Phase 2: Organize the Community for Action



Before this stage in the community mobilization (CM) process, you should have completed your initial preparations and developed an overall design for community mobilization. It is now time to formally approach the community and begin their involvement in this effort.

STEP 1: Orient the community to the community mobilization project

The first step in organizing a community is to invite community members to an orientation about the mobilization effort. You should give some thought to who will convene the meeting and how it will be convened, to be sure you reach those members most affected by and interested in the CM health issue as well as community leaders and others who take a general interest in community life. As you plan this orientation meeting, you should think about what your objectives are, what you hope to accomplish as a result of this event. Once you've done that, you will then be able to plan the content of the meeting.

STEP 2: Build relationships, trust, credibility and a sense of ownership with the community

It is important for you and your program team to take time to establish trust and credibility in the community and develop ownership of the CM effort among community members. Trust can be established through transparency of intention, honesty, mutual respect, working side by side, learning from each other, admitting and learning from mistakes, celebrating small successes, and lots of humor.

STEP 3: Invite community participation

Early on, you need to identify those people and groups who are most affected by and interested in the CM health issue and invite them to participate in the program. These are the people who most directly experience the effects of the problem and who will sooner or later need to be involved in finding appropriate solutions. In many cases, it should be noted, these same people are not the type who are normally involved in community affairs, and you will need to think of ways to make them feel welcome and to otherwise encourage their participation.

You may also want to consider inviting those who are successfully dealing with the problem despite difficult circumstances, the "positive deviants," to share their experience. Community participation is also a function of whether or not people are aware of and concerned about the particular health issue. Where awareness and concern are low, the CM program team may have to spend time initially in raising awareness.

STEP 4: Develop a "core group" from the community

Once individuals and groups have expressed interest in participating in the program, you will need to begin to develop a "core group" of individuals who will lead the effort on behalf of the community. Developing and then supporting this core group are two of your program team's most important jobs.

An important decision you may have to make at this stage is whether or not to work with an already existing core group or to form a new one. There are advantages and disadvantages to working with both types of groups. If you decide against using a pre-existing group or there is not an appropriate one available, then you will need to devise a strategy for identifying possible group members. Keep in mind that group dynamics and cohesion are dependent on group composition.

Developing the core group

Once you have identified your core group, you will need to develop them into an effective team. An important aspect of the group development process is the role the leader(s) decide to play. Leaders need to be aware of the different stages of group development, of a group's abilities vis-à-vis various tasks, and of a group's willingness and motivation to do various tasks. Effective leaders are able to use a mix of leadership styles to better support the changing, dynamic nature of group development.

Part of the process of developing the core group includes establishing norms for working together. Below are some questions your team and the group members may want to discuss.

  • How will they make decisions (e.g., by consensus, vote, leaders decide, etc)?
  • Do they want to elect official leaders of the group? How will they assign roles and responsibilities?
  • How will they communicate with each other? How often will they meet?
  • What role do members want to play in relation to your team?
  • What norms do participants want to set for the group?
  • How do members of the core group want to document their meetings, activities and results?
Assessing and monitoring core group capacity

Organizing and strengthening a group is an ongoing, dynamic process that you will need to pay attention to throughout the Community Action Cycle. Your team and the core group itself may want to monitor six key dimensions of group or community capacity: citizen participation, leadership skills, resources, social and interorganizational networks, the sense of community, and the understanding of community history.

As external observers, it helps if your team or others outside of the core group observe the group's progress (or lack thereof) in these six areas and gives feedback to the members. You should also encourage and help the core group do its own monitoring in these areas.

Now that you have selected and begun to develop your core group, you are ready to work with the group to explore the health issue and set priorities for action.