urban areas, it is necessary to start from the "city"
concept.
According
to Guillermo Font " the City is a place to live but mainly it´s
people. It is the place where each individual and each family are
developed equally. It is the community of men and women that contribute
for the construction of a common space"18
18.
Font Guillermo, BUILDING THE CITY TOGETHER. Conference memories, page
1
In
this statement, building means help each other develop concepts and
values such as: solidarity, fraternity, participation, democracy,
and self- sustainability.
The
aim of this construction is the guarantee of a decent life for all
members of the community.
In
order to achieve successful participation processes in community
development, it is necessary to involve the citizens so that together
they can identify their problems and come up with the solutions.
The
objective of this process is not always to provide well being to
the people and community, but to facilitate opportunities and possibilities
so that they can build or transform their surrounding even with
the risk of failure. From this perspective the participation processes
is really any possible in local spaces, in which we can find communities
that share the same problems and interests in facilitating the work
in the following areas:
Recovering
the local identity as a power promoting everybody's participation
and commitment.
Establish ways and strategies so that community members or leaders
participate in the developing up of the objectives and priorities
of their local plan.
Have specific and sufficient information about resources, opportunities
and restrictions.
Make spaces available for communities to gather and discuss local
events.
The COMMUNITY is able to take control of all the components of
the planning process including:
Problem
identification and alternatives for their solution
Implementations
of projects
Feedback
and defining new alternatives
EMPOWERING is the starting point of the participative processes. Gathering
persons and groups able to gain control of their own lives so that
they can have their rights guaranteed. 19
Community
self sustainability is a very important concept that will contribute
to the understanding and comprehension of the community processes.
20
Developing
Community self sustainability means communities really taking part
in the processes of decision making that affect their future, as
well as promoting community organizational and training processes.
The Community is prepared to get to know the agencies, their budgets
and plans to establish a new type of relations.
From
the instrumental point of view, it necessary for the community to
know how to plan, that is to say " know how to lead and organized
and systematic process of decisions, implementations and evaluations"
aiming to define simple and innovative proposals that tend to harmonize
the needs with the local needs. 21
To
make the plans becoming a reality, it is necessary to use the PARTICIPATIVE
MICRO PLANNING, which is viable for processes at a local and community
level and incorporates people in the communities in the decision
making. Implementations and evaluation, aim to define simple and
innovative proposals that intend harmonizing local needs and potentialities.
22
"The participative micro-planning is mainly a preparation method
of the social organization for the development of the citizenship".
23
The
mentioned tool incorporated to a series of techniques contribute
to the establishment of the local development plans and involve
the execution of the following statement:
Diagnostic
phase
Problem analysis phase
Implementation phase
Evaluation phase
Participation
is the main foundation in which the participative planning is built.
The
YMCA of Ecuador in the document about a management course and community
participation makes the following statement:
"Participation
is a social relationship in which citizens fulfill their responsibilities
and have the right to take part in the decision making processes
through direct democracy forms in all areas of the society and the
government and redirect the use of resources towards their needs
and aspirations. In these processes citizens reaffirm their identity
and recognize their interests as part of the community."24
From
a simpler conception participate means "Be part of" regarding
the participative planning it is " Be part of the processes
from the planning up to the decision and action making." 25
In
general the set of participative techniques and tools facilitate
the development and implementation of these processes. Regarding
the participative diagnostic some techniques can be used: El Metaplan,
"problem tree" the systematic analysis of sensitization
MASS, amongst others. What ever or technique is used, we have the
right to:
Be
informed
Give
our opinions
Be
asked
Evaluate
and go over the programs and services
Participate
in the setting up of policies and programs
Finally,
it is necessary to have very clear vision that the result of the
participative process is the LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN which incorporates
the vision, the goals, the objectives, the activities, the resources
and the way how the plan is evaluated and monitored.
Through
the implementation of organizational and self sustainability processes,
new relationships are looked for in each of the communities the
YMCA works at.
19
Turbay, Catalina. Familia y Comunidad perspectiva de la protección.
Fundación Restrepo Barco Unicef, Colombia, 1997.
20
Manual para capacitadores en autogestión comunitaria. Ecu
91/011. Pg. 52.
21
S. Buarque IICA. citado por Jara, Carlos Julio, Sustentabilidad,
nuevos conceptos y nuevos instrumentos para orientar el proceso
de desarrollo local, 1995. Pg. 27.
22
Op. cit. Pg. 30.
23
Op. cit. Pg. 30.
24
Ortiz, Santiago y Sarzosa, Patricia. Curso de gerencia y participación
popular, escuela de líderes urbanos. Módulo 4 «Del
barrio a la ciudad». Quito, 1998. Pg. 55.
25
Manual para capacitadores en autogestión comunitaria. Proyecto
Ecu 91/011.
See
chart
1.
Approaching
The
organizational and community development model the YMCA has adopted
is divided into several phases, not necessarily used in sequence.
They contribute to communities byidentifying and analyzing their
reality, viewing their strengths and weaknesses, help make the right
decisions about their priorities and act in a plan and organized
way to contribute to the development of their communities.
a.
Selecting the community
Objective
Selecting
those communities with the most families with street children or
families with high risks of their children leaving their homes,
in order to implement community processes with a preventive focus.
Geographical
location
On
Bogotá streets there are street inhabitants and street children
who work or beg. Contacting these children facilitates the knowledge
of the geographical areas they come from.
When
contacting the children on the streets or through the Attention
and Preventive Centres, children are questioned about their families
location and they are recorded on the Bogotá city map. By
doing this, we can see the areas where the most families with street
children or children on their first phase of living on the streets
are found.
Participant's
observation
Once
the staff defines the communities to be contacted the following
actions are started:
Visits
to the community
Contact
community organizations
Primary
diagnosis
Analysis
and decision making
The
staff gathers and makes the primary diagnosis in order to determine
the viability of community processes in such geographical location
taking into account the following indicators:
Communities
with children on and from the street
Underprivileged
communities ( social status 1,2)
Communities
with lack or poor public services, including no access to transportation
system and lack of roads to get in to those areas
Communities
with a high percentage of minors and young people wondering around
the streets, parks, or stores
Barrios
(Neighborhoods) built on high risk areas
b.
Approaching and contact
Objective
Getting
involved in the daily life of the community and getting familiar
with the way they live including in the resources, leaders and community
service organizations.
In this phase the actions described below need to be done:
Show
the community a video and informative brochures about the organization
Draw
a map of the neighborhood, locating each of the groups, entities,
places, associations, GOs, and NGOs that belong to the community.
Visit them and establishing contact with key people in each place.
Put a directory together
Promote
integration encounters with small groups of the community
Contact
organizational and community groups and learn about their plans
and purposes
c.
Participative diagnosis
Objective
Facilitating
the community is self diagnosis.
First
step
Several
techniques and tools can be used:
El
Metaplan (Spanish for plan chart)
Problems
tree
The
sensitization analysis MASS
a.
The community is involved to try to have representatives from each
of the following: children, youth, adults, GOs, NGOs, community
associations, churches, communal boards, local authorities, etc.
b.
Groups are invited to investigate their situation. The benefits
are discussed and examples of other communities that have developed
this methodology are provided.
c.
The technique to be implemented is explained.
d.
Dates, times and work plan is agreed upon to develop this task.
e.
The work is started
d.
Defining the priorities plan
Objective
Promoting
a participative process so that participants are involved in common
goals once they have defined their priorities.
The
techniques implemented in the participative diagnostic process provide
staff with the necessary information to define the priorities in
the local development plan.
The
priorities will end up being the projects or micro-projects to be
implemented in the community development process.
e.
Designing the community´s local plan
Objective
The
local community must develope that plan guides its actions within
the communal organization. It directs to the achievement of their
goals and objectives.
In
this phase it is necessary to do intensive training sessions regarding
the designing, formulation and evaluation of the plans and projects.
Local
groups and communal organizations must be involved in this training
process and they will become the ones who will design, execute and
evaluate their own plans according to their needs and interests
The
aspects described below should be taken into account in this phase:
Groups
must plan viable goals so as they are successful and fulfill the
first ones established, they can plan others at a higher level,
and this will contribute to keep their interest and enthusiasm within
the group.
The
utilization of community information systems contributes to distribting
the information related to the projects or get more people in the
community interested in joining the projects.
Taking
into account the large number of organizations and groups that are
involved in the community daily, it is convenient for the community
to put together a directory of institutional services or information
centers.
The
local development plan should be advertised extensively so that
the community obtains the information that facilitates their involvement
and active participation.
The
YMCA of Bogotá Prevention Program has been structured from
the forming of groups that are trained and act according to specific
topics of interest. Most of the topics could be the ones shown in
the chart below but at the same time they can be articulated in
a combined plan that is focused according to the needs and interests
of the community.
Each
one of the committees is made up by volunteers of the community
who sometimes are counselors. Or the committees are supported by
external institutions according to the specific necessities. In
some cases the work is done to put pressure on governmental entities
to come up with solution to the problems. In other cases the work
can be focused to self management processes such as the building
or improvement or a park or playground. (see committees chart)
These
groups may require professional guidance and financial support for
the designing of micro-projects.
