Organize the Community for Action

Documenting core group and other meetings

There may be times when communities will not want to record their meetings, particularly if they do not trust how the information will be used or they are afraid the information could be misconstrued or used against them. For example, one community participating in the Warmi project did not want its discussions about family planning included in the notebook that recorded all of their meeting proceedings because they were afraid that others in and outside of the community would learn of their interest in these services. When program staff spoke with women’s group members about the advantages of having the meetings documented, the women agreed on the condition that the notebook remain with them in their community and that they control it. Program staff agreed to this and the meeting proceedings continued to be documented.

In some settings, people do not traditionally document history through writing but may recount history orally through stories, songs, or other means. If writing is not something that comes easily to the community, there are other ways to document meetings, including tape recording, video, drawings, etc. Helping program staff and participants learn to use a tape recorder, if one is available and practical, may help to facilitate documenting community mobilization and capacity building. The tapes can later be transcribed if necessary.

An old group or a new group?
Strategies for identifying and recruiting core group members
The role of leaders and external facilitators in group development
Core group norms
Assessing and monitoring core group capacity