User:Alkhaliiji/sandbox

The Author Is Abdisalan Mohamed Ahmed (Alkhaliiji) 	Good community development (also known as intercultural community work) is an action that helps people to recognize and develop their ability and potential and recognize themselves to respond to problems and needs which they share. It supports the establishment of strong communities that control and use life. It also enables community and public agencies to work together to improve the quality of government.

Talking about community development People talk about community development in many different ways. Neighborhood and community center coordinators have described community development as:

1.	Planning services 2.	Servicing self-help groups 3.	Running support and social action groups 4.	Building community networks 5.	Participating in inter-agency meetings 6.	Undertaking needs assessment 7.	Increasing people's skills 8.	Resourcing the community to meet needs 9.	Improving quality of life 10.	Defining priorities 11.	Working towards social justice 12.	Empowering individuals and communities Community development 	We all live in a community. There are different things that bind us together. Let us try to identify them. a) Beliefs b)  Values c) Language d)  Territory e) Religion f)  Culture g) Occupation

Why community mobilization? As a mean or strategy: 	Creating demand for interventions 	Increasing access to services 	Scaling up interventions 	Increasing effectiveness and efficiency of interventions 	Contributing additional resources to the response 	Reaching the most vulnerable 	Addressing the underlying causes of Education: gender disparities, lack of awareness etc. 	Increasing community ownership and sustainability

Benefits of community mobilization in a project 	Increase community, individual, and group capacity to identify and satisfy their needs 	Improve program design 	Improve program quality 	Improve program results 	Improve program results 	Improve program evaluation 	Cost effective way to achieve sustainable results 	Increase community ownership of the program

Key task involved in community mobilization 	Developing an on-going dialogue between community members 	Creating or strengthening community organizations (committees etc.) 	Creating an environment in which individuals can empower themselves to address their own and their community's health needs 	Promoting community members participation 	Working in partnership with community members 	Identifying and supporting the creative potential of communities to develop a variety of strategies and approaches 	Assisting in linking communities with external resources 	Committing enough time to work with communities, or with a partner who works with them Role of community mobilizers A mobilizer is a person who mobilizes, i.e. gets things moving. Social animator. A catalyst 	Bringing people together 	Building trust 	Encouraging participation 	Facilitating discussion and decision-making 	Helping things to run smoothly 	Facilitation in community mobilization process Skills needed for community mobilizer Attitudes include: 	A willingness to examine and challenge their own assumptions, opinions and beliefs 	A genuine respect for all community members 	A non-judgmental and accepting approach 	An understanding that different people have different views and perspectives 	A belief in community capacity to take effective action 	Good communication skills, especially listening 	Good facilitation skills to enable communities to conduct their own analysis of their lives and situations 	PLA and other techniques to help facilitation awareness of political, gender and cultural issues and relationships 	An ability to challenge assumptions sensitively (e.g. about the role of women) Knowledge includes: 1.	The community mobilization process 2.	The principles of community mobilization 3.	Knowledge of education related issues and problems, causes and effects 4.	Understanding of the ethical issues related to community mobilization Other skills and knowledge that may be needed at different stages in the community mobilization process include: 	An ability to help communities form organizations 	An ability to identify capacity-building needs among communities (e.g. leadership skills, networking and partnership-building skills) 	An ability to help communities mobilize resources 	Advocacy skills 	Project planning and management skills Some Qualities 	Good communication skills 	Good facilities skills 	Good listener 	Committed 	Decision maker 	Active 	Negotiation skills 	Honest 	Known to culture and values of society 	Well dress 	Catalyst 	Management skills Role of community mobilizer Getting prepared 	Know your goals "if you do not know where you are going, then any road will do". 	Know your target community you must know as much as possible about its social organization, economy, languages, layout (map), problems, politics, and ecosystem 	Know the skills you need 	Know the basic concepts what is development? Community development? 	Community participation? Poverty? Community? Empowerment? Sustainability 	Outside resources