Organize the Community for Action

STEPS
  1. Orient the community
  2. Build relationships, trust, credibility and a sense of ownership with the community
  3. Invite community participation
  4. Develop a "core group" from the community

STEP 1: Orient the community.

The first step in organizing a community is to invite community members to an orientation about the mobilization program. This can be done at a general community meeting, through local radio, street drama, newspapers (if available), and other media. Meetings have the added advantage that participants can have their questions addressed quickly and personal relationships can be established. The time and venue of the meeting are usually set with local leaders who invite general participation of all community members. Notifying the community about the orientation meeting can be done at a prior community meeting, through local media such as radio, television, talking drums, town crier, schools, community organizations, and other groups.

It is important to determine who will convene the meeting in order to reach community members most affected by and interested in the CM health issue and others who take a general interest in community life. Remember that people often decide whether to attend a meeting, whether they belong at a meeting, not only on the basis of the subject of the meeting but on “whose” meeting it seems to be.

Depending on circumstances, you may be able to organize your meeting around other events that are happening in the community, such as:

  • Critical incidents (e.g., a death in the community, epidemics).
  • Common problems/issues.
  • Traditional community events (e.g., marriage, birth, rites of passage).
  • General development activities.
  • Emergencies.
  • Campaigns or special occasions organized within or outside of the community (e.g., national vaccination day, Earth Day, Mother’s Day).
  • Human rights activities (e.g., literacy or civic education classes emphasizing the right to health care, access to information).
  • Sharing information on health status to raise public awareness.

Now you will need to plan the content of your own meeting: the topics you are going to cover, in what order, and who will be responsible for what content. Depending on your agenda, you may want to give some thought to who would be the best spokesperson for the various topics you plan to cover, which team member or community member the audience would most readily identify with or listen to on this particular topic.

Most orientation sessions include, at a minimum:

  1. Participant and CM team member introductions.

  2. An introduction to your organization and what it does/does not do.

  3. A brief description of the process that the CM team proposes to use.

  4. A discussion about the health issue this CM program will address.

  5. A presentation of the program goals.

  6. A discussion on how the participants will want to work together.

  7. Determining next steps: when and where the next meeting will be.

An Example of Organizing around Role Models

Some programs that involve women's groups start with a series of visits to explain the program to community leaders and potential members. In breastfeeding promotion projects, community organizers visit the community to determine whether an existing NGO or other community-based health or service organization would be able to collaborate in breastfeeding promotion. If no appropriate organization is found, the organizers contact local officials and other formal leaders to gain their support. After several community members supportive of breastfeeding have been identified, the community organizers assist them in making outreach presentations to community groups, NGOs, mothers clubs, neighborhood health committees, churches, and schools (Rosenberg and Joya de Suarez 1996). From Mother Support Groups: A Review of Experience in Developing Countries, BASICS 1998.

Be careful not to pre-empt the community
Objectives and content of the orientation meeting